Organ for Lamb of God Lutheran Church
Completed
On November 22, 2018, the last of the pipes were put into the pipe organ at Lamb of God Lutheran Church is in the Lake City area of Seattle, and it was declared completed. As indicated in the News article of June 30, 2018, work with this church dated back for a period of time, but when the situation became right for the church, the people there moved ahead with the project, and a Letter of Agreement between the church and the Foundation was signed on October 7, 2017.
Early in 2018, work on the organ for Lamb of God Lutheran began, and up through June, 2018, the focus was on the divisions of the instrument placed at the front of the church (Great, Swell, Pedal). This work is summarized in the News article of June 30, 2018. Late in the summer of 2018, the Foundation began to work on the final division of the organ, the Antiphonal division which was placed at the back of the church.
In order to provide a place for the Antiphonal organ, the church had to build a pipe balcony at the back. This was done during the renovation of the building and according to the specifications of the Pipe Organ Foundation. The Foundation worked with the structural engineer and the architect as the space available was quite limited. The final product was a pipe balcony about 13 feet wide and 4 feet deep plus a partial height niche behind it some 8 feet wide and 2 feet deep. This proved to be just enough for the blower, the regulating system, the switchstack, and the pipes and windchests.
The Antiphonal division consists of four ranks of pipes:
1) Lieblich-Gedeckt/Melodia of 85 pipes which plays at 16’, 8’,
4’, 2 2/3’ and 2’ (excluding the top octave); 2) Geigen Diapason of 73
pipes which plays at 8’ and 4’; 3) Viole of 73 pipes which plays at 8’
and at 4’; and 4) Oboe of 61 pipes which plays at 8’ (t.c.) and 4’.
These pipe ranks were selected carefully in order to represent
all the groups of pipes in pipe organs:
1) flutes; 2) principals; 3) strings; and, 4) reeds.
The Antiphonal division is floating so that it can be played on either
keyboard with either the Great or Swell division at the front of the
church. Furthermore, the
Antiphonal division also contributes to the Pedal as the
Lieblich-Gedeckt plays on the Pedal at 16’ and 8’ and the Oboe plays on
the Pedal at 8’.
When completed, the value of the Antiphonal to overall impact of the
organ was obvious. The
particular groups of pipes selected were chosen to complement the 13
ranks at the front of the church with the result that the Antiphonal
neither dominates nor is subservient to the pipes at the front.
People in the congregation are surrounded by sound from the front
and the back, and as a consequence, they frequently cannot tell which
the pipes at the front are playing or the pipes at the back (both are
commonly used together).
Further, the organist is able to move the sound from back to front and
front to back in interesting ways.
Overall, the addition of the Antiphonal division to the organ was
well worth the time and effort that were required.
A dedication concert for this organ will occur on Saturday, May 18, at 3
PM, and all are welcome to attend.
The address of the church is 12509 27th Ave NE,
Seattle WA 98125.
(See the photos in the left sidebar and click on the small images to enlarge)