Monday, May 27, 2024

FIVE WATTS OF BACH: A LOW CARBON TOCCATA & FUGUE

The Skinner pipe organ in the National Cathedral has been blasting out Bach for over a century. The instrument took a decade  to complete  ( The cathedral's cornerstone was laid on September 29, 1907 in a ceremony presided over by Theodore Roosevelt) and its bellows drew power from an electric motor that produced as much as 23 horsepower  (17 Kilowatts !) if the work performed literally required the organist to pull out all the stops.

Today, the organ sits disassembled, undergoing what may be its last overhaul, as plans are underway to replace it with a digital organ sometime after 2025. That will doubtless cut the power bill down mightily, because modern loudspeaker transducers  produce vastly more acoustic wattage than blowers pressurizing wooden  wind boxes.  
Still, the designers will be hard pressed to beat the acoustic fuel economy of this system, seen and heard playing  Bach's Dorian Toccata at an energy cost of roughly a pint of ale: