The 1986 project at Lord of Life Lutheran Church: Opus 42
Martin Ott Opus 42 was built in 1986 for Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Memphis. Early correspondence proposed an instrument based on 4-foot principal scaling. After visiting the larger sanctuary, Martin Ott changed the tonal foundation to an 8-foot principal basis.
Opus 42 carries a recorded year of 1986. The wording remains broad because the builder account for Lord of Life Lutheran Church does not name the milestone it marks. Lord of Life Lutheran Church and Memphis, Tennessee anchor the project, and any later move or alteration belongs to a separate date. Present condition requires a present-day statement.
Reading the setting in Memphis, Tennessee: Opus 42
The record associates Opus 42 with Lord of Life Lutheran Church, Memphis, Tennessee. At Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Memphis, Tennessee, that supplies a social and religious setting, not a description of how the sanctuary sounded. For the Lord of Life Lutheran Church project in Memphis, Tennessee, a plan, a placement photograph, or a measured acoustic report would be needed before the building could enter the musical analysis in greater detail.
Scale in figures: the stops and ranks of Opus 42
Reading Opus 42 numerically starts with 13 stops and 16 ranks. Within the documented Memphis chapter, one number describes controls and the other describes pipe rows. Opus 42 lists 3 more ranks than stop controls. For the Lord of Life Lutheran Church project in Memphis, Tennessee, the relationship describes scale rather than a division plan, and it does not identify a single tonal voice. In the Lord of Life Lutheran Church account from Memphis, Tennessee, that is enough to compare scale, but not enough to reconstruct manuals, Pedal, wind system, or chorus structure.
The summary for Opus 42 cannot tell us how each division sounded, but it does establish the scale printed for Lord of Life Lutheran Church. That distinction matters when later photographs or programmes surface in Memphis, Tennessee. A reliable Opus 42 stop list could connect the count with actual pipe families and pitches. Until an Opus 42 list is found, no tonal resource should be added simply because it would be typical of another Ott organ.
From the keyboard into the organ: Opus 42
For Opus 42 at Lord of Life Lutheran Church, mechanical key action is documented for the project. At Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Memphis, Tennessee, that separates the key command from an electric-only transmission while leaving the console relationship and tracker route undescribed. The builder account for Lord of Life Lutheran Church makes no claim about wear, noise, regulation, or playing condition today.
The detail that gives Opus 42 its character
The Lord of Life Lutheran Church project is not described by numbers alone: the initial proposal used 4-foot scaling and the design was revised after a site visit. Within the documented Memphis chapter, the reading stays close to the documented church project. At Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Memphis, Tennessee, placement, materials, action, and named events can be reported, while the full chorus structure and everyday role remain unknown. A specification would clarify the instrument at Lord of Life Lutheran Church; local programmes would clarify how musicians used it. The listed 13-stop, 16-rank scale remains the numerical boundary for this reading.
Later events named in the Opus 42 account
The completed 13-stop, 16-rank mechanical organ stands free at the front left of the altar in an oak case with an attached keydesk. The archived account ties the change in scale directly to the room: a proposal made at a distance was revised only after the builder saw the sanctuary and judged the smaller basis insufficient for it.
Images, sources, and the open questions for Opus 42
The former builder page associates 1 numbered image file with Opus 42; images/042/042_m.jpg appears first. The Memphis project-number match supports identification, but it does not settle authorship or permission to publish. Within the documented Memphis chapter, the available text names neither a usable creator credit nor a reuse licence.
The known chronology for Opus 42 ends before a present-day survey. For a current account, Lord of Life Lutheran Church would need to confirm the location and supply a dated specification or condition note. In the Lord of Life Lutheran Church account from Memphis, Tennessee, without that material, the article can describe the documented past but not present access or performance.