Cathedral Church of St. Patrick

Harrisburg

The original instrument in the present Cathedral Church of St. Patrick was installed in November 1906 as Austin Organ Company’s Opus 175. Whether any part of the old organ from the former St. Patrick Church was incorporated into Opus 175 is unknown. The cathedral organ has undergone several rebuilds, redesigns, and cleanings over the years. Work was performed in 1951, 1983, 1988, 1990, and 2005 when the electrical system was replaced after a major lightning strike.

The majority of the rebuilding work was done by the Gundling Organ Company of Lancaster, PA. The Gundling firm had made a gift of a trumpet rank many years ago in memory of Professor Bernard Wert, a beloved former organist and choirmaster of the Cathedral. When the pipework was being removed in 1983 for a complete cleaning, it was discovered that this trumpet rank was unusually beautiful and built with a minimum of soldering seams. Through generous donations in memory of Annette Murcurio and Marion Blakely, this rank was reinstalled en chamade, and is now the Pontifical Trumpet.

After a lightning strike damaged the organ in June 2005, the console was rebuilt and redesigned by R. J. Brunner and Co. of Silver Spring, PA. Tonal revisions were also performed, and a French-style trumpet was added to the Swell (replacing the trumpet removed in 1983 to become the Pontifical Trumpet). The console now contains the state-of-the-art Peterson ICS-4000 organ control system.

As part of the interior renovations being undertaken at the Cathedral, the former sanctuary organ, a small Möller Artiste, is being removed because of its current location. The gallery console is prepared with stop knobs for playing this instrument from either console (not listed in the specification). At this time the Möller is being placed in storage indefinitely.

Specifications
42 ranks