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.

Alice Tully Hall - New York City (Diller Scofidio + Renfro)  
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 (1975) in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center - New York City (Th. Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd.)
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.

Kuhn Organ (1975) in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center - New York City (University of Quebec)  
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).
           

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