At an April performance with the Cedar Rapids Symphony Chamber Orchestra, distinguished artist-in-residence Robert Triplett gave his first concert on the King Chapel organ since its conversion to a solid-state computer system. The stop-changing mechanism—formerly operated by 3,000 miles of wires and relay switches constantly in need of repair—is digitally operated and has been expanded from 48 preset stop combinations to 9,801 possibilities. The organ also has been fitted with a playback system so that a performer can record a performance and hear it from any vantage point in the auditorium. The conversion was made possible by donations, particularly from Cornell’s class of 1948.
The organ, manufactured especially for Cornell by M. P. Möller of Hagerstown, Md., was dedicated in 1967. It has four manuals and 3,800 pipes arranged in 65 ranks. |
