Special Event

1961 Beckerath organ at H. Douglas Lee Chapel, Elizabeth Hall, Stetson University, DeLand, Florida

American Organ History will be Celebrated at Stetson University November 4-5, 2011.

The neo-classic organ revival got is start in the United States when Rudolf von Beckerath of Hamburg installed a modern mechanical-action instrument at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church in Cleveland . Its success led to three subsequent installations in Montreal in 1959, 1960 and 1961:

These, in turn, led the young professor Paul R. Jenkins to encourage the administration of Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, to purchase a Beckerath organ for the Lee Chapel on campus. This, the first such instrument to be installed in the primary performance space of an American school of music, marked a revolutionary departure from the generally accepted norms in American organ building of that era and foreshadowed a rebirth of classic organ design in the United States.

Links and Resources

• Beckerath Organ at Stetson Chapel