Boardwalk Hall Organ
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The Boardwalk Hall Organ is a pipe organ in the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall (formerly known as the Atlantic City Convention Hall) in Atlantic City, New Jersey, built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company. It is usually called the "Main Auditorium Organ" to distinguish it from the Kimball Organ in the Ballroom of the Boardwalk Hall.
The Main Auditorium Organ is a theatre organ and has to fill the Main Auditorium, larger than 15 million cubic feet, and therefore requires high wind pressure. Entire divisions stand on 20 - 35" of wind pressure, which in itself is already more than 6 - 10 times the normal pressure for an organ stop. The organ has four entries in The Guinness Book of World Records, and holds several records in the organ world.
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[edit] Construction and layout
Construction of the organ took place between May, 1929 and December, 1932. The organ was designed by state senator Emerson L. Richards, and was built by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company of Merrick, New York. Most of the pipes were built by Midmer-Losh, but it is known that some special reed stops (e.g. Brass Trumpet, Egyptian Horn, Euphone, Musette Mirabilis) were made by Anton Gottfried. The German firm of Welte provided the Bassoon with papier-mâché resonators [1] and wooden Tuba d'Amour for the Echo division.
The organ is built around the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall. It is divided in 8 chambers:
| Left Stage Pedal Left, Unenclosed Choir Swell, String I Swell-Choir |
Stage | Right Stage Pedal Right, Great, Solo Great-Solo (Flutes) Great-Solo (Reeds) |
||
| Left Forward Choir Percussion |
Right Forward Brass Chorus String II |
|||
| Left Centre Gallery III (Diaph's) Gallery II (Orch) |
Left Upper Fanfare String III |
The Upper chambers are located above the Centre chambers | Right Upper Echo |
Right Centre Gallery I (Reeds) Gallery II (Flutes) |
The current lay-out was actually the third design. The first design was to house 43,000 pipes in six chambers (All mentioned above without the Upper chambers), but space and finances became a problem. The numbers of pipes was then reduced to 29,000. Later, when the Upper Chambers were built, some stops from the original plan were reinstated, raising the numbers of pipes to the present (official, see below) number of 33,114.
[edit] Records
The organ has been recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest pipe organ, the largest musical instrument and the loudest musical instrument ever constructed.
Officially, the organ has 33,114 pipes, but the exact number of pipes is unknown. Even though the organ has had many inspections over the years, including a recent restoration estimate, the pipes have never been counted. Experts believe the actual number of pipes is closer to 32,000+ pipes, based on facts such as the Major Posaune containing only 44 pipes instead of the planned 85, and some duplicate percussions not being installed. However, claims that entire stops were omitted have not been proven. It is very hard to determine exactly how many pipes the organ has, seeing the condition the organ is in (see below).
The organ is the only in the world to have stops standing on 100" wind pressure, and one of three organs in the world with stops on 50" windpressure. 100" windpressure (equivalent to 2,500 mm waterpressure or 0.25 bars) is about 30 times more than a normal organ stop (even high-pressure stops usually only stand on 10-12"). The organ has four stops on 100" (also known as the Big Reeds) and ten stops on 50" windpressure:
100" windpressure:
| Stop | Division |
|---|---|
| Grand Ophicleide 16' | Pedal Right |
| Tuba Imperial 8' | Solo |
| Trumpet Mirabilis 16' | Gallery I |
| Tuba Maxima 8' | Gallery I |
50" windpressure:
| Stop | Division |
|---|---|
| Diaphone 32' | Pedal Left |
| Tuba Magna 16' | Solo |
| Bugle 8' | Solo |
| Bombard 32' | Pedal Left |
| Major Posaune 16' | Pedal Left |
| Diaphone Phonon 16' | Pedal Right |
| Posaune 16' | Fanfare |
| Harmonic Tuba 8' | Fanfare |
| Ophicleide 8' | Fanfare |
| Major Clarion 4' | Fanfare |
Apart from the aforementioned stops on record windpressure, almost every division stands on at least 15" windpressure, except for the Choir which stands on 10", and the Unenclosed Choir stands on 3", which is about the normal windpressure for an organ stop. Also, some individual stops stand on lower windpressure, for example the Diapason X of the Great division stands on only 4".
The Grand Ophicleide 16' mentioned above is recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as the loudest organ stop in the world. It is described as having "a pure trumpet note of ear-splitting volume, more than six times the volume of the loudest locomotive whistle". Rumor has it that Dennis McGurk, the former organ curator, always warned the people on stage when the Grand Ophicleide or one of the other 100" stops were going to be used, because of the sheer volume.
The organs wind supply is the most powerful ever used in an organ. The DC motors for the original eight blowers had a total power of 394 horsepower. These were replaced with AC motors in the early 1990s, which have a total of 600 HP and their seven blowers produce 36,400 cubic feet of wind per minute. The Right Stage chamber has two blowers, a 50" blower and a low pressure blower. The Left Stage chamber also has a 50" and low-pressure blower. The Left Centre chamber and Upper chamber share one blower, as these chambers don't need a lot of windpressure. The same is true for the Right Centre and Upper chambers. There is also an extra powerful compressor located behind the Right Stage chamber, which provides wind for the 100" stops.
The organ possesses one of only two full-length 64' stops in the world, which is also the only 64' Diaphone, the Diaphone-Dulzian (also called Diaphone Profunda) in the Pedal Right division. Its low C pipe stands 20 metres (64' 9") tall, and is not bent or twisted at all, it stands upright, as this picture shows. It is voiced on 35" windpressure, so the sound will not be drowned out by the 50" pedal stops and the manual divisions of the organ. Although some notes this stop produces cannot be heard - the low C has a frequency of 8 Hertz - they do add to the sound of the organ. Also, the vibrations can easily be felt, especially if one is close to the Right Stage chamber.
(The other 64' stop in the world, the Contra-Trombone in the organ of Sydney Town Hall, is the world's only full-length 64' reed.)
Also, the Diaphone-Dulzian rank spans from note C3 to note g2, which means that it is extended so far that Diaphone-Dulzian stops including 64', 422/3', 32', 211/3', 16', 102/3', 8' and 4' can be drawn from the same rank. No extension rank in the world spans that far.
A 32' stop is necessary for large organs to provide enough power in the pedal, but even very large organs only have two or three, as 32' pipes are very large (up to 10 metres), and expensive. The Main Auditorium organ has nine 32' stops, to provide all the power needed in the pedal (together with the 64' Diaphone-Dulzian), to balance out the sound of the manual stops. The 32' stops are:
| Stop | Division |
|---|---|
| Tibia Clausa 32' | Pedal Right |
| Bombardon 32' | Pedal Right |
| Diaphone 32' | Pedal Left |
| Diapason 32' | Pedal Left |
| Bombard 32' | Pedal Left |
| Fagotto 32' | Pedal Left |
| Diapason 32' | Pedal Left |
| Sub Principal 32' | Great |
| Trombone 32' | Fanfare |
[edit] Console
The organ's console is the biggest in the world. It has 1,235 stop tabs controlling 587 flue stops, 265 reed stops, 35 melodic percussions, 46 non-melodic percussions, 164 couplers, 18 tremolos, and 120 swell pedal selectors for the 7 swell pedals controlling 15 swell boxes. The console is also the only one in the world with 7 manuals, of which the lower ones have been extended to 6 and even 7 octaves, opposed to the normal 5. The manuals from top to bottom are:
| VII | Bombard | 5 Octaves, 61 Notes, CC to c4 |
| VI | Echo | 5 Octaves, 61 Notes, CC to c4 |
| V | Fanfare | 5 Octaves, 61 Notes, CC to c4 |
| IV | Solo | 5 Octaves, 61 Notes, CC to c4 |
| III | Swell | 6 Octaves, 73 Notes, GGG to g4 |
| II | Great | 7 Octaves, 85 Notes, CCC to c5 |
| I | Choir | 7 Octaves, 85 Notes, CCC to c5 |
The Great and Choir manuals have both been enlarged to seven octaves so that specially extended stops in the pedal can be played throughout the 85 note compass of both manuals. These stops can be selected in two special divisions in the right stopjamb. The Grand Great (for the Great Manual) controls stops from the Pedal Right and the Grand Choir (for the Choir Manual) controls stops from the Pedal Left. For example, the Grand Ophicleide 16' can be played from the footboard, but also from the Great manual through the Grand Great.
Also, some divisions are playable on two manuals. For example, the Choir-Swell division is usually played from the Choir manual, but it has been duplexed so it can be played from the Swell manual as the Swell-Choir. The same is true for the Great-Solo, which is usually played from the Great manual, but can also be played as the Solo-Great from the Solo manual.
[edit] Current state
Unfortunately, the organ has declined and is now in poor condition, and is only partially functional.
The remote combination action, which is housed in the building's basement, was flooded due to a hurricane in 1944, and has been unusable ever since. The upper chambers (Fanfare, Echo, and String III divisions) are inaccessible due to the presence of asbestos, and the Gallery chambers have suffered water damage due to roof leaks.
Because of this, and the overall decline of the rest of the organ due to lack of repairs, the organ hasn't been playable for a long time. There isn't enough money to employ three required technicians to provide the constant required maintenance, let alone to restore the organ to its original state. [2]
However, in September 1998, a part of the organ (the Right Stage chamber) was restored to playable condition. Afterwards, a recording session took place, which captured the organs recordholders (the 64' Diaphone-Dulzian, and the 100" Tuba Imperial and Grand Ophicleide).
This was made possible by a $1.17 million grant from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which was used to return the Right Stage Chamber of the Main Auditorium organ and the entire Ballroom (Kimball) Organ to playable condition. The five-manual portable console will also be restored with new digital technology which will allow full interface with the Main Auditorium organ.
However, this still means that of the eight organ chambers, only one can produce sound. The organisation in charge of the organ, ACCHOS (Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society), is still looking for ways to raise the funds necessary to restore the entire Auditorium organ.
[edit] Largest organ debate
It has been debated that the Wanamaker organ is bigger than the Auditorium organ. The Wanamaker organ has more ranks (462 opposed to 449 of the Auditorium organ) and weighs almost twice as much (287 tons opposed to the 150 tons of the Auditorium organ).
The Auditorium organ on the other hand, has almost 5,000 more pipes and has three entries in The Guinness Book of World Records. Because the Auditorium organ has these entries, the Wanamaker organ is usually called "the largest operational pipe organ in the world" as the Auditorium isn't entirely playable (see Current State above). The Wanamaker organ is entirely playable, and in very good condition, as it has been restored very recently.
[edit] References
- ^ http://www.acchos.org/html/introduction/highlights.html
- ^ http://www.atos.org/Pages/Journal/AC_ConventionHall/AC_ConventionHall.html
