Fact Sheet

Total cost: approx. $ 2 million

Number of years of research, planning and construction: 7

Number of years organ is projected to last: several hundred

Pipes

Number of pipes 1,847
Largest pipe; c. 16 feet long, 8 inches diameter
Smallest pipe – c. 1 inch long, 1/4 inch diameter
Materials for pipes: lead, tin, pine
Sheets of metal for pipes cast on beds of sand
Seven and a half months required to “voice” pipes (ensure each has perfect sound in the chapel, and responds correctly to pressure and speed of the touch of the performer)
42 ranks (individual rows of pipes)
30 stops

Keyboards

2 manuals, each with 50 notes (C, D to d3)
1 pedal, with 26 notes (C, D to d1)
over 740 feet of wooden trackers traveling from key to pallet

Bellows

4 wedge bellows (each weighing approximately 430 pounds)
two pumpers required to manually run the bellows
fastened together with cow hide and cow hide organic glue

Scale

lowest pitch: c. 30 Hz
highest pitch c. 8, 000 Hz

Case

quarter-sawn fumed white oak
many tons of lumber in the case (estimated around 7)
handcrafted; every surface hand-planed rather than sanded
longest boards, 18 ft, imported from 300-year old sustainable forest in Germany
case dimensions: 25ft wide; 4 and 1/2 feet deep; 23ft high in the center
number of structural nails in case: zero – case held together by wooden pegs, dovetail joints, wedges, drawboard mortise and tenon

All nails, hinges, etc. hand-forged of solid iron in Sweden 

Contacts

Cornell University

Contact: Annette Richards, University Organist
Professor of Musicology and Performance (17th-18th-century music, organ)
Ph.D., Stanford University
607-255-7102, ar34@cornell.edu
Annette Richards provided the passion and organization behind the Cornell Baroque Organ project. She managed every aspect, from coordinating the international team of builders to shoveling snow for the delivery trucks, and is now delighted to be one of the primary organists to play the unique instrument.

David Yearsley
Professor of Musicology and Performance (17th-18th-century music, early keyboards)
Ph.D., Stanford University
607-255-9024, dgy2@cornell.edu
David Yearsley provided key support for the Cornell Baroque Organ project through his expertise with organs and his skill as a performer. He is also one of the primary organist to play this magnificent instrument.

CCSN Woodworking

Contact: Christopher Lowe
Cabinet Maker
Freeville, NY(607) 347-6633 scmarlowe@frontiernet.net
Christopher Lowe is a local craftsman who has been a cabinet maker for 28 years, specializing in everything from barn restoration to furniture making. This was his first organ commission.

Göteborg Organ Art Center

University of Gothenburg, Sweden

GOArt was responsible for the overall design and project coordination, the production of the pipework, and the voicing of the pipes. More details at http://www.goart.gu.se/Research/

Contact: Munetaka Yokota
Email: munetaka.yokota@goart.gu.se
Munetaka Yokota supervised the assembly of the organ at Cornell. He is the main researcher and designer of the instrument and the primary craftsman for the organ pipes. He brought his family to Ithaca to live for almost a year, while he installed and voiced the pipes at Cornell.

Parsons Pipe Organ Builders

Canandaigua, New York
Parsons Pipe Organ Builders was responsible for constructing the wind system inside the organ, including all the mechanicals and the bellows.

Contact: Richard Parsons 
President and owner (585) 229-5888 or (888) 229-4820 or info@parsonsorgans.com

Timeline

2/2/10 Delivery of wind chest, organ case, to Anabel Taylor Chapel
Assembly of organ begins

2/8/10-2/19/10 Pipe racking (involves burning wood and making a great deal of smoke, and will happen in a little shed right outside the chapel)

2/17/1 Voicing of pipes begins

3/1/10 Basic organ assembly complete, though all pipes might not be in

03/4-6/10 Inspection by the great Dutch organist and organ expert Jacques van Oortmerssen

03/10-11/10 Final tuning of organ

04/10 Open house to display assembled organ

11/10 Late November concert to inaugurate organ for local audience

3/11 Official inauguration of organ

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