The Greatest Organ.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 7752, 2 March 1905, Page 3

The Greatest Organ.

I The organ in the Sydney Towt. Hall was deposed from its position at the head of the world's organs- in point of size by a giant wliieli moved visitors to the St. Louis Exposition to wonder and a We. Australia received a line advertisement from "this colossus, points out the special commissioner of ono of the Australian papers, for. in order to impress the visitor, it was- necessary to Compare it with the other great organs of the world, and Americans were vastly surprised to find that Australia could boast of the second largest. " Yon jes don't say that the bigg<est concern of the kind was built in Australia before this here was built ?" was the inevitable query of the American, as he waved an immense cigar in the direction of the St. Louis instrument. On being assured that such was the case he would ask " How in the name of creation did they get the darn thing down thai*, and whar did they put it ?" Then came the observation so comforting to his national pride, " Guess, though, it was made in America.' The St. Louis organ, however, merits all the eulogy that has been lavished on it. It has 140 stops, as compared with the 128 of the Sydney instrument. It took' a train of ten trucks to transport it to St. Louis from Los Angeles, where it was built. Americans are very keen on statistics, and the builder told the writer with great 'pride that it was capable of prodncj ing seventeen bill'ion distinct tonal effects, and that if a different com'bination were drawn every minute it 'would make a continuous performance lasting 300,000 years." According to this enthusiastic organ builder " that its thousands of pipes sound the profoundest truths of the grand passions as easily as the wind stirs the leaves to fairy cadences, is an infinitesimal part of ts accomplishments." The writer says that many of the great organists of the I world crossed the Atlantic merely for the pleasure of playing on this 'great instrument. He watched one !of the greatest of them, and he declares that when the organist lirst I" produced the glorious notes on Ithis wonderful instrument," he (the player) stopped and cried, and then after playing a little more, stopped agan and laughed. In fact this accomplished gentleman was so overcome that he " behaved very foolI ishly " for some minutes. Asked his opinion of the instrument this organist described it as " the largest land most complete of all musical instruments." The organ represents a full orchestra :of a hundred men. There are violins, flutes, piccolos, 'oboes, bassoons, trumpets, horns, trombones, in fact every variety of tone colour.