Arp Schnitger ( German: Arp Schnitger ; July 2, 1648, Schmalenflet, now Braque district - July 28, 1719, Neunfelde, now Hamburg district) is a German organ master, the most significant organ-builder in Northern Europe in the Baroque era. Schnitger organs are considered exemplary for the performance of music by composers of the North German school .
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Life and work
In 1666-71 he studied craft with Uncle Berendt Hus in the workshop of Stade . In 1668-75 he assisted him in the construction of the organ in the church of Cosmas and Damian in Stad (in 1688 he independently expanded this tool). After the death of Hus in 1676, he undertook to fulfill the latter's contracts, including graduating from an organ in the church of St. Willegada ( Stade ), built new organs in the church of St. Peter and Paul in Kappel (1680) and in the church of St. Jacob in Ludingworth (historical district of Cuxhaven , 1683) and others. For the sake of building a large organ in the church of St. Nicholas in Hamburg in 1682 moved his workshop from Stade to Hamburg. This grand organ for its time (containing 4 manuals, 67 registers, more than 4000 pipes) was completed by the master in 1687. From 1702 until the end of his life, Schnitger's friend, a well-known German organist and composer Vincent Lübeck worked on it. In 1842 the church of St. Nicholas was destroyed by the infamous Hamburg fire , which killed a grandiose tool. Of the surviving Schnitger's most famous organ - in the church of St. Jacob in Hamburg (1693) - four-manual, contains 60 registers and about 4000 pipes [4] . The second most important Schnitger organ that has survived in Germany is in St. Ludger’s church in Norden (Lower Saxony) .
In addition to Germany, Schnitger built and repaired organs abroad. Schnitger’s largest “project” was the Dutch city of Groningen , for which the master produced 7 organs, and 10 more for nearby churches in the Groningen area , including in the villages of Harkstede ( Slochteren district), Godlins (Delfzale district), Nordbrock ( Menterwold district )
In total, Schnitger created about 105 new ones (about 30 survived), and also reconstructed and repaired about 60 “alien” tools. Sons helped him in the work, as well as organ builders - Johann Jürgen (1690 - after 1733) and Franz Caspar (1693-1729).
As a rule, Schnitger used medium tone or good temperament to tune organs [5] , although the use of the latter in Northern Germany during the Schnitger period is disputed [6] . On the other hand, Schnitger was familiar with the largest developer of good temperaments Andreas Werkmeister and, judging by his poems addressed to Werkmeister (see illustration), he treated him with deep reverence. Schnitger took the so-called “hoher Chorton” as a height standard (a = 484 Hz, about a whole tone higher than the modern standard).
Schnitger organs from the second half of the XX century. Autistic organists were widely used in concerts and audio recordings, including Helmut Walch , Gustav Leonhardt , Ton Kopman , Masaaki Suzuki . In 1999, the Arp Schnitger Society ( German Arp Schnitger Gesellschaft ) was founded in Braque, which is engaged in musical and educational activities, organizing concerts and festivals on historical organs [7] , and promotes the tradition of organ-building craft as a whole.
A systematic and detailed list of Schnitger’s preserved and reconstructed organs can be found on German Wikipedia .
Notes
- ↑ German National Library , Berlin State Library , Bavarian State Library , etc. Record # 118609785 // General regulatory control (GND) - 2012—2016.
- ↑ Biografisch Portaal - 2009.
- ↑ BNF ID : 2011 Open Data Platform .
- ↑ Die Arp-Schnitger-Orgel der Hauptkirche St. Jacobi in Hamburg, hrsg. v. Heimo Reinitzer. Hamburg, 1995.
- ↑ The organ. An encyclopedia. New York, 2006, p. 497.
- ↑ I. Ortigies argues that until 1740 there was no documentary evidence of other than the mid-tone settings of the North German organs. See: Ortgies I. Die Praxis der Orgelstimmung in Norddeutschland im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert und ihr Verhältnis zur zeitgenössischen Musikpraxis. Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, 2007, S. 195–204.
- ↑ See 2017 Arp Schnitger Festival Program
Literature
- Fock G. Arp Schnitger und seine Schule. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Orgelbaues im Nord- und Ostseeküstengebiet. Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1974. ISBN 3-7618-0261-7 .
- Tuinstra St. Arp Schnitger - auf der Suche nach dem authentischen Klang // Basler Jahrbuch für historische Musikpraxis 22 (1998). Winterthur: Amadeus Verlag, 1999, S. 167 ff.
Links
- Arp Schnitger Gesellschaft (official site)