Construcții de Orgi și Tâmplărie [C.O.T. SRL] / Árpád Magyar
2024

Description from the archived UC Berkeley music department website (see here https://web.archive.org/web/20080513163137/http://music.berkeley.edu/collections.html)

Antique Chamber organ (1783)
The organ was built by Ibe Peters Iben of Emden, Germany for the Castle Onstaborgh in Sauwerd, the Netherlands. Early in the nineteenth century the castle was dismantled and the organ sold to the village inn at Sauwerd. Sometime around 1930 it came into the possession of the organ firm Mulder in Uithuizen and then was sold to a Dr. Bolders, an archeologist at the University of Groningen. About 1960 it landed in an antique shop in Groningen. At that time it was repaired and an electric blower was installed by Johannes 'Hans' Brink of the Mense Ruiter Organ Company. In its last years in Holland it was place on loan to the Dutch Reformed Church in Appingendam. It was purchased by the University of California in June of 1965.

Iben made small organs of which only a few remain extant. He was an excellent woodworker and he made the cabinet, the windchest and the pipes in the facade. the front sides of the pipes were carved round to resemble metal ones, but the backs are square. Except for a few that have been replaced in recent times, the interior pipes re about a century older than the date on the case, a fact that is responsible for a sound of exceptional historic interest. It was customary for Iben to buy used metal pipes for his organs from a builder named Lohman who had a shop near his.

The organ was restored by Greg Harrold in 1984. Pipes were repaired, revoiced, and tuned. The original bellows were re-leathered and the pedal for working them restored. The leaking chests and the keyboard were repaired. The deteriorating paint was stripped and the case enameled in an historically traditional manner. The nineteenth century paintings on the doors were cleaned and restored by David Kolch at the Los Angeles County Museum. The moldings of both the inner and outer case have been laid with new gold leaf. The compass of the keyboard is 51 notes (C-d'''). All the ranks of pipe except for the Quintadena are divided on two chests, pitches C to b on the lower part of the keyboard to c' to d''' on the upper. The Quintadena is a half-stop and its pipes are only on the upper chest. Tuning: Kirnberger III. Pitch: About one-half step above a'=440.

Gedact 8 ft.
Quintadena 8 ft. (discant only)
Principaal 4 ft.
Fluit 4 ft.
Quinta 3 ft.
Octaav 2 ft.
Octaav 1 ft.
Tremulant

Relocated to First Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, PA. in 2024.

This entry represents the installation of a used organ.