Brooklyn Academy of Music 30 Lafayette Avenue Brooklyn, N.Y. 11217 www.bam.org Organ Specifications: • IV/11 Austin Organ Company, Op. 211 (1908) – Concert Hall ► III/8 Austin Organ Company, Op. 232 (1905) – Opera Hse.   The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) was established in 1859 as the home of the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn. Its first facility, at 176-194 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, housed a large theatre seating 2,200, a smaller concert hall, dressing and chorus rooms, and a vast "baronial" kitchen. After the building burned to the ground on November 30, 1903, plans were made to relocate to a new facility in the then-fashionable neighborhood of Fort Greene. Herts & Tallant, a noted theatre architecture firm, designed the new Italian Renaissance-inspired building, which features polychromatic details and entrances decorated with figures singing and playing musical instruments. A series of opening events were held in the fall of 1908 culminating with a grand gala evening featuring Geraldine Farrar and Enrico Caruso in a Metropolitan Opera production of Charles Gounod's "Faust". The Met would continue to present seasons in Brooklyn through 1921. In the years following World War II, the population center of Brooklyn shifted and BAM's audience and support base declined. In 1967 Harvey Lichtenstein was appointed executive director and during the 32 years that Lichtenstein was BAM's leader, BAM experienced a renaissance. The building has been renovated for new use and is located in the Brooklyn Academy of Music Historical District, designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1978.                 Concert Hall Austin Organ Company  Hartford, Conn. – Opus 211 (1908) Electro-pneumatic action 4 manuals, 43 stops Austin installed a four-manual and pedal organ, Op. 211, in the Concert Hall Theatre of the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Specifications for this organ have not yet been located.                 Opera House Austin Organ Company Hartford, Conn. – Opus 232 (1905) Electro-pneumatic action 3 manuals, 43 stops, 8 ranks This unified organ was built in 1905 and placed on exhibition in the Austin Organ Co. & Works in Hartford, Conn. It was later sold to the Brooklyn Academy of Music and erected on the stage in the Opera House theatre. Austin equipped the organ with a "Self-playing Attachment by which solo effects are obtainable." The organ no longer exists.                 Great Organ (Manual II) – 61 notes 16   Double Open Diapason H & B 4   Octave H 8   First Open Diapason A 4   Flute C 8   Second Open Diapason H 2 2/3   Twelfth G 8   Rohr Floete C 2   Fifteenth G 8   Gamba B 8   Trumpet D 8   Dulciana G                   Swell Organ (Manual III) – 61 notes 16   Bourdon C 4   Dolcette G 16   Contra Viole E 4   Flute C 8   Open Diapason H 16   Contra Posaune D 8   Rohr Floete C 8   Cornopean D 8   Viole d'Orchestre E 4   Clarion D 8   Dulciana G 8   Oboe F 4   Violina E     Tremulant             Choir Organ (Manual I) – 61 notes 16   Contra Viole E 4   Violino E 8   Open Diapason H 4   Flute C 8   Rohr Floete C 8   Oboe F 8   Dulciana G   Tremulant             Pedal Organ – 32 notes 32   Resultant A & C 8   Grosse Floete A 16   Open Diapason A 8   Flauto Dolce C 16   Violone B 8   Violoncello B 16   Bourdon C 16   Posaune D 16   Contra Viole E 8   Tromba D                 Stop Analysis (A) 16   Large Open Diapason 73 (E) 16   Viole 85 (B) 16   Violone 73 (F)   8   Oboe 73 (C) 16   Flute 97 (G)   8   Dulciana 73 (D) 16   Chorus Reed 97 (H)   8   Geigen Principal 73                 Sources:      Bowen, Jonathan. Specifications of Austin Organ, Op. 232 (1905).      Dolkart, Andrew S. and Matthew A. Postal. Guide to New York City Landmarks (Third Edition). New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2004.      Ochse, Orpha. Austin Organs. Richmond: The Organ Historical Society, 2001. Photos:      eBay.com: Undated postcard of exterior.      Wurts Brothers Photography: interior of Concert Hall.                 | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organ Project List |