Three rare pipe organs, Rosalinde, Hildy, and Veronica, are among Philadelphia’s newest residents

Centuries often collide in Philadelphia, but rarely like this. Three fragile, rare European pipe organs, which have somehow survived multiple centuries, have arrived and are being heard at First Presbyterian Church off Rittenhouse Square.

Meticulously designed and decorated instruments with German, Dutch, and Italian roots, the pipe organs are older than Philadelphia, even older than the United States, and are making sounds heard a half millennium ago. How they got here is particularly remarkable since ancient organs do not exactly travel well, even over modern highways.

“It was really bumpy,” said Bálint Karosi, the First Presbyterian organist and director of music who masterminded the complex transport from the organ storage in California to the Center City church. Some parts are very fragile. The gold-painted wooden statue of King David — positioned on top of one organ — would be forever destroyed if it hit the floor. “All you can do [then] is vacuum him up,” said Karosi.

The cross-country saga was carried out by a 27-foot U-Haul truck over a four-and-a-half-day-long, 3,000 mile drive. Piloted by Karosi and the trusted organ restorer Árpád Magyar, the truck navigated the Mojave Desert and then the super narrow streets of Philadelphia. The only damage was a cracked ornamental figure which Karosi can now laugh about after the organs have been installed in various parts of the church and taken on personable nicknames.

First, there’s Rosalinde, located in the sanctuary. Built by Ibe Peters Iben of Emden, Germany, in 1783, it was housed in the Church of Wetsinge-Sauwerd in the Netherlands until 1910. Its beautifully painted cupboard-like doors open to a series of mostly wooden pipes, some of which date from the 1600s, that make a more demure sound than metal. The single keyboard actually divides in two parts that can make distinctly different sounds, like two instruments playing simultaneously. Various combinations of stops — knobs that modify the sound to resemble flutes and trumpets — can yield 36 different sound combinations.

Second is Hildy — named after the medieval composer Hildegard of Bingen — housed in Karosi’s office. From an anonymous builder, it’s a chapel organ that lived in a German castle and has a more forward sound, probably intended to lead congregations in hymns.

The third is Karosi’s favorite, Veronica, since she’s from Verona. It’s a chapel organ, hailing from an anonymous builder around 1750, representing an Italian tradition that was preserved from the 1500s to the 1800s. Veronica is a congregation leader, with one stop marked “Voce Umana” or “Human Voice,” with sound-generating bellows that can still be operated by pulling two ropes on the side of the console. Kids reportedly love to participate in this.

All three instruments have checkered histories from their European origins. The pipes in Rosalinde came wrapped in newspaper pages from 19th-century Netherlands. The other two were discovered by chance from European antique dealers and then transported, in various states of disrepair, by patrons of the University of California at Berkeley. Extensive restoration by West Coast-based organ builder Greg Harrold took place over years.

Karosi, 46, who has a long-standing background in rare historic instruments, had heard about the existence of these organs through contacts at Cornell University.

Philadelphia has plenty of great organs, but in the one-of-a-kind world of these instruments, these historic specimens are almost a different species than the imposing Wanamaker and Kimmel Center organs. They’re physically smaller, as good for accompaniment as for solos, and articulating a somewhat different musical language than what evolved in more recent centuries.

“These historic instruments are a huge and unexpected bonus for us, and for early music ensembles … to use these instruments and for the community to be able to hear a truly authentic performance,” said Alan Morrison, head of the organ department at the Curtis Institute, whose students have access to the church.

Such instruments can reveal major works in ways not possible on modern instruments. Some great music only makes sense when played on historic instruments; for example, Handel’s seldom-heard organ concertos would do well with Rosalinde. “For organ, the sounds of these instruments as well as the key action is everything in making the music come to life ... and help dictate an appropriate tempo,” said Morrison. Karosi also talked about the “speech” of early organs, in the way they articulate phrases with greater detail than in the smoother lines of modern organs.

Born and educated in Budapest, Karosi was drawn to the U.S. by the Oberlin Conservatory faculty he met in Europe, and went on to Yale University but has maintained a European career that includes extensive Bach organ recordings in Hungary. He arrived at Philadelphia’s First Presbyterian Church last September, presenting his bold organ-rescue plan to the church in October. Berkeley was willing to donate — thanks to a letter of Curtis Institute support from Morrison — but wouldn’t pay for relocation, which was estimated at $75,000 for all three.

“I said I can do it for $25,000. How do I do it? By driving the organ myself,” Karosi said. But with help. Karosi told Magyar, who had restored 80 organs and is co-owner of a Romania-based organ manufacturer, “We’ll pay your ticket ... but you have to drive a big truck with me, pack and remount the organs, do what has to be done, and finish by the end of January.”

The answer was “da.” Magyar arrived with a highly specific expertise — he knew how to transport the pipes in the cremation boxes they needed to be moved in. Knowing that they might be stopped by authorities along the way, they had letters of explanation from the University of California.

More considered observations reveal that the instruments are top of the line for their time.

Of course, much is dependent on who is playing them, and Karosi has the kind of imagination that comes with having authored five of his own organ concertos, one of which, titled “Syöjätär,” won the 2022 Kaija Saariaho Organ Composition Competition with a special prize from the Society of Finnish Composers. He performed the concerto at the new Helsinki Music Centre earlier this month, showing how he uses the organ — often astoundingly — almost like an electronic-music instrument.

As a performer, his continued aspirations are to close a remaining organ gap in Philadelphia: There needs to be an organ from the time and place of Bach.

“Maybe a replica,” he said, “or something like that.”

Bálint Karosi plays the organs every Sunday during church services. Heinrich Schütz’s “Johannespassion” and “The Seven Last Words from the Cross,” two infrequently heard masterworks, will be performed at noon on April 18 (Good Friday) during a free-of-charge service at First Presbyterian Church. A public concert is being planned for June 8. Details on fpcphila.org