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Tallest pipe organ in PIPE SIZE?

SilverLuna

New member
Hi, pipe organ fans from all around the world! :D
I'm a newbie, so glad to meet you all. ^^

But I've been looking around the web trying to find the tallest pipe organ in the world, but i always come up with the Wanamaker organ in Philidelphia (sp?)!! I know it's the largest in ranks numbers (http://www.theatreorgans.com/laird/top.pipe.organs.html), but is there one with the tallest pipes? I hope i make sense D:

Thank you for your time in helping me!
~Silver
 
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Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
64 feet. One such rank is the wood Contratrombone at Sydney Town Hall organ in Australia.

Wanamaker organ does not have a 64' rank ... rather a 'resultant' that usually comprises two ranks, 32' and a 10 2/3' which play together.
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
:O Ohh..... hehe I'm not a Wanamaker player, but that's good to know! Thanks! :)

Regarding the Wanamaker, I haven't (yet) played it either. To date, the largest instrument I've ever played was the Mormon Tabernacle Organ back in the 70's. Another instrument I truly enjoyed playing was the 4 manual at St. Peter's in Rome while on tour there in 1992.
 

dll927

New member
Speaking of the MormonTabernacle organ, I once had a neighbor who had supposedly majored in organ. She said that on a visit to the Tabernacle, back in Alexander Schreiner's day, he let her try out the organ. She proceded to play "Twelfth Street Rag", and he was not appreciative.

Interestingly, it was not until the 1989 or so updating that the organ had any reeds on the great division. Why that was, I don't know, but I have a stop list from before that, and there is not sign of any reed on the Great.

As for such animals as Wanamaker, Cadet Chapel, or First Congregational L.A., I sometimes wonder what point there is to such huge instruments. Inevitably, there has to be a lot of repeat tone quality, even if it is in various divisions. And there is only so much you can play at one time without ruining every listener's hearing. I have been to FCCLA lots of times, and it doesn't take long before the place is shaking, and with that building, that takes some doing.

Can you really hear a 64' pipe, or is it just there for reputation?
 

acc

Member
As far as I know, there are only two full-length 64' pipes in the world: the Contra-Trombone in the Sydney Town Hall (already mentioned by Krummhorn) and the Diaphone in the Atlantic City Convention Hall.

Another question would be this: what would be the largest organ if you calculate the sum of the lengths of all of its pipes?
 

SilverLuna

New member
About the MT organ-- I've seen that organ before, it's a great instrument! I play the organ in a Mormon church (even though I'm not Moromon, they're nice enough to let me play) also. But i really like the Hazel Wright organ at the Crystal Cathedral. Now THAT thing is huuuuuuuuuge D: and the sound is just amazing!! :D :D And it's located in 4 diffrent parts of the place!

Ok, so 64' is the limit? Becase i saw a 'fake' joke on YouTube about a 128' stop?! But that would be utterly pointless and all you would here is throbs of air ging through it.. no sound D: But that's the part when you feel it. It also adds much greatness to full organ.
Hey yeah that would be another great question-- lots and lots of reserch! :D
Thanks everyone!
~Silver
 
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Frederik Magle

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Regulator
Can you really hear a 64' pipe, or is it just there for reputation?

You can't hear the ground tone, on C it produces 8 Hz, and the lower limit for humans is 16-20Hz, so you may not even be able to hear the first harmonic. However, you will be able to hear higher harmonics - especially in a reed voice. But really, it's more about "feeling" than hearing. I haven't been to either Sydney Town Hall or Atlantic City yet, but I'm told from someone who visited AC you really can "feel" it, so I guess it has some use - at least in mammoth organs like that.

Ok, so 64' is the limit? Becase i saw a 'fake' joke on YouTube about a 128' stop?! But that would be utterly pointless and all you would here is throbs of air going through it.. no sound D: But that's the part when you feel it. It also adds much greatness to full organ.
Hey yeah that would be another great question-- lots and lots of reserch! :D
Thanks everyone!
~Silver

A 128' pipe could be build, but as your say yourself it would be utterly pointless. A 64's ground tone is already at least one octave below the limit to what we can hear - so what matters is the feel. And I don't think a 128' will feel much better than a 64' :)
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
Having played the Sydney Town Hall monster I agree, the lowest seven semitones (C to F#) are thunder rather than audible sound. And they do make a tremendous impression when coupled with the full organ ... not so nice when played alone
 

Analogicus

Member
To return to the question posed in this thread, the resonators of the Sydney 64' stop fold back once or twice, so that makes them irrelevant. However, the longest pipes in the imposing case are 32 feet long (plus a little), so that should be relevant.
On the other hand, the Sydney case does not have departments mounted vertically in-line. While certainly high, the huge case is spread horizontally more than vertically.

Analogicus
 

SilverLuna

New member
Like Washington Cathedral's organ's Open Wood pipes. They're huuuuuge and they sit horizontally on the floor! :O I've never seen pipes they lay on the floor, obviously xP

And that's cathedral must be quite huge.......... Oo
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Once was involved in removing an theater organ from an auditorium years ago. The 32' pedal pipes were horizontally mounted in the proscenium arch high above the stage. Made for a very time consuming task removing those.
 

Soubasse

New member
Once was involved in removing an theater organ from an auditorium years ago. The 32' pedal pipes were horizontally mounted in the proscenium arch high above the stage. Made for a very time consuming task removing those.

Interesting you should post that as I've recently come from playing for some graduation ceremonies at one of our larger theatre venues wherein is housed the largest (I think it still is) moveable mechanical action organ. Sadly, it's a godawful example of a late 70s Rieger (voicing is really dreadful) so it's not much to boast about. The only time you can use the 32' ranks (1 flue and 1 reed) is when the instrument is moved onto the stage. These ranks are (as mentioned above) also mounted horizontally in the ceiling of the auditorium. Apparently they have a decent effect from the audience perspective, but you'd never know at the console because you can't hear them from there.

Back on topic (partly) - my lasting impression of the Sydney Town Hall megathyrium's 64' reed was definitely one of a percussive effect rather than a melodic one. In fact, I did on one occasion hear a theatre organist use it as a bass drum - a quick tap on the lowest notes of the pedal board with the 64' drawn was enough for a single "thwack" of the reed!
 

Krummhorn

Administrator
Staff member
ADMINISTRATOR
Finally found it ... a sound sample of the STH 64' rank by itself that someone sent me years ago.

Seems one member here a couple years ago commented on this sound being akin to "the flatulence of an elephant" ... to each their own :rolleyes:

Here it is - the last two octaves in a descending c major scale:
 

dll927

New member
A couple of comments:

SilverLuna -- However far out the Mormons may be theologically (I've always thought John Smith and Mary Baker Eddy would have been locked up in a 'funny farm' if they had lived 100 years later), They seem to be known for being pretty tolerant of other peoples' beliefs. At least a couple of their organists have been employed in other churches, and I sort of wonder if their newest one (Unsworth) is a recent convert.

About 64' pipes -- would reed pipes need to be that size? Reed pipes have a different form than flue pipes, so length isn't quite what it would seem. As for putting pipes horizontally, I don't see why that wouldn't work with pipes that size, especially if they are wood - it would be pretty thick, anyway.

Doubling pipes back on themselves is known as 'mitering', and I've seen those in a couple of organs. Sometimes if height is a problem, there's not much choice. They look a little weird, but they work. If you're going to put in tall pipes, you'd better figure on that when the building is built!! True, in a lot of churches there never was a problem, but the proportions of French cathedrals aren't used everywhere.
 

Contratrombone64

Admiral of Fugues
dll927

Thanks for bringing up mitering as an option for reducing the actual space needed (vertically) for pipes. I read about this in a tome I own, and it explained, in far too technical terms for a dolt such as me, that there is a point where the resultant overtones and harmonicds are not workable if the mitering begins too early up the length of the pipe.

There is a classic example, and ugly in my opinion, of mitering on the pedal 16' Trombone on Christ church St. Laurence's marvellous organ. You can actually see it if you stand up against the northern end of the southern wall and look (lovingly) up into the back of the side of the organ case. Looks like a piece of oil refinery piping to me.
 

SilverLuna

New member
That also leads to another question-- what's the ungliest looking pipe? xD

No, but another one I'm curious about is the tallest organ in overall hieght. I remember a few years ago i found one somewhere in the UK, with an organ about as tall as a 5-story building, but i can't find it anymorez!!! D:
 
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