Wanamaker Organ
The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, located in Philadelphia, PA, is the largest operational[1] pipe organ in the world.
History
The Wanamaker Organ was originally built by the Los Angeles Art Organ company, successors to the Murray M. Harris Organ Co. for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair. It was designed by renowned organ architect George Ashdown Audsley, and cost $105,000 to complete (which bankrupted the Art Organ company).
In 1909, the organ was bought by John Wanamaker for his new department store at 13th and Market Streets in Center City, Philadelphia. It took thirteen freight cars to move it to its new home, and two years for installation. It was first played on June 6, 1911, at the exact moment when British King George V was crowned. It was also featured later that year when U.S. President William Howard Taft dedicated the store.
Despite its immense size (more than 10,000 pipes), it was judged inadequate to fill the seven-story Grand Court in which it was located, so Wanamaker's opened a private organ factory in the store attic, which was tasked with enlarging the organ. 8,000 pipes were added between 1911 and 1917, and 10,000 more were added between 1924 and 1930.
The Wanamaker Stores in New York and Philadelphia sponsored historic concerts on the Wanamaker Organ. The first, in 1919, featured Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra with organist Charles M. Courboin. Every sales counter and fixture was removed for the free after-hours event, which attracted an audience of 15,000 from across the United States. Subsequently more of these "Musicians Assemblies" were held, as were private recitals. For these events Wanamaker's opened a Concert Bureau and brought to America French master organists Marcel Dupre and Louis Vierne, Nadia Boulanger, Marco Enrico Bossi, Alfred Hollins and several others.
The organ is famed for its orchestral-like sound, coming from pipes that are voiced much softer than usual, allowing an unusually rich build-up because of the multitude of pipes. The organ's String Division alone has more than 6,000 pipes and occupies its own expression chamber on the fourth floor. The artistic obligation entailed by the creation of this instrument has always been honored, with two curators being employed in its constant care. The organ and its regular program of concerts and recitals, was maintained by Wanamaker's throughout the chain's history, even as the company's finances deteriorated, and corporate parentage shifted from the Wanamaker family to Carter-Hawley-Hale Stores to Woodward & Lothrop, to May Department Stores Company. The organ was designated a National Historic Landmark, by the U.S. Department of the Interior, in 1980. Following the sale to May in 1995, the Wanamaker's name was removed from the store in favor of Hecht's, but the organ and its concerts were retained. May funded a complete restoration of the organ in 1996, as part of the store's conversion into a Lord & Taylor. Following May's acquisition by Federated Department Stores in 2005, it was announced that the store would be converted into a Macy's, under the management of Federated's Macy's East division, but that the organ and its concerts would remain as a major fixture in the renovated store. The Wanamaker Organ has had only four chief organists in its history: Dr. Irvin J. Morgan (1911-17); Mary E. Vogt (1917-66); Keith Chapman (1966-89) and Peter Richard Conte (1989-present). It is played twice daily except Sundays in an operating department store.
Notable Characteristics
In its present configuration, the Wanamaker Organ boasts 28,482 pipes in 461 ranks. The console is composed of six manuals with an array of stops and controls, and is the largest operational pipe organ in the world. The organ's String Division forms the largest single organ chamber in the world, boasting of eighty-eight ranks of string pipes built by the W. W. Kimball Company of Chicago, according to the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ, single organ chamber in the world.
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and restoration of the Wanamaker organ, as well as continuing its "musical mission". The Friends are supported by funds from from individual contributors (Friends), as well as large endowments from wealthy supporters, and CD and merchandise sales. The organization also organizes special concerts and produces a monthly radio show of Wanamaker Organ recordings, on the Philadelphia-based classical/jazz station, WRTI. The show is on the first Sunday of every month at 5:00 p.m., hosted by organist Peter Richard Conte and WRTI host Jill Pasternak.
The official publication of the Friends of the Wanamaker organ is The Stentor, issued four times per year. Typical features in the Stentor generally include news about organ restoration, recent visits by noteworthy organists, and upcoming concerts, events, etc.
See also
- John Wanamaker
- Wanamaker's Department Store
References and footnotes
- ^ Although the Atlantic City Boardwalk Hall organ is arguably larger than the Wanamaker organ (it has almost 5,000 more pipes), it is currently in a state of disrepair and is only partially functional. The Wanamaker organ is almost fully restored and operational (approximately 92% of it is in working order, and work is progressing on the remaining 8%), making it the largest operational organ in the world. It also has more ranks than the Atlantic City Convention Hall organ, so it could be considered larger on that merit.