Martin Ott Opus 103 at Trinity Lutheran Church
Martin Ott Opus 103 was commissioned in 2001 for Trinity Lutheran Church in Waukesha, Wisconsin. The stop specification gives 35 stops, 34 ranks, four extensions, electric pull-down slider chests, electro-pneumatic chests, and electric stop action.
Where the instrument stood: Trinity's reused Wicks pipework
The design also reused selected pipes from the church's older Wicks organ. The instrument occupied two mirrored red oak cases designed to match the church interior. The organ project brought Opus 103 into Trinity Lutheran Church, Waukesha, Wisconsin. The architectural record from Trinity Lutheran Church shows that the interior actively shaped the commission: space for singers affected the installation, while the surviving narrative leaves several spatial questions open. The written account includes no acoustic measurements.
In the room documented at Trinity Lutheran Church, balcony, chancel and positions on the floor set practical limits for an installation. Where the entry names one for Opus 103, it is a detail established by the project record rather than a broad guess about the building. No such measurements accompany the old page.
35 stops and 34 ranks: the scale of Opus 103
On paper, Opus 103 offers 35 stops drawn from 34 ranks. According to the 35-stop summary for Trinity Lutheran Church, the two figures answer different questions: one counts console controls, the other pipe sets. These are substantial figures, useful for judging scope but insufficient for describing tone. The full specification remains the decisive document. For Opus 103, the number of manuals requires the complete stop specification. Its 4 listed extensions help show why stop and rank figures can differ. The Opus 103 outline adds that arithmetic cannot reveal the builder's priorities; the disposition can.
The stop total in Opus 103 is higher than the count of pipe ranks by 1. That usually calls for a closer look at extensions and borrowed pitches before the layout is described. Within the published specification for Trinity Lutheran Church, the numerical relationship is helpful, but it is not a substitute for the disposition.
The playing action: Trinity's reused Wicks pipework
Opus 103 used electric pull-down or electric slider-chest control. Signals from the playing console operated the note valves, while sliders selected the ranks admitted to wind. The written account says nothing about present response or maintenance.
An electrical action can bridge distance without long mechanical trackers. Whether Opus 103 used that freedom for its console or only inside the organ case depends on the recorded layout.
How the instrument was arranged: Trinity's reused Wicks pipework
Several Hauptwerk stops were placed under expression. Quarter-sawn red oak was used for the raised panels. For Opus 103, the record records enough construction detail to discuss the installation without claiming to recreate the whole organ. At Trinity Lutheran Church, neither windchest drawings nor full case dimensions survive here.
For Opus 103, the organ case and console belong to the documentary story, not merely the decoration. At Trinity Lutheran Church, their arrangement preserves practical decisions made for this room.
Listening history: Trinity's reused Wicks pipework
Martin Ott rescaled the reused material and added ranks and individual pipes to fit the new tonal plan. The captured company entry gives these construction and tonal details but does not document subsequent alterations, ownership, or condition. The specification lists resources at the console, not the repertory heard in Trinity Lutheran Church. For Opus 103, concert programs, parish bulletins and recordings could build that outline into a richer listening history. The performance evidence for Trinity Lutheran Church sets the limit of the account: no dedicatory recital is named in the surviving material.
The absence of a recital in the surviving text does not mean Opus 103 went unheard. In the musical record for Trinity Lutheran Church, it means that a dated public event has not yet been established from this material.
Evidence, images and unanswered questions for Opus 103
This history draws on the company's Opus 103 project entry as it stood on February 6, 2020. Alongside the written account are 4 project-page images. The company grouped these files as its gallery for Opus 103. No photographer is identified beside these files. According to the surviving sources for Trinity Lutheran Church, the surviving evidence can identify the commission without serving as a modern inspection report. For Opus 103, new evidence should begin with the institution, a named photographic credit and a date.