The historic Kimball pipe organ at Riverside's Mission Inn will make its return Oct. 25 following completion of the latest restoration project, with organist William Zeitler providing live accompaniment to the 1922 silent film classic Nosferatu in the Grand Parisian Ballroom.
The 1 p.m. screening marks the first public performance of the 2,800-pipe organ since restoration work concluded, making attendees witnesses to a genuine piece of musical history coming back to life. Tickets are $30 in advance at Eventbrite.com or $35 at the door, with costumes encouraged for the Halloween-season event.
Susan Wasserman, secretary of the Friends of the Mission Inn, said the organization is excited about the event and hopeful it will lead to more public access to the ballroom. She said the Friends are eager to find more use for the room and the organ.
Zeitler will perform Bach's Toccata in D minor, arguably the ultimate organ composition, before the screening, showcasing the newly restored instrument's full range and power.
The performance will revive a lost art form from cinema's early era, when organists bore enormous creative responsibility for the moviegoing experience. Silent films rarely came with official scores, leaving organists to create appropriate musical atmospheres with minimal direction.
"There is no official score" for Nosferatu, Zeitler explained. "Somebody later wrote a score to go with it." Organists of the era might receive cue sheets with suggested character themes, "but they didn't give anybody complete scores. It just wasn’t practical, and it wasn’t necessary either. The musicianship was such that they would take that material and run with it."
Often, organists worked entirely on their own, reading the emotional arc of scenes in real time and creating everything from romantic themes to chase music through pure improvisation. The quality of the organist could make or break the entire cinematic experience for audiences.
"It's a bit like extemporaneous speaking, right?" Zeitler said, describing his approach. He will have prepared themes for main characters and musical cues, "but I'll be improvising, or gluing all of that together live."
The three-manual organ, originally built in 1909, has been a fixture of the Mission Inn for more than a century and remains a centerpiece of the Grand Parisian Ballroom, also known as the Music Room, according to the Friends of the Mission Inn.
The Friends of the Mission Inn previously spent $147,713 between 2000 and 2005 to restore the organ. In recent years, the organ was played live at silent film screenings, accompanying films including The Phantom of the Opera (1925) and the Buster Keaton classic Our Hospitality, before requiring the latest restoration work.
Built by Chicago's W.W. Kimball Co., the 2,800-pipe organ represents one of America's last surviving hotel pipe organs from an era when luxury hotels served as cultural centers offering daily musical programming. The Mission Inn, designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977, spans an entire city block and represents the largest Mission Revival Style building in the United States.
The Grand Parisian Ballroom, with its exposed wood beam ceilings, provides the acoustic setting for the historic instrument that once entertained presidents and Hollywood stars during the Mission Inn's heyday as a luxury resort destination.
The event includes a silent auction and opportunity drawing. Doors open at noon with the program beginning at 1 p.m. A cash bar and complimentary popcorn will be available.
More information: visit friendsofthemissioninn.com or email info@friendsofthemissioninn.com. Questions can be directed to 951-481-6461. The Mission Inn Hotel & Spa is located at 3649 Mission Inn Ave. in Riverside's downtown historic district.
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