Christian Vater (organ builder)

Christian Vater (born October 10, 1679 in Hanover ; † January 25, 1756 ) was a German organ builder . From 1697 to 1702 he worked in Arp Schnitger's workshop , built a total of 36 organs and also worked as an organist at times. Father was a Hanoverian court organ builder and had his own workshop in Hanover.

life and work

Christian Vater was baptized on October 11, 1679 in Hanover. His brother was the harpsichord maker Antoine's father . After a short apprenticeship with his father Martin and training as an organist, he went to Hamburg with Arp Schnitger . He stayed there for a little over five years. In 1702 he started his own business. In spring 1703 he delivered his first organ to Langenhagen near Hanover. On January 22nd, 1709 he married Sophia Margaretha Coberg, daughter of the court organist Johann Anton Coberg, who died in 1708, in Hanover. In the same year he became the organist of the Neustädter Hof- und Stadtkirche St. Johannis in Hanover and thus his father-in-law's successor in the office of organist.

The position as court organist gave him good contacts, so that he was soon a famous organ builder. This also explains the connections to Darmstadt (Schlosskirche) and Amsterdam ( Oude Kerk ). His main field of work was in the Electorate of Hanover , in the Osnabrück Monastery and in the Oldenburger Land . On the occasion of an application in Hohnstedt near Northeim , father emphasized that by 1716/17 he had already "built 33 organs, some of them new, some of them renovated." Organs are well preserved in Bockhorn , Wiefelstede and Gifhorn . At least in Einbeck , Moringen and Celle , pipes from Carl Giesecke and Ernst Wilhelm Meyer were taken over.

Father's dispositions and housing are based closely on the style of Arp Schnitger. His works are characterized by a well thought-out and mature construction and are very similar to one another. They are of such good quality that, for example, the organ builder Krämershoff was able to determine in an expert report for the organ in Bockhorn in 1803 that everything was "still in pretty good usable condition", although the organ had not been significantly overhauled by then. She is "one of the best in the country."

As was common for organ builders at the time, father also built stringed keyboard instruments. A one-manual harpsichord made in Hanover in 1738 is well preserved . Today the instrument is in the Germanisches Nationalmuseum (Inv.-No. MI 449). It has two registers in an eight-foot position and is often copied in modern harpsichord construction.

Descendants and archival material

A son of Christian Vater was the organ builder Christian Vater der Younger , the father-in-law of the organ builder Wilhelm Heinrich Bethmann . These as well as Christian Bethmann and two other organ builders of the 18th and 19th centuries in Hannover found archival example, in the Municipal Archives Hannover .

List of works (selection)

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 or only the prospectus has been preserved.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1703	Langenhagen			I / P	10
1705	Marienwerder Monastery	Monastery church		II / P	17th
1707	Wathlingen	St. Mary		I / P		Prospectus received
1709-1710	Osnabrück	St. Mary		II / P	19th	New construction including older registers and parts; Replaced by Jacob Courtain in 1797
1710-1711	Wildeshausen	Alexander Church		II / P	18th	New building; 1719 extended by his father to include Krummhorn 8 ′; Prospectus and some registers in Fedderwarden, St. Stephanus preserved
1711	Darmstadt	Castle Church		II / p	about 12-14	1716 father carries out a repair; not received
1714	Berne	St. Aegidius		II / P	25th	Repair or reconstruction of the organ according to plans by Arp Schnitger , presumably new case; partially preserved
1716-1717	Bad Zwischenahn	St. John's Church		I / P	14th	Replaced in 1831 by Gerhard Janssen Schmid
1717	Dotlingen	St. Firminus		II / p	12	Replaced in 1892 by Johann Martin Schmid
1718	Hanover	St. Clement		II / P	20th	Factory replaced in 1903; Brochure destroyed in 1944
1719	Edewecht	St. Nicholas Church		II / p	10	Replaced in 1861 by Johann Claussen Schmid
1721	Elsfleth	St. Nicolai Church		II / P	20th	Replaced in 1836 by Gerhard Janssen Schmid
1721	Brunkensen	St. Martin's Church		I.		Partial reconstruction by Martin Haspelmath (1978) behind the preserved prospectus
1722	Hell	St. Dionysius		II / p	12	Destroyed in 1945
1722	Bockhorn	St. Cosmas and Damian Church		II / P	19th	Eleven registers preserved, eight reconstructed
1722-1724	Melle	St. Petri		II / P	27	Today III / P / 37; Case and 8–9 stops completely or partially preserved → organ
1723-1724	Ilten	Ilten Church		II / P	14th	New construction including parts of the previous organ by Jonas Weigel (1652); receive
1724-1726	Amsterdam	Oude Kerk		III / P	43	Preserved some registers
1727	Amsterdam	Westerkerk		III / P	42	Extension by an upper work
1729-1731	Wiefelstede	St. John		II / P	18th	Prospectus, action, 2 bellows and more than 8 stops preserved. Instrument two thirds original. 2011–2014 restoration by Henk van Eeken from the Netherlands
1729-1731	Stadthagen	St. Martini Church		II / P	32	Prospectus received
1732	Einbeck	Saint Alexandri		II / P	33	rebuilt several times; 2008 new building by Martin Hillebrand
1730-1733	Hanover	Market Church		III / P		Extension of the organ by Henning Henke / Severin Krosche / Andreas de Mare (1589–1594) and Adolph Compenius (1630); some of his father's registers were taken over by Eduard Meyer when the organ was built in 1855/56 ; destroyed in World War II
1734	Sweat	St. Second		II / p	14th	Replaced in 1869 by Johann Claussen Schmid
1737	Ostercappeln	St. Lambertus				Preserved three registers which were integrated into the new building by Alfred Führer (1994; II / P / 31)
1737-1738	Steyerberg	Church of St. Catherine		II	8th	Prospectus with Principal 4 ′ received
1743	Moringen	Church of Our Lady				Replaced in 1850 by Carl Giesecke (1850; II / P / 20), who took over half of his pipe material from his father for his new building; received some registers
1744	Celle	reformed Church		I.	8th	Replaced in 1849 by Eduard Meyer, who took over some registers and components for his new building; almost a third of father's registers are preserved.
1747	Torment	St. Jakobi		III / P	32	Rebuilt in 1848 by Eduard Meyer; Demolished in 1896 due to the construction of a new church
1744-1748	Gifhorn	St. Nicolai		II / P	24	Largely preserved; Fundamentally restored in 2000 by Gebr. Hillebrand and returned to its baroque state
1749	Hohenrode (Rinteln)	Ev. church		I / p	8th	Originally built for Gestorf, transferred in 1824
1750	Zeven Monastery	St. Viti		II / P	21st	Prospectus received
1749-1752	Marienrode	Marienrode monastery church		II / P	26th	1888 romanticizing renovation by August Schaper ; Case, 14 registers completely and 4 partially preserved from father (today II / P / 29)

literature

• Hans Josef Böker : The former baroque organ of St. Clemens Church in Hanover . In: The Diocese of Hildesheim. Yearbook of the Association for Local Studies in the Diocese of Hildesheim . tape 54 . Bernward Verlag, 1987, ISSN  0341-9975 , p. 129-135 .
• Gustav Fock : Arp Schnitger and his school. A contribution to the history of organ building in the North and Baltic Sea coast areas . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1974, ISBN 3-7618-0261-7 .
• Richard Kassel: father, Christian (approx. 1679-1756) . In: Douglas Earl Bush, Richard Kassel (eds.): The Organ: An Encyclopedia . Routledge, London 2006, ISBN 0-415-94174-1 , pp. 601-602 ( online ).
• Uwe Pape (Ed.): The workshop book of the organ builder Christian Vater . Pape, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-921140-60-9 (vol. 1, sources on the history of the city of Hanover, edited by Karljosef Kreter ).
• Uwe Pape: Principles of the organization design of the organ builder Christian Vater . In: Archives for Musicology . tape 22 , 1965, ISSN  0003-9292 , pp. 294-301 .
• Reinhard Skupnik: The Hanoverian organ builder Christian Vater 1679-1756 . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1976, ISBN 3-7618-0543-8 (publications of the organ studies research center in the musicological seminar of the Westphalian Wilhelms University, Münster; 8).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Fritz Schild: Monument organs. Documentation of the restoration by organ building guides 1974-1991. Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2005, ISBN 978-3-7959-0862-1 , p. 98.
2. ^ Walter Hans Kaufmann : The organs of the old Duchy of Oldenburg. Stalling, Oldenburg 1962, p. 48.
3. ↑ Harpsichord in the Marburg picture index , accessed on June 28, 2015.
4. ↑ Uwe Pape (Ed., Commentator): The workshop book of the organ builder Christian Vater (= sources for the history of the city of Hanover , issue 1) (= publication of the Society of Organ Friends , volume 183) (= publication of the International Working Group for Organ Documentation (IAOD) , Episode 4). Pape, Berlin 2001, ISBN 3-921140-60-9 , pp. 11, 15; Preview over google books.
5. ^ Hans Martin Balz: organs and organ builders in the area of ​​the former Hessian province of Starkenburg. A contribution to the history of organ building . Bärenreiter-Antiquariat, Kassel 1969, p. 108 (Studies on Hessian Music History 3).
6. ↑ NOMINE eV: Organ in Bockhorn , accessed on 4 April 2018th
7. ↑ Restoration of the Vater Organ Wiefelstede - Organ podcast , accessed on April 4, 2018.
8. ^ Organ in Stadthagen , accessed on April 4, 2018.
9. ^ Organ in Celle , accessed on April 4, 2018.
10. ^ Organ in Peine , accessed on April 4, 2018.
11. ^ Organ in Gifhorn , accessed on April 4, 2018.
12. ↑ organ in Hogenrode , accessed on 4 April 2018th
13. ^ Organ in Marienrode , accessed on April 4, 2018.