The Organ Forum

I read in a book somewhere there is an organ up the top of a mountain in a castle tower which speaks outside. Also I have seen a picture of an outside organ in some American park somewhere.  Where else are there outside organs (apart from fairground ones)?

 Do they have to be voiced differently and how do they stay in tune.  Are there any churches with an exterior pipe organs?

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2m Viscount Opera Organ

I'm on the road and don't have access to my usual resources, so I'll have to extemporize on this.  Others can do some fact checking here...

The most famous is probably the Spreckels organ in Balboa Park (San Diego).  This is a 1915 (?) Austin that gets a regular hearing during their popular recital series.

There is an outdoor organ in a cemetery in Los Angeles, if I'm not mistaken.

San Francisco's municipal organ (another Austin from 1915, over 100 ranks) was to be installed in an outdoor park, but this plan seems to have stalled.

There is another Austin located in Bohemian Grove (?) just north of San Francisco.  I believe members of the Bohemian Club (?) hear this organ from time to time.

The Skinner at San Francisco's Palace of the Legion of Honor contains a 8' Arch Clarion (on 30" ?) located behind a moveable frieze, open to the courtyard.  When this stop was functional it was said to be heard for miles out to sea.

On the East coast the organ at Ocean Grove is quite renowned.

Then there is "the Shed" at Tanglewood - an interesting Aeolian-Skinner with a single 32' reed pipe on low C.

What about ballparks?  And what of the Barton (?) organ?

There is an outdoor organ or two (or more) in Germany.

I recall reading about the most famous of those German organs, and the one in Los Angeles - apparently the wind pressure is/was extraordinarily high, and the organs are deafening up close.  But to a passerby, the sound is quite pleasant and perhaps even distant.

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Soubasse32

Greg:

  Do they have to be voiced differently . . . .

Doesn't matter how they are voiced. They sound lousy, no matter what!

 A couple of days ago, I was talking to a tech who voices organs. He commented on how awful outdoor organs sound. The sound just fades away into oblivion.

Roosevelt Memorial Park, Gardena, CA:  http://members.aol.com/theorganst/Page1.html .  I have heard this instrument.  It hisses like a tea kettle!

David

There is the Massey Memorial organ at the Chautauqua Institution (that is awful to type, so many repeated letters) The Massey lays claim to being the largest outdoor pipe organ (which it is), but I have found surprisingly few pictures of it on the internet. I can't think of any others besides the two Spreckels organs (Balboa Austin and the Legion of Honor Skinner). They do sound very dry, no matter what you do, without all that interior space to reflect and temper sound, the organ sound just kind of dies off, doesn't have anywhere to go.

Here's a video of Carol Williams at the famous Spreckels organ (the Austin) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RK9SElBfJo the piece is Brahms Hungarian Dance No.5

I can't seem to find another piece for fair comparison.

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Once you can tie your arms into a pretzel and your legs into a knot, you've got it under control

Here is a zoom out view of the outdoor organ with Carol Williams:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNpkrlBc6P0&NR=1

Interesting. 

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BOZ