Prometheus 6   

Mightier than a Wurlitzer
A century ago, no instrument had the power, majesty or popularity of a pipe organ. A writer chronicles the instrument's rise and fall.
By Chris Pasles
Times Staff Writer

July 27 2003

Even before a note is played on a massive pipe organ, the imagination is stirred by the sight of three, four or more broad keyboards stacked one above one other, panels of 20, 40 or more pullstops alongside to control an amazing variety of sounds, and a row of 30 or more foot pedals at the base of the console.

And when such an organ begins to resonate through the architecturally dazzling space of, say, the new Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, the experience can be thrilling. Seeing that instrument, and its unconventional new counterpart — a French-fry splay of pipes installed in Walt Disney Concert Hall — it's not difficult to imagine the excitement that pipe organs once regularly inspired in America, attracting massive audiences.

That period is evoked in sumptuous detail by Craig R. Whitney in his book "All the Stops" (Public Affairs), a fascinating, contentious history of the organ.