6 ms·

World's largest functioning musical instrument: Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia

84 points by bookofjoe 11mo ago

dmwood 11mo ago
A trip to Wanamakers at Christmas (including eating in the top-floor restaurant and listening to scheduled organ concerts) was a treasured fixture of my childhood in the late 50s and early 60s. If I remember correctly, there was a monorail-like tram that ran around the periphery of the toy department too. Christmas lights festooned the facade of the organ.
- myvoiceismypass 10mo ago
  The Wanamakers Christmas Light Show was so fun, always loved going to that with my family as a kid in the 80s!
- gerdesj 10mo ago
  That beast must surely require an orangutan to play it properly! Six manuals and the rest means that you don't exactly play it, more like you dance on it. Whacking out something complicated, written by Bach, on that thing is going to raise a serious sweat and I hope no one has ever tried to play "The flight of the bumblebee" without getting into peak physical condition first. Does it have a stop labeled "Vox Dei"?
  - Metacelsus 10mo ago
    at least it wasn't designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson!
QuesnayJr 11mo ago
It was sad to read that the store has closed (though they still managed to do some seasonal events with the organ).
- wcunning 10mo ago
  The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ society is doing work with the new owners towards preservation. I doubt it's going anywhere, but concerts will be sporadic for a while.
abhinavb05 10mo ago
oldest instrument https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXZzB5bUAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXZzB5bUAo
0xbadcafebee 10mo ago
The Wanamaker building is fascinating. Around Christmas time, they'd turn the 3rd floor into a sort of model Dickensian village to walk through. There's a small chapel with original stained glass by Tiffany, and a wood-paneled ballroom of sorts with ornate ceilings and electric lamps by the original Edison company that are still operating. There's a large room in Egyptian-revival architecture used for fashion shows, and a chandelier-lined ornate grand ballroom with glass atrium that can seat 1,000 people. There also used to be a complete model house you could walk through, and a functional monorail to bring kids around the toy department floor.
hamonrye 10mo ago
Percentage was shifted to the Carter Hawley Hale and The May Department Stores, as well as Lord & Taylor. John Wanamaker purchases the organ to move it to 13th and Market, which took a series of freight cars to transport.
analog8374 10mo ago
I've sang into a canyon, did a duet with myself, big canyon. Just saying.
Aboutplants 10mo ago
I thought this would be about the Luray Cavern’s Great Stalacpipe Organ. “The Great Stalacpipe Organ is an electrically actuated lithophone located in Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA. Covering 3.5 acres of the cavern, it is considered the world's largest instrument by Guinness World Records.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ A great place to visit btw
conradev 10mo ago
There is a nice co-working space in the Wanamaker building if you need an excuse to visit: https://www.mindspace.me/philadelphia/wanamaker/ https://www.mindspace.me/philadelphia/wanamaker/
jpb0104 10mo ago
If you liked this post... enjoy: Pipe Organ (An instrument the size of a building) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To
- stevenjgarner 10mo ago
  Also "Full tour of Largest Organ in the World! (Boardwalk Hall)"[1], the pipe organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyUwk6L9lA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyUwk6L9lA
ajdude 10mo ago
I've been going here almost every year my entire life, most recently this past December when I got to hear the Oregon play in a concert. In December they also have a huge light show featuring the organ and a very cool Charles Dickens walk-through village.
harel 10mo ago
And I naively assumed the one at the Royal Albert Hall in London is pretty big...
TheRealPomax 10mo ago
Calling an organ "an instrument" is like calling an entire orchestra "an instrument". You kind of hit the "what does instrument even mean" wall very, very hard: an organ this size is a control surface for 1000+ instruments.
- IAmGraydon 10mo ago
  This is extremely far-fetched. Would you call a piano a control surface for 88 instruments? No, you wouldn't. An individual pipe from a pipe organ is pretty useless on its own as it can only create one note, just like a piano string.
  - TheRealPomax 10mo ago
    It sounds like you don't actually know how a real organ works, which literally has different instrument groups all over the place behind the walls, with your stops controlling which instruments sound out, and your separate decks giving you additional control over which sections to play. You'll want to give https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To a watch, where Rob Scallon takes us on a trip to discover how incredible these instruments are, and should highlight just how little an organ is like a piano (not even "four pianos") and how much it really is an entire orchestra.
JKCalhoun 10mo ago
It looks like it has a 64' pipe labeled "Gravissima". I know only how pipe organs work mechanically, not the terminology (Google translate thought Gravissima was Italian—translated to "Very Serious" in English, ha ha). Those low frequencies though are the draw for me. The lowest frequency I have come across in pop music might be the backing organ from the song "Prologue" on ELO's album Time. I had the vinyl in the day… One wonders: even with RIAA bass compensation, I suspect it might have been close to jumping the needle out of the groove.
perfmode 10mo ago
[dead]
lemming 10mo ago
This is not the largest in the world but it is enormous, and is also amazing for having been built by a 15-year old to answer the question: "When I was 14 I asked my piano teacher how long a bass a string would need to be if it had no copper on it at all". I love this follow-up quote: "I think because I was so young I absolutely knew it was totally possible to do, I was fully determined and without consulting any professionals I had no barrier stopping me." https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/page/the-alexander-piano https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/page/the-alexander-piano There's also something quintessentially New Zealand about the whole story - making it in a mate's garage, and then moving the project to a farm tractor shed when it got too big and the inaugural concert that looks like it's still in the same shed, the photo of the tractor moving it for the outdoor concert...
IAmGraydon 10mo ago
Afraid not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ
tmnvix 10mo ago
Can't see it described as the world's biggest instrument on the wiki page - only the biggest pipe organ. Is it really bigger than the biggest carillon?
MathMonkeyMan 10mo ago
> The display pipes of the Wanamaker Organ. These pipes are decorative only. The pipes that sound are behind and above them. :( Still an impressive object.

84 points by bookofjoe 11mo ago

dmwood 11mo ago

A trip to Wanamakers at Christmas (including eating in the top-floor restaurant and listening to scheduled organ concerts) was a treasured fixture of my childhood in the late 50s and early 60s. If I remember correctly, there was a monorail-like tram that ran around the periphery of the toy department too. Christmas lights festooned the facade of the organ.

myvoiceismypass 10mo ago
The Wanamakers Christmas Light Show was so fun, always loved going to that with my family as a kid in the 80s!
gerdesj 10mo ago
That beast must surely require an orangutan to play it properly! Six manuals and the rest means that you don't exactly play it, more like you dance on it. Whacking out something complicated, written by Bach, on that thing is going to raise a serious sweat and I hope no one has ever tried to play "The flight of the bumblebee" without getting into peak physical condition first. Does it have a stop labeled "Vox Dei"?
- Metacelsus 10mo ago
  at least it wasn't designed by Bloody Stupid Johnson!

QuesnayJr 11mo ago

It was sad to read that the store has closed (though they still managed to do some seasonal events with the organ).

wcunning 10mo ago
The Friends of the Wanamaker Organ society is doing work with the new owners towards preservation. I doubt it's going anywhere, but concerts will be sporadic for a while.

abhinavb05 10mo ago

oldest instrument https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXZzB5bUAo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rjXZzB5bUAo

0xbadcafebee 10mo ago

The Wanamaker building is fascinating. Around Christmas time, they'd turn the 3rd floor into a sort of model Dickensian village to walk through. There's a small chapel with original stained glass by Tiffany, and a wood-paneled ballroom of sorts with ornate ceilings and electric lamps by the original Edison company that are still operating. There's a large room in Egyptian-revival architecture used for fashion shows, and a chandelier-lined ornate grand ballroom with glass atrium that can seat 1,000 people. There also used to be a complete model house you could walk through, and a functional monorail to bring kids around the toy department floor.

hamonrye 10mo ago

Percentage was shifted to the Carter Hawley Hale and The May Department Stores, as well as Lord & Taylor. John Wanamaker purchases the organ to move it to 13th and Market, which took a series of freight cars to transport.

analog8374 10mo ago

I've sang into a canyon, did a duet with myself, big canyon. Just saying.

Aboutplants 10mo ago

I thought this would be about the Luray Cavern’s Great Stalacpipe Organ. “The Great Stalacpipe Organ is an electrically actuated lithophone located in Luray Caverns, Virginia, USA. Covering 3.5 acres of the cavern, it is considered the world's largest instrument by Guinness World Records.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ A great place to visit btw

conradev 10mo ago

There is a nice co-working space in the Wanamaker building if you need an excuse to visit: https://www.mindspace.me/philadelphia/wanamaker/ https://www.mindspace.me/philadelphia/wanamaker/

jpb0104 10mo ago

If you liked this post... enjoy: Pipe Organ (An instrument the size of a building) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To

stevenjgarner 10mo ago
Also "Full tour of Largest Organ in the World! (Boardwalk Hall)"[1], the pipe organ at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyUwk6L9lA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJyUwk6L9lA

ajdude 10mo ago

I've been going here almost every year my entire life, most recently this past December when I got to hear the Oregon play in a concert. In December they also have a huge light show featuring the organ and a very cool Charles Dickens walk-through village.

harel 10mo ago

And I naively assumed the one at the Royal Albert Hall in London is pretty big...

TheRealPomax 10mo ago

Calling an organ "an instrument" is like calling an entire orchestra "an instrument". You kind of hit the "what does instrument even mean" wall very, very hard: an organ this size is a control surface for 1000+ instruments.

IAmGraydon 10mo ago
This is extremely far-fetched. Would you call a piano a control surface for 88 instruments? No, you wouldn't. An individual pipe from a pipe organ is pretty useless on its own as it can only create one note, just like a piano string.
- TheRealPomax 10mo ago
  It sounds like you don't actually know how a real organ works, which literally has different instrument groups all over the place behind the walls, with your stops controlling which instruments sound out, and your separate decks giving you additional control over which sections to play. You'll want to give https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JeB3JnKp8To a watch, where Rob Scallon takes us on a trip to discover how incredible these instruments are, and should highlight just how little an organ is like a piano (not even "four pianos") and how much it really is an entire orchestra.

JKCalhoun 10mo ago

It looks like it has a 64' pipe labeled "Gravissima". I know only how pipe organs work mechanically, not the terminology (Google translate thought Gravissima was Italian—translated to "Very Serious" in English, ha ha). Those low frequencies though are the draw for me. The lowest frequency I have come across in pop music might be the backing organ from the song "Prologue" on ELO's album Time. I had the vinyl in the day… One wonders: even with RIAA bass compensation, I suspect it might have been close to jumping the needle out of the groove.

perfmode 10mo ago

[dead]

lemming 10mo ago

This is not the largest in the world but it is enormous, and is also amazing for having been built by a 15-year old to answer the question: "When I was 14 I asked my piano teacher how long a bass a string would need to be if it had no copper on it at all". I love this follow-up quote: "I think because I was so young I absolutely knew it was totally possible to do, I was fully determined and without consulting any professionals I had no barrier stopping me." https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/page/the-alexander-piano https://www.alexanderpiano.nz/page/the-alexander-piano There's also something quintessentially New Zealand about the whole story - making it in a mate's garage, and then moving the project to a farm tractor shed when it got too big and the inaugural concert that looks like it's still in the same shed, the photo of the tractor moving it for the outdoor concert...

IAmGraydon 10mo ago

Afraid not: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Stalacpipe_Organ

tmnvix 10mo ago

Can't see it described as the world's biggest instrument on the wiki page - only the biggest pipe organ. Is it really bigger than the biggest carillon?

MathMonkeyMan 10mo ago

> The display pipes of the Wanamaker Organ. These pipes are decorative only. The pipes that sound are behind and above them. :( Still an impressive object.