The largest pipe organ in the world!?!

[Corno Dolce]

Aloha dll927,

Now I must fully disclose - I have no *inside knowlege* of what caused Mr. Baicchi's demise - I simply don't know - It was a guesstimation on my part only. There is a whole host of maladies that he could have fallen victim to - My prayers go out to his family as they struggle to manage a life without their loved one.

God only knows that some of His disciples(Schuller, Roberts, Kennedy, Hinn, et al) can be more than a handful Alot of those ladies who sent $50/month believed in Schuller's message and loved his charisma. Of course, television ministry is very expensive. But now with *streaming broadcasts* over the net it all of a sudden becomes alot cheaper. The ladies sent their money freely as they are entitled to do. I am familiar with the Crystal Palace but not to the extent that our dear GrandMaster Krummhorn is.

Lets see here now - How to get back ON TOPIC

Well, there are those big ones in Europe like Passau Cathedral which has pipework put in other areas of the Cathedral - Wow, to get all of that sounding together in a relative state of tune

And then I think about my place of employ with a Walker Digital that has all the speakers, subwoofers included, firing downward from their lofty perch some 77 feet above the floor and how it *bathes* the room in *surround sound* - And if Washington National Cathedral ever gets the Casavant/Dobson machine installed at either end - It should be theoretically possible just to take the existing pipework and put half of it under the rose window and the other half at the other end of the Cathedral - Maybe that would give them *surround sound* at a fraction of the price of new instruments.......

My $1.3579 cents worth...

[Krummhorn]

. . . BTW, Schuller's daughter notwithstanding, there is another building with a rather large pipe organ in it - I think a four-decker.

Yes, that building is the "Arboretum" I mentioned above. It is also called the Frederick Swann Organ, possibly donated by him to the church.
The Aoelian Skinner is a IV/82 with 6 additional digital voices. It was built in 1951.

Swann was director of music and organist there for 16 years (1982-1998).

[dll927]

After he left, there was some static about him sort of "dissing" the main organ in the glass house. I'm not sure just what he had to say, but after he left he spent about three years at 1st Congregational.

By this point in time, Swann would be pushing 80, so he's no spring chicken any more. He supposedly retired from church work, but now lives out in the dessert someplace.

[Krummhorn]

Swann is 78 ... lives in Palm Desert, CA. More info here.

He will be one of the featured recital organists at the AGO Regional Convention in Phoenix (AZ) in June this year.

[tjndb]

Same added notes:

I read the other day that Peter Baicchi, once the associate organist at the Crystal Cathedral, died last year at the age of 38. Rather curious. Could he have been the same type as Lloyd Holzgraf, the long-time organist at First Congregational, who was known for liking the guys?

As a very close friend of Peter there is nothing curious about his untimely death. Peter developed a brain lesion that was inoperable. It took his life after becoming progressively worse. The rest of your question doesn't dignify a response.

[dll927]

I'm pleased to have that information. I remember Peter playing when he was there, and I agree that he passed away far too young.

I remember once watching the TV broadcast, and Swann and Biacchi did a rolicking rendition of Gigout's "Grand Choeur Dialogue". I'm sure some of those panes of glass rattled a little. Swann was at the main console and Peter at the one up in the gallery. Quite impressive, even for TV sound.

As for the rest of my question, I am casting NO aspersions on Peter. But with Holzgraf, when he died in 2001, his "companion" was quite prominently mentioned in his obituary. I was not aware of that until he died, but so be it.