Anton Feith

Organ inscription St. Marien Church (Güsten)

Anton Feith (born October 20, 1872 in Cologne , † January 26, 1929 in Paderborn ) continued the Eggert Organ Building Institute in Paderborn from 1902 until his death. He and his son Anton Feith II., Who managed the company until 1972, built around 800 organs , mainly in the organ landscape of Westphalia and Lippe and in the Ruhr area. The company exported to Belgium, the Netherlands and Japan.

life and work

Tomb of the Feith family in the Ostfriedhof in Paderborn

The company emerged from the Eggert Orgelbau-Anstalt, founded in Paderborn in 1840 by Karl Joseph Eggert (* January 18, 1808 - December 16, 1886) and by his son Franz Eggert (* March 9, 1849 - October 13 1911) was continued in 1874. For health reasons and because he remained childless, the company was sold to the organ builder Anton Feith in 1902. Feith was born in Cologne as the son of a businessman and learned organ building after high school near Schlimbach in Würzburg. He then worked for the Fabritius company in Kaiserswerth and set up his own business in Cologne-Ehrenfeld in 1897 . After Feith took over the Eggert company in 1902, he built a large production hall in 1906. Since Feith signed under the name Franz Eggert until 1907 , several instruments made between 1902 and 1907 were incorrectly assigned. Feith created works in the style of the late Romanticism. By 1930 more than 600 new organs had been built.

After the death of his father, his son Anton Feith II (* 1902 in Paderborn; † 1979 there) took over the company and managed it until 1972. His era is shaped by the rule of the National Socialists and the post-war period. In 1939 the company had to be closed with 59 employees because Feith II was drafted into the Wehrmacht. Operations resumed in 1946 and again had 45 employees in 1960. After the destruction of World War II, there was a great need for new organs, especially in the big cities. Around 800 new organs were built between 1902 and 1972. From 1961 grinding chests were used again. Because Feith II was childless, Siegfried Sauer took over the business in 1973 and moved the workshop to Ottbergen (Höxter) . Since 1999 the newly founded company has operated under the name Westfälischer Orgelbau S. Sauer .

Catalog of works (selection)

The list offers a selection of new buildings

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1904	Altenbochum	Liebfrauenkirche (Altenbochum)		II / P	35	1954 expanded by 12 registers; 1973 and 1986 renovations; 1998 Repair by S. Sauer including 20 old registers and 23 new registers
1906	Wernigerode	St. Mary		II / P	18th	→ organ
1907	Alfen	St. Walburga		II / P	20th
1910	Birkenfelde	St. Leonhard		II / P	14th
1910	Little Oschersleben	St. Mary				Opus 193, in the place of origin of the company founder
1910	Borgholz	Annunciation		II / P	19th
1910	Threshold -Holsen	Philip Neri		II / P	16
1910	Bad Oeynhausen	St. Cosmas and Damian		II / P	11
1911	Bad Lippspringe	St. Martin		III / P	41	behind neo-Gothic prospect; 1975 extensive renovation by Franz Breil ; 85% of the pipe material preserved
1912	Arguing houses	Marienstatt Abbey				Built as a choir organ for the abbey church, in 1950 by Anton Feith II. Changes to the disposition, 1965 transferred to St. Petri in Ehrenfeld (Cologne) , there 1987/1988 extension conversion (IV / P / 46) by S. Sauer behind a neo-Gothic prospect from the Netherlands
1913	Alhausen (Bad Driburg)	St. Vitus		II / P	20th	Replaced by an electron organ in 1966
1915	Dortmund	St. Anthony		II / P	28	electropneumatic cone store
1915	Weather (Ruhr)	St. Peter and Paul		II / P	20th	op. 253
1916	Berlin-Oberschöneweide	St. Anthony		II / P	24	op. 254 → Organ
1916	Forest damp	St. Lambertus		II / P	15th
1920s	Alsleben (Saale)	St. Elisabeth		II / P	8th	Pneumatic cone drawer, swell mechanism; 2016 repair
1920	Waxed	St. Michael		II / P	18th
1921	Meeting	St. John the Baptist		II / P	18th	op. 288, 1987 replaced
1923	Güsten	St. Mary		II / P	11	Opus 237, after various changes in 2010 by the organ building company Baumhoer from Salzkotten (North Rhine-Westphalia) restored and restored the highly romantic sound
1924	Iserlohn	St. Aloysius		III / P	46
1924-1926	Paderborn	Paderborn Cathedral		V / P	109	The three spatially separated organs - tower organ (III / 66), choir organ (II / 33), crypt organ (I / 10) - were each completely in spatially separated general swellworks without prospect pipes. They could be played together from a five-manual electrical general console (1926). The organ system was destroyed in 1945.
1925	Berlin-Wilmersdorf	St. Mary		III / P	48	In 1979 Arndt Stephan brightened and expanded the sound in some registers, but historical pipe material and late romantic sound characteristics were largely retained. 2018/19 general renovation by organ builder Karl Schuke, Berlin, some historical reconstructions. Today 52 registers plus. two extensions and historical Celesta Feiths. Sounding pipes are almost entirely in two general swellings in the church tower . → organ
1928	Sneezing	St. Maximilian		II / P	16
1928	Herringen	Holy cross		II / P	15th	pneumatic cone shop; 1956 Expansion by Stockmann
1928-1929	Neheim	St. John Baptist		III / P	58	repeatedly restored and rebuilt, 1980 new brochure by S. Sauer; today (IV / P / 70)
1932/33	Dingelstädt	St. Gertrude		III / P	44	After various changes in 2006–2009, it was faithfully restored by Karl Brode (Heiligenstadt). → Restoration → Organ → Organ
1930	Geisleden	St. Cosmas and Damian		II / P	29
1936	Höxter	St. Nikolai		II / P	29	in the historical prospectus by Berenhard Klausing (Herford, 1711); rebuilt by Siegfried Sauer (Ottbergen, 1973, III / P 32)
1939	Ostenfelde	St. Margaretha		II / P	28	Prospectus and some registers of the organ by Carl August Randebrock (Paderborn) from 1864. In 2010 restoration and new version by the Sauer company.
1950	Hemer	St. Petrus Canisius
1958	Cough	Holy Spirit		III / P	32
1960	kassel	Saint Joseph		III / P	28	Planned with 28 stops on three manuals, but initially only built with 22 stops on two manuals and pedal for cost reasons. In 1979 a substation with six registers was added. The swell plant is housed in a separate room behind the main plant. The disposition comes from the then cantor of Sankt Joseph Franz Mohr. In 2017 the organ was completely renovated by the company Krawinkel, but not changed. The instrument is a listed building.
1970	Brilon	Propsteikirche St. Peter and Andreas		III / P	40

literature

• Hermann Fischer : 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders . Orgelbau-Fachverlag, Lauffen 1991, ISBN 3-921848-18-0 , p. 183 .
• Hannalore Reuter: Historic organs in Westphalia-Lippe . Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-87023-245-0 .
• Rudolf Reuter : Organs in Westphalia. Inventory of historical organs in Westphalia and Lippe (= publications of the Organ Science Research Center, Volume 1). Bärenreiter, Kassel 1965.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Fischer: 100 Years Association of German Organ Builders. 1991, p. 183.
2. ↑ Hans-Joachim Oehm: Catalog raisonné of the Eggert organ building workshop (PDF file; 151 kB), accessed on January 8, 2015.
3. ^ Anton Feith - Orgeln für Westfalen ( Memento from February 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on June 25, 2020.
4. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 56 f.
5. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 97.
6. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 353.
7. ^ Ludger Stühlmeyer : On the history of the organs in Greffen . In: Kirchenmusik aktuell, issue 1, Warendorf January 1990, pp. 4–9.
8. ↑ Restoration , accessed July 7, 2019
9. ↑ August Wegener: The organ in the Paderborn Cathedral . Bonifacius printing house, Paderborn 1959.
10. ^ Organ in Berlin, Maria unter dem Kreuz , accessed on March 30, 2018.
11. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 145.
12. ^ Organ in Neheim , January 9, 2015.
13. ^ Organ in Geisleden , May 23, 2019.
14. ↑ Catholic Church - Parish Sankt Elisabeth, Kassel - Organ renovation of St. Joseph. Retrieved August 12, 2017 . 

Web links

• Hans-Joachim Oehm: Catalog raisonné of the Eggert organ building workshop (PDF file; 151 kB)
• Anton Feith - Organs for Westphalia ( Memento from February 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive )