I've been told
that there are no words to describe the sensation of standing next to those humongous Diapason pipes when they are playing. (I have never been to Atlantic City myself, so I have never heard them live, only in recordings.) The sound from those pipes is not LOUD, but very, very low.
Think of the average piano keyboard -- the lowest key is an "A." Most large pipe organs continue that octave on down to the C below, in other words, C below the lowest C on the piano. The pipe that produces that tone is 32 feet long.
The largest pipe in that huge set above plays that tone, 32-foot C. Those pipes are remarkable not so much for their length, as there are many 32-foot stops in pipe organs, but for their massive scale -- their proportion of width to height. In that regard, they surely have no equal anywhere else in the world! As you can see, they are more than wide enough for a man to slide down inside, with room to spare!
32-foot C is such a low tone that the human ear can't actually hear it, but you sure can FEEL it. It's a pulsating, throbbing sound. It provides a trembling underpinning that just rumbles away under full organ, yet can also be used under soft choruses of shimmering strings (Yes, Chris, I hear you panting and sighing, haha!) -- again, because it's not a LOUD sound.
THEN imagine a piano that goes down another octave yet, to two Cs below the lowest C, and you get the idea of the profound tones that the 64-foot octave of pipes in that organ makes. I have heard other 64-foot stops, and the effect is absolutely incredible. Again, you don't hear it but you sure feel it!
btw there is one piano that actually has a keyboard that goes down to 32-foot C -- the Bösendorfer Imperial Grand, an 11-foot-long concert grand with 97 keys instead of the usual 88. That low octave is quite a sound!
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In other news, I just got back from a noon concert at the First Congregational Church here in L.A., home of one of the largest church organs in the world. I accompanied my friend, legendary musician Bob Mitchell, and also met "athanasius80" of this list, with whom I've struck up a new acquaintanceship due to our mutual interest in pipe organs.
Chris had one of his friends along as well, who is a film buff and very involved in the Los Angeles Conservancy scene. After the recital, we all met for lunch at a little hole-in-the-wall Chinese Restaurant called "The Golden Hen" near Bob's house that is, well, humble in appearance to say the least, but has fabulous food.
"A Good Time Was Had By All"
p.s. The organ at First Congregational has a 64-foot stop but it's electronic. However, at that low pitch, you would never know that unless you saw the (massive) speaker cabinets for it!
p.p.s.: Thanks to "hooverboy1" for your kind remarks about vacuumland. I am on hiatus from that list for a while. I am not away permanently; I plan to resume being active there after the VCCC meeting in September. I just had to take a "time out" from there for a while.
http://www.fccla.org/music.htm
