Gerhard Brunzema

Gerhard Friedrich Brunzema (born July 6, 1927 in Emden ; † April 7, 1992 in Fergus, Ontario ) was an organ builder who worked together with Jürgen Ahrend mainly in northern Germany and then in Canada until 1972 .

Life

Gerhard Brunzema was born on July 6, 1927 as the fourth of seven children of the general practitioner Dr. Friedrich Brunzema was born. When his father, who was close to the Confessing Church , refused to send his four oldest children to the Hitler Youth in 1938, he was threatened with deprivation of custody. Friedrich Brunzema invoked his religious and ideological freedom and his political neutrality towards the state. Despite a long legal dispute and the compulsory youth service from March 1939, Friedrich Brunzema did not comply with the demands to send his children to the German Young People and the Hitler Youth, which, however, had no consequences.

Gerhard Brunzema grew up in Emden and learned organ building from Paul Ott (1948–52). He continued his education at the TU Braunschweig and graduated with a master’s degree in 1955 . Together with Jürgen Ahrend, he founded the company Ahrend & Brunzema (1954–1971) in Leer-Loga ( East Friesland ) in 1954 . The restoration of the historic organs in Larrelt , Westerhusen , Uttum and Rysum caused a stir, especially the reintroduction of the mid-tone tuning . In contrast to other organ building companies, the company did not want to intervene in the historical substance of the instruments, but attached importance to preserving the original parts and a consistent reconstruction using traditional craftsmanship and sound ideals. Ahrend and Brunzema received the Lower Saxony State Prize for Crafts in 1962. By 1971 55 new buildings had been built and 15 instruments were restored.

In 1971 Brunzema left the cooperative to settle in Canada. From 1972 to 1979 he was artistic director of the organ building company Casavant Frères , which, under his influence, turned to the principles of the north German baroque organ. Here Brunzema was responsible for larger organ projects in Canada, the USA, Japan and Australia as well as for some restorations of historical Casavant organs in Ontario and Québec .

In 1980 Brunzema set up his own company Brunzema Organs in Fergus. He built a total of 25 box organs with three or four registers , which churches and music colleges served as continuo instruments. There were also nine two-manual mechanical instruments with up to 25 registers, most of which were made between 1985 and 1987. In terms of sound, his new buildings were based on the north German baroque organ, especially the works of Arp Schnitger , but were characterized by a contemporary organ case with an independent artistic profile. 20 of his 41 new organs were built in Canada and 17 in the USA. 1985/86 and 1990–1992 his son Friedrich (born June 7, 1963), who had learned organ building from 1982 to 1985 from Rudolf Janke ( Bovenden ), worked in his father’s business. The poor health of the father finally led Friedrich to take over the company in early 1992. After Gerhard Brunzema died in April 1992, the company was initially discontinued. D. Leslie Smith, who worked for Brunzema from 1982 to 1992, built a new workshop in 1996 on the former Brunzema estate in Fergus and carried on its tradition.

Works (selection)

The size of the instruments is indicated by the number of manuals (Roman numerals) and the number of sounding registers (Arabic numerals). A separate pedal is marked with a capital "P", an attached pedal with a small "p". R = restoration, Rk = reconstruction and NB = new building. The links in the last column refer to further information and the dispositions .

Ahrend & Brunzema (1954–1971)

year	opus	place	church	image	Art	Manuals	register	info
1954/1988	1	Larrelt	Larrelter Church		R.	I / p	11	organ
1955	4th	Westerhusen	Westerhuser Church		R.	I / p	7th	organ
1957	8th	Emden	Harsweg		NB	I.	4th
1957	9	Uttum	Uttum Church		R.	I.	9	organ
1957 (1997)	10	Veldhausen	Old Reformed Church		NB	I (II / P)	6 (13)	organ
1959/2002	18th	Scheveningen (NL)	Zorgvlietkerk		NB	III / P	26th	organ
1960	22nd	Zutphen (NL)	Walburgiskerk		NB	I / p	6th	organ
1961	25th	Rysum	Rysumer Church		R.	I.	7th	organ
1961	27	Aurich	Lamberti Church		NB	II / P	25th	organ
1962	30th	Bremen	St. Martini		NB	III / P	33	organ
1964	35	Hatzum	St. Sebastian Church		NB	I / p	7th	organ
1965	41	Amsterdam (NL)	Oude Kerk (transept organ)		NB	II / P	17th	organ
1965	43	Amsterdam (NL)	Oude Waalse Kerk		R.	II / P	26th	organ
1966/96	45	Bremen - Oberneuland	St. Johann		NB	III / P	28	Organ (PDF; 203 kB)
1967	49	Castrop-Rauxel	Johanneskirche Schwerin-Frohlinde		NB	III / P	27
1968	57	Gutersloh	Gospel Church		NB	II / P	20th	organ
1968	58	Haarlem (NL)	Doopsgezinde kerk		NB	III / P	24	organ
1969	62	Hamburg	Reformed Church Altona		NB	II / P	13	organ
1969	63	Loga	reformed Church		NB	I / P	9
1966/69/87	65	Marienhafe	Marienkirche		R.	II / p	20th	organ
1970	68	Frankfurt am Main	Cantate Domino Church		NB	III / P	33	Organ (PDF; 2.3 MB), p. 162f.
1970	69	Uelsen	reformed Church		NB	II / P	20th	organ
1965-70 / 75-77	70	innsbruck	Court Church		R.	II / p	15th	organ
1971	72	Westerstede	St. Peter's Church		NB	II / p	22nd	organ
1963-1971	74	Empty	Big church		R.	III / P	37	organ

Gerhard Brunzema (1980–1991)

year	place	church	image	Art	Manuals	register	info
1982	Pella , Iowa	Central College		NB	II / P	19th
1983/1991	Kitchener , Ontario	Blessed Sacrament		NB	II / P	13	organ
1986	Glace Bay , Nova Scotia	St Anne's		NB
1986-1987	Toronto	Holy Family Church		NB	II / P	20th
1988	Charlotte, North Carolina	St John's		NB	II / P	26th	organ
1990	Seoul , South Korea	Dong Presbyterian Church		NB

literature

• C. Cramer: An Interview with Gerhard Brunzema . In: American Organist , 23/3, 1989, pp. 46-49.
• Thomas Donahue (Ed.): Gerhard Brunzema. His Work and His Influence. Scarecrow Press, Lanham 1998, ISBN 0-8108-3366-2 .
• Günter Lade (Ed.): 40 years of organ building Jürgen Ahrend 1954-1994 . Self-published, Leer-Loga 1994.
• In memoriam Gerhard Brunzema . In: The Diapason . 83/8, 1992, p. 12.
• Brunzema, Gerhard (B. 1927) . In: Douglas E. Bush, Richard Kassel (Eds.): The Organ. To Encyclopedia . Routledge, New York, London 2006, ISBN 0-415-94174-1 , pp. 83 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Jan Overduin: Gerhard Brunzema: Canadian Organ Builder . In: Organ Yearbook . 15, 1984, pp. 124-129.
• Uwe Pape : Jürgen Ahrend and Gerhard Brunzema . In: Organ Yearbook . No. 3, 1972, pp. 24-35.

Web links

• Official homepage of Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau
• Official homepage of Casavant Frères (English / French)
• The Canadian Encyclopedia: Gerhard Brunzema

Individual evidence

1. ^ Family history of Friedrich Brunzema , accessed on August 15, 2017.
2. ^ Homepage Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau : Geschichte , accessed on August 15, 2017.
3. ^ The Canadian Encyclopedia: Gerhard Brunzema , accessed August 15, 2017.
4. ^ Homepage of Friedrich Brunzema , accessed on August 15, 2017.