Klemm, Johann Gottlob

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Klemm, Johann Gottlob

Klemm, Johann Gottlob, German-American organ builder; b. near Dresden, May 12, 1690; d. near Bethlehem, Pa., May 5, 1762. He was trained in Dresden, most likely by G. Silbermann, and then was active with the Moravians in Herrnhut, Saxony. In 1733 he went to America, settling in Philadelphia in 1736. In 1741 he built the organ for N.Y.’s Trinity Church. After living in N.Y. (from c. 1745), he settled in Bethlehem, Pa., in 1757, where he took on David Tannenberg as his assistant.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire