ATLANTIC CITY, United States — You have never felt Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in
D minor quite like this: in Atlantic City, the largest organ in the world is
coming back to life.
اضافة اعلان
The pipe organ in the
New Jersey city’s Boardwalk
Hall was constructed in the 1920s, during the seaside resort area’s golden age.
But the instrument suffered the wrath of a hurricane
in 1944, and wear and tear after years of quasi-abandonment for a while left it
unusable. Now, through private donations and careful restoration, it is coming
back to ear-pleasing functionality.
From near the stage, the antique wooden cabinet
looks tiny, but inside it includes a record seven keyboards and rows of keys
and pedals that control the pipes, only two-thirds of which are currently in
working order.
“It’s an experience that’s hard to really describe,”
said Dylan David Shaw, a 23-year-old organist.
“Every conceivable sound of the orchestra that you
can think of is available at your fingertips: strings and woodwinds, orchestral
trumpets, flutes,” Shaw said. “Anything you can possibly think of: percussions,
glockenspiel, even a full grand piano in one of the side chambers.”
He added: “It’s a magical experience.”
The history of the instrument, which was constructed
by the Midmer-Losh Organ Company, goes hand in hand with that of Boardwalk Hall
itself. The imposing arena facing the ocean has been the site of Miss America
competitions, the 1964 Democratic convention, and boxer Mike Tyson fights.
The organ was built “to fill this enormous space
with music”, said organ curator Nathan Bryson, who called the “enormous
instrument” the “precursor of surround sound”.
50 percent playable
The pipe organ has a stunning 33,112 pipes, the most in the world, in
wooden rooms accessible by a narrow staircase and ladders.
By comparison, the
famous Grand Organ of Notre Dame in
Paris has fewer than 8,000 pipes.
When the organist
plays “The Star-Spangled Banner”, listeners feel almost as if their bodies are
vibrating with the notes of the US national anthem.
While Atlantic City
holds the record for most pipes, just an hour’s drive away in Philadelphia
stands the “Wanamaker”, the world’s largest organ in working order, which is
inside a Macy’s department store.
Since 2004 a
historic organ restoration committee entirely financed through donations has
been working to return Atlantic City’s organ to its full sonic power.
Behind the stage,
Dean Norbeck, a retired electrical engineer, patiently mounts small magnets on
a board, which conduct air in the pipes to produce sound. Some repairs are easy
to identify, but “sometimes it can be tricky to figure out why the pipes are
not playing”, Bryson said, and “where the point of failure is along the way”.
For organist Shaw,
the instrument is “over 50 percent playable.”
The total restoration will cost some $16 million, Bryson
said. So far $5 million has been raised.
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