Halberstadt (D), St. Martini (2012 - )
The organ of St. Martin's Church in Halberstadt was built in 1592-96 by the Halberstadt organ builder David Beck (c. 1540 - c. 1606) for the chapel of Gröningen Castle. The old bishop's residence was rebuilt and extended in 1586-94 by order of the art-loving Duke Heinrich Julius of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel into one of the most magnificent Renaissance buildings in Germany. The master builder was Christoph Tendler, while the extraordinarily rich decorative furnishings, according to research by Dr Dorothea Schröder, were very probably created by the famous sculptor Ebert Wulff the Younger and his workshop.
Like the entire palace, the organ with its 59 stops and its fairytale-like decoration was to arouse astonishment and admiration. In terms of the number of stops, it must have been the largest organ of the time, and its decoration (originally an integral part of the entire church décor) is still unparalleled among instruments north of the Alps. The castle, with its organ and a huge wine barrel (capacity more than 140,000 litres), was considered a wonder of the world, attracting many visitors. For the acceptance of the organ and its recording, the Duke invited 53 renowned organists from all over Germany. For one week, they demonstrated their skills and the sheer endless possibilities of the instrument. Michael Praetorius became the first organist of the castle chapel, and the first description of the organ can be found in his Syntagma Musicum, vol. 2.
Around 1680, the castle began to fall into disrepair. In 1705, the organ, which was also in a state of disrepair, was thoroughly overhauled for the first time by organ builder Christoph Contius under the direction of Andreas Werckmeister and partly adapted to the views of the time. Some stops were replaced and the instrument was tuned to Werckmeister's instructions. On the occasion of this work, Werkmeister published his Organum Gruningense Redivivum in 1705, in which he describes in detail the condition and many details of the organ before the overhaul, as well as the "improvements" made. This source provides us with much valuable information for a reconstruction. In 1770, the castle and the organ had apparently fallen further into disrepair. The organ no longer had any function and was donated by Frederick the Great to St. Martin's Church in Halberstadt. The Prussian eagle with the letters "F[redericus] R[ex]" above the central tower of the prospect still reminds us of this.
In connection with the transfer, Johann Christoph Wiedemann rebuilt the instrument thoroughly for the first time. He moved the pedal towers so far back that they are now flush with the main organ case. When the Schulze company from Paulinzella rebuilt the instrument in 1837, the Rückpositiv was removed and its case and front pipes were used for a new instrument in the neighbouring village of Harsleben. In 1921, a new instrument by Röver was installed in the case in Halberstadt, but fortunately the old front pipes were no longer connected. During bombing raids in World War II, the vault of the nave was partially destroyed, so that the interior was exposed to the weather for more than a year without protection.
In 2006, the French organist Jean-Charles Ablitzer "rediscovered" the organ, which led to the founding of the sponsoring association Organum Gruningense Redivivum in 2007, which is promoting the rehabilitation of this unique instrument. Initial research in Halberstadt, Harsleben and Langeln (near Wernigerode, still contains pipework by Beck) was carried out by Christian Lutz, Dietrich Kollmansperger and Christoph Lehmann, while Christine Lehmann conducted extensive archival study. When the Röver organ was removed in 2012, organ builder Jörg Dutschke and I were able to thoroughly document the two cases with facade pipes in Halberstadt and Harsleben. Based on our findings and the archival work of Christine Lehmann, we were able to present the first new findings regarding the original condition as well as the condition of the case and gallery around 1770. The most important result was undoubtedly that not only some, but all of the facade pipes are still the original ones, and that their original functions can still be reconstructed to the greatest possible extent based on Beck's inscriptions. Also important was the realisation that the pedal towers were originally advanced. In 2014, I produced assembly photos and plans of the reconstructed state with several gallery variants. On this basis, the return of the case from Harsleben to Halberstadt and the reconstruction of the original state was approved by the monument conservation authorities. The three pictures on the left show the two initial pictures and the definitely selected variant. In 2016, after documenting the pipes in Langeln and visiting several prototype.
Lemgo, St. Marien, 2008-10
The organ was built in 1587-95 as a single-manual instrument by Georg Slegel. The keyboard still began with F while the largest pipe was about 8' long. The organ was thus in the low tuning already described by Schlick, in which a c sounds like a modern G. Possibly because this was already an outdated concept in Westphalia at the time, the organ must have been rebuilt into a "modern" two-manual instrument with an independent pedal by Hans Scherer the Elder only a few years after its completion around 1600. Around 1670, the first major rebuilding took place, during which the present spring chests were installed. After further alterations in the 19th century, the pipes were removed and destroyed around 1910. After two "reconstruction attempts" in the 20th century, only the case, the facade pipes, the spring chests and remnants of the Brustwerk chest were still old. In 2008-10, a new instrument was installed which, while retaining the spring chests of 1670, approximates Scherer's condition as closely as possible.
My task was to document, research the history of the organ and plan the new condition. For the scales, I assumed that all stops, which can be assumed for the instrument of 1595 based on the dispositions of similar Slegel organs, would be restored according to models of the Slegel family or related Dutch traditions. For the stops in Scherer style, the organ in Tangermünde was the most important model. The scales and manufacturing characteristics of the front pipes of this organ correspond exactly to those in Lemgo. A special challenge was the reconstruction of the bar pipe. Only copies of this stop exist from a later period, which obviously no longer show the construction of the 16th and early 17th century.
Restorer: Rowan West (Altenahr, D)