Lititz Moravian Church - Lititz, PA

1787

Tannenberg completed the building of an organ for Lititz Moravian Church - his own church - in the summer of 1787. The cost was £200. It was dedicated along with the new church building on August 13. It was placed in the west gallery with two wedge-shaped bellows in the attic above the organ. These were pumped by pulling on two ropes which hung from the ceiling.

The Tannenberg organ remained in the west gallery for ninety-two years. In 1879, it was replaced with a larger instrument. Tannenberg's organ was then loaned to the Moravian congregation in South Bethlehem. In addition to being moved, it was rebuilt by an unknown builder. A more modern wind system was provided and placed within the case. (The two original bellows had been left in the attic in Lititz.) Also, a swell box was added and the stop action and pedal action were altered. The keyboard and stop knobs were also replaced. Finally, the entire organ was raised to modern pitch by cutting off the tops of the pipes.

In 1910, the organ was returned to Lititz but was placed in storage in the Single Brothers' House as well as the attic of the church. A fire that burned the church in 1957 destroyed those parts stored there as well as the two original bellows that had never been moved.

In 1976, the Archives Committee contacted the organ building firm of James R. McFarland & Co. about the possibility of a complete restoration of the organ to its 1787 condition. The task was accepted and work began in 1980. All the missing parts of the organ were meticulously replicated included the two wedge-shaped bellows, the pedal chest, various parts of the case and the front pipes all of which had apparently been stored in the church attic. Every effort was made to strictly adhere to Tannenberg's construction methods. This was possible as a result of the very detailed documentation performed by the McFarland shop on all the extant instruments of Tannenberg as well as any extant parts or surviving front pipes.

The restoration was completed in 1983 and the organ was installed in the newly constructed gallery in the Single Brothers' House next to the church. The reconstructed bellows were placed in the attic above the gallery and are pumped by pulling two ropes that hang from the ceiling. This is now the only example of this type of wind system arrangement once quite common in many Pennsylvania-German organs.

Additional work and setting of a new temperament (Sorge, 1744) was completed by James R. McFarland and Hans Herr in April of 2010.

The stop list is:

The Principal Discant, which is smaller in scale, begins from tenor g with the first fourteen pipes in the facade. The 8' Flauto Amabile is a small scale open wood stop while the 4' Floth is larger. The Qünt: Dehn (Quintadena) is capped metal with the five lowest as stopped wood basses. The first fifteen pipes of the Principal 4' are also in the facade. Both the pedal ranks are made of wood and are located unenclosed behind the case. The Sub Bass is stopped while the Octav Bass is open, this being the typical arrangement for Tannenberg's pedal pipes. There is also a Coppel Pedal which operates a separate set of palets in the manual chest..

Source for the stop names: A letter from Tannenberg to Brother Marshall dated December 11, 1797 in which he describes the organ in the church in Lititz.

All the following music examples were recorded Sunday afternoon, March, 27, 2011:

To listen to Herr Gott, dich loben alle wir by Johann Pachelbel, click here. Played on the Principal Discant 8', Principal 4' and Sub Octav 2' with the Octav Bass and Koppel in the pedal (chorale).

To listen to Vom Himmel hoch, da komm ich her by Johann Pachelbel, click here. Played on the Floth 4' and the Octav Bass in the pedal (chorale).

To listen to Durch Adams Fall by Johann Christoph Bach, click here. Played on the Qünt: Dehn 8' and Floth 4' with the Sub: Bass 16' and Octav Bass 8' in the pedal.

To listen to Warum betrübst, O meine Herz? by Johann Christoph Bach, click here. Played on the Qünt: Dehn 8' with the Sub: Bass 16' and the Koppel.

To listen to Aus meines Herzens Grunde by Johann Christoph Bach, click here. Played on the Flaut Amabile 8' and Principal 4' with the Sub: Bass 16' and Octav Bass 8' in the pedal.

To listen to Christe, du Lamm Gottes by Georg Friedrick Kauffmann, click here. Played on the Principal Discant 8' with the Octav Bass 8' in the pedal (chorale).

To listen to Schlag Arie 19 ex G Dur by Johann Valentin Rathgeber, click here. Played on the Principal 4'.

To listen to Schlag Arie 13 ex G Dur by Johann Valentin Rathgeber, click here. Played on the Flaut Amabile 8' and Floth 4'.

To listen to Schlag Arie 6 ex F Dur by Johann Valentin Rathgeber, click here. Played on the Flaut Amabile 8' Qünt: Dehn 8' and the Floth 4' (subtracting the Flaut Amabile 8' for section B).

To listen to an improvisation on the Viol de Gambe 8', click here.

To listen to an improvisation on the Flauto Amabile 8', click here.

To listen to an improvisation on the Viol de Gambe 8' and Flaut Amabile 8' with the Sub: Bass 16' and Octav Bass 8', click here.

To listen to an improvisation on all four 8' stops with the Sub: Bass 16' and Octav Bass 8" with the Koppel', click here.

To listen to a demonstration of the Octav Bass 8', click here.

To listen to a demonstration of the Sub: Bass 16' and Octav Bass 8', click here.

The following three hymns were recorded in May of 2010 with the Lititz Moravian Church Senior Choir:

To listen to the hymn, Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord (tune by Johann Eusebius Schmidt and found in the Christian Gregor Choralbuch of 1784), click here.

To listen to the hymn, I Am Jesus' Little Lamb (tune from Herrnhut c.1740 and found in the Christian Gregor Choralbuch of 1784), click here.

To listen to the hymn, What Brought Us Together (tune from Herrnhut c.1740 and found in the Christian Gregor Choralbuch of 1784), click here.

Click on the thumbnails to see the larger pictures:

Photos 1 - 8 taken in August, 1983; photos 9 - 19 taken October 13, 2007.
Photo #12 shows the detail of the impost, photos 14 & 15 show the reconstructed bellows in the attic above the organ, photo #16 shows the 1750's Single Brothers' House (center of photo) where the 1793 organ is located (lower left-hand window) and the hall where the 1787 organ is located (center section with taller windows), photo #18 shows the steeple of the church which Tannenberg designed, and photo #19 is a view of the west gallery of the church where the 1787 Tannenberg organ was originally located.
Photos 20 through 25 were taken April, 2010:
Photo #22 is a comparison of the scale difference between the Principal Discant 8' (left) and the same note from the Principal 4' (right).
Photo #23 shows the nicks that had been added to the metal pipes of the 1787 Tannenberg organ compared to an untouched pipe from the 1793 Tannenberg downstairs in the chapel.
Photo #24 shows a comparison between wood pipes: left is the 4' Floth from the 1793 Tannenberg downstairs, the middle pipe is from the Floth 4' and the right pipe is the Flauto Amabile 8' both from the 1787 organ.
Photo #25 shows Jim McFarland regulating the speech of a front pipe, April, 2010.
Photos 26 through 32 were taken March 27, 2011