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.
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.
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”.
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.
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
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ Bernd Sulzmann: Organs and Organ Maker in St. Peter. In: Hans-Otto Mühleisen (editor): St. Peter im Schwarzwald , Munich 1977, p. 154
- ↑ Sulzmann, p. 169 f.
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 126
- ↑ Sulzmann, pp. 127-129
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 152
- ^ Sulzmann, St. Peter , p. 144 f.
- ^ Sulzmann, as above, p. 150 f.
- ↑ Badische Zeitung from January 26, 2015 online
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 187 f.
- ↑ Jürg A. Bossardt: The town church of St. Martin in Rheinfelden. In: Rheinfelder Neujahrsblätter 1978 , p. 94.
- ^ Peter Fasler: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein online ; the reference to the note also in Bossardt, p. 93.
- ↑ Sulzmann, p. 152. (Note 79a)
- ↑ Peter Fasler: Organ directory Switzerland and Liechtenstein online , also refers to “other craftsmen and 'fleeting organ builders'”, see also the following note
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ 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.
- ^ Bruhin, supplement to the CD, p. 15.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 128
- ↑ 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
- ^ 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.
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 143
- ^ Sulzmann, p. 128
- ↑ Manfred Hermann : Catholic Parish Church St. Fides and Markus Sölden , Kunstverlag Josef Fink 2002, ISBN 3-89870-014-3 , p. 6
- ↑ Monument protection inventory of the Canton of Aargau DSI-KAU002
- ↑ ascribed by Sulzmann, p. 187 f.
- ↑ Werner Scheurer , in: Die Ortenau , 61st annual volume 1981, p. 322 f.
- ↑ Chronicle of the parish church online
personal data | |
---|---|
SURNAME | Bernauer, Blasius |
BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German organ builder |
DATE OF BIRTH | February 3, 1740 |
PLACE OF BIRTH | Todtnau |
DATE OF DEATH | May 27, 1818 |
Place of death | Staufen im Breisgau |