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“A much greater source of anxiety to Us is the style of action of those who maintain that liturgical worship should shed its sacred character, who foolishly say we should substitute for sacred items & furnishings ordinary common things in daily use.” —Pope Saint Paul VI (14 Oct 1968)

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Views from the Choir Loft

Exploring the World’s Largest Musical Instrument

Fr. David Friel · June 2, 2019

HE WORLD’S largest functioning musical instrument is a pipe organ, though not one in a church. It is the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, first built for the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis and later expanded and installed in Wanamaker’s Department Store in Center City Philadelphia. Today, the organ is still played almost daily in the same building, now operated by Macy’s.

How big is it? That depends on how one measures. The Wanamaker organ consists of 28,750 pipes arranged in 464 ranks, stretched across 7 stories of retail space. The console features 6 keyboards and 168 finger pistons (plus 42 foot pistons), and the whole instrument weighs in at 287 tons. It took 13 train cars to transport it from St. Louis to Philadelphia. Its construction even bankrupted its builder (the Los Angeles Art Organ Company).

A great article with 7 interesting facts about the instrument was published earlier this week by the Philadelphia Inquirer.

An organization called the “Friends of the Wanamaker Organ” also hosts a full website replete with interesting background on the instrument. See the full stoplist here.

A small restoration project has just been completed on the Wanamaker Organ. The work was limited to the repair, cleaning, and painting of the instrument’s wooden case and its 117 façade pipes (none of which actually speak).

Next month, participants in the CMAA’s annual Sacred Music Colloquium will have the opportunity to hear the instrument live. A short walk from the Cathedral Basilica of Ss. Peter & Paul, where the Colloquium is being held, the Wanamaker organ will be played in recital by Clara Gerdes at 12 noon on Wednesday, July 3, 2019. Gerdes is a fifth-year student at Philadelphia’s renowned Curtis Institute of Music.

Opinions by blog authors do not necessarily represent the views of Corpus Christi Watershed.

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: Pipe Organ Last Updated: January 1, 2020

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About Fr. David Friel

Ordained in 2011, Father Friel is a priest of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia and serves as Director of Liturgy at Saint Charles Borromeo Seminary. —(Read full biography).

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Corpus Christi Watershed

President’s Corner

    “What Martin Luther Said…”
    My pastor asked me to write little columns for the bulletin each week. The article for 20 July 2025 has been posted, and it’s called: “What Luther Said…” Martin Luther (an ex-priest and apostate) was an infamous heretic whose ignorance of JESUS CHRIST was only exceeded by his filthy and disgusting vulgarity.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    “Music List” • 15th in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    Some have expressed interest in perusing the ORDER OF MUSIC I prepared for the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (13 July 2025). If such a thing interests you, feel free to download it as a PDF file. As always, the Responsorial Psalm, Gospel Acclamation, and propers for this Sunday are also provided at the the feasts website.
    —Jeff Ostrowski
    15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C)
    This coming Sunday—13 July 2025—is the 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Year C). All the chants have been conveniently assembled and posted at the feasts website. The OFFERTORY, Ad Te Levávi, is particularly beautiful.
    —Jeff Ostrowski

Quick Thoughts

    Pope Pius XII Hymnal?
    Have you ever heard of the Pope Pius XII Hymnal? It’s a real book, published in the United States in 1959. Here’s a sample page so you can verify with your own eyes it existed.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    “Hybrid” Chant Notation?
    Over the years, many have tried to ‘simplify’ plainsong notation. The O’Fallon Propers attempted to simplify the notation—but ended up making matters worse. Dr. Karl Weinmann tried to do the same in the time of Pope Saint Pius X by replacing each porrectus. You can examine a specimen from his edition and see whether you agree he complicated matters. In particular, look at what he did with éxsules fílii Hévae.
    —Corpus Christi Watershed
    Antiphons Don’t Match?
    A reader wants to know why the Entrance and Communion antiphons in certain publications deviate from what’s prescribed by the GRADUALE ROMANUM published after Vatican II. Click here to read our answer. The short answer is: the Adalbert Propers were never intended to be sung. They were intended for private Masses only (or Masses without music). The “Graduale Parvum,” published by the John Henry Newman Institute of Liturgical Music in 2023, mostly uses the Adalbert Propers—but sometimes uses the GRADUALE text: e.g. Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul (29 June).
    —Corpus Christi Watershed

Random Quote

“The sun, at one moment surrounded with scarlet flame, at another aureoled in yellow and deep purple, seemed to be in an exceedingly swift and whirling movement, at times appearing to be loosened from the sky and to be approaching the earth, strongly radiating heat.”

— ‘Dr. Domingos Pinto Coelho, noted lawyer from Lisbon and chairman of the Bar Association (1917)’

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