Wanamaker Organ
Notable characteristics
In its present configuration, the Wanamaker Organ has 28,482 pipes in 461 ranks. The organ console consists of six manuals with an array of stops and controls that command the organ. The organ’s String Division forms the largest single organ chamber in the world. The instrument features eighty-eight ranks of string pipes built by the W.W. Kimball Company of Chicago. The organ is famed for its orchestra-like sound, coming from pipes that are voiced softer than usual, allowing an unusually rich build-up because of the massing of pipe-tone families. The artistic obligation entailed by the creation of this instrument has always been honored, with two curators employed in its constant and scrupulous care. The organ, with its regular program of concerts and recitals, was maintained by Wanamaker’s throughout the chain’s history, even as the company’s financial fortunes waned. This level of dedication was maintained when corporate parentage shifted from the Wanamaker family to Carter-Hawley-Hale Stores to Woodward & Lothrop to Lord & Taylor to Macy’s.
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 to be the largest organ in the world, an imitation of a full-size orchestra with particularly complete resources of full organ tone including mixtures. In addition to its console, the organ was originally equipped with an automatic player that used punched rolls of paper, according to the Los Angeles Times of 1904. It was designed by renowned organ theorist and architect George Ashdown Audsley. Wild cost overruns plagued the project, with the result that Harris was ousted from his own company. With capital from stockholder Eben Smith, it was reorganized as the Los Angeles Art Organ Company, and finished at a cost of $105,000, $40,000 over budget. The Fair began (in late April 1904) before the organ was fully installed in its temporary home, Festival Hall. It still was not entirely finished in September of that year, when Alexandre Guilmant, one of the most famous organists of the day, presented 40 very well-attended recitals on the organ.
Following the Fair, the organ was intended for permanent installation by the Kansas City Convention Hall. Indeed, the original console had a prominent “K C” on its music rack. This venture failed, bankrupting the L. A. Art Organ company after the Fair closed. There was a plan to exhibit the organ at Coney Island in New York City, but nothing came of this.
The organ in its original home, the 1904 World’s Fair.
The organ languished in storage at the Handlan warehouse in St. Louis until 1909, when it 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 then-unprecedented 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 charged with enlarging the organ. The first project to enlarge the organ was the addition of 8,000 pipes between 1911 and 1917.
Wanamaker’s sponsored many historic after-business-hours 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 under Alexander Russell and brought to America master organists Marcel Dupr and Louis Vierne, Nadia Boulanger, Marco Enrico Bossi, Alfred Hollins, and several others. (This agency, which worked in partnership with Canadian Bernard R. LaBerge, evolved into the Karen McFarlane Concert Agency of the present day.) During his first recital on the organ, Dupr was so impressed with the instrument that he was inspired to improvise a musical depiction of the life of Jesus Christ. This was later published as his Symphonie-Passion.
In 1924, a new project to enlarge the organ began. Marcel Dupr and Charles M. Courboin were asked by Rodman Wanamaker, John Wanamaker’s son, to “Work together to draw up a plan for the instrument. Use everything you have ever dreamed about.” They were told there was no limit to the budget. This project resulted in, among other things, the celebrated String Division, which occupies the largest organ chamber ever constructed, 67 feet long, 26 feet deep, and 16 feet high. During this project, the organ’s current console was constructed in Wanamaker’s private in-house pipe-organ factory, with six manuals and several hundred controls. By 1930, when work on expanding the organ finally stopped, the organ had 28,482 pipes, and, if Rodman Wanamaker had not died in 1928, the organ would probably be even bigger.
Plans were made for, among others, a Stentor division, a section of high-pressure diapasons and reeds. It was to be installed on the fifth floor, above the String Division, and would be playable from the sixth manual. However, it was never funded, and the sixth manual is now used to couple other divisions or play various solo voices from other divisions that are duplexed to this keyboard.
Rodman Wanamaker was not interested in mere size, however, but in artistic organbuilding with finely crafted pipes and chests using the best materials and careful artisic consideration. The Wanamaker Organ console, built in the store organ shop by William Boone Fleming, is a work of art in its own right with heavy, durable construction, an ingenious layout of its pneumatic stop action and many unique features and conveniences. Wanamaker also had a collection of 60 rare stringed instruments, the Wanamaker Cappella, that were used in conjunction with the store organs in Philadelphia and New York, and went on tour. They were dispersed after his death.
Following the sale of the store to the May Department Stores Co., in 1995, the Wanamaker’s name was removed from the store (first as Wanamaker-Hecht’s) in favor of Hecht’s, but the organ and its concerts were retained. During the local re-naming of the Hecht’s stores to Strawbridge’s, the historic Wanamaker Store briefly took the name of its longtime rival Strawbridge’s. The May Company began a complete restoration of the organ in 1997, as part of the store’s final May Co. conversion into a Lord & Taylor. At that time the store area was reduced to three floors and additional panes of glass were put around the Grand Court on floors four and five, greatly enhancing the reverberation of the room.
The Wanamaker Organ in the Grand Court
The Philadelphia Orchestra returned to the Grand Court on September 27, 2008 for the premiere performance of Joseph Jongen’s Symphonie Concertante (1926) on the organ for which it was written. The ticketed event, featuring soloist Peter Richard Conte, also includes the Bach/Stokowski arrangement of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, Marcel Dupr’s Cortege and Litany for Organ and Orchestra, and the world premiere of a Fanfare by Howard Shore, composer for the Lord of the Rings films. Shore visited the store in May 2008 to meet with Peter Richard Conte and hear the Wanamaker Organ. The Philadelphia Orchestra Concert was co-sponsored by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ and was a benefit for that organization.
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ is a non-profit organization involved in the preservation and promotion of the Wanamaker Organ. Ray Biswanger is the Executive Director. The Friends are supported by funds from individual contributors (Friends) and private foundations. The organization also organizes special concerts and, along with Macy’s, produces a monthly radio show of Wanamaker Organ recordings, on the Philadelphia-based classical/jazz station, WRTI/90.1. The show airs on the first Sunday of every month at 5:00 p.m., hosted by organist Peter Richard Conte and WRTI host Jill Pasternak. It is available via Internet streamcast at www.wrti.org.
The official publication of the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ is The Stentor, a quarterly 16-page newsletter with articles, photos, details on the restoration and historical materials issued four times per year. Typical features in the Stentor generally include news about ongoing restoration projects, recent visits by noteworthy organists, reprints of historical source materials and photos and upcoming concerts, events, etc. More information on the Friends and the Wanamaker Organ may be found at www.wanamakerorgan.com.
Organists
Although numerous famous organists have played special concerts on the organ, it has had only four chief organists in its history:
Dr. Irvin J. Morgan (1911 – 1917)
Mary E. Vogt (1917 – 1966)
Dr. Keith Chapman (1966 – 1989)
Peter Richard Conte (1989 – present)
Some noteworthy assistant organists
Alma Wilson Baecker (asst. to Mary E. Vogt)
Harriet Ridley (Vogt)
Rollo Maitland (Vogt)
Nelson E. Buechner (Vogt and Keith Chapman)
Walter Baker (Vogt)
David Ulrich (Vogt)
Barron Smith (Vogt)
Dr. Richard L. Elliott (Chapman)
Robert Carwithen (Chapman)
Dennis Elwell (Chapman)
Bruce Shultz (Chapman)
Diane Meredith Belcher (Chapman)
Rebecca Kleintop Owen (Peter Richard Conte)
Rudolph A. Lucente (Chapman and Conte}
Russell Patterson (Conte)
Michael Stairs (Chapman and Conte)
John Binsfeld (Chapman and Conte)
Ken Cowan (Conte)
Dr. Harry Wilkinson (Conte)
Colin Howland (Chapman)
Fred Haas (Conte)
Present curators
Curt Mangel
Sam Whitcraft
Architectural layout
A view of the string division.
The pipes are laid out across five floors, with the sections situated as follows:
2nd floor south – Main Pedal 32, Lower Swell, Great, Percussions
3rd floor south – Main Pedal, Chorus, Upper Swell, Choir/Enclosed Great, Solo, Vox Humana Chorus
4th floor south – String
4th floor west – Orchestral (adjacent to String)
7th floor south – Major Chimes, Ethereal
7th floor north – Echo
The 32 Wood Open, 32 Diaphone, and 32 Metal Diapason pipes run the length of a little more than 2 stories, beginning on the second floor.
Stoplist
Main Organ
I Choir
Double Dulciana
16
Dulciana
8
Open Diapason
8
Violin Diapason
8
Stopped Diapason
8
Concert Flute
8
Salicional
8
Quintadena
8
Vox Angelica
8
Vox Celeste
8
Keraulophone
8
Forest Flute
4
Salicet
4
Piccolo
2
Soft Cornet VI
Saxophone
16
Saxophone
8
English Horn
8
Clarinet
8
II Great
Unenclosed Great
Sub Principal
32
Contra Gamba
16
Double Diapason
16
Sub Quint
10 2/3
Diapason Phonon
8
Diapason Major
8
First Diapason
8
Second Diapason
8
Third Diapason
8
Fourth Diapason
8
Gamba (2 ranks)
8
Major Tibia
8
Mezzo Tibia
8
Minor Tibia
8
Double Flute
8
Nazard Flute (2 ranks)
8
Octave
4
Mixture VIII
Harmonic Trumpet
8
Enclosed Great
Covered Tibia
8
Harmonic Flute
8
Quint
5 1/3
Harmonic Flute
4
Principal
4
Tierce
3 1/5
Octave Quint
2
Super Octave
2
Mixture VII
Double Trumpet
16
Tuba
8
Trumpet
8
Harmonic Clarion
4
Great Chorus
Diapason Magna
8
Stentorphone
8
First Diapason
8
Second Diapason
8
Third Diapason
8
Major Flute
8
Double Flute
8
Gamba
8
Flute
4
Octave
4
Nazard
2 2/3
III Swell
Double Diapason
16
Soft Bourdon
16
Stentorphone
8
Horn Diapason
8
Violin Diapason
8
Bell Flute
8
Orchestral Flute
8
Harmonic Flute
8
Grand Flute (2 ranks)
8
Double Flute
8
Tibia Dura
8
Clarabella
8
Melodia
8
Soft Dulciana
8
Gamba Celeste (2 ranks)
8
Gamba
8
Quint Bourdon
5 1/3
Harmonic Flute (2 ranks)
4
First Octave
4
Second Octave
4
Nazard
2 2/3
Harmonic Piccolo
2
String Mixture V
Mixture VI
Bass Tuba
16
Bass Trombone
16
Contra Fagotto
16
Double Oboe Horn
16
Trombone
8
Tuba
8
Fagotto
8
Oboe
8
Trumpet
8
Horn
8
Bassett Horn
8
Clarinet
8
Clarinet (2 ranks)
8
Vox Humana (2 ranks)
8
Harmonic Clarion
4
Musette
4
Original String Division
Contra Bass
16
Violoncello
8
Viol
8
Viol
8
Viola
8
Quint Viol
5′ 1/3
Octave Viol
4
Violina
4
Tierce
3 1/5
Corroborating Mixture V
Viol Cornet IV
IV Solo
Double Open Diapason
16
Grand Viol
16
First Diapason
8
Second Diapason
8
Third Diapason
8
Violin Diapason
8
Viol
8
Viol
8
Harmonic Flute
8
Tierce Flute (2 ranks)
8
Chimney Flute
8
Clarabella
8
Gemshorn
8
Nazard Gamba (2 ranks)
8
Grand Gamba
8
Grand Gamba
8
Quintaphone
8
Quint Diapason
5 1/3
Octave
4
Harmonic Flute
4
Harmonic Tierce
3 1/5
Twelfth Harmonic
2 2/3
Piccolo Harmonic
2
Double Trumpet
16
Tuba
16
Trumpet
8
Soft Tuba
8
Cornopean
8
Ophicleide
8
Musette
8
Ophicleide
4
Soft Tuba
4
Grand Mixture VI
Mixture V
Mixture VI
Pedal
Gravissima
64
Contra Diaphone
32
Diaphone
16
First Contra Open Diapason
32
Second Contra Open Diapason
32
First Open Diapason
16
Second Open Diapason
16
Third Open Diapason
16
Open Diapason
8
Contra Bourdon
32
Bourdon
16
Soft Bourdon
16
Octave Soft Bourdon
8
Open Flute
16
Soft Flute
8
Flute
4
Violone
16
Gamba
16
Dulciana
16
Soft Dulciana
8
Open Quint
10 2/3
Stopped Quint
10 2/3
Stentor
8
Octave
8
First Tibia
8
Second Tibia
8
First Tibia
4
Second Tibia
4
First Cello
8
Second Cello
8
Principal
4
Octave
4
Mixture VII
Mixture VIII
Mixture VIII
Grand Mutation X
Contra Bombarde
32
Bombarde
16
Bombarde
8
Trombone
16
Tuba
16
Euphonium
16
Contra Fagotto
16
Octave Fagotto
8
Tromba
8
Clarion
4
Ethereal Organ
V Ethereal
Bourdon
16
First Open Diapason
8
Second Open Diapason
8
Clear Flute
8
Harmonic Flute
8
Double Flute
8
Quint Flute
8
Grand Gamba
8
Grand Gamba
8
Octavo
4
Harmonic Flute
4
Twelfth Harmonic
2
2/3
Harmonic Piccolo
2
Mixture IV
Tuba Profunda
16
Tuba Mirabilis
8
French Trumpet
8
Grand Clarinet
8
Post Horn
8
Tuba Clarion
4
VI Stentor
Cello 1 (String)
8
Cello 1 # (String)
8
Cello 1 (String)
8
Cello 2 (String)
8
Cello 2 # (String)
8
Cello 2 (String)
8
Nasard Gamba II (String)
8
Nasard Gamba II # (String)
8
Clear Flute (Ethereal)
8
Clear Flute (Ethereal)
4
Ethereal Pedal
Acoustic Bass
32
Diapason
16
Bombarde
16
Bombarde
8
Echo Organ
Echo (floating)
Bourdon
16
Open Diapason
8
Violin Diapason
8
Stopped Diapason
8
Night Horn
8
Clarabella
8
Melodia
8
Orchestral Viol
8
Soft Viol
8
Soft Viol
8
Unda Maris (2 ranks)
8
Open Quint
5 1/3
Octave
4
Harmonic Flute
4
Mellow Flute
4
Cornet Mixture V
Mixture VI
Double Trumpet
16
Trumpet
8
Capped Oboe
8
Euphone
8
Vox Humana
8
Echo Pedal
Open Diapason
16
Stopped Diapason
16
Orchestral Organ
Orchestral (floating)
Contra Quintadena
16
Duophone
8
Tibia
8
Covered Tibia
8
Concert Flute
8
Harmonic Flute
8
Mellow Flute
8
String Flute
8
Double Flute
8
Hollow Flute
8
Harmonic Flute
4
Orchestral Flute
4
Covered Flute
4
Octave
4
Harmonic Piccolo
2′
Super Octave
2′
English Horn
16
Bass Clarinet
16
Bass Saxophone
16
Bassoon
16
English Horn
8
Orchestral Clarinet
8
Orchestral Cromorne
8
Saxophone
8
Orchestral Bassoon
8
Bassett Horn
8
Oboe
8
Orchestral Oboe
8
Orchestral Trumpet
8
First French Horn
8
Second French Horn
8
Third French Horn
8
Kinura
8
Muted Cornet
8
Vox Humana Chorus (floating)
Vox Humana
16
First Vox Humana
8
Second Vox Humana
8
Third Vox Humana
8
Fourth Vox Humana
8
Fifth Vox Humana
8
Sixth Vox Humana
8
Seventh Vox Humana
8
Vox Humana Chorus Pedal
First Vox Humana
16
Second Vox Humana
16
String Organ
String (floating)
Violone
16
First Contra Gamba
16
Second Contra Gamba
16
First Contra Viol
16
Second Contra Viol
16
First Viol
16
Second Viol
16
Violin Diapason
8
Gamba
8
Nazard Gamba (2 ranks)
8
Nazard Gamba (2 ranks)
8
First ‘Cello
8
First ‘Cello #
8
First ‘Cello
8
Second ‘Cello
8
Second ‘Cello #
8
Second ‘Cello
8
First Orchestral Violin
8
First Orchestral Violin #
8
First Orchestral Violin
8
Second Orchestral Violin
8
Second Orchestral Violin #
8
Second Orchestral Violin
8
Third Orchestral Violin
8
Third Orchestral Violin #
8
Third Orchestral Violin
8
Fourth Orchestral Violin
8
Fourth Orchestral Violin #
8
Fourth Orchestral Violin
8
Fifth Orchestral Violin
8
Fifth Orchestral Violin #
8
Fifth Orchestral Violin
8
Sixth Orchestral Violin
8
Sixth Orchestral Violin #
8
Sixth Orchestral Violin
8
First Muted Violin
8
First Muted Violin #
8
First Muted Violin
8
Second Muted Violin
8
Second Muted Violin #
8
Second Muted Violin
8
String
Third Muted Violin
8
Third Muted Violin #
8
Third Muted Violin
8
Fourth Muted Violin
8
Fourth Muted Violin #
8
Fourth Muted Violin
8
Fifth Muted Violin
8
Fifth Muted Violin #
8
Fifth Muted Violin
8
Sixth Muted Violin
8
Sixth Muted Violin #
8
Sixth Muted Violin
8
First Dulciana
8
First Dulciana #
8
Second Dulciana
8
Second Dulciana #
8
Third Dulciana
8
Third Dulciana #
8
Fourth Dulciana
8
Fourth Dulciana #
8
Fifth Dulciana
8
Fifth Dulciana #
8
Sixth Dulciana
8
Sixth Dulciana #
8
Quint Viol
5′ 1/3
Quint Viol #
5′ 1/3
First Orchestral Violina
4
First Orchestral Violina #
4
Second Orchestral Violina
4
Second Orchestral Violina #
4
Tierce Viol
3′ 1/5
Tierce Viol #
3′ 1/5
Nazard Violina
2′ 2/3
Nazard Violina #
2′ 2/3
Super Violina
2′
Super Violina #
2′
First Octave Dulciana
4
First Octave Dulciana #
4
Second Octave Dulciana
4
Second Octave Dulciana #
4
Dulciana Mutation V
String Pedal
Contra Diaphone
32
Diaphone (ext)
16
Diaphone (ext)
8
Contra Gamba
32
Gamba (ext)
16
Gamba (ext)
8
First Violone
16
Second Violone
16
First Violone (ext)
8
Second Violone
8
Violone
4
Viol
16
Viol
16
Viol
8
Viol
8
Grand String Pedal Mixture XII
32
Mutation Diaphone
16
Mutation Viol
16
Mutation Viol10 2/3
Mutation Viol
8
Mutation Viol
5′ 1/3
Mutation Viol
4
Mutation Viol
2′ 2/3
Mutation Viol
2′
Mutation Viol
1′ 3/5
Mutation Viol
1′ 1/3
Mutation Viol
4/5
Percussion Division
Percussion
Major Chimes
C1
Minor Chimes
G
Metalophone
C2
Celeste
C2
Piano I
(prepared for)
Piano II
standard 88 notes
Harp I
tenor C2
Harp II
(prepared for)
Gongs
tenor C2
Crescendo Cymbal
Cymbalstar
See also
Philadelphia portal
John Wanamaker
Wanamaker’s Department Store
Notes and references
^ The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, has over 32,000 pipes, and four entries in the Guinness Book of World Records, but it is not functional. The Wanamaker Organ, however has approximately 92% of its pipes in working order, and work is progressing on the remaining 8%. The Wanamaker Organ also has more ranks and reputedly weighs nearly twice as much as the Boardwalk Hall Organ (287 tons).
^ a b c d Biswanger, Ray (1999). Music in the Marketplace: The Story of Philadelphia’s Historic Wanamaker Organ. The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Press. ISBN 0-9665552-0-1.
^ Los Angeles Times blog entry on construction of the organ in 1904
^ Whitney, Craig R. (2003). All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters. PublicAffairs New York. ISBN 1-58648-173-8.
^ The Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists lists all the stops on the organ, and mentions the unrealized Stentor division.
^ CRAIG R. WHITNEY (June 9, 2007). “Amid the Shirts and Socks, a Concert Can Break Out”. The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/09/arts/music/09orga.html/partner/rssnyt/?_r=1.
Biswanger, Ray (1999). Music in the Marketplace: The Story of Philadelphia’s Historic Wanamaker Organ. The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ Press. ISBN 0-9665552-0-1. </
External links
Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
Stoplist by “Friends of the Wanamaker Organ”
Pipe Dreams radio program, “Peter Conte and the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ”
http://theatreorgans.com/laird/top.pipe.organs.html
http://theatreorgans.com/pa/philly/WANN/index.HTM
Video of the Wanamaker Organ being played by Virgil Fox
All those informations in French
Coordinates: 395705 750944 / 39.9515N 75.1622W / 39.9515; -75.1622
Categories: Landmarks in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | Pipe organs | National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania
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