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The
unparalleled resources of the fully air-conditioned Oberlin
Conservatory of Music and its excellent music library are at
the disposal of all students. In addition, an enormous
collection of harpsichords, tracker organs and fortepianos
is available, and baroque violins, cellos, viols, bows,
flutes, oboes, and bassoons may be borrowed by those players
who do not have appropriate instruments of their own. The
Conservatory has a large collection of viols for use in its
Baroque ensemble and viol consorts. Oberlin owns instruments
to make up a complete Baroque orchestra: eight Baroque
violins, one Baroque viola, two Baroque cellos, and a
violone, as well as Baroque flutes, oboes, bassoon, and
natural horns.
Organs
The Kulas Organ Center, in the Robertson Hall practice
building, is comprised of fourteen practice rooms equipped with organs
of various designs, both mechanical action and electro-pneumatic. Of the
mechanical action tracker organs, six are Flentrops, one a Brombaugh,
and two are Noacks. Of the electro-pneumatic organs, six are Holtkamps.
Warner Concert Hall houses a splendid three-manual
Flentrop organ of forty-four stops. Built entirely in classical North
European style, it was installed in 1974. A portable continuo organ by
Flentrop is available for use in all performing halls. In 1981 a two-manual
Brombaugh organ in mean-tone temperament was installed in the gallery
of Fairchild Chapel. Located in the front of Fairchild Chapel is a positiv
organ by Flentrop.
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Warner
Hall's Flentrop organ |
The advent of the C.B.
Fisk Opus 116, designed and constructed in the late-Romantic tradition
is based on the symphonic style of the great French organbuilder Aristide
Cavaillé-Coll. A new 76-rank, three-manual French romantic organ,
designed and constructed by C.B. Fisk, Inc., acclaimed organ builders
of Gloucester, Massachusetts, is in its new home in Oberlin College's
Finney Chapel. The dedication of the new 4,014 pipe organ was the centerpiece
of concerts and events which took place on the weekend of September 28,
2001.
Harpsichords
The collection of harpsichords includes three French doubles, by William
Dowd, Keith Hill, and Richard Kingston; two Italian singles, one by William
Dowd and one by Anderson Dupree; a German double by Keith Hill; two Flemish
singles, one by Willard Martin, and one by Thomas Wolf; and a Flemish
virginal, built by Willard Martin.
Fortepianos
The Conservatory owns three fortepianos: five-octave
instruments by Wolf and Hester, and a six-and-one-half
octave by McCobb. Oberlin's collection also includes a
mid-nineteenth century grand piano by Erard, which was
completely rebuilt by David Winston in the fall of
1993.
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