MUSIC: CLASSICAL: ORGAN: RADIO: PROGRAMS: May Department Stores and Temple
University Spend Some Quality Time Together

This is a Happy Birthday message. The John Wanamaker Organ is one hundred
years old and the celebration organ recitals were held on Saturday, just
yesterday. Jill Pasternak, who started in Philadelphia classical music
broadcasting with WFLN, the then twenty four hour classical station, was
the hostess for the radio broadcast of a segment of the anniversary event.
This broadcast was carried on the Temple station WRTI. Jill Pasternak now
handles the afternoon weekday classical music broadcasting on the Temple
University public radio station WRTI. May Department Stores owns the 13th
and Market store which it inherited when May acquired the entire group of
John Wanamaker stores. The flagship store was operated as a Hecht's
Department store until soon after the eleven month later May takeover of
all of the area Strawbridge and Clothier department stores. Renamed
Strawbridge's, the center city anchor store at 8th and Market Streets was
too close to the 13th and Market store, so the 13th Street store operated
briefly as a Strawbridge's, was closed and remodelled and then reopened as
a Lord and Taylor, a national chain of specialty stores also owned and
operated by May Department Stores. With the 13th and Market store, May
inherited the largest organ in the world, a fourteen story building that
is a national landmark, the Christmas light and fountain show and much
more. The Wanamaker Organ itself is an international treasure that has a
worldwide following. May provided funding for a complete overhall of the
Wanamaker Organ. Below are some web resources that further provide a
picture of the organ and its environments.

WFLN
Date: Tue, 25 May 2004 12:21:33 -0400 (EDT)
From: David P. Dillard <jwne@...>
Reply-To: Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com
To: Net-Gold <Net-Gold@yahoogroups.com>
Subject: [Net-Gold] BROADCASTING: ISSUES:
FCC MAY SPUR SALE OF AIRWAVES HELD BY SCHOOL
<http://listserv.temple.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0405&L=net-gold&P=R17771>

WRTI Temple University
<http://www.wrti.org>

Jill Pasternak
<http://www.wrti.org/staff/hosts/pasternak.htm>

Jill joined WRTI in September of 1997 as the weekday afternoon
host after working at former classical music station WFLN from 1987.
She is executive producer and host of Crossover. Jill is a professional
harpist, a graduate of The Juilliard School of Music, and a former
Fulbright Scholar.

As staff harpist at Radio City Music Hall and with the City Center Ballet
in New York, Jill performed with numerous symphonic and chamber ensembles
in recordings, on radio, and on Broadway. She also worked for the
Rockefeller Foundation developing the New World Records label, and was an
assistant editor for Stereo Review magazine and Nonesuch Records. Her work
as a writer and producer of training videos led Jill to complete a Masters
in public media and also to start broadcasting for WMHT-FM in Schenectady,
N.Y., and for WQXR in New York City.

May Department Stores
<http://www2.mayco.com/common/index.jsp>

The Wanamaker Organ : The Wanamaker Store : Lord and Taylors

Friends of the Wanamaker Organ
<http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/>
<http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/index1.html>

New! Virgil Fox Wanamaker CD/DVD! Available exclusively
from us!

Listen to a KWMU Radio Interview with Ray Biswanger in
MP3 format MAC | PC

Grand Court Organ Day 2004
Saturday June 12, 10am - 6pm

Smaller version of signed, limited edition Grand Court watercolor
available for $158 postpaid - Click here

PipeDreams Broadcast: Peter Conte and the Wanamaker Grand
Court Organ... a visit with the resident 'master' of the world's
largest functioning pipe organ, at the Lord & Taylor Department
Store in Philadelphia.

Read about the Wanamaker Organ in Attach Magazine

Hear Peter Richard Conte in a performance/interview and listen to
Craig Whitney discuss his new book "All The Stops" on Public
Radio via Internet Real Audio.

Effective Feb. 1, 2004, a new schedule for the regular daily
45-minute recitals will begin:
Mon-Sat: 12 Noon
Mon-Tue and Thurs-Sat: 5 pm
Wed.: 7 pm

Magic! Peter Conte's much anticipated, stunning new Wanamaker
Organ CD. Order Here.

Newly restored Echo and Ethereal Divisions reveal stunning cathedral
acoustic in the now glass-enclosed Grand Court. Hear them in
MP3 Format.

Added musical selections in MP3 format from the Just Released
Keith Chapman Lost Radio Broadcasts Vol. II available on this site.

-------------------------------------------------

Grand Court
Organ Day 2004

Saturday June 12
10am - 6pm

Diane Meredith Belcher

Ron Rhode
(theatre organist)

Peter Richard Conte
World Premiere of
Robert Hebble's
"Cathedral of Commerce"

Brass Ensemble and Choir
Grand Closing Concert

-------------------------------------------------

From Fun Facts page of Friends of the Wanamaker Organ site

1861 Wanamaker's became the first store to guarantee the quality
of its merchandise in print.

1865 Wanamaker's became the first store to have a guaranteed
refund policy.

1876 Wanamaker's opened the first public restaurant in a
department store.

1878 Wanamaker's became the first department store to be
illuminated by electricity.

1879 Bell telephone first used in a store.

1880 First pneumatic tubes installed as cash carriers.

1882 Elevators first installed.

1896 John Wanamaker Commercial Institute established for
young employees.

1899 Pianos sold at the then-revolutionary fixed-price system.

1910 Motion pictures of funeral of Edward VII first shown in
America.

1911 Largest organ in the world from St. Louis World's Fair
inaugurated in the Grand Court. Building dedicated December 30
by President William H. Taft.

1912 Wanamaker's, the first store in the nation to have a wireless,
received news of the sinking of the Titanic.
[New York John Wanamaker Store]

1915 Athletic field opened on the roof of the Philadelphia store.

-------------------------------------------------

THE WANAMAKER GRAND ORGAN now at
LORD & TAYLOR has been thrilling Philadelphia shoppers
and visitors every business day since 1911.
Eighty years later, in the fall of 1991, an organization of the
Friends Society was formed to support the preservation and
musical mission of this irreplaceable American treasure.
<http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/support.html>

Virgil Fox Memorial Concert
By Bill Marsh
A program in memory of the flamboyant organist marks the return of
after-hours concerts on Philadelphia's renowned
Wanamaker Organ.

Virgil Fox Memorial Concert

Peter Richard Conte (organ)
Paul Bisaccia (piano)

Sunday 7 October 2001
Lord & Taylor Department Store, Philadelphia,
on the Wanamaker Organ

Elgar (trans. Hesford): Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 in D major
Faur (trans. Hebble): Nocturne from Incidental Music to Shylock
Bach: Toccata in F major, BWV 540
Rachmaninoff (trans. Conte):
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No. 2 in C minor, Op. 16
Franck: Pice Hroque
Dukas (trans. Conte): The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Wagner(trans. Lemare): Liebestod from Tristan und Isolde
Mulet: Carillon sortie on "Tu Es Petra" for organ in D major
Vierne: Carillon de Westminster
Bach (arr. Fox): Komm, ssser Tod
<http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=14517
&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords=>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/725e>

A full house packed the Grand Court at the Lord & Taylor store (the old
John Wanamaker department store) in center city Philadelphia for the first
after-hours concert in quite some time on the Wanamaker Organ, the world's
largest playable instrument . The occasion was the annual Virgil Fox
Memorial Concert presented by the Virgil Fox Society; this year it was
co-presented by the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ in honor of the 90th
anniversary of the Wanamaker Organ, the 175th anniversary of Lord & Taylor
department stores and the 10th anniversary of the Friends of the Wanamaker
Organ. The featured soloist was Peter Richard Conte, director of music at
St. Clement's Church in Philadelphia and the equivalent of organiste
titulaire for the Wanamaker Organ.

Following a rousing rendition of the national anthem (where the audience
sang along), Mr. Conte opened with Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance No. 1 in
a transcription by Bryan Hesford. Frankly, Mr. Conte seemed a bit
unsettled in this piece, which he has played more effectively on other
occasions. Also, one would have thought the full organ might have come
into play in the finale somehow, the impact of this blockbuster seemed
diminished.

Virgil Fox recorded the Nocturne from Shylock at Wanamaker's; Mr. Conte's
performance of the same transcription (by Robert Hebble) resembled Mr.
Fox's in its andante tempo but used a much lighter registration. The
lovely 8' Clear Flute in the Ethereal Organ (a small division of the
instrument with its pipes way up on the seventh floor) seemed louder than
I have ever heard it, and the speed of the tremulant was disturbing.

-------------------------------------------------

The Wanamaker Organ Speaks!
By Heidi Waleson
A recital on the world's largest playable instrument
the first commercial recording in 40 years
offers a peek into a lost world.

"MAGIC!
Peter Richard Conte
at the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ"

Mussorgsky: Night on Bald Mountain
Wagner: Wotan's Farewell and
Magic Fire Music from Die Walkre
Dukas: The Sorcerer's Apprentice
Nicolai: Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor
Elgar:
Cockaigne Overture "In London Town" Op. 40
"Nimrod" from Enigma Variations, Op. 86
(all transcriptions by Conte)

Peter Richard Conte (organist)
The Wanamaker Organ
at the Lord & Taylor department store, Philadelphia

Dorian
<http://www.andante.com/article/article.cfm?id=
15106&highlight=1&highlightterms=&lstKeywords=>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/725i>

Historically informed performance need not be limited to music before
1800, or even music before 1900. Consider the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ
, the centerpiece of the former Wanamaker's department store (now Lord &
Taylor) in downtown Philadelphia, which has been lovingly recorded in all
its magnificence by Dorian. Built in the first decades of the century, the
organ was one of a new breed of American instrument, the symphonic organ,
so named because its purpose was to lushly recreate the sound of a
symphony orchestra. The Wanamaker family poured a fortune into the
building of Grand Court Organ, which was played during the day for the
edification of shoppers, but also envisioned as the heart of a public
gathering place, a kind of second City Hall. Grand events, like the free
"Musicians' Assembly" of 27 March 1919, which featured organist Charles M.
Courboin, Leopold Stokowski, and 100 members of the Philadelphia Orchestra
before an audience of 12,000, were part of this idea.

The Wanamaker Organ is the largest 28,414 pipes at present count and most
complex symphonic organ. Several comprehensive essays in the program book
explore its composition and history in detail. One example: in 1921,
Marcel Dupr improvised, on themes submitted by the audience, a work that
would become his Symphonie-Passion on the Wanamaker Organ. A new chapter
in the history of the organ began in 1990, when a complete restoration was
begun. The instrument is still played twice every day, except on Sundays,
and the restoration work goes on.

And what to play on it? Orchestral transcriptions, of course. Such
transcriptions are back in favor after being politically incorrect among
organists, and if we're going to be historically informed, they were a
major feature of the symphonic organ's heyday. Peter Richard Conte, the
resident Wanamaker organist, has transcribed some especially colorful
works. The splendid recording quality shows off the timbral and dynamic
variety of the instrument it certainly gives the bass range of the
speakers a workout, and goes effortlessly from pianissimo to fortissimo.
The transcriptions display the organ's unusually large string complement,
which may not sound particularly like strings, but does create a great
sweep of sound. Other divisions, such as woodwinds, brass and celesta,
make for a stirring panorama.

-------------------------------------------------

PIPORG-L
Links to Individual Organs and Organ Tours
<http://www.albany.edu/piporg-l/organs.html>

King of the Court
The worlds greatest musical instrument reigns supreme
at the districts Wanamaker Building home
<http://www.nap.usace.army.mil/cenap-pa/991112/organ.htm>

Pipe Organ Builders
<http://www.worshipandchurchmusic.com/organbuilders.html>

MusicMoz - Instruments: Keyboard: Organ: Links: Historic Organs
<http://musicmoz.org/Instruments/Keyboard/Organ/Links/Historic_Organs/>

Experience the Wanamaker Organ !!!
<http://www.nightscribe.com/Music/wanamaker_organ.htm>

Google Directory
Historic Organs
Arts > Music > Instruments > Keyboard > Organ > Pipe Organs >
Historic Organs
<http://directory.google.com/Top/Arts/Music/Instruments/
Keyboard/Organ/Pipe_Organs/Historic_Organs/>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/725r>

The AUDSLEYS
MASTERS OF VICTORIAN DESIGN
Organ architecture
<http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/
exhibitions/audsleys/organs.asp>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/727s>

Louis Vierne, 1870-1937
<http://www.netreach.net/~druid/LVe/Liens.html>

The Department Store
<http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/soc/shoppingcenter4.html>

1876 - John Wanamaker started his Oak Hall Clothing Bazaar in Philadelphia
at Market and 5th Street in 1861. He expanded the store with aggressive
promotions and advertising that earned him the titles of "Merchant Prince"
and "The Father of Modern Advertising" including balloons, giant posters,
and a gong inside the front door. By 1876 he had built a department store
on the site of the vacant Pennsylvania Railroad Freight Depot. His
original idea was to open a central market of cooperating merchants
similar to London's Royal Exchange and the Halles Central in Paris. But in
the new era of urban mass consumption, it became a "New Kind of Store,"
called the Grand Depot, with skylights and gas chandeliers in "the largest
space in the world devoted to retail selling on a single floor." At the
center of a series of expanding circles of 129 counters was the gaslit
tent for the demonstration of elegant women's ballroom fashions. In 1896
Wanamaker bought the old A.T. Stewart Cast Iron Palace in New York and
connected it with a "Bridge of Progress" to a new 16-story building next
door. In 1903 he built a new store in Philadelphia on the site of the old
Grand Depot, 12 stories of granite with an interior Grand Court 150 feet
high. In this court was the second largest organ in the world, after the
Auditorium organ in Atlantic City, and a great eagle from the 1903 St.
Louis World's Fair. "Meet me under the eagle at Wanamaker's" became a
familiar invitation in Philadelphia.

-------------------------------------------------

Mantovani Interesting Links
<http://www.hallowquest.com/links.htm>

Grand Court Organ, Wanamaker Dept. Store Philadelphia, PA
<http://theatreorgans.com/pa/philly/WANN/index.HTM>

The Wanamaker Organ
Lord & Taylor Department Store
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
6 manuals, 461 ranks, 28,482 pipes
Murray M. Harris/Los Angeles Art Organ Co., 1904;
Wanamaker Organ Shop, 1914-1917, 1924-1927
Source: Ray Biswanger, P
resident of the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ,
author of Music in the Marketplace:
The Story of Philadelphia's Historic Wanamaker Organ
Available Recordings
Virgil Fox Plays the John Wanamaker Organ -
Bainbridge BCD2501 (out of print)
Chapman/Wanamaker - The Memorial Release -
Vantage VCD 6304
The Complete Chapman/Wanamaker Recordings -
Vantage V2CD 69-694-001
Keith Chapman - The "Lost Radio Broadcasts" -
Vantage V2CD-698-002
Keith Chapman - The "Lost Radio Broadcasts,
Vol. 2" - Vantage
Magic - Peter Richard Conte plays transcriptions of
Mussourgsky, Wagner, Dukas, Elgar. - Dorian (2001)
<http://theatreorgans.com/laird/Wanamakers.html>
Related Links

John Wanamaker Store, Philadelphia, PA, USA
Stentor Division proposals, 1926-7
<http://www.ondamar.demon.co.uk/schemes/props/wanamak.htm>

The Wanamaker organ was originally built for the 1904 Louisiana Purchase
Exposition by the Los Angeles Art Organ Company to the design of G.A.
Audsley. It was installed in the Wanamaker store in 1911, and Rodman
Wanamaker's enthusiasm for the instrument ensured that additions to it
proceeded steadily until his death in 1928. The sixth manual of the new
console was to be home to a Stentor division, for which specifications
were approved on 24th October 1926 by the resident organist, Charles
Courboin, and the head of the Wanamaker organ shop, George Till:

Leopold Stokowski:
Making Music Matter
Curated by Marjorie Hassen
Otto E. Albrecht Music Library
University of Pennsylvania
The Philadelphia Orchestra and the Grand Court Organ
John Wanamaker Department Store
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
24 March 1920
<http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/stokowski/organ.html>

Marcel Dupr
b. Rouen, May 3, 1886
d. Meudon (near Paris), May 30, 1971
<http://www.byu.edu/music/areas/keyboard/
Organ/composers/dupre.html>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/727t>

John Wanamaker/Wannamaker & His Ancestors
Merchant Prince & Postmaster-General
<http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~apassageintime/
johnwanamakermerchant.html>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/726p>

John Wanamaker
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wanamaker>

John Wanamaker's
<http://www.germantownacademy.org/academics/us/
math/mathtrail/Spring2001/PhotoPages/photo14-01.html>

A shorter URL for the link above:

<http://snipurl.com/726t>

The Temple Tour - John Wanamaker Dining Room
<http://www.pagrandlodge.org/tour/wanamaker.html>

Wanamaker Radio
<http://www.transistor.org/tubes/wanamaker.html>

I had to get this radio, as my maiden name is Wanamaker. Sold by the John
Wanamaker stores of Pennsylvania, this is a midget set featuring a decal
facsimile of John Wanamaker's signature on the front.

Photographs

<http://www.globaltravelwriters.com/Wanamaker.JPG>

<http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/products/booklet.jpg>

<http://www.robbender.com/photos/philadelphia/
buildings/wanamakers/Images/31.jpg>

<http://www.davidsarnoff.org/gallery-ds/DS-
Wanamaker_CU_retouch.htm>

<http://www.robbender.com/photos/philadelphia/
buildings/wanamakers/Images/9.jpg>

<http://www.robbender.com/photos/
philadelphia/buildings/wanamakers/>

There are thirty-five photographs of the Wanamaker
store, now Lord and Taylors in the collection on three
screens at the URL immediately above.

Dupre at the Wanamaker Organ
<http://www.musimem.com/images/dupre2.jpg>

<http://members.cox.net/sbtos/pictures/wanamaker_organ.jpg>

<http://www.amerimar.com/smallpic/WanamakerExterior.JPG>


Sincerely,
David Dillard
Temple University
(215) 204 - 4584
jwne@...
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/net-gold>
<http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/ringleaders/davidd.html>
<http://www.kovacs.com/medref-l/medref-l.html>
<http://listserv.temple.edu/archives/net-gold.html>
World Business Community Advisor
<http://www.WorldBusinessCommunity.org>