Cincinnati Enquirer file photo Dedicated in 1878, Music Hall's mighty organ towered over the chorus and orchestra in 1952. | The first organ installed for Music Hall's dedication in 1878 was built by the Boston firm of Hook and Hastings. One of the five largest in the world, it cost $32,000. Only the organs in London's
Albert Hall, Germany's Ulm Cathedral and Paris' Saint Sulpice Church were larger.
Its 6,237 pipes were enclosed in an elaborate wooden casing carved by School of Design students
-- all women -- of Benn Pitman and father and son woodcarvers Henry and William Fry. |
Great organs of the world are pipe organs, in which air is forced through ranks of pipes. The organ's large console sat directly in front of the pipes at the front of the hall, with a mirror so the organist could look back at the conductor. It had four manuals (keyboards) with about 100 stops, which simulate sounds of different instruments. "The organ towered over the whole hall, because (Springer Auditorium) was an oval structure without a proscenium, designed for choral and orchestral sounds," says organist Robert Schaffer, who played with the May Festival in 1967-69 and 1980. "The organ played a big role in those days."
A proscenium arch was added to Music Hall in 1896, and the organ was modernized by the Austin Organ Co. in 1923 for $46,000. "'With the added proscenium, the task of the organist was to hear his own sounds coming seconds later. and coordinate with the delayed beat of the symphony players," Mr. Schaffer says. "It was pretty hair-raising sometimes." |
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Cincinnati Enquirer file photo Music director Thomas Schippers tests the new organ in 1974. |
In 1974, a custom, Multi-Waveform organ built by Baldwin was installed Music Hall, a $100,000 gift from the Corbett Foundation. The organ was dedicated by Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra music director Thomas Schippers, and is still in use. Because it is an electronic organ, its sounds are produced synthetically and pipes are no longer needed. "I know there was some sorrow in the organ community when they dismantled (the old organ), and many pipes were thrown away," Mr. Schaffer says. But down in the orchestra pit below the stage, the dark, carved paneling from the original organ encasement can still be found.
-- Janelle Gelfand
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