Curtis Organ

The Curtis Organ, named for publisher

Austin Organ Company as its Opus 1416 in 1926 for the Philadelphia Sesquicentennial Exposition. It was known as the "Organists' Organ" because the specifications were formulated by Henry S. Fry, John M'E. Ward, Rollo F. Maitland, Frederick Maxson, and S. Wesley Sears, all prominent Philadelphia organists.^[1]

History

Curtis acquired the instrument after the Exposition went bankrupt [2] and donated it to the University of Pennsylvania, where it was divided into two halves and incorporated into Irvine Auditorium at the time of the building's construction.

The organ contains the largest Universal Air Chest ever built by Austin. In its original configuration in the Auditorium building, the organ spread 75 feet across its platform at the

Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, daughter of Cyrus H.K. Curtis and founder of The Curtis Institute of Music. In the later 1980s and early 1990s, the organ was connected to a customized MIDI

interface, making it, at that time, the world's largest MIDI-capable instrument. In more recent times, the Austin Organ Company carried out a complete mechanical restoration of the organ (with a new console and relay system added), carefully preserving the organ's tonal integrity. It was rededicated in October 2002.

In October 1972 Keith Chapman [3]^{[circular reference]} accompanied the Lon Chaney silent film The Phantom of the Opera as a fund-raiser for the organ that evolved into an annual campus Halloween event. Cyrus Curtis also gave an Austin organ to nearby Drexel University, and to the auditorium of City Hall in Portland, Maine.

Discography featuring the Curtis Organ

• Music From The Curtis Organ, Ted Alan Worth (1988) [CORS CD-141601]
• A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Ken Cowan (1997) [CORS CD-141602]

References

^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Austin Organ Company webpage including the Curtis Organ
^ "The Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926". Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2010-10-12. "...the entire festival was placed into equity receivership by the United States District Court on April 27, 1927." Philadelphia City Archives, Record Group 232, Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association.
^ Keith Chapman (organist)

External links

39°57′03″N 75°11′35″W / 39.9509°N 75.19300°W / 39.9509; -75.19300

[1] "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2007-07-24. Retrieved 2007-07-09.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Austin Organ Company webpage including the Curtis Organ

[2] "The Sesquicentennial Exposition of 1926". Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved 2010-10-12. "...the entire festival was placed into equity receivership by the United States District Court on April 27, 1927." Philadelphia City Archives, Record Group 232, Sesquicentennial Exhibition Association.

[3] Keith Chapman (organist)

[1]

History

Discography featuring the Curtis Organ

See also

References

External links