Arnold Rohlfs

Rohlfs organ in Esens (1848–1860)

Arnold Rohlfs (born April 11, 1808 in Esens ; † October 20, 1882 ) was an organ builder from Esens who worked in East Frisia . Its preserved organ in the Magnus Church in Esens (1848–1860), the largest organ in East Frisia from the 19th century with 30 stops on two manuals and pedal, is significant .

life and work

Arnold Rohlfs was the son of the organ builder Johann Gottfried Rohlfs , from whom he learned his trade and whose company he took over in 1840. When his older brother Jacob Cornelius (August 12, 1805 in Esens, April 15, 1831) died early, his son Friedrich (Frerk) (born June 26, 1829, † March 17, 1891) was only two years old and became Arnolds Stepson. Together with his nephew, Arnold ran the company from the end of the 1860s under the name “Gebr. Rohlfs ”. Like his father, Arnold stood in the organ tradition of the Baroque and built organs in the traditional style until around 1860, but they also have the hallmarks of Romanticism . By maintaining and caring for many historical instruments, he often preserved the historical substance. From 1860 onwards, Arnold Rohlfs developed his own organ style by designing instruments without any aliquot registers or mixtures. Rohlfs mainly built small village organs with a manual and attached pedal. His greatest work is the organ in the Magnuskirche in Esens. 14 of the 18 new buildings are still almost completely preserved and functional. In addition, numerous repair measures and minor modifications to other organs are documented.

List of works

The following new organs by Rohlfs are proven, most of which are still preserved. The size of the instruments is indicated in the fifth column by the number of manuals and the number of sounding registers in the sixth column. A capital “P” stands for an independent pedal, a lowercase “p” for an attached pedal. Italics indicate that the organ in question is no longer available or that only the prospectus has been preserved.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1840-1842	Westerholt	Westerholter Church		I / p	8th	Largely preserved
1842	Norderney	Evangelical island church		I / p	6th	After the old island church was demolished , it was transferred to the Herrenhuter Chapel in Norden , where it served until the chapel was demolished in 1970.
1842-1845	Seal sum	Siegelsumer Church		I / p	6th	Largely preserved
1844-1847	Ardorf	Ardorfer Church		I / p	10	Largely preserved
1847-1849	Stedesdorf	St. Aegidien Church		I / p	9	New building in which the four registers of the previous organ by Valentin Ulrich Grotian (1696) were integrated
1851	Bingum	Matthäikirche		I / P	15th	Not received
1855	Thunum	St. Mary's Church		I / p	6th	3–4 registers preserved; Knife back pedal
1848-1860	Esens	St. Magnus Church		II / P	30th	Largest organ from Rohlfs, almost completely preserved
1859-1860	Westerbur	Westerbur Church		I / p	7th	Largely preserved; Knife back pedal
1863	Empty harbor	Cäcilien- and Margarethenkirche		II / P	13	Hauptwerk prospectus and pipes preserved in four registers
1864-1865	Holtgaste	Liudgeri Church		I / p	7th	Preserved unchanged → organ
1860-1866	Fulcum	Maria Magdalena Church		I / p	6th	Pipework only partially preserved
1864-1867	Grimersum	Grimersum Church		I / P	11	Not received
1867-1868	Loppersum	Loppersumer Church		I / P	11	Largely preserved
1867-1869	Rorichum	Nicolai Church		I / p	7th	Largely preserved
1869	Bedekaspel	Bedekaspeler Church		I / p	6th	Obviously compiled from stock and only roughly processed; 5 registers preserved → organ
1869	Forlitz-Blaukirchen	Lutheran Church		I / p	6th	Largely preserved
1870	Oldendorp	Oldendorper Church		I / p	7th	Largely preserved
1876-1878	Kirchborgum	Kirchborgum Church		I / P	8th	Largely preserved
1877-1879	Circwehrum	Cirkwehrum Church		II / p	8th	Largely preserved

literature

• Hermann Fischer : 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders . Orgelbau-Fachverlag, Lauffen 1991, ISBN 3-921848-18-0 .
• Walter Kaufmann : The organs of East Frisia . East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 1968.
• Harald Vogel , Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 .
• Harald Vogel, Reinhard Ruge, Robert Noah, Martin Stromann: Organ landscape Ostfriesland . 2nd Edition. Soltau-Kurier-Norden, Norden 1997, ISBN 3-928327-19-4 .

See also

• List of organ builders
• List of historical organs in East Frisia

Web links

Commons : Arnold Rohlfs Orgeln  - Collection of images, videos and audio files