The 1985, 1st rebuilt by M. Ott project at St. Raphael R.C. Church: Opus 36
Martin Ott Opus 36 was the builder's 1987 rebuild of an eight-rank Kimball organ acquired by St. Raphael Catholic Church in Naperville. Kimball had built the earlier instrument in 1911 for the Cathedral of Saint Raymond. The Ott rebuild was later replaced by a Berghaus organ in 1999.
The project material attaches 1985, 1st rebuilt by M. Ott to Opus 36. In the St. Raphael R.C. Church account from Naperville, Illinois, it does not label that figure as the contract, completion, installation, or dedication date. The firm coordinates are St. Raphael R.C. Church and Naperville, Illinois; a dated programme or contract could narrow the sequence. Nothing in the year recorded for St. Raphael R.C. Church alone establishes the present site or playing condition.
Reading the setting in Naperville, Illinois: Opus 36
The builder page places the project at St. Raphael R.C. Church in Naperville, Illinois, which identifies a worship setting rather than a recital hall or private house. In the St. Raphael R.C. Church account from Naperville, Illinois, that distinction matters, but it does not supply an acoustic survey. The builder account for St. Raphael R.C. Church gives no verified room volume, surface plan, seating figure, or reverberation time. At St. Raphael R.C. Church in Naperville, Illinois, it is therefore reasonable to discuss the church context while leaving the sound of the room undescribed.
Scale in figures: the stops and ranks of Opus 36
The surviving overview gives 55 stops and 61 ranks. In the St. Raphael R.C. Church account from Naperville, Illinois, a stop is the named control available to the player; a rank is a set of pipes following the compass at one pitch and tone colour. Opus 36 therefore has 6 more listed ranks than stops. Compound stops are one possible reason, but the totals recorded for St. Raphael R.C. Church do not identify the affected controls. For the St. Raphael R.C. Church project in Naperville, Illinois, manual divisions, pedal resources, pitches, and individual stop names are needed before anyone can describe the tonal design in detail.
From the keyboard into the organ: Opus 36
For Opus 36 at St. Raphael R.C. Church, the overview names both mechanical and electro-pneumatic action, reflecting more than one operating method within the instrument described on the page. Without a division-by-division specification, those methods cannot be assigned more precisely. The wording also belongs to the later Berghaus instrument in the narrative, not automatically to every stage of the earlier Ott rebuild.
The detail that gives Opus 36 its character
Two documented details frame this project: a 1911 Kimball formed the earlier instrument and it was rebuilt by Martin Ott in 1987. The documented facts from St. Raphael R.C. Church belong to a church commission, where registration and placement may affect how voices are supported. They do not establish the complete tonal plan or show how the congregation used the instrument at St. Raphael R.C. Church. A stop list for St. Raphael R.C. Church, programme, or dated building account would allow a closer musical reading. The listed 55-stop, 61-rank scale remains the numerical boundary for this reading.
The rebuild and the instrument that followed: Opus 36
The archived page displays a 55-stop, 61-rank specification and photograph of the Berghaus replacement, not Opus 36. That later organ reused selected Ott-made stops and other material from the rebuild. The record therefore describes three stages, the 1911 Kimball, the 1987 Ott work, and the 1999 Berghaus, and the later specification must not be assigned to Opus 36.
Images, sources, and the open questions for Opus 36
The historical page for Opus 36 links 1 matching image file, beginning with images/036/036_m.jpg. The filename connects the material with the page for St. Raphael R.C. Church, but it does not grant publication rights. A caption contains credit wording; the creator, licence, date, and permitted use still need confirmation.
Opus 36 sits inside a sequence of instruments rather than a simple build-and-dedicate story. A later specification must be assigned to the later organ, while photographs need captions that distinguish each stage. A technical report from St. Raphael R.C. Church could clarify which Ott material remained in the successor and what, if anything, survives now.