Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church
The simple-lined white case is a stark visual contrast against the church’s Victorian Gothic interior. Listening to this organ’s warm, enveloping, and colorful sound will immediately push aside any preconceptions of the tonal preferences associated with decades of the Orgelbewegung movement. Robert Noehren served as consultant in Trinity’s commissioning this landmark instrument—the first four-manual mechanical-action instrument installed in the United States that was inspired by the desire to return to “classical traditions.” Domestic organbuilders such as Aeolian-Skinner, Herman Schlicker, and Walter Holtkamp were still struggling with such wholesale reforms and could not yet produce the comprehensive organs for which such visionaries as Noehren and E. Power Biggs yearned. It was a leap of faith for the congregation to purchase such an organ considering that no other significant instruments of this type had been built in this country, and the sizable contract was with a foreign builder with whom few in America were familiar.
In recent times, Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church has been experiencing a slow rebirth created by the large demographic changes and housing revitalizations in the area. Long-time organist Robert Myers, who often reminisces about the organ’s installation, has guided the church’s commitment to protection and preservation of the von Beckerath organ. After decades of use, the organ is due to have a thorough cleaning, its components releathered, its material defects (evident by age) corrected, and select preventative reinforcements inserted. Prior to our arrival, some restorative repairs and emer gency work have been completed under the leadership of native Cleveland organbuilder Leonard Berghaus. Joan Lippincott will play a recital for us on
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