Paul Fritts is an American organ builder based in

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, northeast of the state capital, Olympia, and northwest of Mount Rainier National Pa ...

, who, following historical models, has created over thirty mechanical action instruments that have contributed to the revival of historically informed organ music. The Murdy organ at

Basilica of the Sacred Heart (Notre Dame) The Basilica of the Sacred Heart in Notre Dame, Indiana, is a Catholic church on the campus of the University of Notre Dame, also serving as the mother church of the Congregation of Holy Cross (C.S.C.) in the United States. The neo-gothic ...

in Notre Dame, Indiana is his largest Fritts instrument to date, with four manuals (keyboards) and 70 stops. Other recent Fritts instruments of note are located at the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic university, Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend, Indiana, South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin fo ...

(2 man. 34 st.),

Princeton Theological Seminary Princeton Theological Seminary (PTSem), officially The Theological Seminary of the Presbyterian Church, is a private school of theology in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1812 under the auspices of Archibald Alexander, the General Assembly of t ...

(2 man. 39), and

Pacific Lutheran University Pacific Lutheran University (PLU) is a private Lutheran university in Parkland, Washington. It was founded by Norwegian Lutheran immigrants in 1890. PLU is sponsored by the 580 congregations of Region I of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Ame ...

(3 man. 54 st.). The organ at PLU was the largest Fritts organ built before the organ in Columbus. Several of the most notable American performers have recorded on Fritts organs, among them William Porter, Craig Cramer, Christa Rakich, and Robert Bates. In addition, the renowned German scholar and performer

Harald Vogel Harald Vogel (born 21 June 1941 in Ottersberg) is a German organist, organologist, and author. He is a leading expert on Renaissance and Baroque keyboard music. He has been professor of organ at the University of the Arts Bremen since 1994. Book ...

has recorded on the Fritts organ at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

(Op. 19). Fritts is part of a larger movement of organ builders who, in the wake of the

Organ Reform Movement The Organ Reform Movement or ''Orgelbewegung'' (also called the Organ Revival Movement) was a mid-20th-century trend in pipe organ building, originating in Germany. The movement was most influential in the United States in the 1930s through 1970s, ...

, have sought to apply historical organ building principles in crafting modern instruments. This movement does not seek to ''copy'' historical instruments, but in some sense be "apprenticed to them." That is, Fritts builds Fritts organs, not

Arp Schnitger Arp Schnitger (2 July 164828 July 1719 (buried)) was an influential Northern German organ builder. Considered the most paramount manufacturer of his time, Schnitger built or rebuilt over 150 organs. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, esp ...

organs, although the influence of the latter can scarcely be denied. Other builders in this movement include

John Brombaugh John Burlin Brombaugh (born March 1, 1937) is an American pipe organ builder known for his historically oriented tracker action pipe organs. Personal life and early training Born in Dayton, Ohio, Brombaugh (related to the Brumbaugh families) f ...

, Richards, Fowkes & Co., Taylor & Boody, Fisk, and Fritz Noack.

Bibliography

* Whitney, Craig R. ''All the Stops: The Glorious Pipe Organ and Its American Masters''. ( Public Affairs 2003).

External links

Paul Fritts & Company Organ Builders

Making the New Basilica Organ (Youtube)
* Fritts, Paul

''Vox Humana''. March 25, 2018.
Pipe shade carvings for Fritts Organs Opus 5, 11 to 25, 27 and 28 were designed and carved by Jude Fritts.

Fritts organ at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, dedicated 2004, Opus 24

* ttp://www.plu.edu/~tegelspa/gottfried-mary/home.html The Gottfried and Mary Fuchs organ at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, dedicated 1998, Opus 18
The Marion Camp Oliver Organ at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, Washington, dedicated September 14th, 2003, Opus 22

Fritts organ at the Belle Skinner Recital Hall at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York, dedicated 2002, Opus 23

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fritts, Paul American pipe organ builders Musical instrument manufacturing companies of the United States Living people Year of birth missing (living people)