Salt Lake Tabernacle organ
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The Salt Lake Tabernacle organ is a pipe organ located in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah. It, along with the nearby Conference Center organ, is typically used to accompany the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
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[edit] Construction
The Tabernacle organ is considered to be one of the finest examples of the American Classic style of organ building.[2] Inspired by the design of the Boston Music Hall organ, the original organ was built in 1867 by Joseph Ridges, who came from Australia. Ridges' instrument contained 700 pipes and was constructed of materials native to the region as much as possible. The pipes of the organ are made of wood, zinc, and various alloys of tin and lead. When it was initially constructed, the organ had a tracker action and was powered by hand-pumped bellows; later it was powered by water from City Creek. Today it is powered by electricity and has an electro-pneumatic action.
Though the organ has been rebuilt and enlarged several times since 1867, the original casework and some of Ridges' pipes still remain in the organ today.[3] The current organ is largely the work of G. Donald Harrison of the former Aeolian-Skinner organ firm. It was completed in 1948, and contains 11,623 pipes, 147 voices (tone colors) and 206 ranks (rows of pipes).[3]
[edit] Uses
The organ often accompanies the Mormon Tabernacle Choir during its weekly radio and television broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. It also appears in other concerts, recitals, and in recordings.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used the organ to accompany music for its semiannual general conferences until April 2000, when the church opened its newly-constructed Conference Center (which has its own 7,708-pipe organ) across the street.
[edit] Organists
Tabernacle organists accompany the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in its performances and are responsible for the four organs on Temple Square. They also perform daily 30-minute recitals on the Tabernacle Organ. The choir has a staff of five professional organists:
- Clay Christiansen (senior organist)
- Richard Elliott
- Andrew Unsworth
- Bonnie Goodliffe (part-time)
- Linda Margetts (part-time)
Prior organists include:
- Alexander Schreiner (1938 - 1977)
- Robert Cundick (1965 - 1991)
- John Longhurst (1977 - 2007)
[edit] Guest artists of note
- 2007- Dame Gillian Weir
- 2007- Daniel Kerr BYU-Idaho Director of Organ Studies
[edit] References
- ^ Elson, Louis Charles (1904). The History of American Music: With Twelve Full Page Photogravures and One Hundred and Two Illustrations in the Text. New York: Macmillan Co., 188. OCLC 55551750.
- ^ Bethards, Jack: "The 1988 Renovation—A Builder's Perspective" The American Organist Vol. 22, no. 12 (December 1988), p. 71.
- ^ a b 11,623 Pipes: The Story of the Tabernacle Organ, Tabernacle Choir Website. Retrieved on September 28, 2007.
