Blasius Bernauer

Blasius Bernauer (born February 3, 1740 in Todtnau , † May 27, 1818 in Staufen im Breisgau ) was a German organ builder of the late Baroque and father of the organ builder Xaver Bernauer .

Life

The organ expert Bernd Sulzmann (1940–1999) researched Blasius Bernauer's life and work and treated them comprehensively in an essay.

Blasius Bernauer was baptized on February 3, 1740 in Todtnau, from which his date of birth is deduced. His parents were Michael Bernauer and Anna Thoma, who married on July 4, 1728 in Todtnau. He had two siblings: Anna Bernauer, whose son Nikolaus Schuble also became an organ builder in Pfaffenweiler , and Andreas Bernauer, who worked in Todtnau as a journeyman organ maker for tuning and repairs of organs.

Blasius Bernauer is recorded for the first time in 1762 in Ortisei in the Black Forest as a journeyman with the organ builder Adrien Joseph Pottier, then living in Burkheim am Kaiserstuhl . Bernd Sulzmann assumes that he started his apprenticeship at Pottier around 1755, together with his brother Andreas. At that time only immigrant organ builders were active in the Markgräflerland ; Along with Johann Baptist Hug from Freiburg, Blasius Bernauer was the first local master.

After Pottier emigrated to Switzerland in 1763, Blasius Bernauer stayed on the Upper Rhine and became a self-employed master. On April 15 In 1765 he married in Heitersheim the local citizen Anna Maria Brendtlin. But he lived in Staufen im Breisgau, as evidenced by his offer to build an organ for the former castle church in Sulzburg in the same year: "Burger and organ maker in Stauffen" His only child was born there on December 3, 1768, his son Franz Xaver.

Signature of Blasius Bernauer

After several failed organ building projects in his immediate environment, Blasius Bernauer went to Rheinfelden in Switzerland from 1772 to 1783 , where he was finally expelled for his way of life and his debts - in 1781 he sold an organ made by Steinen for 400 guilders , but received almost nothing in return because it was used to pay off debts. In the following years there was no contract with the “very skilful organ builder who was very devoted to drinking” in Laufen . He was to be found at the organ builder Joh. Philipp Jacob Schaefer in Ötlingen , “who had to starve himself” at carpenters in Güttigheim (hamlet near Müllheim ) and Höllstein (district of Steinen).

Blasius Bernauer was active on the Upper Rhine from Northern Switzerland to Freiburg im Breisgau. His son Xaver should expand this work area even further. "In the mostly poor communities, small, cheap and good organs were in demand, which Blasius and Xaver Bernauer could come up with quickly, since some instruments were already prefabricated in the workshop."

In 1801, Blasius Bernauer is once again listed as an employee of his son and is then no longer mentioned as an independent organ builder until his death.

Works

Bernd Sulzmann comments on the fate of the works of Blasius and Xaver Bernauer: “There is not much left of the almost 70 years of activity of the organ maker. After all, these remains are sufficient to document their solid working methods also in our time and not to allow the masters to be completely forgotten. The tragedy of her life has carried over to her creations. "

The following remains of Blasius Bernauer's works are known:

Housing of the choir organ in St. Peter

In St. Peter, Adrien Joseph Pottier had signed a contract to rebuild the organ, which had been built by Johann Georg Fischer (1697–1780) from Freiburg in 1734; "A pathetic dish", as Andreas Silbermann noted. However, Pottier then emigrated, so that Blasius Bernauer completed the work in 1764 - apparently very satisfactorily. He had already rebuilt the choir organ in 1762/63 at a price of 225 guilders. The organ itself was given to Önsbach in the course of the secularization , where it is no longer available. Only the richly decorated (northern) organ case remained because of the resistance of the pastor in St. Peter, as did its southern counterpart, which served as a cabinet. So only a memory of the ability of Blasius Bernauer as a carpenter remains, because the decorative pieces come from Matthias Faller . In 2015, Rieger Orgelbau installed a new organ in the organ case , but now on the south side.

Chest organ in the choir of St. Martins Church, Rheinfelden (Aargau)

Blasius Bernauer had moved the big organ in Rheinfelden AG in 1770 . In 1775 he completed this instrument and also cleaned the choir organ. The organ expert Ernst Schiess described this chest organ with 6 registers in 1950 (3 of which are original, while 3 others were renewed in 1823 or 1948): “The maker of the instrument must have been a capable master [...] In my opinion, the organ work should be fine originate from Alsace. "Sulzmann believes it is beyond doubt that it was delivered by Blasius Bernauer around 1770/72:" Pipes and keyboards are conclusive evidence of his authorship; The lattice fillings of the corpus also allow a flawless allocation. ”This allocation is contradicted by the fact that a“ small organ ”is already mentioned in a receipt from 1770:“ 10 fl. are out of the sheep ”for Mr. Organ-maker Bernauer to break off the big organ and get the small one right. ”Elsewhere, the organ is described as a 17th century instrument, with reference to a note from 1613 describing a choir organ with a similar register as with the received.

Housing of the parapet organ in the Maria Himmelfahrt church in Tiengen

In 1771, in Tiengen , Blasius Bernauer built an organ on the parapet of the gallery in the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin . The registers of this organ are known from a conversion offer from Konrad Albiez from 1856. In 1957 Johannes Klais Orgelbau built a new organ into the existing organ prospectus.

Choir organ in the Church of St. Johann in Laufenburg (Aargau)

Blasius Bernauer built this organ in 1776. It has 8 manual stops and an attached pedal.

Manual CD – c 3 Copel 8th' Principal 4 ′ Dumped 4 ′ Octav 2 ′ Fifth 1 1 / 3 ' Super octave 1' Cornet III 2 2 / 3 from c ' Mixture III 1' Pedal (C – c or d) attached

The organ is almost completely preserved, a "historical instrument in its original condition in its original location". In 1966 it was extensively restored by Metzler Orgelbau and supplemented where necessary, with twisted wooden pipes being rebuilt according to the old scale. All that was missing were the bellows, four prospect pipes and the mixture. The organ has a “lively, rich, overtone”, “warm sound”.

The organ from 1787 in Hertingen

Pipe case in Hertingen, with the exception of the mixture visible in the foreground with the original Bernauer pipes

Organ in the Evangelical Church in Hertingen Blasius Bernauer built this organ in 1787. It was the last known where he worked independently as a master. After 1790 he only appears as an employee of his son Xaver Bernauer, who runs the business.

Manual CD – c 3 Copel 8th' Principal 4 ′ Dumped 4 ′ Octav 2 ′ Fifth 1 1 / 3 ' Cornet 2 2 / 3 from c ' Mixture III 1' Tremulant, pedal (C – d) attached

The organ is almost completely preserved. During the restoration by Hermann Eule in 1972 , the entire prospectus, which also includes the Cornet V in part, was preserved, as were the bellows, wind chests, keyboards and the pipework; only the mixture had to be renewed. The last restoration in 2014 was carried out by the organ builder Jens Steinhoff from Schwörstadt . The organ was also implemented on the converted gallery of the church in order to make it more visible and to improve the sound in the room. "The little village organ is one of the loveliest instruments on the Upper Rhine." "In Hertingen, Blasius achieved an unsurpassed sonic statement with just seven voices."

Appreciation

Bernd Sulzmann sees Blasius Bernauer as a victim of the French Revolution and its effects on the Upper Rhine and sums up his assessment of the two masters Bernauer: “It will always remain incomprehensible to posterity how these artists, in their poverty, could deliver cheap and dignified instruments that today still delight. "

List of works

In addition to repair work and new construction projects that did not result in orders, Bernd Sulzmann lists the organs newly built by Blasius Bernauer:

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1762	Ortisei	Monastery church				Collaboration with Adrien Joseph Pottier , not received
1762/63	St. Peter (Black Forest)	Monastery church				Choir organ, only case preserved
1763/64	St. Peter (Black Forest)	Monastery church				Remodeling and Rückpositiv, not preserved
1765	Sölden (Black Forest)	Soelden			6th	Not received
1765	Kaiseraugst	St. Martin				Not at Sulzmann, not received
1770/72	Rheinfelden AG	St. Martin		I / p	6th	Chest organ in the choir
1771	Tiengen	Assumption Day		I / P	13-14	Balustrade organ (positive), only the housing preserved
circa 1772	St. Blasien	Dom		I.	4th	Oratory, chapel organ, not preserved
1773	Waldshut	City parish church				Choir organ, handed over to Gersbach after the reconstruction of the parish church in 1804 , not preserved
circa 1775	Augst					Not received
circa 1776	Laufenburg AG	St. Johann		I / p	8th	Choir organ, details above
circa 1780	Laufenburg					Not received
1781	Hauingen	St. Nicholas		I / p	9-10	“New, prefabricated organ”, not preserved
1781/84	Stones					Not received
1782	Niedereggenen	Protestant church		I / p	8th	Not received
1782	Weitenau	St. Peter				Not received
1783	Fischerbach	St. Michael				Not at Sulzmann, not received
1784	To run	St. Johannis		I / P	12	Together with Joh. Philipp Jacob Schaefer, not preserved
1786	Bad Bellingen	St. Ledodegar		I / P	13	Not received
1787	Hertingen	Protestant church		I / p	7th	Largely preserved
before 1798	Schliengen	St. Leodegar				Choir organ, together with Xaver Bernauer , not from Sulzmann, not preserved
1801	Chapel	St. Peter and Paul				Received together with Xaver Bernauer, the case and parts of the work in the organ builder hall of the Waldkirch Organ Foundation

literature

• Bernd Sulzmann : Sources and documents about the life and work of the organ maker family Bernauer-Schuble in the Markgräflerland. In: Acta Organologica Volume 13, 1979, pp. 124-192.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Bernd Sulzmann: Sources and documents about the life and work of the organ maker family Bernauer-Schuble in the Markgräflerland. In: Acta Organologica Volume 13, 1979, pp. 124-192.
2. ↑ Bernd Sulzmann: Organs and Organ Maker in St. Peter. In: Hans-Otto Mühleisen (editor): St. Peter im Schwarzwald , Munich 1977, p. 154
3. ↑ Sulzmann, p. 169 f.
4. ^ Sulzmann, p. 126
5. ↑ Sulzmann, pp. 127-129
6. ^ Sulzmann, p. 152
7. ^ Sulzmann, St. Peter , p. 144 f.
8. ^ Sulzmann, as above, p. 150 f.
9. ↑ Badische Zeitung from January 26, 2015 online
10. ^ Sulzmann, p. 187 f.
11. ↑ Jürg A. Bossardt: The town church of St. Martin in Rheinfelden. In: Rheinfelder Neujahrsblätter 1978 , p. 94.
12. ^ Peter Fasler: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein online ; the reference to the note also in Bossardt, p. 93.
13. ↑ Sulzmann, p. 152. (Note 79a)
14. ↑ Peter Fasler: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein online , also refers to “other craftsmen and 'fleeting organ builders'”, see also the following note
15. ↑ Sulzmann states 1786, with reference to Bernhardt Edskes . Rudolf Bruhin, former consultant for organ building of the Federal Commission for the Preservation of Monuments, had been named 1778/1780 by the Cantonal Preservation of Monuments Aargau, with reference to the collaboration of Franz Joseph Uhl from Prague (personal communication dated December 15, 2014). In the supplement to the CD by Martin Neu: Bach and the South German Tradition, Vol. 2 , audite 2011, p. 15, he mentions 1776. In 1783 Bernauer was already expelled from Rheinfelden, but in 1785 he stayed in Switzerland, in Güttingen , compare Sulzmann, p. 170.
16. ↑ Sulzmann, p. 152; Martin Neu, p. 18; Metzler, personal communication of 15 December 2014. If the works of Metzler online 9 registers are specified, this is a mistake. Fasler wrongly only wants to see 7 registers.
17. ^ Bruhin, supplement to the CD, p. 15.
18. ^ Friedrich Sprondel. In: Fono Forum , May 1, 2012; Rainer Goede, www.kirchenmusik.de (offline); Jerry Dubins, Fanfare February 1, 2012. All in reviews of Martin Neu's CD.
19. ^ Sulzmann, p. 128
20. ↑ An organ moves out , Badische Zeitung online on July 12, 2014 ; Fortunately no wood worm , Badische Zeitung from December 23, 2014 online ; Picture of the organ at Orgelbau Steinhoff online
21. ^ Bernd Sulzmann: Historical organs in Baden (1690–1890). Munich / Zurich 1980, ISBN 3-7954-0421-5 , p. 124. When Sulzmann speaks of the “only surviving work of its builder”, he narrows his view to Baden.
22. ^ Sulzmann, p. 143
23. ^ Sulzmann, p. 128
24. ↑ Manfred Hermann : Catholic Parish Church St. Fides and Markus Sölden , Kunstverlag Josef Fink 2002, ISBN 3-89870-014-3 , p. 6
25. ↑ Monument protection inventory of the Canton of Aargau DSI-KAU002
26. ↑ ascribed by Sulzmann, p. 187 f.
27. ↑ Werner Scheurer , in: Die Ortenau , 61st annual volume 1981, p. 322 f.
28. ↑ Chronicle of the parish church online