{{Short description|Canadian pipe organ builder (1929–2024)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2024}} '''Gabriel Kney''' (21 November 1929 – 8 November 2024) was a Canadian builder of pipe organs based in London, Ontario.
==Life and career== Kney was born in Speyer, Germany. At the age of 15, he apprenticed to Paul Sattel of Speyer to become an organ builder, and concurrently studied organ and composition with Erhard Quack and Ludwig Doerr at the Bishop’s Institute for Church Music in Speyer.
In 1951, he moved to Canada to work as a voicer with the Keates Organ Co.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |url = https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/gabriel-kney-emc |title = Kney, Gabriel |last = Bouchard |first = Antoine |author2 = Graham, Melva |encyclopedia = Encyclopedia of Music in Canada |access-date = 19 April 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20060502171434/http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0001863 |archive-date = 2 May 2006 }} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/organ/churches.htm |title=Organs in Ames Churches |publisher=Ames Historical Society |accessdate=20 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208170601/http://www.ameshistoricalsociety.org/exhibits/organ/churches.htm |archive-date=8 February 2012 |url-status=dead}} </ref>
In 1955 he formed with John Bright the '''Kney and Bright Organ Co''' to build tracker organs. Blanton (1957) described their first instrument as "a handsome little organ with mechanical action, slider chests, 1-3/4" pressure".<ref>{{cite book |last=Blanton|first=Joseph E. |title=The organ in church design |publisher=Venture Press|location=Albany Tx|year=1957|page=431}} </ref> They were at the vanguard of the tracker organ revival in Canada, so much so that they were then to build 30 electro-pneumatic organs before customers caught on and started ordering instruments with mechanical action. In the early 1960s, they rebuilt the organs of Aeolian Hall in London and St Michael's Cathedral in Toronto.
In 1967, Kney formed '''Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ Builders, Ltd.''', and by 1990 he and his seven employees had built more than 130 organs for customers across the United States and Canada. Some of the best examples of this company's designs are the organs of Roy Thomson Hall in Toronto, Ontario,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://rth-mh.com/aboutRTH/gabrielKney.cfm |title=Gabriel Kney Pipe Organ, Opus 95, 1981 |last=Komisaruk |first=Kevin |year=2005 |publisher=The Corporation of Massey Hall and Roy Thomson Hall |accessdate=19 April 2008 }}{{dead link|date=January 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} </ref> Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral in Kansas City,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ghtc-kc.org/music/organ.html |title=About the Cathedral's organ |publisher=Grace and Holy Trinity Cathedral |accessdate=19 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110707120448/http://www.ghtc-kc.org/music/organ.html |archive-date=7 July 2011 |url-status=dead}} </ref> Christ Church Parish in Pensacola, Florida,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pensacola-ago.org/organs/ccpns.html |title=Christ Church (Episcopal) |publisher=American Guild of Organists - Pensacola Chapter |accessdate=20 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304125348/http://www.pensacola-ago.org/organs/ccpns.html |archive-date=4 March 2016 |url-status=dead}} </ref> and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.stthomas.edu/music/organs/kney/kney_gallery.html |title=Gabriel Kney · Opus 105 |publisher=University of St. Thomas |accessdate=19 April 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103181651/https://www.stthomas.edu/music/organs/kney/kney_gallery.html |archive-date=3 November 2013 |url-status=dead}} </ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/gallery/us_midwest/minnesota/stpaul_stthomaskney.shtml |title = 1987 Kney organ at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN |publisher = American Public Media |access-date = 19 April 2008 |url-status = dead |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080821192423/http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/gallery/us_midwest/minnesota/stpaul_stthomaskney.shtml |archive-date = 21 August 2008 }} </ref>
Kney died on 8 November 2024, at the age of 94.<ref>{{cite news |title=Gabriel Kney dead at 94 |url=https://www.thediapason.com/news/gabriel-kney-dead-94 |access-date=23 November 2024 |publisher=The Diapason}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Adams |first1=Danielle |title=Master craftsman Gabriel Kney built an enduring musical legacy |url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-master-craftsman-gabriel-kney-built-an-enduring-musical-legacy/#comments |website=The Globe and Mail |access-date=24 June 2025 |date=23 December 2024}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.gabrielkney.com/ Gabriel Kney, Pipe Organ Builder] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619032302/http://www.gabrielkney.com/ |date=19 June 2010 }} *[https://www.pipedreams.org/profile/gallery/us_midwest/minnesota/saint-paul_st-thomas_kney Audio archive of performances on the 1987 Gabriel Kney organ at the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, MN]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kney, Gabriel}} Category:1929 births Category:2024 deaths Category:Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Canada Category:Canadian pipe organ builders Category:Companies based in London, Ontario