With a mighty blow, the Wanamaker Organ marks the end of the Center City Macy’s era

As human nature dictates, nothing stirs love more than the threat of the love object going away.

So it was Saturday, when thousands poured into Macy’s Center City store for a daylong serenade by the Wanamaker Grand Court Organ.

The enormous instrument — 28,750 pipes, 287 tons, and snaked throughout the building — isn’t going anywhere. But Macy’s is. After nearly two decades, the store at 13th and Market Streets is moving on after the close of business Sunday, and with the space soon to be empty, the organ’s twice-daily recitals will end.

Organists responded the way organists do — with a final blowout concert.

The sounds of Saturday’s hourly recitals sailed over the retail flotsam and jetsam — empty display cases, signs saying “ENTIRE STORE ON SALE!” — and drew crowds so large they matched or exceeded those for the Christmas light show.

”You are our hope and light at this time of transition,” said organist Mark Bani to a crowd of about 1,000 that gathered for the 11 a.m. recital — one of eight throughout the day featuring everything from Bach to Alan Menken.

It was Peter Richard Conte’s final recital of the day that drew the largest crowd. The Wanamaker Grand Court and the adjacent areas were already stuffed as the official Grand Court organist started the music at 5 p.m. with flugelhornist Andrew Ennis, and the listeners kept arriving.

One Macy’s employee who declined to be named estimated attendance for the day of recitals at well over 10,000.

Some stayed for hours, others for a single recital. Organizers had to keep printing programs to satisfy the demand. All the while, people lined up to have their pictures taken with the Eagle.

Visitors came from all over, either out of general nostalgia for the store or for the love of music.

”As soon as you walk in, the first thing you listen for is the organ,” said Cara Lindsey of Wynnefield Heights.

» READ MORE: 4 hours with the Wanamaker Eagle statue in the final days of Center City Macy's

But others noted that Saturday also marked a cessation of perhaps Philadelphia’s only daily free musical experience in a public space.

”It’s the end of an era and the end of something beautiful that’s publicly available. I didn’t want to miss a chance to be in a crowd like this,” said Christine Ginsburg of Roxborough. Of the instrument’s future, she noted: “There’s no guarantee.”

The day was more celebration than funeral, though the question of the organ’s fate hung in the air.

”That’s what we’re waiting to hear. It’ll deteriorate if it just sits here,” said Jay Stanley of Chestnut Hill, garbed in a bright red Christmas light show sweater.

New York real estate developer TF Cornerstone has said it intends to keep the organ in place, but has not commented on access to the instrument in the post-Macy’s era, how often it would be played, or how it might coexist with a new tenant.

The uncertainty has produced a silver lining.

”I’ve been busy organizing tours and processing memberships and sending out our products to any number of people who love the organ and have been emotionally attached to it throughout their life and want to hold onto it in some way or other in this period of transition,” said Ray Biswanger, executive director of the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ.

Membership in the support group has gone up about 50% since the departure of Macy’s became public, he said.

”It’s wonderful, but we knew the sentiment was there. It’s what enabled the Friends to raise more than $11 million over 30 years.”

The money has gone toward restoration, maintenance, and concert production, Biswanger said. Macy’s has also supported the organ over the years, though inquiries to the company this week seeking to quantify that support went unanswered.

”Macy’s was here for 18 years, so it’s accurate to say both of us invested millions of dollars in the organ,” Biswanger said.

This spring’s edition of the Friends’ newsletter has some of the highlights:

The dedication of the organ’s restoration studios in 2007, a Macy’s 150th anniversary celebration that featured Philadelphia Orchestra brass players and organist Peter Richard Conte in a specially commissioned Fanfare by film composer Howard Shore, an appearance by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in 2011, and visits from Julie Andrews, Martha Stewart, and Kim Cattrall (who starred in the 1987 film Mannequin, set in the store).

Then there was the 2010 “flash opera” event when 650 singers disguised as regular shoppers startled customers by suddenly bursting into a “Hallelujah Chorus” accompanied by organ.

Biswanger said he is feeling positive about the organ’s future. He hopes another musical event can be held in the fall. Beyond that, the instrument has cheated death in a way that has proved elusive to its retail hosts so far.

After all, when Lord & Taylor closed, he said, “We never could have imagined all the wonderful things that happened under Macy’s.”