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The Longwood Organ

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Hear the amazing range of sounds of The Longwood Organ pipes

View the stop list for The Longwood Organ.

Diapason chorus 16’ through V

The Diapason is pure organ tone, not imitating any orchestral sound. Here are many sets of diapasons at multiple pitches in the Great section. Length 00:32.

Flutes 8–4–2-2/3–2–1-3/5–1-1/17

These flute stops in the Choir section create synthetic effects by duplicating the natural series of harmonic overtones. Length 00:12.

The Full Swell

All the ensemble voices of the Swell organ combine to evoke the grand tone of the English Cathedral. Length 00:16.

Vox Humanas

Vox Humana stops imitate a chorus of human voices. The Swell organ’s three Vox Humanas are combined here with supporting string and flute sounds, and the vibrato effect. Length 00:21.

French Trumpet

This is one of the organ’s snappier Trumpet sounds. Length 00:08.

The Full String Organ

The String section comprises twenty sets of pipes emulating the effect of massed orchestral strings. Length 00:20.

Orchestral Oboe

These narrow pipes imitate their orchestral counterpart. Length 00:12.

Tuba Mirabilis

This Tuba is the loudest single stop in the Longwood organ, playing on 30" wind pressure. Length 00:16.

The Full Fanfare

The four stops in this section sound like a brass band. One set of pipes even has spun brass resonators like a real trumpet. Length 00:14.

Pedal Bombarde

These powerful pipes, playing on 25" wind pressure, take trumpet tone down to the deepest 32ft C—ten notes below the piano’s lowest A—only much louder. Length 00:08.

Glockenspiel

This device duplicates the orchestral instrument, having metal bars struck by hammers. Length 00:20.

Celestial Harp

This instrument is a Celesta, having metal bars struck by hammers over tubular resonators. The Longwood organ has four such instruments, called “Harp.” The Celestial Harp has motorized rotating vanes within the resonators, causing the tone to undulate. In a jazz orchestra, it would be called “vibes.” Length 00:05.

Chimes

These tubular chimes are struck by metal hammers. Length 00:10.

Cymbals

For percussions in an organ, a pneumatic striker takes the place of the human hand. Length 00:07.

Gong

Separate actions allow the gong to be both struck and rolled. Length 00:12.

The recorded organ sounds on this page were performed by Peter Richard Conte.

Explore and Listen

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Organ Concerts

Join us for a season of organ concerts that showcase the fully restored 10,010 pipe instrument. Tour Longwood's unique Organ Museum for an impressive behind the scenes look at the thousands of pipes!

Find out more

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Hear the Sounds of the Longwood Organ

Listen to sound clips online

Find out interesting facts about the largest Aeolian organ ever constructed in a residential setting, and listen to the sounds of the newly-restored pipes.

Find out more

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The Longwood Organ on American Public Media

In May 2012, American Public Media broadcast an episode of Pipedreams titled "Longwood Revisited" which highlighted the history and restoration of The Longwood Organ.

Listen to the program