Heinrich Bechstein

Heinrich Bechstein (born June 30, 1841 in Rotenburg an der Fulda ; † November 27, 1912 in Groß-Umstadt ) was a German organ builder at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century.

Life

Heinrich Bechstein was born as the son of the organ builder Friedrich Bechstein (1801–1855). He learned organ building from Johann Georg Förster and started his own business in Groß-Umstadt in 1872. On June 27, 1873 he married Maria Helena Kißner in Groß-Umstadt. He worked there for 40 years until his death in 1912. His son Johann Hermann Heinrich Bechstein (1875–1943) continued the family business in the third generation until 1920. Due to the economic crisis after the First World War and his marriage and childlessness, the son gave up the business, moved to his sister in Lich and hired himself out through maintenance work, repairs, organ tuning and pipe deliveries.

Works

Bechstein built around two to three organs a year, but also carried out numerous renovations that significantly affected the tonal substance of the instruments. He was reluctant to use the pneumatic action . In the province of Starkenburg alone , 20 new organs can be verified. His works, restorations and modifications include the following organs :

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1880	Langstadt	Ev. church		II / P	17th	New building; receive
1884	Groß-Umstadt	Ev. church		II / P	24	New building behind a housing from 1699; Rebuilt by Bosch in 1960 , some registers preserved
1887	Reichelsheim (Odenwald)	Protestant church		II / P	17th	New building
1892	Nieder-Eschbach	Parish church Nieder-Eschbach		II / P	16	New building; Retained unchanged except for two registers
1899	Bechtolsheim	Simultaneous church Bechtolsheim		II / P	27	Reconstruction of the Stumm organ (1752–1756); 1977 canceled by Oberlinger . → Organ of the Simultankirche Bechtolsheim
1899	Büttelborn	Protestant church		I / P	16	Reconstruction of the organ by Johann Wilhelm Schöler
1903	Worfelden	Protestant church		I.	6th	Attribution; Replacement of the clamping bellows with magazine bellows and changing the mixture. → Organ of the Evangelical Church in Worfelden
1903-1904	Naked	Protestant church				New building behind a neo-Gothic prospect
1908	Wöllstein	Ev. Remigius Church		II / P	18th	New building with pneumatic action; 1970 Relocation and installation of a mechanical action by Oberlinger; received changed
1908	Alzey	Chapel of the Rheinhessen specialist clinic			7th	New building: Pneumatic organ with 7 registers and 5 couplers. The tin pipes come from Alsace . Proof of the assignment via a note found by Bechstein on the inside of a slat of the organ console.

Honors

Today there is a path in his hometown Groß-Umstadt with Heinrich-Bechstein-Straße that is named after him.

literature

• Hans Martin Balz: organs and organ builder in the area of ​​the former Hessian province of Starkenburg. A contribution to the history of organ building (=  studies on Hessian music history 3 ). Bärenreiter-Antiquariat, Kassel 1969, p. 375-385 .
• Franz Bösken : Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Vol. 1: Mainz and suburbs - Rheinhessen - Worms and suburbs (=  contributions to Middle Rhine music history 6 ). Schott, Mainz 1967, ISBN 978-3-7957-1306-5 .
• Hermann Fischer , Theodor Wohnhaas : Lexicon of southern German organ builders . Florian Noetzel Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1994, ISBN 3-7959-0598-2 , p. 24-25 .
• Hermann Fischer: 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders . Orgelbau-Fachverlag, Lauffen 1991, ISBN 3-921848-18-0 , p. 146 .
• Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 20.1: Alzey-Worms district . Verbandsgemeinde Alzey-Land . (= Monument topography Federal Republic of Germany ). Published on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science, Further Education and Culture by the General Directorate for Cultural Heritage Rhineland-Palatinate Directorate State Monument Preservation. Edited by Michael Huyer and Dieter Krienke. Wernersche Verlagsgesellschaft, Worms 2013, ISBN 978-3-88462-327-5 , p. 294.

Web links

• Hermann Fischer: Music and Musicians on the Middle Rhine 2 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Fischer, Wohnhaas: Lexicon of south German organ builders. 1994, p. 24 f.
2. ↑ ^{a b} Balz: Organs and organ builders in the area of ​​the former Hessian province of Starkenburg. 1969, p. 376.
3. ^ Fischer: 100 years of the Association of German Master Organ Builders. 1991, p. 146.
4. ^ Franz Bösken, Hermann Fischer: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine (=  contributions to the Middle Rhine music history . Volume 29.2 ). tape 3 : Former province of Upper Hesse. Part 2: M-Z . Schott, Mainz 1988, ISBN 3-7957-1331-5 , p. 668 f .
5. ^ Bösken: Sources and research on the organ history of the Middle Rhine. Vol. 1, 1967, p. 251.
6. ↑ Episcopal Ordinariate, December IX / 4, Bechtolsheim organ file.
7. ↑ Martin Balz: Divine Music. Organs in Germany (=  230th publication of the Johann Wilhelm Schölerr der Organfreunde ). Konrad Theiss, Stuttgart 2008, ISBN 3-8062-2062-X , p. 128 .
8. ^ Cultural monuments in Rhineland-Palatinate. Volume 20.1, p. 294.
9. ^ Organ in Wöllstein , accessed on July 29, 2016.
10. ↑ Photo of the Bechstein organ in the chapel of the Rheinhessen specialist clinic
11. ^ The chapel of the Rheinhessen Fachklinik , website of the Diocese of Mainz, accessed on March 3, 2016