The World's Largest Organs

JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
ORGAN FACTS AND FIGURES

THE WORLD'S LARGEST ORGANS / FIVE-MANUAL ORGANS
LOOSE ENDS & SOME HISTORICAL NOTES

Last update: 6 January 2001.

from David Willey:
The following organs are candidates for the list of the world's largest organs, but I do not know their specifications nor - in some cases - even their current status. Information will be gratefully received!

Presbyterian Church Newark NJ IV 159 Austin 1929 RAI Auditorio Napoli IV 137 Tamburini 1963 Paulins Monastery Czestochowa IV 135 Biernacki ND Santa Rosa Buenos Aires V 130 ?? Chicago New 1st Congregation Church IL V 125 Kimball 1925 Christ Methodist Episcopal Church New York IV 123 Kimball 1932 Pretoria University SA IV 116 Kimball 1935 Memphis Auditorium V 115rks Kimball 1929 Oxford 1st Presbyterian Church OH IV 112 Moller 1926 East Calvary M.E. Church Philadelphia PA IV 110 Moller Congregational Church Easthampton MA IV 105 Moller RAI Auditorio Torino IV 105 Tamburini 1953 St Paul Milwauke WI V ?? ??

DISCLAIMER
The information given is, to the best of my knowledge, correct.
However, organs change, are rebuilt or destroyed.
Please email me with any further information, either sins of omission or commission!
(And I know... even builder's leaflets can be in error.)

from Julian Rhodes:
It is interesting to read the following extract from a list of the world's largest organs in 'Klein Orgelbau Lehre' by Karl Walter, published in 1911. To my knowledge, nearly half of the organs mentioned no longer exist, while several more have been considerably altered. There are also several errors (for example, the first organ was never installed in Kansas City), which show how difficult it is to compile a foolproof list.

Convention Hall Kansas City MO V 140 M.M. Harris 1904 Dreifaltigkeitskirche Libau IV 131 B. Grüneberg 1885 Sydney Town Hall V 126 W. Hill & Sons 1889 Riga Dom IV 124 E.F. Walcker & Cie. 1883 St. Marienkirche Kevelaer IV 122 Ernst Seifert 1907 Garden City Cathedral IV 115 Rosevelt & Hilborne 1880 Berlin Dom IV 113 Wilhelm Sauer 1904 Royal Albert Hall London IV 110 Henry Willis 1871 Chicago Town Hall IV 109 Rosevelt & Hilborne 1879 Ulm Münster III 109 E.F. Walcker & Cie. 1899 St. Reinoldikirche Dortmund V 103 E.F. Walcker & Cie. 1909 Nikolaikirche Hamburg III 101 Ernst Röver 1891 Magdeburg Dom III 100 E. Röver 1906 St. Sulpice Paris V 100 A. Cavaillé-Coll 1862 St. George's Hall Liverpool IV 100 Henry Willis 1867 St. Bartholomew's Church New York IV 96 G.S. Hutchings & Cie. 1900 Nikolaikirche Leipzig IV 94 W. Sauer 1903 St. George's Church Doncaster IV 94 J.F. Schulze 1862 Town Hall Leeds V 93 Abbott & Smith 1898 Kreuzkirche Dresden IV 92 Gebr. Jehmlich 1900 Synagogue Berlin IV 91 E.F. Walcker & Cie. 1910 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche Berlin IV 90 Wilhelm Sauer 1895 St. Maria im Kapitol Köln IV 90 Ernst Seifert 1909 Stephansdom Wien III 90 E.F. Walcker & Cie. 1885 Antwerpen Dom IV 90 P. Schyven & Cie. 1891 St. Laurentiuskirche Rotterdam IV 90 J. Bätz & Cie. 1845

And here are some five-manual (and larger) organs known or presumed to be destroyed, or which no longer exist in their original form. This list has been compiled by David Willey and me.
Instruments marked * - stoplist unknown. If you can assist, please email me.

Chicago Stadium VI 884 Barton 1929 (51-rank theater organ) Atlantic City High School NJ V 226 Midmer-Losh 1923-5 Jahrhunderthalle, Breslau V 220 Sauer 1912 & 1937 Kongreßhalle, Nürnburg V 220 Walcker 1936 Eastman Theater, Rochester NY IV 182 Austin 1922 Masonic Temple Birmingham AL *IV 163 Moller St. Michael, Hamburg V 162 Walcker 1912 St George New York NY *IV 150 Austin 1928 Evansville Municipal Auditorium IN *IV 140 ?? Emmanuel Church Boston MA IV 138 Casavant 1917 New Brunswick Women's College *IV 136 Aeolian 1929 Oberlin Conservatory OH V 135 Casavant 1931/2 Palacio Nacional, Barcelona V 131 Walcker 1929 Magdeburg Stadthalle *IV 131 Sauer 1928 Meßhalle, Köln *V 130 Klais 1924 New First Congregation Church, Chicago V 125 Kimball 1925 Harvard University Chapel MA IV 125 Aeolian-Skinner 1932 Tewkesbury Abbey V 124 Walker 1947 (Console installed but organ never completed) Abou Ben Adem Shrine Springfield IL *IV 124 Moller Hannover Stadthalle IV 124 Furtwängler & Hammer 1914 Civic Auditorium San Antonio TX *IV 115 Moller 1926 State Normal School Denton TX *III 114 Moller Minneapolis Auditorium MN V 131 Kimball 1928 (in storage) St John Elizabeth NJ *IV 113 Moller Trinity P.E.Church Pittsburgh PA *IV 113 Moller Clason Academy Oakdale NY *IV 112 Aeolian Engelbrekt Kyrka Stockholm *IV 112 Akerman & Lund 1920 Kimball Hall Chicago IL IV 112 Kimball 1925 St. Reinoldikirche, Dortmund V 111 Walcker 1907 Paderborn Dom V 108 Feith 1926 Marienkirche Zwickau *IV 108 ?? Elk's Temple Los Angeles CA *IV 107 Morton 1926 Grace Church Newark NJ IV 106 Reuter 1950 Isaiah Temple Chicago IL *IV 105 Moller Luxembourg City Cathedral IV 104 Haupt 1939? Minneapolis University MN *IV 104 Kimball 1936 Emmanuel Episcopal Church Baltimore MD *IV 103 Austin Pretoria City Hall IV 103 Kimball 1933 IG Farben Ludwigsharfen *IV 102 Steinmeyer 1927 Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ged.-Kirche Berlin IV 102 Sauer 1920 Nicolaikirche Hamburg *IV 102 Reubke & Röver 1891 Klosterkirche Gdansk *IV 101 Göbel 1935 Salzburg Dom IV 101 Mauracher 1914 Masonic Temple Memphis TS *IV 101 Moller Marienkirche Gdansk V 100 Kemper 1938 Royal York Hotel, Toronto V 100 Casavant 1939 Blessed Sacrament Church New York NY IV 100 Estey 1937 Cleveland Temple OH *IV 100 Bullis (?) 1925 Denver Auditorium CO *IV 100 Skinner 1912 Maria-Magdalena Kirche Wroclaw IV 100 Sauer 1929 Washington Municipal Auditorium DC *IV 100 Moller Magdeburg Dom III 100 Röver 1906 Boustead residence, Wimbledon, London V 97 Hunter 1914 Leeds Town Hall V 93 Abbott & Smith 1908 Melbourne Town Hall V 80 Ingram 1906 Norwich Cathedral V 78 Norman & Beard 1899 Leeds Parish Church V 77 Abbott & Smith 1899 Manchester Cathedral V 66 Hill 1910 Beauvais Cathedral V 64 as at 1877 St. Martin, Tours V 63 LeFebre 1761 Radley College, Abingdon V 59 Martin 1895 S. Niccolo l'Arena, Catania V 52 Donato del Piano 1755 St. Andrew, Moose Jaw, Sask., Canada V 52 Hill, Norman & Beard c.1960 St. Mary the Virgin, Calne, Wiltshire V 50 P. Conacher 1908 St. Ouen, Rouen V 49 pre-1890 S. Pietro, Trapani VII 47 La Grassa 1780 Castle House, Calne, Wiltshire V 40 P. Conacher 1898 S. Martino delle Scale, Palermo V 36 La Grassa 1780 St. Peter, München V 33 Vogler 1806-9 Pierre Cochereau residence *V ?? ?? 'Apollonicon' organ *VI ?? Flight & Robson 1817 Trelowarren, Cornwall V 19 Flight & Robson 1829

We might also mention the 'House on the Rock', Spring Green WI which contains a fifteen-manual theatre organ console and an eight-manual classical console. Both are essentially visual spectacles, for neither is properly operational.
There have been several examples of organs which are designed to be played by several oganists at once. The instrument at S. Niccolo l'Arena, Catania, Sicily (Donato del Piano 1755) falls into this category. Its 52 stops were distributed among five manuals; the left and right consoles had one manual each, while the central console had three. The same arrangement applied in the 1780 five-manual organ by La Grassa at the monastery of S. Martino delle Scale, Palermo. In La Grassa's organ (also 1780) at S. Pietro, Trapani there were three consoles; left and right had two manuals each and the central console had three - a total of seven manuals. In 1829 Flight & Robson were commissioned to build an organ with five manuals arranged for three players, though there were but 19 stops, and the left and right keyboards duplicated the Choir and Swell divisions of the central console. The same builders had previously constructed an organ (the 'Apollonicon') with six manuals for six players.
At the church of S. Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa, Azzolino della Ciaia built a five-manual instrument in 1733. It must have been the largest 'claviorganum' ever constructed; four of the manuals controlled the stops of the organ, while the pull-out fifth manual played a spinet. This does not, therefore, count as a bona fide five-manual organ; but it has something of the spirit of those theatre organs in which the top manual controls only percussion voices.
More recent instruments are sometimes equipped with duplicate consoles for the entire organ. A variation on this theme was the Kimball unit-organ at the Roxy Theatre, New York. No fewer than five consoles were planned; in the event, only three were constructed. A five-manual Master console controlled all ranks; there were also three-manual Woodwind and Brass-wind consoles. String and Accompaniment/Percussion consoles remained on the drawing-board.
Let us end with the ghost of a memory, the 'Band Organ' built in about 1913 to the design of the renowned virtuoso David Clegg at Blackpool's Winter Gardens. Clegg declared that this organ was "absolutely unique - in design composition and effect", and that it was merely the beginning of his plans. There were nine keyboards "arranged in all manner of angles round the player's seat", and five sections of pipework: Church Organ (including "Effect of Voices" and "Celestial Trumpets"), Expressive Concert Organ (including "Metaphone", "Harp Eolienne" and "American Sanctus Gongs"), Full Orchestra (including full strings, woodwind and percussion), Military Band (including "Cleggiphone basses" on very heavy wind) and Brass Band. In 1925 the organ was rebuilt to a more conventional 3-manual scheme.

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