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Vital Organs
July/August 2009

The Newberry is Yale’s most famous pipe organ, but the university has several other instruments that are used for practice, lessons, recitals, and worship services—each with its own voice, strengths, and character. The Yale Institute of Sacred Music (ISM) maintains the varied instruments to give the 14 students studying the organ each year a chance to match the right music to the right instrument.

H. Frank Boyzan Memorial Organ

The organ in Dwight Memorial Chapel was built by Rudolf von Beckerath in 1971, who was inspired by the Baroque organs that were then being restored in Europe. It is especially well suited for playing Bach and German and French Baroque music.

Battell Chapel Organ

With 3,691 pipes, Battell’s organ, which was built in 1951 by the Holtkamp Organ Company, is Yale’s second largest. Unlike the Skinner Company organs in Woolsey Hall and Marquand Chapel, Battell’s organ pipes are exposed, giving it a bright and transparent sound that is good for contrapuntal music.

Marquand Chapel Organ

The Divinity School’s chapel has had a 1,647-pipe Skinner organ since it opened in 1931—essentially a smaller version of Woolsey Hall’s American romantic organ, but without the orchestral voices. It is ideal for hymn playing and choral accompaniment.

Marquand Chapel Meantone Organ

Since 2007, Marquand’s Skinner organ has had a roommate: a 2,184-pipe Baroque-style instrument built by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders. The organ employs the "meantone" tuning system of the seventeenth century; it is one of the few meantone organs in North America.  

Related

The Newberry Memorial, one of the country’s greatest pipe organs, is lovingly maintained with curatorial expertise, historical integrity, and the occasional pizza box.

Slide show of images from the organ.

Panoramic views of Woolsey Hall, the organ chamber, and the curators' workshop.

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