Nicolaus Jonas Sorber

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Nicolaus Jonas Sorber (* before 1690 in Haßleben ; † March 18, 1759 in Erfurt ) was a German piece and bell founder .

life and work

The piece and bell caster Nicolaus Jonas Sorber, who has been demonstrable in Erfurt since 1710 , created an independent bell type , especially in the first half of the 18th century , that lay between the chiming ideals of the Middle Ages and Romanticism. The spiritual and historical closeness to Johann Sebastian Bach and the unique sound of his many bells allow Sorber to emerge from a number of bell founders of the 18th century. Of the five-part bells of the Erfurt Cathedral (1721), the Michaeliskirche in Ohrdruf (1755) and the Castle Church in Weimar (1712), only the latter has been preserved in the original. Today, however, this is one of the most beautiful and important polyphonic chimes of the Baroque . Due to the idiosyncrasy of the sound, some are reminded of the melodic and harmonically almost inexhaustible soundscape of the Well-Tempered Clavier from the Weimar court organist Johann Sebastian Bach, who was able to hear the sound of the bells at close range during his imprisonment in November 1717 and at the same time when he was composing. Bach had probably once placed the order for bell casting. In 1734, the Lutheran pastor of Bach's wedding church in Dornheim , Johann Gottfried Gregorii, used Sorber's art diligence for the new cast bell for this church.

The bells, which are often provided with a lettering as well as leaf and tendril friezes, belong to the seventh bells in terms of sound. The Sorber bells in Erfurt Cathedral are a worthy accompaniment to the famous Gloriosa . In addition to bells and cannons, the privileged Kurmainzische piece and bell caster Sorber also had fire extinguishers in his repertoire. In 1722, for example, he delivered fire engines to the towns of Waltersdorf, Scherndorf and Riethgen .

None of Sorber's sons continued the workshop of the bell founder, who died in 1759. After two world wars, a little more than half of the 50 known bells cast by Sorber have survived.

literature

  • Johann Balthasar Schlegel: The revitalized Erffurt through five newly cast beautiful bells. Erfurt 1721.
  • Franz Peter Schilling: Erfurt bells - the bells of the cathedral , the Severikirche and the Peterskloster in Erfurt. With prefaces by Auxiliary Bishop Joseph Freusberg and Auxiliary Bishop Hugo Aufderbeck (also double issue 72–73 of the series The Christian Monument ). Berlin 1968.
  • Veit Heller: The bells and chimes of Nicolaus Jonas Sorber - A contribution to the musical structure of the chimes in the 18th century. Frankfurt 1997, ISBN 3-631-30300-9 .
  • Bernd Mende: The bells of the Weimar Castle Church - a precious legacy of the Bach era in the baroque castle tower. Weimar 2008.
  • Carsten Berndt: Melissantes: a Thuringian polyhistor and his job descriptions in the 18th century; Life and work of Johann Gottfried Gregorii (1685–1770) as a contribution to the history of geography, cartography, genealogy, psychology, pedagogy and professional studies in Germany; [a Thuringian geographer and polymath (1685–1770)]. Rockstuhl, 3rd edition Bad Langensalza 2015, ISBN 978-3-86777-166-5 . Pp. 225-228.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Heller 1997, back cover
  2. ↑ Heller 1997, p. 66.
  3. ↑ Bernd Mende: Bach in Weimar - Search for traces with a city tour. Weimar 2008, ISBN 978-3-939964-11-7 , Chapter 7 [p. 6],
  4. ↑ Berndt, 3rd edition 2015, p. 225.
  5. ^ J. Gottfried Louis Anderson: History of the Teutonic Order Commende Griefstedt. P. 266.
  6. ↑ Heller 1997, pp. 107-179
  7. ↑ DNB 458836087
  8. ↑ DNB 950609005
personal data
SURNAME Sorber, Nicolaus Jonas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Surber, Nicolaus Jonas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German piece and bell caster
DATE OF BIRTH before 1690
PLACE OF BIRTH Hate life
DATE OF DEATH uncertain: March 18, 1759
Place of death Erfurt