Better Pipe Organ Database


The Aeolian Co. Opus 1559 (1924)

Residence: John Nicholas Ringling - Ca'd'zan
5401 Bay Shore Rd.
Sarasota, FL

Images


ca. 2018 - Console (Photograph from an archival source: Website: Sarasota History Alive!, submitted by Jim Stettner/Jim Stettner)

ca. 1960's - Organ console (Photograph from an archival source: Vintage postcard, submitted by Jim Stettner/Jim Stettner)

ca. 1930's - Residence exterior (Photograph from an archival source: Vintage postcard, submitted by Jim Stettner/Jim Stettner)

Consoles

Main


Notes

2021-11-22 - Identified from the Aeolian opus list as listed in Rollin Smith's book, *The Aeolian Pipe Organ and its Music.* (OHS Press, 2nd Edition, © 2018) The organ was contracted September 15, 1924 for a cost of $25,000.00. It was shipped January 14, 1925. A Duo-Art was included. When Ringling died in 1936, he willed the property to the State of Florida. The home now operates as a Museum, art gallery, and learning center. The organ is extant. -Jim Stettner

2021-11-22 - From the Sarasota History Alive! website, *"A three console organ has a manual compass of 61 notes each and pedal board is 32 notes. It is playable from the manuals and pedal with the Aeolian Duo-Art Solo music rolls. The Duo-Art mechanism automatically operates the stops, tempo, and expression. All stops of the Great, Swell, Choir and Echo have seventy-three pipes each. The Solo organ stops have sixty-one pipes. The Great and Choir has eight ranks of pipes, the Swell has nine ranks with the Solo having seven and echo having five ranks of pipes. The pedal has six ranks making a total of forty-seven ranks including a five-rank mixture. It also has a sixty-one note Harp and a twenty note Chime. The Echo and Solo are playable from each of the three manuals. There are also twenty-two couplers. The organ is installed as the heart of the Ca’d’Zan, directly opposite the fireplace in the main great hall known as the “Court.” The organ served as the focal point during evening festivities.” Multiple chambers are located throughout the structure to accommodate the two-thousand two hundred eighty-nine organ pipes. The main pipe-chamber for the organ is located behind the console on the second-story mezzanine strategically placed behind a seventeenth-century tapestry purchased from the estate of Vincent Astor. An Echo Chamber is also installed on the same level in the northeast corner of the mezzanine, concealed behind another early Flemish tapestry. The organ speaks through the tapestry with orchestral sound. The enormous array of hand-made pipes range in size from ten feet in length to the size of a pencil and are constructed of lead, zinc, tin and wood. The main pipe-chamber encompasses areas of the second and third stories of the house."* -Jim Stettner


Stoplist

Source: Taken from Contract August 12, 1924

The Aeolian Co. (Opus 1559, 1924)
Residence: John Nicholas Ringling - Ca'd'zan
Sarasota, FL

Great

1. 8' Diapason
2. 8' String (P)
3. 8' Flute (F)
4. 8' Flute (P)
5. 4' Flute High
6. 2' Piccolo
7. 8' Trumpet
8. 8' Clarinet

Swell
9. 8' Diapason (Horn)
10. 8' Flute
11. 8' String (F)
12. 8' String Vibrato (F) 
13. 8' String Vibrato (P)
14. 8' String (PP)
15. String Mixture
16. 8' Oboe
17. 8' Vox Humana

Choir 
(Compounded from Great Organ upon the Patent Compound Windchest System)
18. 8' Diapason
19. 8' String (P)
20. 8' Flute (F)
21. 8' Flute (P)
22. 4' Flute High
23. 2' Piccolo
24. 8' Trumpet
25. 8' Clarinet

Solo
(Playable from Great, Swell, and Choir keyboards)
26. 8' Diapason
27. 8' Flute
28. 8' String*
29. 8' String Vibrato*
30. 8' Tuba
31. 8' French Horn
32. 8' Saxophone

*- Compounded for Duo-Art only

Echo
(Playable from Great, Swell, and Choir keyboards)
33. 8' Flute
34. 8' Flute Vibrato
35. 8' Dulciana
36. 8' Dulciana Vibrato
37. 8' Vox Humana

Pedal
38. 16' Diapason (Deep)
39. 16' String (Deep)
40. 16' Flute (Deep)
41. 8' Diapason*
42. 8' Flute*
43. 8' Tuba*

*- From Solo

Percussion Instruments
(Playable from Great, Swell, and Choir Keyboards)
44. Harp- 61 Notes (With F & P control)
45. Chimes- 20 Notes (With F & P control)

Couplers
46. Swell to Great
47. Swell to Choir
48. Swell Octave to Great
49. Swell Sub to Great
50. Swell Octave
51. Swell Sub
52. Swell Unison Release
53. Swell to Pedal
54. Swell Octave to Pedal
55. Choir to Great
56. Choir Sub to Great
57. Choir Octave
58. Choir Sub]
59. Choir Unison Release
60. Choir to Pedal
61. Choir Octave to Pedal
62. Great Octave
63. Great Sub
64. Great Unison Release
65. Great to Pedal
66. Great Octave to Pedal
67. Pedal Release

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