Organs for America: The Life and Work of David Tannenberg

by William H. Armstrong, E. Power Biggs (Contribution by)

Overview

This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print. Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812275544
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	02/03/1968
Series:	Anniversary Collection
Edition description:	Reprint 2016
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.25(h) x 0.63(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

Read an Excerpt

From the Preface:

This book is the story of David Tannenberg, the organ builder of Lititz and of his organs. One of America's first full-time organ builders, Tannenberg built or helped to build almost fifty pipe organs for churches and individuals in six states, preparing them for such distant cities as Albany, New York, and Salem, North Carolina. They were built not only for the use of the Moravian Brethren, of which he was a member, but for German Reformed and Lutheran churches as well and, in at least one case, for a Roman Catholic church. The quality of Tannenberg's work was such that he is recognized today as one of the master organ builders, to be ranked alongside the Silbermanns and Arp Schnitger in Europe.

In recent years a renewed interest in the old, mechanical, "tracker action" organs has led to the rediscovery and restoration of most of Tannenberg's surviving works. But the story of his life has never adequately been told, nor the measure of his work been taken. The life and work of the baster builder have lain buried in the German manuscripts of the Moravian Brethren. Contained in their pages is the fascinating story of a people rich in music and religious devotion. It is from these pages that the story of the one whom they proudly called Brother David Tannenberg is taken.