Military Academy Cadet Chapel (West Point)

Military Academy Cadet Chapel in West Point, New York

The Military Academy Cadet Chapel in West Point, New York is a Protestant church building for the United States Military Academy . It contains the largest organ in the world in terms of the number of rows of pipes in a religious building.

history

Exterior view

The Cadet Chapel was built from granite in neo-Gothic style by Cram , Goodhue and Ferguson and was completed on June 12, 1910.

The stained glass windows were designed by Willet Studios (Philadelphia) . The large window in the chancel is inscribed with the Academy's motto "Duty, Honor, Country" . The remaining windows were donated by different graduate years.

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  View of the choir room

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  Vault

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  altar

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  View of the westwork

Organs

Altar room with main game table

The Cadet Chapel received its first organ in 1911. The instrument had 38 rows of pipes on three manuals and pedal, and was built by the American company Möller . The first organist was Frederick Mayer, a close friend of George Ashdown Audsley .

The instrument has been continuously expanded since 1911. All extensions to the organ were donated by alumni and private individuals and are based on designs by organist Mayers and George Audsley.

The first smaller expansions began in 1913. The first major expansion took place in 1923 when the instrument was equipped with an orchestral division . In 1927 the viol division with 12 rows of pipes was added. Another major expansion took place in 1930 with the Harmonic division . In 1951 the organ already had 213 rows of pipes.

The organ system today has 380 rows of pipes (approx. 23,500 pipes). This makes it - measured by the number of rows of pipes - the largest organ in the world in a religious building and, after the organ in the Atlantic City Convention Hall and the organ in the Wanamaker Department Store, the third largest organ ever. The instrument is still being expanded today.

The organ system is distributed over several locations (Transept Organ, Left Chancel Organ, Right Chancel Organ, Echo Organ, Nave Organ). It has a total of 303 registers, of which 177 are extended and 130 are transmitted registers. The plant has several "divisions", i. H. about manuals that are not assigned to a specific manual. These "divisions" (including the "orchestral division", the "viol division") are found particularly in the two Chancel organs.

The instrument is played from a four-manual console set up in the choir room. The rocker registers are arranged on the left and right of the gaming table in 10 rows one above the other.

literature

• Homer D Blanchard, JN Beyer, MP: A Survey of the Organ in the Cadet Chapel, US Military Academy, West Point, NY 1947.
• Gordon Stewart: The world's largest organs . In: Organists' Review . tape 93 , no. 4 , 2007, ISSN  0048-2161 , p. 26041 .
• Rod Miller, Richard Cheek, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr .: West Point US Military Academy . 2002, ISBN 978-1-56898-294-6 .
• John Wright Harvey: The West Point Organ . 1952 (Union Theological Seminary thesis).
• Rod Miller, Richard Cheek, and Alexander M. Haig, Jr .: West Point US Military Academy: An Architectural Tour . Princeton Architectural Press, 2002, ISBN 978-1-56898-294-6 , pp. 83-89 .
• Orpha Caroline Ochse: The history of the organ in the United States . Indiana University Press, Bloomington & London 1975, ISBN 0-253-32830-6 , pp. 360-361 .
• Maureen Oehler DuRant and Peter E. Carroll: West Point . Arcadia Publishing, 2007, ISBN 978-0-7385-5497-6 , pp. 39-44 .
• George S. Pappas: The Cadet Chapel: United States Military Academy . 5th edition. The Association of Graduates, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY 1987, ISBN 978-0-917218-28-6 .
• Marcus Whiffen and Frederick Koeper: American Architecture 1607–1976 . Routledge, 1981, ISBN 978-0-7100-0813-8 , pp. 286 ff .

Web links

Commons : West Point Cadet Chapel  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• westpoint.edu - Cadet Chapel

Individual evidence

1. ^ Orpha Caroline Ochse: The history of the organ in the United States . Indiana University Press, Bloomington & London 1975, ISBN 0-253-32830-6 , pp. 360-361 .
2. ↑ To the disposition
3. ↑ See the pictures of the gaming table

Coordinates: 41 ° 22 ′ 15 "  N , 74 ° 2 ′ 34"  W.