Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ
Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ
Background information
OriginSalt Lake City, Utah, U.S.
GenresWorship, classical
Years active1867 (1867)
to present
LabelsThe Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square
Websitewww.thetabernaclechoir.org/about/organs/organ-information/tabernacle.html

The Salt Lake Tabernacle organ is a pipe organ located in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in Salt Lake City, Utah.[1] Along with the nearby Conference Center organ, it is typically used to accompany the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square and is also featured in daily noon recitals. It is one of the largest organs in the world. Jack Bethards, president and tonal director of Schoenstein & Co., describes it as an "American classic organ" and "probably one of the most perfect organs ever built."[2]

Construction

The Boston Music Hall Organ[3]
Top of one of the Organ pipes.
The organ console.

The Tabernacle organ is considered to be one of the finest examples of the American Classic style of organ building.[4][5] The casework was inspired by the design of the Boston Music Hall organ (which is now housed, since 1909, at the Methuen Memorial Music Hall), the original organ was built in 1863-1867 by an Englishman, Joseph Ridges. Ridges' instrument contained some 700 pipes and was constructed of locally derived materials as much as possible. This original modest 2 manual organ had its console attached to the lower central part of the case and its action was tracker. The organ was later rebuilt and enlarged first by Niels Johnson (1889), the Kimball company of Chicago (1901), the Austin company of Hartford (1915, 1926 & 1937) and finally by the Aeolian-Skinner organ company of Boston (1948). The organ today is largely the result of the personal involvement of noted Anglo-American organ builder G. Donald Harrison, president of the Aeolian-Skinner organ firm when the tabernacle organ was installed. His collaboration with legendary Tabernacle organist Alexander Schreiner produced this masterwork of American eclectic organ building.

From 1984 to 1988, the organ was meticulously renovated by the Schoenstein organ company of San Francisco, under the leadership of Jack M. Bethards. Issues of balance, tonal regulation, and various mechanical details which had developed or become evident in the preceding 40 years of use were corrected and 17 ranks of new pipework were added to complete and enhance the tonal scheme.

The original iconic façade was expanded with side wings in 1915 by the Fetzer woodworking company of Salt Lake City and remains in that form today.

The pipes are constructed of wood, zinc, and various alloys of tin and lead. Several pipe ranks from the Ridges organ are extant in the instrument today. When it was initially constructed, the organ had 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 electro-pneumatic action.

The organ as it stands today contains 11,623 pipes, 147 speaking stops and 206 ranks (rows of pipes).[6]

Uses

The organ often accompanies the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square during its weekly radio and television broadcasts of Music and the Spoken Word. It also appears in other concerts, recitals, and in recordings. Since the 1920s it has been traditional to feature the organ in daily half hour solo recitals at noon. During the busy tourist summer season the noon recitals are repeated at 2pm. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints used the organ to accompany music for its biannual general conferences until April 2000, when the church opened its newly constructed Conference Center across the street to the north, which has its own 7708-pipe organ.

Apart from its use by organists of the Tabernacle Choir, guest artists are often invited to perform on the instrument, including Dame Gillian Weir (2007), John Weaver (2007) and Felix Hell (2008). During the COVID-19 pandemic the organ was highlighted in the online series “Piping Up: Organ Concerts at Temple Square" featuring organists streamed on YouTube.[7]

The first recordings of the organ were made by Tabernacle organist John J. McClellan for the Columbia Graphophone Company in 1910 and are the first commercially released recordings of a pipe organ. Many recordings featuring the tabernacle organists and choir have been made over subsequent years and are readily available. In 2020, the organ was used as a graphic element of the new Tabernacle Choir logo identity.[8]

List of stops

I. Choir
Gamba16′
Principal8′
Concert Flute8′
Viola8′
Viola Celeste8′
Dulcet II8′
Kleine Erzähler II8′
Prestant4′
Zauberflöte4′
Gambette4′
Piccolo Harmonique2′
Fife (Carillon)1′
Sesquialtera (Carillon) II
Carillon III
Rauschpfeife III
Dulzian16′
Trompette8′
Krummhorn8′
Orchestral Oboe8′
Rohr Schalmei4′
Tromp. Harm. (Bomb.)8′
Tremulant

I. Positiv
Principal8′
Cor de Nuit8′
Quintade8′
Principal4′
Nachthorn4′
Nazard2 2/3
Principal2′
Spillflöte2′
Tierce1 3/5
Larigot1 1/3
Sifflöte1′
Septerz II
Scharf III
Zimbel III
Rankett16′
Cromorne8′
Tremulant
II. Great
Subprincipal16′
Quintaton16′
Principal8′
Diapason8′
Montre8′
Bourdon8′
Spitzflöte8′
Flûte Harmonique8′
Bell Gamba8′
Grosse Quinte5 1/3
Principal4′
Octave4′
Koppelflöte4′
Flûte Octaviante4′
Gemshorn4′
Grosse Tierce3 1/5
Quinte2 2/3
Super Octave2′
Blockflöte2′
Tierce1 3/5
Septieme1 1/7
Acuta III
Full Mixture IV
Fourniture IV
Kleine Mixtur IV
Cornet V
Double Trumpet16′
Trumpet8′
Clarion4′
III. Swell
Lieblich Gedeckt16′
Gemshorn16′
Geigen Principal8′
Gedeckt8′
Claribel Flute8′
Flauto Dolce8′
Flute Celeste8′
Viole de Gambe8′
Viole Celeste8′
Orchestral Strings II8′
Salicional8′
Voix Celeste8′
Prestant4′
Fugara4′
Flauto Traverso4′
Nazard2 2/3
Octavin2′
Hohlflöte2′
Cornet III
Cymbale IV
Plein Jeu IV (from Plein Jeu VI)
Plein Jeu VI
Contra Fagot32′
Contre Trompette16′
1ere Trompette8′
2eme Trompette8′
Hautbois8′
Voix Humaine8′
Quinte Trompette5 1/3
Clairon4′
Tremulant
IV. Bombarde
Diapason8′
Octave4′
Grosse Cornet IV–VI
Grande Fourniture VI
Bombarde16′
Trompette Harmonique8′
Trompette8′
Clairon4′

IV. Solo
Flauto Mirabilis8′
Gamba8′
Gamba Celeste8′
Concert Flute4′
Nazard2 2/3
Piccolo2′
Tierce1 3/5
French Horn8′
English Horn8′
Corno di Bassetto8′
Tuba8′
Cornet V (Great)8′
Harp8′
Chimes
Celesta (Harp)
Tremulant

V. Antiphonal
Diapason8′
Gedeckt8′
Salicional8′
Voix Celeste8′
Principal4′
Kleine Mixtur III
Trompette8′
Vox Humana8′
Tuba Mirabilis8′
Cornet (Great) V
Tremulant

Percussion
Chimes on Great
Chimes on Pedal
Harp on Choir
Celesta on Choir
Pedal
Montre32′
Flûte Ouverte32′
Contre Bourdon32′
Principal16′
Flûte Ouverte16′
Contre Basse16′
Violone16′
Bourdon16′
Gemshorn (Swell)16′
Gamba (Choir)16′
Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell)16′
Grosse Quinte10 2/3
Principal8′
Violoncello8′
Spitzprincipal8′
Flûte Ouverte8′
Flauto Dolce8′
Gamba (Choir)8′
Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell)8′
Quinte5 1/3
Choral Bass4′
Nachthorn4′
Gamba (Choir)4′
Lieblich Gedeckt (Swell)4′
Principal2′
Blockflöte2′
Full Mixture IV
Cymbale IV
Grand Harmonics V
Bombarde32′
Contra Fagot (Swell)32′
Ophicleide16′
Trombone16′
Double Trumpet (Great)16′
Contre Tompette (Swell)16′
Dulzian (Choir)16′
Posaune8′
Trumpet8′
Double Trumpet (Great)8′
Contre Trompette (Swell)8′
Krummhorn (Choir)8′
Clarion4′
Chalumeau4′
Kornett2′

References

  1. "About the Organs and Organists on Temple Square". www.thetabernaclechoir.org. Retrieved 2022-09-30.
  2. "Some Latter Day Sounds #0525", Pipedreams, 20 June 2005. Retrieved on 23 March 2021.
  3. 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. pp. 188. OCLC 55551750.
  4. Bethards, Jack: "The 1988 RenovationA Builder's Perspective" The American Organist Vol. 22, no. 12 (December 1988), p. 71.
  5. Owen, Barbara (1990). The Mormon Tabernacle Organ: An American Classic. The American Classic Organ Symposium. Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. ISBN 1-55517-054-4.
  6. 11,623 Pipes: The Story of the Tabernacle Organ Archived 2009-05-31 at the Wayback Machine, Tabernacle Choir Website. Retrieved on September 28, 2007.
  7. Smith, Tracy. "A century-old Church tradition ‘Piping Up’, Organists to go live online and worldwide", ABC4 News, 10 June 2020. Retrieved on 23 March 2021.
  8. Stack, Peggy Fletcher. "Tabernacle Choir unveils sleek logo with a new set of pipes", The Salt Lake Tribune, 23 April 2020. Retrieved on 23 March 2021.

Further reading

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