Better Pipe Organ Database

M. P. Möller Opus 1343 (1912)

Chatham Presbyterian Church
128 N. Main Street
Chatham, VA

OHS convention: 2001

Images

Unknown - Organ case in front (Photograph from the booklet, Four Organs of Historical Interest in Danville and Chatham, Virginia/Database Manager)

Unknown - Keydesk (Photograph from the booklet, Four Organs of Historical Interest in Danville and Chatham, Virginia/Database Manager)

Unknown - Expression shoe and composition trundles (Photograph from the booklet, Four Organs of Historical Interest in Danville and Chatham, Virginia/Database Manager)

Unknown - Builder's stencil and couplers (Photograph from the booklet, Four Organs of Historical Interest in Danville and Chatham, Virginia/Database Manager)

2000-05-10 - Sanctuary Interior, Chancel, and Pipe Facade (Photograph by William T. Van Pelt/Database Manager)

2000-05-10 - Keydesk (Photograph by William T. Van Pelt/Database Manager)

2001-06-22 - Church exterior (Photograph by Jim Cook/Database Manager)

2001-06-22 - Façade (Photograph by Jim Cook/Database Manager)

Consoles

Main

Organ type: Traditional With a Keyboard Cover That Can Be Lifted To Form a Music Rack
Console position: Keydesk Attached
2 manuals
18 stops
25 registers
3 divisions
Key action Type: Mechanical (Details Unknown)
Stop action Type: Mechanical
Stop layout Type: Drawknobs in Horizontal Rows on Terraced/Stepped Jambs
Manual compass: 61 notes
Pedal compass: 30 notes
Pedal Type: Flat Radiating
Expression Type: Balanced Expression Shoes/Pedals (Details Unknown)
Combination action: Fixed Mechanical

Notes

2004-10-30 - Status Note: There 2001. -Database Manager

2004-10-30 - Tubular pedal. -Database Manager

2005-08-07 - On-line update from Hardwick Ray Spencer -- The organ was apparently moved from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania in 1911 or 1912. Names handwritten on the stop mechanism inside the organ do not correspond with those on the stop knobs. On the Great Organ one of the slides is empty (the holes are present, but the pipes to which they correspond are missing.) Yet, the present stop labels do control the divisions to which they refer. An explanation could be given that suggests that the instrument was added to or altered in 1911, or perhaps a new console was added. Other inconsistencies: some of the pipework, in particular the Pedal Leiblich Gedeckt and some of the wooden pipes on the Great organ appear older than the rest of the pipes, suggesting perhaps that these came from an earlier organ. Still, the instrument is extremely colorful (although there are no reeds) and its tone is greatly enhanced by the excellent acoustic of the old sanctuary in this historic church. -Database Manager

2007-09-04 - Updated through online information from James R. Stettner. -- If the organ was relocated from Waynesboro, Pennsylvania as Mr. Spencer suggests, then perhaps it was a Möller rebuild of another existing organ. The instrument is listed for this Chatham church on the Möller's self-published opus list. This would also account for the presence of seemingly older pipework and for differences between the engraved stop controls and what is written on the stop action inside. -Database Manager

Stoplist

Stoplist from undocumented source Source: Source not recorded Date not recorded

   Chatham, Virginia
   Chatham Presbyterian Church

   Möller   Op. 1343   1911   2/17
   _____________________________________________________________

   GREAT                SWELL                   PEDAL
8' Open Diapason    16' Bourdon             16' Bourdon 
8' Doppel Flute      8' Violin Diapason     16' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Melodia           8' Stopped Diapason
8' Dulciana          8' Salicional
4' Principal         8' Aeoline
4' Flute d'Amour     4' Flauto Traverso
2' Super Octave      4' Violina
                     2' Flautina
                        Tremolo

      [Received online from Jeff Scofield February 4, 2012]