Gerd Sieben Janssen

Gerd Sieben Janssen (born October 21, 1802 in Esens , † March 4, 1899 in Aurich ) was an East Frisian organ builder from Aurich. 16 new organs by him have been proven, some of which are still well preserved, especially those in Asel and Eggelingen .

Life

Gerd Sieben Janssen was born in 1802 as the son of master tailor Ihno Janssen (May 19, 1769 to 1853/55) and his wife Jurke Margaretha Gattena (May 3, 1768 to May 18, 1847) in Esens. His ancestors can be traced back to Esens over three generations. At least two of the seven siblings died early. After completing his apprenticeship as a carpenter, he learned organ building from Johann Gottfried Rohlfs and probably worked there as a journeyman between 1820 and 1823. After the military service, seven years of wandering abroad followed in order to deepen himself in organ and piano building. On April 1, 1833, he acquired citizenship in Esens, settled there as an instrument maker and married Dorothea Nessina Neessen (born March 2, 1803) on May 4, 1833, who died of a stillbirth on March 9, 1834. Janssen then moved to Aurich, where he set up his workshop and in 1835 married Margaretha Helena Hinrichs from Aurich. Some of the eight children learned to build organs. His son Julius Hillard (January 20, 1847 to March 19, 1925) took over the repairs and maintenance services from around 1893 and continued his father's business until the First World War , but did not build a new building himself. In terms of craftsmanship, Gerd Sieben Janssen worked traditionally and stood in the continuity of baroque organ building. It followed the high point of East Frisian organ culture in the 18th century, but could no longer maintain the level of Hinrich Just Müller and Johann Friedrich Wenthin . Janssen died at the old age of 96.

List of works

In the fifth column, the Roman number denotes the number of manuals , a capital "P" denotes an independent pedal , a small "p" denotes an attached pedal and the Arabic number in the penultimate column denotes the number of sounding registers .

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1836-1838	Aurich	reformed Church		I / P	11	About 35 pipes and prospectus received; Extension and reconstruction 2003 (II / P / 18)
1839-1840	Tergast	Tergaster Church		I / p	7th	Originally built for Neustadtgödens ; Transferred to Tergast in 1939; 1999–2000 partial reconstruction
1843? -1845	Larrelt	Larrelter Church		I / p	11	Reconstruction of the organ by Johannes Millensis (1618–19)
1843-1846	Eggelingen	St. George Church		I / p	8th	Largely preserved
around 1850	Hollen	Christ Church		I / p	8th	1896 sold to Warsingsfehn in the course of the rebuilding of the church; Hauptwerk case preserved (photo shows the later expanded organ in Warsingsfehn)
1851	Westrhauderfehn	Hope Church		II / P	22nd	Middle section preserved, registers almost completely replaced
1854	Pilsum	Pilsum Kreuzkirche		II / p	16	Reconstruction of the organ by Valentin Ulrich Grotian (1694)
1854	Grotegaste	St. John Baptist		II / P	12	Housing received
1854-1855	Esklum	Esklumer Church		I / p	7th	Prospectus with 19 pipes received
1855-1856	Asel	St. Dionysius Church		I / P	8th	Housing (without prospectus pipes) and three registers partially preserved
1858-1859	Steenfelde	Steenfeld Church		I / p	9	Prospectus received
1857-1861	Pewsum	Nicolai Church		II / P	16	Prospectus received in Westeraccum (picture)
1862-1864	Etzel	St. Martinus Church		II / p	13	Housing received
1865	Jheringsfehn	Jheringsfehner Church		II / P	15th	Housing and partly pipework preserved
1867	Potshausen	St. Martin Church		I / p	8th	Not received
1869	Full	Peter and Paul Church		I / P	10	Reconstruction of the organ by Wilhelm Eilert Schmid (1822–23); largely preserved
1874?	Breinermoor	St. Sebastian and St. Vincenz Church		I / P	9	Housing and partly pipework preserved
1877-1878	Berdum	Mary Magdalene		II / p	9	Built with his sons; In the 1960s, the wooden register, action and some of the case disintegrated due to worm infestation; 1977 reduction of manual to I / p / 5 as an emergency solution; one register replaced, otherwise preserved
1878	Wiegboldsbur	Wibadi Church		I / P	8th	Reconstruction of the organ by Wilhelm Eilert Schmid (1818–19); largely preserved
1883-1884	Big wolves	Großwolder Church		I / p	8th	Replaced by Furtwängler & Hammer in 1919 , brochure preserved

See also

• List of organ builders
• List of historical organs in East Frisia

literature

• Ev.-ref. Parish Aurich (Hrsg.): Organ town Aurich . Self-published, Aurich 2003.
• Hermann Fischer : 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders . Orgelbau-Fachverlag, Lauffen 1991, ISBN 3-921848-18-0 .
• Walter Kaufmann : The organs of East Frisia . East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 1968.
• Harald Vogel , Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 .
• Harald Vogel, Reinhard Ruge, Robert Noah, Martin Stromann: Organ landscape Ostfriesland . 2nd Edition. Soltau-Kurier-Norden, Norden 1997, ISBN 3-928327-19-4 .

Web links

• Wolfgang Henninger: Gerd Sieben Janssen (PDF; 56 kB). In: Biographical Lexicon for East Frisia . Volume 3. Aurich 2001, pp. 213-215.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Organ city Aurich , p. 13
2. ↑ Organ city Aurich , p. 15