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Largest organ in Europe, not in a church

voxhumana

New member
Good morning!
I'm trying to know wich is, in Europe, the largest organ in a concert hall. Some body knows?
Thanks.
 

dll927

New member
I can't answer offhand, but if you put your question into a search engine (Google?), you should get an answer. Or simply put "largest pipe organs in Europe" and that should take care of it.
 
marval

marval

New member
Hello, welcome to the forum.

I can't answer your question, but do try looking it up on the internet.


Margaret
 
Dorsetmike

Dorsetmike

Member
According to Wiki
  • The largest full mechanical organ in Europe is the main organ of the Laurenskerk Rotterdam (Netherlands) it has 85 stops and more than 7600 pipes and was build by Marcussen & Søn.
  • The Liverpool Cathedral Grand Organ is the largest pipe organ in the United Kingdom, with 10,268 pies.[7] It was built by Henry Willis & Sons, who also built the Royal Albert Hall Organ, the second largest in the United Kingdom.
  • The organs of the Duomo di Milano (Milan Cathedral). Their history begins in 1395 (the builder was Martino de' Stremidi), and the organs were repeatedly remodelled during subsequent centuries by major Italian builders including Valvassori, Antegnati, Serassi, and Tamburini, as well as some non-Italians such as Bernard d'Allemagna. The golden decoration dates from the 16th century. In 1986 the pipes, numbering about 16,000, were reorganised into two cases (north and south) with one console.
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smilingvox

New member
I just got the Priory recording of the Milano organ. Fun to listen to. The strings are gorgeous, beautiful Oboe and flutes, but the 32' Controbombardo, to my ears, had no impact. It just purrs. More like a Dulzian.
 

smilingvox

New member
Contratrombone64 said:
So Royal Albert Hall wins, yes?
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Very likely. In RAH's case, it's the volume. If there's another organ with more pipes, I don't think it's as powerful. Great Britain is probably the only place in Europe that has wind pressures that high. That has big tubas and other big chorus reeds. The organ at the RAH has these and big diapasons, and is the largest in a secular building within GB.

This organ gets my vote.
 

dll927

New member
Somewhere in an off-the-path place in Spain there is a six-manual job, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's the largest. Some builders seem to have a way of spreading the ranks and stops rather thinly among the divisions.

Which brings up the fact that most Cavaille-Coll organs had rather small pedal divisions. Even St. Sulpice has twelve pedal stops, out of something like 103. They must depend on the "tirasses", or manual-to-pedal couplers. Of course, the big pedal pipes tend to cost the most, and take up the most space, so all that is understandable. But we all know that ideas about organ building change over time.
 
Corno Dolce

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi smilingvox,

If I may, please let me share that the hyper-symphonic organ in Liverpool Anglican Cathedral has a Tuba and a Trompette Militaire on 50" W.P. Also, the 32' Bombarde there is on 30" W.P. So, RAH has some competition after all :grin::grin::grin:

Cheers,

CD :tiphat::tiphat::tiphat:

Ps: Remember also that its not only wind pressure but also quantity of wind which figures into the *performance* of the pipe - Among other things.............
 

smilingvox

New member
Corno Dolce said:
Hi smilingvox,



Ps: Remember also that its not only wind pressure but also quantity of wind which figures into the *performance* of the pipe - Among other things.............
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Right you are. One thing that comes to mind is the Lewis at St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

Its 32' Double Diapason is on only 2 or 2 1/2 inches, but it is very full and penetrating. This would have to be due to a copious amount of wind hitting the windway at one time.

Thomas Lewis normally used light wind compared to what the Willises used.
 
Dorsetmike

Dorsetmike

Member
Compared the Stockholm organ against the RAH, RAH definitely wins on number of stops 147 v Stockholm's 135, but Stockholm wins on number of pipes, Stockholm 10,217, RAH 9,997.

Which is the ultimate criteria, stops or pipes?
 
Corno Dolce

Corno Dolce

Admiral Honkenwheezenpooferspieler
Hi Dorsetmike,

I love your question as to what is the ultimate criteria. Imho, a stopname is more or less a nomenclature used to describe the character of the rank's sound which the organ builder has in mind at the time of the instrument's conception, design, building, and finishing. It can be often subject to change.

Most organists and keen organ music aficionados know that through duplexing and borrowing you can get *LOTS* of stops from relatively few ranks. Sizewise, the amount of pipes and ranks is more informative. But an even finer discriminant can be how well a rank of pipes is voiced and finished. A relatively small but excellently voiced organ can give greater joy than a leviathan whose pipe divisions are nothing but trash in re to voicing.

Maybe my few cents worth could help to clarify the thread somewhat...;););)

Cheers,

CD :tiphat::tiphat::tiphat:
 
Contratrombone64

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
Corno - wise words indeed. Perfect example is the tiny two manual Lewis organ at my work place (Pymble Ladies' College, Sydney). It is exquisitely voice, there's no borrowing and it roars when in pleno. I must find out how many pipes there are, next time I venture inside I think I'll do a count.
 
Contratrombone64

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
smilingvox said:
Right you are. One thing that comes to mind is the Lewis at St. Paul's Cathedral, Melbourne.

Thomas Lewis normally used light wind compared to what the Willises used.
Click to expand...


An that's a fine instrument, too. I play it's little sister quite often at Pymble Ladies' College, in Sydney. Lewis made five organs for Australia, only three survive, can't remember where the third one is...
 
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