Images from The Abell Gallery

Pennsylvania Pipe Organ, 1808

NMM 4905. Church organ by Christian Dieffenbach, Bethel Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania, 1808. Gold stencilled signature on front of 1884 nameboard (same text handwritten on back of nameboard): Built 1808, by Chris^t Dieffenbach, Berks Co., Pa. / [within unfurling banner] Rebuilt 1884, by Tho^s Dieffenbach Millersburg, Pa. Single manual, tracker action, C-d3 (51 keys). Six original stops; three stops and pedalboard added by Thomas Dieffenbach in 1884. Polychromed case pipes painted by Thomas Dieffenbach's nephew, Jacob Dieffenbach. Arne B. & Jeanne F. Larson Fund and J. Laiten Weed Estate, 1990.

This early American organ is one of the most imposing objects in the Museum, standing 11'9" (3.48 m.) tall.

Click on image above to seen an enlargement

The NMM's Dieffenbach organ was built for Zion Lutheran and Reformed Church near Orwigsburg, Pennsylvania, for $300, and was dedicated on October 16, 1808.  While a number of late 18th-and early-19th-century Pennsylvania-German organs have survived in churches and local historical museums, the Dieffenbach organ at the NMM is the only example from this important tradition to be seen in a major public collection of musical instruments.  It is also one of the best preserved.

The organ has a typical Dieffenbach stoplist, here written in the unusual order in which the six ranks of pipes stand on the wind chest, from front to back:

Principal 4' (bass and tenor pipes in façade)
Quint 3' (bass pipes in façade)
Salicet 4'
Gedackt 8' (wood pipes)
Floete 4' (open wood pipes)
Octave 2'

Audio Excerpts

Click here to hear an "Improvisation in G Dur" by Phil Cooper and seven versets by Johann Caspar Simon, also performed by Phil Cooper on the Dieffenbach organ.

Registrations for these excerpts:

Improvisation: Gedackt 8', Principal 4', Quint 3' and Octav 2'
Verset 1 in G Dur: Gedackt 8' and Principal 4'
Verset 3 in G Dur: Principal 4'
Verset 4 in G Dur: Gedackt 8' and Floete 4'
Verset 8 in G Dur: Gedackt 8'
Verset 6 in G Dur: Salicet 4'
Verset 5 in G Dur: Gedackt 8', Principal 4' and Octav 2'
Verset 10 in G Dur: Gedackt 8', Principal 4', Quint 3' and Octav 2'

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Postcard of this organ available from Gift Shop

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Most recent update:  March 1, 2014

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