Johann Andreas Silbermann

Johann Andreas Silbermann, engraving by Christophe Guérin , around 1780

Johann Andreas Silbermann (born June 26, 1712 in Strasbourg ; † February 11, 1783 there ) was an Alsatian organ builder .

Life

Johann Andreas Silbermann was the son of the Alsatian organ builder Andreas Silbermann from Saxony and the nephew of Gottfried Silbermann , who also successfully built organs in Saxony . The organ builders Johann Daniel Silbermann and Johann Heinrich Silbermann were his brothers.

When his father died on March 16, 1734, Silbermann continued his father's work with the consent of the city and became his successor. About 40 organs in Arlesheim , Colmar , Strasbourg , Molsheim , Gries etc. come from Johann Andreas Silbermann . In 1775 he published a history of the city of Strasbourg .

Whether the later court organ builder and Johann Ferdinand Balthasar Stieffell , who worked in Rastatt, was employed by him has not yet been proven.

Johann Andreas Silbermann died in Strasbourg at the age of 71. His son Josias, also an organ builder, died three years after him (1786).

Travel journal

From February to June 1741, Johann Andreas Silbermann went on a trip to Saxony to get to know his family's homeland. The route led via Gotha, Leipzig, Dresden, Freiberg, Zittau, Berlin and Magdeburg, among others. In Zittau he visited his uncle Gottfried Silbermann , who was building an organ there in the Johanniskirche . Although he was visiting Leipzig, he did not meet Johann Sebastian Bach , possibly because he was out of town (during the Passion).

He kept a detailed diary of his trip , which, in addition to notes, also contained sketches, acquired copperplate engravings and newspaper clippings. It contains detailed travelogues and visualises the musical world of the 18th century. The 300-page diary has been preserved and was auctioned in 2014 by the Saxon State Library at the London auction house Sotheby’s for 140,000 euros. The work has since been digitized and is available on the website of the Saxon State Library. It should also appear as a book.

Works

Italic letters indicate that the organ no longer exists or that only the prospectus has been preserved.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1736-1738	Saint-Hippolyte	Saint-Hippolyte Church				The organ was originally built for the Marbach Abbey , bought from it and installed in the church of Saint-Hippolyte in 1790.
1737	Ottrott	Odile's Chapel on Mount Odile				The organ of the Odilienkirche on the Odilienberg is not by Silbermann
1741	Strasbourg	St. Thomas		III / P	38	Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1745	Wasselonne	Saint Laurent Protestant Church		III / P		Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1746	Guémar	Church of St. Leodegar (Saint-Léger)				The organ has been in the Pankratius Church (Église Saint-Pancrace) in Griesheim-sur-Souffel since 1843 . Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1747	Balbronn	Temple protestant				Originally preserved case, a listed building since 1989, which still contains pipes from a previous instrument from the 17th century. One or two of Silbermann's organ pipes still exist. The instrument was fundamentally redesigned in 1908 and renovated in 1928 and 1960.
1747	Saint-Jean-Saverne	St. Jean Baptiste				Organ from 1851 and in particular 1903–1904 was rebuilt and at times completely expanded to reflect contemporary taste. 2007–2009 replaced by a modern instrument that is based on the Silbermann sound culture. Housing listed since 1969.
1749	Strasbourg	Temple Neuf				1870 destroyed along with the church by Prussian artillery fire.
1750	Sundhouse	Protestant Church				Housing listed
1750	Soultz-Haut-Rhin	St-Maurice				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1752	Villingen	Benedictine Church		III / P	36	Destroyed in 1944, reconstructed in 2002.
1753	Baden-Baden	Collegiate church		II / P	25th	rebuilt several times; Housing and a register in St. Cyriakus / Karlsruhe-Bulach preserved
1755	Orbey	Pairis Monastery				Today St. Anna, Turckheim , built in 1791, rebuilt in 1839, badly damaged in a fire in 1978. Nothing of the original substance has been preserved in the reconstructed instrument.
1755	Colmar	Martinsmünster		III / P		Whistles and blowers were completely replaced in 1979.
1760	Hipsheim	St-Georges and St-Ludan
1760	Hessenheim	St Laurent				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1761	Arlesheim	Cathedral church		III / P
1762	Strasbourg	St-Pierre-le-Jeune protestant		III / P		Originally Protestant until 1865 in the Catholic part of St-Pierre-le-Jeune; today in the St. Moritz Church in Soultz-les-Bains .
1763	Strasbourg	St. Johann		IV / P		Moved to Mannheim (Konkordienkirche) in 1800 , destroyed in World War II.
1765	Châtenois	St-Georges				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1766	Mulhouse	St-Jean				Reconstructed true to the original in 1972 by Alfred Kern & fils. Housing listed
1768	Colmar	Dominican Church				Dismantled in the 1970s, reinstallation is currently not planned.
1769	Basel	Preacher Church		II / P
1769	Ettenheim Munster	St. Landelin		II / P
1770	Basel	Theodorskirche		II / P		Sold to St. Imier in 1916, bought back to Basel in 1951 and first installed in the Barfüsserkirche , since 1968 case and little original pipe material in the Peterskirche (work by Neidhart & Lhôte)
1771	Walbach	St-Jacques				1985–2002 faithfully reconstructed by Antoine Bois
1775	St. Blasien	St. Blasien Cathedral			47	After secularization in 1818 in the Stephanskirche in Karlsruhe , destroyed with the church in a bomb attack in 1944 . From the prospectus 3 putti from Joseph Hörr still preserved on the Johann Ferdinand Balthasar Stieffell organ in Bauerbach .
1776	Meissenheim	church		II / P	21st	Reconstructed in 1964; about a third of the registers preserved
1776-1777	St. Märgen	Assumption Day				Destroyed by fire in the church in 1907
1778	Bouxwiller	Temple protestant				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1779	Blodelsheim	St. Blaise (St-Blaise)				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1780	Strasbourg	St-Pierre-le-Jeune protestant				Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1781	Molsheim	St. George and Trinity		II / P	24	Protected monument ( Monument historique )
1781	Semolina	Protestant Church				Protected monument ( Monument historique )

Fonts

• Local history of the city of Strasbourg. Lorenz, Strasbourg 1775.
• Comments on the merchandise I saw on my Saxon Reysse. Travel journal. 1741. online
• Marc Schaefer (Ed.): The Silbermann Archive. The handwritten estate of the organ maker Johann Andreas Silbermann (1712–1783). Winterthur 1994.

literature

• Robert Eitner:  Silbermann, Andreas . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie (ADB). Volume 34, Duncker & Humblot, Leipzig 1892, pp. 310-313. (covered in this family article)

Web links

Commons : Johann Andreas Silbermann  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Johann Andreas Silbermann in the catalog of the German National Library
• Literature by and about Johann Andreas Silbermann in the Saxon Bibliography
• Les Silbermann, facteurs d'orgues à Strasbourg (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ State Library of Saxony acquires travel diary from Andreas Silbermann. On the website of the Sächsische Zeitung on February 17, 2015, accessed on February 18, 2015.
2. ↑ Johann Andreas Silbermann's travel diary. On the website of the Saxon State Library - State and University Library Dresden, accessed on February 10, 2015.
3. ↑ Travel diary from the Silbermann organ dynasty. On deutschlandradiokultur.de on February 18, 2015, accessed on February 18, 2015.
4. ↑ Griesheim-sur-Souffel, St-Pancrace ( Memento of the original from February 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on découverte.orgue.free  
5. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from January 23, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
7. ↑ Villinger Orgel Pictures and data on the organ
8. ↑ Archive link ( Memento of the original from July 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
9. ^ Albert Hohn: The Silbermann organ in St. Märgen. In: 850 years of St. Märgen. St. Märgen 1968, pp. 131–148.