Xaver Wilhelmy
Austrian organ builder (1966-)
Xaver Wilhelmy is an inventor, designer and certified pipe organ builder who was the first in the world to create organ pipes from glass. Wilhelmy created the Wilhelmy American Flag Glass Pipe Organ, the first pipe organ in the world with pipes made entirely from glass.
The concept of the Wilhelmy American Flag Glass Pipe Organ emerged from the tragedy of the September 11 attacks. Wilhelmy envisioned a glass pipe organ with one organ pipe to represent each of the voices that were permanently silenced. Wilhelmy created a memorial proposal of light and sound for the Memorial Competition for the World Trade Center Site.
The Wilhelmy American Flag Glass Pipe Organ is a series of 14 glass flue organ pipes that Wilhelmy made using kiln-working, precision stained-glass techniques, and delicate pipe organ engineering. The instrument took more than 18 months from conception to completion in a project that married art, design, and engineering.
Another landmark instrument includes the Wilhelmy Glass Trompetteria which consists of a Trumpet 8' and Clarion 4', and features glass reed pipes, and is in a private collection in West Virginia, U.S.A. Additional individual glass organ pipes are in private collections in the US and Europe.
The Steiner Pipe Organ at Friedberg Moravian Christian Church, in Winston-Salem, NC, is home to a pair of matching glass organ pipes that are 5 feet 7 inches tall, polygonal, and are part of the Principle 8 organ stop. Wilhelmy created them using clear, textured, and iridescent art glass and mirrored glass for a gently reflective look that is in keeping with the simplicity and understated elegance of the Steiner organ and Moravian chapel.
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This entry incorporates text from “Xaver Wilhelmy” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.