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St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Allentown, PA Ernest Skinner Organ Co. - Built 1938 Lehigh Organ Co. - Rebuilt 1969 Reuter Organ Co. Opus 2163 - Rebuilt 1992 4 Manuals, 87 Ranks |
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St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church Allentown, PA Ernest Skinner Organ Co. - Built 1938 Lehigh Organ Co. - Rebuilt 1969 Reuter Organ Co. Opus 2163 - Rebuilt 1992 4 Manuals, 87 Ranks |
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| Great | Swell | Antiphonal | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 16' | Double Diapason | 16' | Stopped Flute | 8' | Principal |
| 8' | Principal | 8' | Geigen | 8' | Gedeckt |
| 8' | Diapason | 8' | Violon Cello | 4' | Octave |
| 8' | Stopped Diapason | 8' | Cello Celeste | 4' | Gedeckt |
| 8' | Harmonic Flute | 8' | Chimney Flute | 2 2/3' | Quinte |
| 8' | Bourdon | 8' | Stopped Flute | 2' | Octavin |
| 4' | Octave | 8' | Flute Dolce | Mixture III | |
| 4' | Spindle Flute | 8' | Flute Celeste | 16' | Festival Trumpet |
| 4' | Diapason | 4' | Principal | 16' | Tuba Mirabilis (Ch) |
| 2' | Fifteenth | 4' | Spire Flute | 8' | Trumpet |
| Full Mixture IV | 4' | Stopped Flute | 8' | Festival Trumpet | |
| Mounted Cornet IV | 2 2/3' | Nazard | 8' | Tuba Mirabilis (Ch) | |
| 16' | Festival Trumpet | 2' | Recorder | 8' | French Horn (Ch) |
| 16' | English Horn | 1 3/5' | Tierce | 8' | English Horn (Ch) |
| 8' | Tromba | Full Mixture IV | 4' | Trumpet | |
| 8' | Tuba Mirabilis | 16' | Double Trumpet | Harp | |
| 8' | Festival Trumpet | 16' | Waldhorn | Chimes | |
| 8' | French Horn | 8' | Trumpet | Tremulant | |
| 8' | English Horn | 8' | Waldhorn | ||
| Chimes | 8' | Oboe d'Amour | |||
| Tremulant | 8' | Vox Humana | |||
| 4' | Clarion | ||||
| Tremulant | |||||
| Choir | Pedal | ||||
| 16' | Gemshorn | 32' | Violone | ||
| 8' | Diapason | 32' | Bourdon | ||
| 8' | Gemshorn | 32' | Resultant | ||
| 8' | Gemshorn Celeste | 32' | Stopped Flute | ||
| 8' | Erzahler | 16' | Principal | ||
| 8' | Erzahler Celeste | 16' | Contrabass | ||
| 8' | Gedeckt | 16' | Double Diapason | ||
| 8' | Concert Flute | 16' | Gemshorn | ||
| 4' | Principal | 16' | Bourdon | ||
| 4' | Flute | 16' | Gedeckt | ||
| 4' | Gemshorn | 16' | Stopped Flute | ||
| 2 2/3' | Twelfth | 8' | Principal | ||
| 2 2/3' | Gemshorn | 8' | Contrabass | ||
| 2' | Fifteenth | 8' | Diapason | ||
| 2' | Gemshorn | 8' | Bourdon | ||
| 1 3/5' | Seventeenth | 8' | Stopped Flute | ||
| 1 3/5' | Gemshorn | 4' | Principal | ||
| 1 1/3' | Nineteenth | 4' | Diapason | ||
| 1' | Gemshorn | 4' | Bourdon | ||
| Mixture IV | Mixture IV | ||||
| Cymbal III | 32' | Trombone | |||
| 8' | Trumpet | 32' | Waldhorn | ||
| 8' | Clarinet | 16' | Trombone | ||
| 8' | French Horn | 16' | Double Trumpet | ||
| 8' | English Horn | 16' | Waldhorn | ||
| 8' | Tuba Mirabilis | 16' | Festival Trumpet | ||
| 8' | Vox Humana | 8' | Trombone | ||
| Harp | 8' | Trumpet | |||
| Tremulant | 8' | Waldhorn | |||
| 8' | Tuba Mirabilis | ||||
| 4' | Trombone | ||||
| 4' | Waldhorn |
The first known instrument to be used for Divine Worship at St. John's was a foot-pumped melodeon, owned by Christian Pretz, who transported the instrumental to the church and played it every Sunday in the early 1850's. This instrument still exists, is playable, and is displayed near the altar in the chapel of St. John's.
In February of 1856, a contract was made with Henry Knauff of Philadelphia to build an organ of 16 stops. In 1870, while additions were being made to the church and a new parsonage was being built, a contract was made with Samuel Bohler of Reading to build a new organ. Details of this organ are unknown. With the next wave of improvements to the church's property, major repairs were also done to the organ. In 1897, the leading firm of Edward Jardine and Son of New York was contracted to rebuild and enlarge the Bohler organ. In December of 1897, it was described in the Allentown Item as " . . . the finest organ in the city."
After the tragic fire of 1932, St. John's present gothic edifice was complete in 1938. A new organ was built for this building by Ernest M. Skinner and Son of Methuen, Massachusetts. Typical of the celebrated E.M. Skinner organs, this organ of 52 ranks (3,359 pipes) contained orchestral and color reeds stops, large scaled diapasons, strings, two Vox Humanas, and large flutes. In order to assist congregational singing, an Antiphonal Division was installed in 1950 by Chester Raymond of Princeton, NJ.
Mechanical deterioration and apparent dissatisfaction with the thick, dark color of the organ a contract was signed with the Lehigh Organ Company of Macungie, Pa. In 1969 to renovate and expand the instrument. Typical of many Skinners of the era, significant and permanent changes were made to the overall scheme and sound of the organ. It was about this time that the Festival Trumpet (former named Trompeta) was added to the ceiling of the nave.
In 1992, the Reuter Pipe Organ Company was contracted to rebuild, redesign, and refurbish the organ, using many of the old ranks of pipes, provide new ranks of pipes to complete the desired scheme, and build a new four manual console containing solid state switching and memory capabilities. In addition to the 82 ranks of pipes, 5 digital stops were added in 1998 by the Walker Technical Company of Zionsville, Pa.