Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ

Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ

Classification	Pipe organ
Builders
Midmer-Losh Organ Company
More articles
List of notable pipe organs

The Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ is the 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 the largest organ in the world, as measured by the number of pipes. The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ has more ranks.

The main auditorium is 487'4" long, 288'8" wide and 137' high (149 x 88 x 42 m) with a floor area of 140,000 ft² (13,000 m²), giving a volume of 1.5 10^7 ft³ (4.2x10^5 m³) 41,000 sq ft (3,800 m²). Consequently, the organ runs on much higher wind pressures than most organs in order to achieve a volume loud enough to fill the hall. The organ has four entries in The Guinness Book of World Records including "Largest pipe organ ever constructed", "Largest musical instrument ever constructed" and "Loudest musical instrument ever constructed", and holds several records in the organ world. It is one of only two organs in the world to have an open 64' rank, and the only organ to have stops voiced on 100" of wind pressure. Its console features seven hand keyboards, called manuals.

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. Anton Gottfried made some of the reed pipes including the Brass Trumpet, Egyptian Horn, Euphone and Musette Mirabilis. The German firm Welte-Mignon provided^{[citation needed]} the Bassoon with papier-mâché resonators and wooden Tuba d'Amour for the Echo division.

The organ is built around the Main Auditorium of the Boardwalk Hall. The organs divisions are divided across 8 organ chambers, as follows:

	Left Stage Pedal Left, Unenclosed Choir Swell, String I Swell-Choir	Stage	Right Stage Pedal Right, Perc- ussion, Great, Solo Great-Solo (Flues) Great-Solo (Reeds)
Left Forward Choir				Right Forward Brass Chorus String II
Left Center Gallery III (Diap's) Gallery II (Orch)	Left Upper Fanfare String III	The Upper chambers are located above the Center chambers	Right Upper Echo	Right Center Gallery I (Reeds) Gallery II (Flutes)

The current layout of the organ was Emerson Richards' third design. The first design was to house 43,000 pipes in six chambers (all mentioned above without the two Forward chambers), but the quoted cost greatly exceeded the allocated $300,000 , and there just wasn't enough space to house all the pipes. The numbers of pipes was then reduced to 29,000. Later, when the Forward Chambers were also used, some stops from the original plan were reinstated, raising the numbers of pipes to the present official number of 33,114 (see also below). The contract price was $347,200 .

Console

The organ's main 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, 120 swell pedal selectors for the 6 swell pedals controlling 15 swell boxes, and a stop crescendo pedal. The console is also the only one in the world with 7 manuals. The lowest two lower (Choir and Great) have a range of seven octaves, and the next lowest (Swell) has a range of six octaves, while the rest have a normal five octave range. The last few notes on the Swell manual (GGG to CC,) are in place mainly for cosmetic reasons, as there are no pipes, in most ranks, for those notes. The manuals from top to bottom are:

VII	Bombard	5 Octaves, 61 Keys, CC to c4
VI	Echo	5 Octaves, 61 Keys, CC to c4
V	Fanfare	5 Octaves, 61 Keys, CC to c4
IV	Solo	5 Octaves, 61 Keys, CC to c4
III	Swell	6 Octaves, 73 Keys, GGG to g4
II	Great	7 Octaves, 85 Keys, CCC to c5
I	Choir	7 Octaves, 85 Keys, 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 by stop-keys in two divisions in the right stop jamb. 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 can be played from the pedalboard, but also from the Great manual by means of 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 stop key for stop key to the Swell manual, so that all the stops can also be played from there as the Swell-Choir, no matter what stops are drawn on the Choir manual. 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.

Although the four Gallery divisions can be played from any manual, their "home" is the Bombard manual. Not only are they the only divisions playable from it, but its keyslip contains the pistons for the Gallery organ.

Stops

Main article: Boardwalk Hall Auditorium Organ stoplist

Stoplist Summary

Department	Voices	Ranks	Pipes
Pedal Right	11	11	903
Pedal Left	10	16	955
Choir	29	37	2,792
Unenclosed Choir	6	9	657
Great	38	63	4,647
Great-Solo (Flues)	13	13	1,152
Great-Solo (Reeds)	12	12	972
Swell	36	55	4,456
Swell-Choir	17	17	1,542
Solo	22	33	2,085
Fanfare	21	36	2,364
Echo	22	27	1,896
Gallery I	4	10	754
Gallery II	7	9	621
Gallery III	6	9	681
Gallery IV	8	8	596
Brass Chorus	8	10	730
String I	11	20	1,436
String II	24	37	2,657
String III	9	17	1,217
Total	'314	449	33,114

In addition to 852 stopkeys controlling the speaking stops summarised above, the organ console also has the following:

• 35 melodic percussion stopkeys
• 46 non-melodic percussion stopkeys
• 18 individual tremolo stopkeys, plus one "master tremeolo" stopkey
• 164 couplers
• 120 swell pedal selectives

64' Diaphone-Dulzian

The organ possesses a unique stop in the organ world, the 64' Diaphone-Dulzian in the Right Stage chamber (Pedal Right division), one of only two true 64' stops in the world. (The other 64' stop is the Contra-Trombone reed stop in the Sydney Town Hall Grand Organ.) The stop is unique because it is a reed/flue hybrid.

When construction of the organ commenced, it was planned to have two 64' stops in the pedal, a Diaphone Profunda and a Dulzian. Later, the design was revised, and the Diaphone was cut, because it was feared it would crowd the Right Stage chamber (due to the width of the pipes). Consequently, the Dulzian was moved to the Right Stage chamber. However, the sound of the 64' Dulzian did not meet the criteria, requiring Diaphone pipes to be used for the lowest 22 notes. The remaining pipes in the rank are reeds. Because of the low frequencies involved, and because the diaphone is voiced to imitate a reed stop, the transition from reed to diaphone cannot be heard.

The Diaphone-Dulzian's low-C pipe stands 59' (18 m) tall, weighs 3,350 pounds (1,675 kg), and produces a frequency of 8 Hz (the sound of the vibrating pallet is described as "a helicopter hovering over the building"), a tone that is more felt than heard. The pipe stands upright for about 40 feet (12 m), the remainder is mitred (turned) towards the Right Stage chamber's grill. All pipes taller than 32 feet (9.8 m) are designed in this manner.

The Diaphone-Dulzian rank spans from C₃ to g²; it is sufficiently extended so that the 64', 32', 16', 8' and 4' unison stops, and the 42²/₃', 21¹/₃' and 10²/₃' mutation stops, may be drawn from the same rank. No other extension rank in the world spans that far. Also, when the 64' and 42²/₃' are combined, the resultant tone simulates a 128' stop, equivalent to a 4 Hz tone on low C.

Use of the Diaphone-Dulzian is rare, being used primarily in registrations of moderate volume. 'In very big combinations it is lost and in smaller ones it is too loud.'

Grand Ophicleide

The Grand Ophicleide in the organ's Pedal Right division, speaking on 100" wind pressure, 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." The Grand Ophicleide produces up to 130 decibels at a distance of 1 meter.^{[citation needed]}

Because of the enormous pressure on which the pipes stand, they must be tightly secured to the pipe chest, with individual parts secured to each other. If any wind leaks, a whistle, almost as loud as the tone of the pipes themselves, may be heard. Completing the rank presented a problem with the smallest pipes in the 4' register, requiring their replacement with special flue pipes having a similar voice and timbre. All of the reed pipes use weighted tongues. The tuning wires are held firmly in place to maintain the correct tuning.

The Grand Ophicleide rank is extended one octave above the 16' unison rank, allowing an 8' register to be drawn from the rank; it is playable from the 85-key Great manual and from the 32-key pedalboard.^{[citation needed]}

32' stops

To provide all the power needed in the pedal, the organ has nine 32′ stops (ten if the extension of the 64′ Diaphone-Dulzian is counted), which 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
Sub Principal 32′	Great
Trombone 32′	Fanfare
Violone 32′	Echo
(Diaphone-Dulzian 32′, extension of 64 ′)	(Pedal Right)

Records

The organ has been recognized by The Guinness Book of World Records as the largest musical instrument, the loudest musical instrument and the largest pipe organ ever constructed, although some debate still exists about the latter (see "Largest organ debate" below). The Guinness Book also recognizes the Grand Ophicleide 16′ in the Pedal Right division to be the loudest organ stop in the world.

Officially, the organ has 33,112 pipes, but the exact number of pipes is unknown. A detailed survey conducted in 1999 concluded that the organ had 33,114 pipes, recently revised it to 33,116 after the discovery that one rank went down two notes lower than specifed in the organbuilder's contract. It is very hard to determine exactly how many pipes the organ has, also due to the condition the organ is in (see "Current State" below).

The organ is the only one in the world to have stops standing on 100" wind pressure. It is also the only organ to have two 32′ pedal stops on 50" wind pressure. There are two more organs in the world with stops on 50", but these are 8′ solo trumpet or tuba stops. 100" wind pressure (equivalent to 3.56 PSI 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" wind pressure:

Stop	Division	Wind pressure
Grand Ophicleide 16′	Pedal Right	100"
Tuba Imperial 8′	Solo	100"
Trumpet Mirabilis 16′	Gallery I	100"
Tuba Maxima 8′	Gallery I	100"
Diaphone 32′	Pedal Left	50"
Tuba Magna 16′	Solo	50"
Bugle 8′	Solo	50"
Bombard 32′	Pedal Left	50"
Major Posaune 16′	Pedal Left	50"
Diaphone Phonon 16′	Pedal Right	50"
Posaune 16′	Fanfare	50"
Harmonic Tuba 8′	Fanfare	50"
Ophicleide 8′	Fanfare	50"
Major Clarion 4′	Fanfare	50"

Apart from the aforementioned stops on record wind pressure, almost every division stands on at least 15" wind pressure, except for the Choir which stands on 10", and the Unenclosed Choir stands on 3". Also, some individual stops stand on lower wind pressure, for example, the Diapason X of the Great division stands on only 4".

The organ's wind supply is the most powerful ever used in a pipe organ. The DC motors for the original eight blowers had a total power of 394 horsepower (294 kW). These were replaced with AC motors in the early 1990s, which have a total of 600 horsepower (450 kW) and their seven blowers produce 36,400 cubic feet (1,030 m³) of wind per minute. The Right Stage chamber has two blowers, a 50-inch (1,300 mm) blower and a low pressure blower, which also provides wind for the Right Forward chamber. The same is true for the Left Stage chamber. The Left Center chamber and Left Upper chamber don't need high wind pressure, and therefore a shared blower suffices, which is also true for the Right Center and Right Upper chambers. The four 100" stops receive wind from an extra blower located behind the Right Stage chamber, coupled with wind from the 50 inch blower.

It has been debated that the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ is bigger than the Main Auditorium organ. The Wanamaker Organ has more ranks (462 opposed to 449 of the Main Auditorium organ) and reputedly weighs almost twice as much (287 tons opposed to the approximated 150 tons of the Main Auditorium Organ). The issue was clouded in decades past when Wanamaker staffers exaggerated the pipe count (28,482 pipes) to 30,067 pipes by listing some 61-note chests as having 73 notes (12 additional per stop in the super-coupler range). Wanamaker staffers believed at the time that the Atlantic City figures had also been exaggerated.

The Auditorium organ has almost 5,000 more pipes and has four entries in The Guinness Book of World Records. The Wanamaker Organ, however, is also listed in the Guinness Book. Unlike the Atlantic City Organ, it is not highly unified (with ranks of pipes being "tapped" at 16', 8', 4' 2 2/3', etc. pitches). Each instrument has a different artistic aim and plays into an entirely different space.

Because the Auditorium organ has a larger pipe count, and is built on a larger scale of pipe, the Wanamaker Organ is usually called "the largest operational pipe organ in the world" as the Auditorium Organ isn't operational and needs restoration and even replacement of some features (see "Current State" below). The Wanamaker Organ is entirely playable and in very good condition, as it has been restored very recently, although entire sections are in need of major rebuilding to keep it this way.

Current state

The organ has declined and is now in poor condition, and is no longer entirely functional.

The upper chambers (Fanfare, Echo, and String III divisions) have long been inaccessible due to the presence of asbestos (which has recently been removed), which left the pipework decayed and out of tune. The Gallery chambers have suffered water damage due to roof leaks. Also, the remote combination action of the main console, housed in the Auditorium basement, was flooded and rendered unusable due to a hurricane in 1944, and it took several years before another mechanism could be integrated into the main console.

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 maintenance required, let alone to restore the organ to its original state. Full restoration of the organ is estimated to cost up to $13 million.

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 organ's record holders (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.

Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and oversight and the carelessness of workmen during the renovation of the Boardwalk Hall, much damage has been done to the organ. Pipes were removed, bent, and stepped on. Windlines to various pipe chambers were cut, with no effort to identify the lines nor any plans to re-route or repair them. The relay for the left stage chamber was cut out without regard to its restoration, and various switching and control cables were cut. The 5-manual console connection was cut. Also, cement dust has entered the switching contacts, magnets and the organ pipes themselves. All this left the entire organ damaged and the Right Stage chamber, which was 98% operational in 1998, was completely disabled. The relay of the Ballroom Organ was also removed in a careless way, which rendered that organ unplayable as well.

The organization in charge of the organs, ACCHOS (Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society), set about raising funds to restore both organs and on June 11, 2007, ACCHOS announced that, under the supervision of a new curator, work is underway to restore the entire Ballroom Organ, and the Right Stage chamber of the Main Auditorium organ back to working order, as they were around 1998. The Left Stage chamber is to be restored, pending the installation of a new relay.

Thanks to the efforts of ACCHOS, the 64' Diaphone Dulzian is now operational. In addition, new fire suppressant systems and chamber lighting have now been installed in all 8 chambers including the Echo and Fanfare chambers. Recently, the Right stage chamber (which was used in the 1998 recording "The Auditorium Organ") has been brought back online and is working once again. Work continues on the Left stage chamber.

The Ballroom Kimball organ has also been restored.

See also

• List of notable pipe organs

References

• The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society

External links

• The Atlantic City Convention Hall Organ Society
• The entire stoplist of the Auditorium organ