The organ of St. Martin’s Church in Dudelange was built in 1912 by Georg Stahlhuth (1830-1913) and his son Eduard Stahlhuth (1862-1916) from Burtscheid near Aachen. Georg and Eduard Stahlhuth were friends throughout their lives with the famous organ builder Joseph Merklin, with whom they learned the trade of organ building. This fact, as well as the commissions they received in England and Ireland, meant that they were one of the very few organ builders to integrate French and English sound elements into the German-Romantic organ, thus conforming to Albert Schweitzer’s “European organ building ideas” on which the specifications for the construction of the organ of 1912 were based.

The three-manual instrument of 1912 had 45 stops (and 3 transmissions under expression in the pedal) on cone valve chests with a pneumatic tracker and stop action, and was driven by three English water motors. Further borrowing from English sound aesthetics was the high-pressure Tuba mirabilis 8‘ in the Positiv on 300 mm of wind. Typical French features were, in addition to the overblowing stops characteristic of Stahlhuth, and reeds of French-style construction (with tin-plated shallots), of which at least three – Vox humana 8′, Tuba 8′ and Posaune 16′ «octave grave de bombarde 16′, grosse taille» – were supplied by the Paris organ pipe manufacturer Veuve Jules Sézerie. In its basic character, however, the organ had a German-Romantic orientation, with numerous 8′ stops, a differentiation of the manuals according to the different scales (wide, normal, narrow) and their dynamic gradation (f, mf, p). In addition to the high-pressure Tuba mirabilis, the organ had two further so-called „Starkton-Register“: Seraphon Gedackt 8′ and Seraphon Flöte 8′, each with two labia. With these three very loud stops, numerous fundamental voices, and two swell divisions with their sub-octave and super-octave couplings, the organ had an extraordinarily wide dynamic range.

In 1962, in negligence of its stylistic peculiarities, this organ underwent profound changes in its technical and tonal structure in accordance with the neo-baroque sound aesthetics prevailing at the time: reduction of the wind pressure, replacement of the pneumatic action by electric action, removal of the original console, changes to the pipework, transfer of entire stops onto other windchests, addition of high-pitched mixtures and mutations, addition of a fourth manual of neo-baroque conception, and finally removal of characteristic Stahlhuth stops.

After the organ was hardly playable in the middle of the 90s, the renovation of the organ, which had been planned since the end of the 80s, could take place after years of studies. During the renovation, which was carried out by Thomas Jann, Allkoven, Germany, from 2001 to 2002, the following work was completed:

• Restoration and reconstruction of the Stahlhuth pipes and windchests from 1912
• Renewal of the swell boxes and the wind supply system
• Removal of the stops added in 1962
• Addition of a Bombarde division instead of the neobaroque Positiv
• Harmonious extension of the organ up to 78 speaking stops with both German romantic and French symphonic tone colors, notably by :
  • Further development of the string chorus (full-fledged chorus from 16’ through Terzgamba 1 3/5’)
  • Numerous orchestral solo stops, constructed and voiced in both German and French style
  • Extension and differentiation of the numerous reed chorus (23 stops in all) of both German romantic and French symphonic style on all manuals
  • A strong fundamental tone based on 32’ (Untersatz 32’ from CC, full-length Contrabombarde 32’)
  • Octave mutations 5 1/3’ and 3 1/5’ and low-pitched, partly progressive mixtures
  • Revoicing of the whole organ was carried without compromise according to romantic voicing techniques
• Installation of a new four-manual console with electronic combination action, MIDI-interface, and replay system

Thus, since 2002, the most significant trait of the organ is the stylistically authentic performance not only of German but also of French and English repertoire from the romantic-symphonic era.

• Two stereo channels of chromatically sampled stops.

• Beautiful console screen.

• Single and dual photorealistic jambs for both landscape and portrait orientations.

• Simple screen for both landscape and portrait orientations, optimized for touchscreens.

• Modeled tremulants for Hauptwerk, Positiv and Schwellwerk.

• Recorded tremulants for three reed stops.

• Enclosures for two divisions.

• A user-programmable crescendo, eliminating the need for the Hauptwerk internal crescendo.

• Tonal mute piston to alter the brightness of the Chamade stops.

• Switch to limit the maximum volume of the Schwellwerk from 32 to 25.

• Acoustic control slider to enable smooth transitions between the two perspectives.