Original exterior (1969-2007) Click on images to enlarge Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Broadway at 66th Street New York, N.Y. 10023 http://www.lincolncenter.org/ Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall, located in the Juilliard Building on the northern end of Lincoln Center Plaza, was the last public hall to be completed in the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts complex. Designed as a space for chamber music, it was the gift of Miss Alice Tully (1902-1993), a U.S. singer, music promoter and philanthropist. The daughter of a Corning heiress and a state senator, Miss Tully trained as a singer in Europe before turning her love of music toward enlightened philanthropy. Chair of the board of directors for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center for nearly twenty-five years, she also served on the boards of the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, and The Juilliard School, and as a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Pierpont Morgan Library, and the Museum of Modern Art. For her cultural contributions, New York City awarded her the Handel Medallion, and France conferred on her the three steps of the National Order of Merit as well as the prestigious Legion of Honor. In 1958, Tully inherited the estate of her grandfather, William Houghton, founder of the Corning Glass Works. During the rest of her life, she donated much of her income to arts institutions. Her cousin, Arthur Houghton Jr., one of the founders of the Lincoln Center, suggested that she give money for a chamber music hall, which came to be known as the Alice Tully Hall.   Architect's rendering of rebuilt exterior   Alice Tully Hall is the 1,096-seat "chamber music hall" of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. It was dedicated in October 1969, with a gala televised concert conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Since its opening, Alice Tully Hall has served as the principal venue of the New York Film Festival, an annual event sponsored by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. From 2007-2009, as part of Lincoln Center's 65th Street Development Project, Alice Tully Hall received its first major renovation since it opened in 1969.   Th. Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd. Männedorf, Switzerland (1974) Mechanical key action Electric stop and combination action 4 manuals, 62 stops, 85 ranks The organ in Alice Tully Hall was the gift of Miss Tully, who wished to enable an exemplary organ to be built for the hall. According to the visions of her advisors, the instrument should be a universal organ suitable for all styles of organ music and, at the same time, function as an example to the whole of America for quality of its design and technical systems. For this purpose, slider windchests, a mechanical key action and enclosed cases for the divisions were called for, but also multiple capture systems. The donor's passion for France led to the involvement of André Marchal in the planning of the instrument's tonal features and also to the use of French terminology on the console. Installed in 1974, the organ was built by Orgelbau Th. Kuhn of Männedorf, Switzerland. As originally built, the four-manual organ consisted of 61 stops, and, according to the English terminology, a Great, Positive, Swell, Brustwerk and Pedal. The façade is exemplary in terms of the visual clarity of its sectioning into the various divisions. The Swell, which is not visible, is designed as a large French "Récit expressif." In the Great, the name "Flûte harmonique" is conspicuous, once described by Pierre Chérons as "the warhorse of Cavaillé-Colls." The 4,192 pipe instrument, installed at the back of the stage, was designed by Friedrich Jako, director of the firm, with stop-control and combination systems by consultant Lawrence Phelps. Jakob Schmidt of Lucerne, Switzerland, was the visual designer. On April 13, 1975, the organ was inaugurated by E. Power Biggs (1906-1977), the venerable concert organist, who later proclaimed, "The Tully Hall instrument is built in the way God intended organs to be built!" Dedicatory concerts continued over the next several months with performances by Catharine Crozier, André Marchal, Leonard Raver, Karl Richter, and Thomas Schippers. At the time, this concert hall organ was met with undivided approval among experts. In 1984, to round off the instrument's stoplist, a Contrebombarde 32' was added to the Pedal, this also a gift from Miss Alice Tully. The organ was removed to storage in 2006 in preparation for the renovation of Alice Tully Hall, and is being reinstalled during the summer of 2010.                 Grand Orgue (Manual I) – 61 notes 16   Bourdon 61 2   Doublette 61 8   Montre  61 1 1/3   Fourniture V rangs 305 8   Flûte harmonique  61 1/2   Cymbale III rangs 183 8   Bourdon à cheminée  61 8   Cornet V rangs [f6-c61] 280 4   Prestant  61 16   Douçaine 61 4   Flûte ouverte  61 8   Trompette 61 2 2/3   Quinte  61 4   Clairon 61             Positif (Manual II) – 61 notes 16   Quintaton 61 2   Quarte de nazard 61 8   Salicional 61 1 3/5   Tierce 61 8   Bourdon 61 1 1/3   Larigot 61 4   Prestant 61 2/3   Cymbale IV rangs 244 4   Flûte à fuseau 61 8   Cromorne 61 2 2/3   Nazard 61   Tremblant 2   Doublette 61                 Récit (Manual III) – 61 notes, enclosed 16   Bourdon doux 61 2   Flûte des bois 61 8   Principal étroit  61 2   Plein jeu V rangs 305 8   Viole de gambe  61 16   Basson 61 8   Voix céleste [f6-c61] 56 8   Trompette 61 8   Flûte à cheminée  61 8   Hautbois 61 4   Principal conique  61 4   Clairon 61 4   Flûte traversière  61   Tremblant         Positif de chambre (Manual IV) – 61 notes, enclosed 8   Bourdon en bois 61 1   Piccolo 61 8   Quintaton 61 1/3   Cymbale III rangs 183 4   Flûte conique 61 2 2/3   Sesquialtera II rangs 122 2   Doublette 61 8   Régale 61 1 1/3   Quinte 61   Tremblant         Pédale – 32 notes 16   Principal 32 2   Fourniture V rangs 160 16   Soubasse 32 32   Contrebombarde [ext.] * 12 16   Quintaton 32 16   Bombarde  32 8   Principal 32 16   Basson  32 8   Bourdon 32 8   Trompette 32 4   Prestant 32 4   Chalumeau 32 4   Flûte a cheminée 32     2   Flûte à bec 32   * added 1984             Sources:      Fuller, Albert. Alice Tully: An Intimate Portrait. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999.      Glueck, Grace. "J.D. Rockefeller, J.S. Bach Inaugurate Tully Hall," The New York Times, September 12, 1969.      Kozinn, Allan. "Alice Tully Is Dead at 91; Lifelong Patron of the Arts," The New York Times, December 11, 1993.      Lincoln Center web site: www.lincolncenter.org      Olmstead, Andrea. Juilliard: A History. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1999.      Orgelbau Th. Kuhn AG web site: http://www.kuhn-org.com/english/default.htm      Schonberg, Harold C. "Music: Good Acoustics," The New York Times, September 12, 1969. Photos:      http://www.architecture.nyc-arts.org. Exterior and interior.      http://www.uquebec.ca/musique/orgues/etatsunis/newyorklc1.html. Th. Kuhn Organ (1974) (color).      Orgelbau Th. Kuhn AG web site. Th. Kuhn Organ (1974) (b&w).             | NYC AGO Home Page | Back to NYC Organs List |