Images(6)

Pipe organ

Alternate name(s)

House organ

Maker Josef Loosser

Date1786

Place MadeLueppfertsweil, Gemeind Cappel, St. Gall, Switzerland, Europe

Serial No.none

SignedEngraved on central pipe: 17 86 / iSL
On paper at back of pallet box: Durch Joseph Loosser Orglan Macher Von Luppfertsweil in der Gemeind Cappel in Toggenburg 1786
Markingsnone
DescriptionSingle manual, tracker action. Compass: C to c3 (49 notes)
Pine case, painted in traditional style of the Toggenburger valley.

294 pipes
Pitch: slightly less than a semitone below A 440.
Six stops:
Copel 8' stopped wood
Principal 4' metal, AA# to e2 in the facade; wooden pipes in the bass
Floten 4' open wood; CC to b stopped
Ocdav 2' metal, with wooden pipes in the bass
Quint 1 2/3' metal, with wooden pipes in the bass
Subterocdav 1' metal, with wooden pipes in the bass
DimensionsWidth at base: 65"
Depth at base: 36 1/2", not including foot pedal, bench, doors
Height: approximately 7' 7"
ProvenancePurchased in 1990 from Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, Nottinghamshire, England.

The organ was restored in England in 1988. At that time it belonged to Julian Berkeley, Ramsdell, England. It was given to him by Francis Lloyd, who inherited the organ from his mother, Lady Berkeley, who kept the organ in her house in Assisi in Italy in a music room which had formerly been the church of San Lorenzo. Lady Berkeley ("Molly") was Mary Emlyn Lloyd, daughter of John Lowell, Boston, Massachusetts. She was the second wife of Randall Thomas Mowbray, 8th Earl Berkeley (1865-1942).
Published References"1990 Acquisitions at USD Music Museum," Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society, Vol. 20, No. 1 (February 1991), p. 8.

Early Music, Vol. 17, No. 3 (August 1989), p. 473. (Martin Goetze and Dominic Gwynn, Organbuilders, Advertisement)

Ferré, Susan. "Raising the Raisin Organ," The Tracker, Vol. 50, No. 2 (Spring 2006), p. 36.

Koster, John. “Historical Organs in the Museum Context,” The Tracker 50, Nos. 3 & 4 (Summer/Fall 2006), p. 31.

Larson, André P. "Museum Acquires Rare 18th-Century Swiss Organ," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 1 (October 1990), pp. 1-2.

Taylor, Nina G. "Adding to Collections: Instruments to Make Music (and Spirits) Soar," Museum News, Vol. 70 (March-April 1991), p. 32.

Credit LinePurchase funds gift of Margaret Ann and Hubert H. Everist, 1990

Object number04897

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