Conrad Geissler

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conrad Geißler , also Geissler , (born May 18, 1825 in Eilenburg ; † May 24, 1897 ibid) was a German master organ builder . Geissler made in 45 years of work 120  organs mainly for churches of Central Germany .

Life

Conrad Geißler was born in Eilenburg in 1825 as the son of the seminar director Gottfried Geißler. Geißler learned the organ building trade from Ludwig Weineck in Eilenburg. However, since he had moved to Bayreuth by 1845 at the latest , Geißler followed him to finish his training. During his subsequent years of travel , Geißler learned from Johann Gottlob Mende in Leipzig (1846–1848), Franz Ullmann in Vienna (1848–1850), Franz Borgias Maerz in Munich (1850/1851), Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Ludwigsburg (1851) and Gustav Schlimbach in Speyer (1851/1852).

After completing the years of traveling and obtaining his master craftsman's certificate , Geißler founded his own organ building company in his home town of Eilenburg in 1852. His first work was an organ for the Catholic Church in Torgau . First, he applied the new construction principle of the cone drawer . The organ for the village church in Profen , built in 1853, is probably the oldest surviving organ with a cone chest in East Germany . After four organs made in this way, Geißler returned in 1857 to the classic design with a mechanical sliding chest. After a benevolent contribution to the Urania: Musik-Zeitschrift für Orgelbau, Organ- und Harmoniumspiel in 1854 on his Profener Opus, Geissler's order book improved noticeably. The organ builder primarily produced medium-sized and smaller organs for numerous village churches in Central Germany, the smallest in Zemnick with just four registers . He built larger organs for the town church Bad Schmiedeberg (1855), the Marienkirche in Eilenburg (1863), Hartenstein near Zwickau (1870), Thonberg (1873) and Mühlberg / Elbe (1887). He built his largest organ with three manuals and 44 registers for the town church in Torgau (1871–1873). While his smaller works have been preserved in large numbers, all three-manual works by Geißler have disappeared through renovations or new buildings, which in Torgau was lost through destruction in World War II .

Geißler employed 8 to 15 people in his workshop across from the Nikolaikirche . Thanks to his good economic situation, he could generally afford to forego repair and renovation orders, so that their number remained low. He undertook major alterations to the organs of the town churches in Schkölen (1857), Sorau (1880), Eilenburg (1883) and Düben (1894).

His marriage to Auguste Itelena Ernstina Kaldrack resulted in five children, three of whom did not survive their father. His daughter Margarete became a cantor in Eilenburg. After Geissler's death in 1897, the search for a successor failed and the workshop was closed. The house at Rinckartstrasse 7 was destroyed in April 1945.

List of works (incomplete)

Conrad Geissler built organs with cone chests that had only recently been invented. Otherwise he refrained from innovations and experiments more and more over the years. Its organs were solidly built and had a long service life.

The opus list included 120 organs as new buildings (and possibly also conversions), mainly in the area around Eilenburg , Torgau , Delitzsch and Wittenberg , but also around Leipzig , Grimma , Zwickau , Naumburg (Saale) and Apolda , some in Niederlausitz , the Mark Brandenburg and Silesia , one in Russia . Some works have been preserved. Instruments that are no longer available are in italics . New organs

year place building image Manuals register Remarks
1853 Torgau Catholic Church first new organ, not preserved
1854 Profen Village church II / P 24 second organ, preserved, probably the oldest existing larger cone chest organ in today's East Germany
1855 Bad Schmiedeberg City Church of St. Nikolai II / P 26th
1855 Mockritz 7th
1856 Nice 9
1856 Hohenlubast 7th
1857 Dörstewitz 8th
1858 Gorsdorf 9
1859 priest church 10
1861 Freyburg an der Unstrut St. Mary's Church II / P 25th
1863 Eilenburg Marienkirche
20090425500DR Eilenburg Bergkirche St Marien Orgel.jpg
 II / P 22nd receive
1867 Big Särchen church II / P 21st
1868 Jessen City Church II / P 21st receive
1869 Cainsdorf church II / P 20th
1870 Hartenstein church II / P 24
1870 Kreischa church II / P 21st
1870 Seyda church II / P 18th receive
1871-1873 Torgau City Church of St. Mary III / P 44 Geissler's largest organ, destroyed in 1945
1873 Tiefenfurt , today Parowa, Silesia Church, today the Church of St. Anthony II / P 23 receive
1873 Thonberg near Leipzig church II / P 23 together with Rühlmann and Ladegast, not received
1874 Klein Wanzleben church II / P 20th
1874 Russia ? not received
1875 Trajuhn church I / P 9 receive
1875 Makers St. Nikolai (makers) II / P 15th
1875-1876 Krostitz St. Laurence II / P 19th receive
1876 Schweinitz church II / P 23
1877 Thum church II / P 29
1878 Polenz church II / P 13 receive
1882 Lauta St. Laurence I / P 9 receive
1885 Dahlenberg 7th
1887 Döbern 7th
1887 Mühlberg on the Elbe Monastery church II / P 25th receive
1888 Wörblitz II / P 9
1888 Zemnick 5
around 1893 Boragk Boragk village church II / P 9 receive
1895 Uebigau St. Nicholas Church Geissler organ of the Evangelical Nikolaikirche Uebigau II / P 18th Originally preserved except for the prospectus pipes.
1897 Thallwitz church II / P 21st receive
1897 Sitzenroda church
1897 Hohenroda near Borna church inaugurated after his death
? Mehlsdorf , Fläming Village church I / P 5 Year of construction not specified, possibly rental organ from around 1890 as a replacement for new organs to be built in different churches

Geissler organs in Gentha , Staupitz , Mölkau , Knautnaundorf and Weidenhain could not be dated precisely .

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Geissler is the most common spelling in literature, including in the catalog of the German National Library . During Geißler's lifetime the spelling Geissler was used, which can be seen on the company signs on his works.
  2. ↑ Conrad Geissler. Retrieved May 5, 2019 .
  3. ^ Organ in Jessen organ database, with disposition
  4. ↑ Organ in Hartenstein organ database, with photo and disposition
  5. ^ Organ in Parowa Orgeldatabase, with disposition
  6. ^ Organ in Krostitz Orgeldatabase, with disposition
  7. ^ Organ in Polenz Kirchenkreis, accessed on December 3, 2018
  8. ^ Organ in Lauta Orgeldatabase, with disposition
  9. ^ Organ in Mühlberg Orgeldatabase, with disposition
  10. ^ Organ in Uebigau Orgeldatabase, with disposition
  11. ↑ Organ in Thallwitz Orgeldatabase, with disposition
personal data
SURNAME Geissler, Conrad
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Geissler, Conrad
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German organ builder
DATE OF BIRTH May 18, 1825
PLACE OF BIRTH Eilenburg
DATE OF DEATH May 24, 1897
Place of death Eilenburg