The documented Opus 23 chapter at Central Presbyterian Church
Martin Ott Opus 23 was a walnut-cased continuo built in 1983 for Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri. Its baroque-style case uses solid framing and raised panels. Granadilla covers the natural keys, white beech the sharps, and sticker action operates the mechanical key and stop systems.
The builder index places Opus 23 in 1983. Within the documented Clayton chapter, a single index year is a starting point rather than a complete construction history. At Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri, an invoice, programme, or dated photograph could identify the event behind it. The index says nothing about where the instrument at Central Presbyterian Church stands now.
What survives about the room at Central Presbyterian Church: Opus 23
The institutional name places Opus 23 in a church at Clayton, Missouri. Within the documented Clayton chapter, congregational and choral work are plausible in such a building, but neither should be presented as documented use without a programme or parish account. At Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri, room size, later alterations, and present access also remain outside the surviving evidence.
Numbers before tonal claims: Opus 23
The short specification for Opus 23 begins with 3 stops and 3 ranks. In the Central Presbyterian Church account from Clayton, Missouri, those counts distinguish player controls from sets of pipes rather than offering two names for the same thing. The summary balances at 3 stops and 3 ranks for Opus 23. Shared and extended resources remain possible until the individual stops are known. For the Central Presbyterian Church project in Clayton, Missouri, an exact pipe count and tonal analysis must wait for the full stop list.
The mechanism described for Central Presbyterian Church: Opus 23
For Opus 23 at Central Presbyterian Church, the action label for Opus 23 is mechanical. It identifies a physical transmission between keyboard and valve, but it does not identify every intervening component or the system used for stop selection. A historic label cannot substitute for a current inspection.
At Central Presbyterian Church, Opus 23 is described as a continuo organ. That says more about scale and accompanying purpose than about the case hardware. A continuo can be movable, but this page does not assume wheels, handles, divided stops, or transposition without a specific sentence in the historical account.
How to read the surviving design evidence: Opus 23
A closer look at the project evidence brings the defining facts forward: it has a walnut raised-panel case and its keyboard has granadilla naturals and white-beech sharps. At Central Presbyterian Church, an organ might lead hymns, accompany voices, or appear in recital, yet the source names none of those duties unless noted above. The evidence from Central Presbyterian Church describes design rather than regular musical practice. Within the documented Clayton chapter, service leaflets, recital programmes, and a complete stop list would answer different parts of that question. At Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, Missouri, the listed 3-stop, 3-rank scale remains the numerical boundary for this reading.
What the source says after 1983: Opus 23
The 47-note instrument divides into an upper playing section and a lower section containing the blower and five largest Holzgedackt pipes. The page groups it with Opus 22, 31, and 48 but identifies Opus 23 as the walnut example. Dimensions, joinery, keyboard materials, and separable construction make this a workshop record rather than an event history.
A source trail for the Central Presbyterian Church instrument: Opus 23
The Opus 23 page carries 2 image links with matching filenames. One is images/023/023_m2.jpg. Before any appears beside the Central Presbyterian Church history, its subject and rights need a separate check. The archived page offers no complete attribution or publication licence.
The Opus 23 account has a clear documented past and an unverified present. A recent statement from Central Presbyterian Church, paired with a dated stop list, would establish whether the instrument remains in Clayton, Missouri and whether its specification has changed. In the Central Presbyterian Church account from Clayton, Missouri, the existing evidence cannot carry those claims by itself.