Friday, November 12, 2010

Hallelujah!

It was a tad early, even by today's ridiculous standards--before Hallowe'en, even!--but nevertheless, what a nice way to get the shopping season off to a good start, and with a choir of 630! Although it takes place in a Macy's, the store was originally Wanamaker's, a grand old Philadelphia institution. Mr. Wanamaker had an organ installed, one of many that is claimed to be the largest in the world (any organ experts please chime in here with your thoughts), and directed that daily recitals be given for the entertainment of his customers. Macy's, bless their hearts, after absorbing Wanamakers, continues that tradition and judging by the sound on this video, keeps the instrument in superb repair. Enjoy!



(Thanks to Susie)

2 comments:

Daniel Muller said...

Oddly enough, it cannot be said that any particular organ is the biggest in the world as no one has ever set about counting the (speaking) pipes in the really big ones! Strange, but there it is.

Here is another contender.

J.Samuel Ross. said...

The amount of pipes is'nt too hard to count. Depending on the kind of stops in an organ, it is'nt hard to count the pipes once you know how many ranks are in each stop.

For the record, the Atlantic City organ is larger than the Wanamaker organ, but only a portion of it still works. So the Wanamaker organ is the largest playable organ in the world.