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Martin Ott Pipe Organ Company, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri, has completed two new organs for Mount Angel Abbey, St. Benedict, Oregon. The firm's Opus 79 and Opus 80 replace the abbey's 1930s Kilgen organ which had pipes of various vintages and builders. The Choir organ and the Grand organ are mechanical-action instruments designed and constructed according to classic German organ building principles, with tracker action and slider chests. They exemplify the tonal ideas and voicing style developed during the past 27 years since the company was founded, imparting clear, transparent texture to the sound.

The organs are placed within free-standing cases, allowing them to speak with a light, unforced singing tone. Their main task is to accompany the monastic choral singing along with the full church's congregational song in the tradition of the Benedictine order.

The stoplist was developed by the Ott firm, in collaboration with the organ committee of the abbey. Case design was by Ott with consultation from the architectural firm of Humayun Somjee and Associates, St. Louis, Missouri. The cases are built of white oak and stained in a light brown color. All wood was kiln-dried and milled at the Ott shop. The framework utilizes mortise-and-tenon construction. The raised panels in the case are made of quarter-sawn oak.

Facade pipes, made of 75% tin, come from the Prinzipal stops. Manual keyboards have 61 notes; naturals are of grenadil, and sharps are of grenadil covered with cow bone. The pedalboard compass is 32 notes; keys are of oak, sharps are capped with ebony. Trackers are made of western cedar and the squares are of white beech. Rollers are of metal. The wind chests are constructed of Baltic birch plywood, ash, and maple.

The Choir organ, Opus 79, comprises 15 stops and 15 ranks, totalling 856 pipes. All pipes with the exception of the Prinzipal 8' and 12 pipes of the Subbass 16' are under one common expression control. The organ has a common tremulant (prepared). It was built in 1995 and installed in the spring of 1996.

The Grand organ, Opus 80, consists of 37 stops and 44 ranks for a total of 2,478 pipes on three manuals and pedal. The traditional layout of the organ is in the strict order of the Werkprinzip. The pipes of the Hauptwerk division are in the center of the case. Below the Hauptwerk is the Schwellwerk. The divided Pedal pipes are cantilevered to the left and right of the Hauptwerk. The Kronenwerk is above the Hauptwerk. Stop action is electric with a computerized multi-level combination action. The Grand organ was built from May 1997 through February 1998. It was disassembled and transported to Mount Angel for assembly and completed in June 1998.

The following craftsmen participated in the construction of the organs: Albert J. Brass, Alexander E. Bronitsky, James F. Cullen, Alexander D. Leshchenko, Richard J. Murphy, Earl C. Naylor, Martin Ott, Sascha Ott, and Karen A. Perrone. Electrical engineering and execution was by Richard Houghton of Milan, Michigan. Wood inlay of music racks was by Herbert Bilgram of St. Louis.

--Martin Ott

The Choir Organ, Opus 79

MANUAL I

8' Prinzipal (1-4 from Rohrflöte)

8' Rohrflöte

4' Oktave

4' Flöte

Mixtur II

8' Oboe

MANUAL II

8' Viola (1-6 from Gedackt)

8' Viola Celeste (TC)