First Lutheran Church

Christ the Victor Chapel

327 South Dakota Avenue
Sioux Falls, SD 57104


Builder: Fuhrer Organ Co., 1968.
Installed by J.F. Nordlie in 2008.
Manuals: 1
Ranks: 5
Action: Mechanical/slider chests

Notes: Notes: from Music Director Dr. Michael Elsbernd. First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, purchased a 1968 Fuhrer organ from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Decorah, Iowa, on August 14, 2008. Good Shepherd purchased the Fuhrer organ from Trinity Episcopal Church, Princeton, New Jersey, in 1978. It is currently in the work shop of the J.F. Nordlie Company, where John Nordlie and his staff have done restoration work and installed 27 new pipes (16' Bourdon) to the pedal division. The Fuhrer organ was installed in Christ the Victor Chapel at First Lutheran Church, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, during the week of November 24, 2008. The only other tonal modification to the 1968 Fuhrer organ, aside from the additional 27 notes of the '16 Bourdon, is a recomposition of the mixture. Fuhrer built the mixture as a II Zimbel. Acoustically, that pitch series was not a good match for the small chapel the organ will serve. John Nordlie lowered the pitch of the mixture, keeping it in two ranks, making it instead, a scharff. The pedal Bourdon and its windchest are designed to connect with the pedal pull down mechanism, acting in a way similar to a pedal harpsichord. The organ committee wrestled with the issues of keeping the organ preserved as it was originally built, or making modifications in order to get the most economy of a very small instrument. The committee worked with John Nordlie throughout the process and felt that John's solution would prove true to the spirit of Fuhrer's original design while expanding its versatility in order to better serve the musical/liturgical needs of the chapel. Organ Historical Society as of 2012.