Pipe Organ Database

Review of the new organ opening concert published in German in the Lutheran Zeitschrift edition of 18 December 1869; p. 397 (The article was written 8 Dec 1869 in review of the concert of the 7th.) From Philadelphia: Yesterday evening there was a Concert in the Emanuel [Lutheran] Church (Pastor H. Grahn), at the southeast corner of Carpenter and 4th Street, which was organized for the purpose of raising funds for the payment of the new organ built by Mr. Dürner in Quäkertown, PA, and at the same time the public the opportunity to give to hear the new work. We discovered at our arrival that the great church was filled to capacity and saw a number of well-known faces from every section of the city, including a number of clergy. This, of course, has little to do with the Concern itself, yet it awakens the pleasant idea that among the congregations of our city there is a sense of belonging together and of mutual participation, which deserves to be understood and promoted. It is also more important that the choirs of many congregations offered to cooperation for this evening and contribute to the musical enjoyment. Although the main interest focused on the organ, so was the alteration between only organ music and choral singing with accompaniment by the organ was agreeable. And the choirs performed their part very well, had with due consideration of the place selected something worthwhile for the presentation and deserved our thanks. That goes also for the Quartet, that is connected with the English congregation delighted us among others with the very competent composition of its conductor, Mr. O. Königs. We come to the organ itself, it needs no special praise. It praises itself with a thousand voices and is in itself a whole choir, where the strong and the sweet, the deep and the high harmoniously blend together in infinite variety and one often does not quite know what one should admire the most, the artful invention of the organ, this Organ in the special sense among the many organs of the world of sounds, or the excellent execution of the thought here in this solidly constructed work, which meets all requirements, or the glory of the compositions, as we were presented here from the deep and rich treasury of a Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, and other greats among the greats were offered or the eminent artistry of the artist, who gladden us with their splendid playing. Among those played we would [note] the Toccata and Fugue from the Old Master, S. Bach, performed with great skill by Mr. M. Zeckwar, as we heard, a pupil of the Conservatory in Leipzig, and of the delightful prelude of the same S. Bach, masterfully played by Mr. D. Wood, and without forgetting the merits of others, of the splendid Prelude of the same S. Bach, the most solemn of the musical canon, with the fullest, most affectionate loveliness. As far as we know, Mr. D. Wood is blind. That is a misfortune. But we thought, when the man, who has not seen a note, a grip, not even the organ which sits in front of, and the whole entangled, strictly contrapuntalized, much-entwined movement of this composition of S. Bach – you know that old one – knows from his certain memory than from the paper, and lets his fingers pass over the manuals with this precision; we thought that man with such ears, with such fingers, could have such a force and a secure passage in the realm of tones can see the lack of eyes at most as an inconvenience. With one word – Mr. Wood and all the contributors, choirs, soloists and player have earned our thanks, the evening brought much pleasure and the pleasure was precious. So we say farewell this time around and until we hear again. December 8, 1869 Translation: Rev Dr Karl Krueger, 9 December 2019

Included a 3 rank mixture on the great. Destroyed except for the case.