Johann Philip Bachmann

Johann Philip Bachmann (1762–1837) was an organ builder. He was born in Creuzburg, Thuringia, Germany. Bachmann left home at the age of 16 to work for a master carpenter where he learned about the moravians and eventually moved to Herrnhut germany to commit himself to the creation of musical instruments. He emigrated to the moravian settlement Lititz, Pennsylvania in 1793 and worked with David Tannenberg. In 1793, he married Tannenberg’s youngest daughter Anna Maria, who committed suicide in 1799. The organ has been restored by Taylor & Boody, and now resides at Old Salem Visitor Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In 1800, a disagreement occurred between master and apprentice, although Bachmann did install the 1802 Tannenberg organ in Hebron Evangelical Lutheran Church, Madison, Virginia. However, Bachmann did wind up starting his own business — but Tannenberg supplies the pipes of his first organ (built in 1803). In 1837, he became a piano and cabinet builder.