Johann Evangelist Schmid

Johann Evangelist Schmid (born December 28, 1757 in Wangen im Allgäu ; † March 4, 1804 in Salzburg , St. Andrä) worked as an organ and piano builder in Baden-Württemberg and Salzburg . As the successor to Johann Rochus Egedacher , he was the last court organ maker (1785–1804) in the Prince Archbishopric of Salzburg .

Pyramid piano 1790, SMCA

Life

Pedal hammer grand piano 1790, SMCA

Fortepiano 1803, SMCA

Johann Evangelist Schmid came from Wangen im Allgäu, where he first learned the carpentry trade and then, from Samuel Oexle in Schömberg , the art of organ building. Then he went on a journey: first to Vienna, where he spent five years, then to Budapest, then via Bohemia to Dresden and Leipzig and finally to Augsburg. In Augsburg he worked for the famous piano and organ builder Johann Andreas Stein for over a year , because he ... [felt] too weak in terms of piano instruments . ... he owed Stein everything in this area . It was there that he made the acquaintance of Leopold Mozart , who sold some of his pianos to the citizens of Salzburg. On behalf of Archbishop Hieronymus Graf von Colloredo , Leopold Mozart asked Schmid, who now had his workshop in Stühlingen , whether he would like to take over the position of the Salzburg court organ maker because the court organ maker Rochus Egedacher had died on June 14, 1785. After his acceptance, Schmid received the Salzburg court organ maker decree on November 20, 1785. In January 1786 he wanted to move to Salzburg and set up his quarters in the Amannhaus, Getreidegasse 21 ; his salary had already been agreed and was 19 guilders per month. The favorable order situation enabled him to acquire a floor in the Elephantenhaus , Kajetanerplatz 3 , on September 10, 1801 he bought the benefit house on Kapuzinerstiege , Imbergstiege 4, into which he had moved in 1800. He also wanted to build a wind turbine next to this house, which would operate a saw and a grindstone via a cable. Because of the neighbors' fear that the mill would attract lightning, he had to dismantle it again. His contemporaries admired his pianos, especially his pyramid-shaped fort pianos . Little is known about his qualities as an organ builder in Salzburg because only a few organ projects were carried out due to his early death. As a progressive organ builder, he had come across a backward organ building tradition in Salzburg. He wrote bitterly B. in a finding that the organ of the Collegienkirche Salzburg [is] of a limitation that can no longer be found in any part of Germany. Everywhere the manuals have over four octaves in range, only here the so-called short octave is still common; the half tones between cd (= C sharp and D sharp are missing) and in most organs also F # and G # (= F sharp and G sharp missing). At a time where the Tonsetzter presented their works only in 6 or 8 keys, and chose not to Mitteltönne Tonnika, the short octave ranged easy: but now, where 24 keys music enthusiasts are present, the thing sounds so thin ... .
With Johann Evangelist Schmidt's death, the era of Salzburg court organ makers came to an end. His wife tried to continue the workshop as a widow's business with journeymen, which she did not succeed in the long term. In 1813/14, when the state of Salzburg as the Salzachkreis belonged to the Kingdom of Bavaria , she sold the workshop to the first Salzburg bourgeois organ maker, Joseph Konradt .

epitaph

Schmid's epitaph in Sebastian's cemetery

Johann Evangelist Schmid died at the age of 45 on Sunday, March 4th, 1804 of a stomach cramp . Two days later he was buried in the evening at the Sebastian cemetery in Salzburg. On one of the pillars of the crypt arcades, a few steps from the central entrance to the northeast, a plaque commemorates the last Salzburg court organ maker. The inscription on it reads:

Monument
of love for
Johann Ev. Schmid,
court organ and piano maker,
b. on December 26th, 1758,
died on March 4th, 1804.
and Anna Maria his wife,
geb. on January 20, 1761,
and after many years of suffering godly passed away
on March 17, 1838,
and their children
Johann Nep., Franz Alois,
Johann Seb-. Johann Kaspar.
RIP

Organ buildings and designs

year	place	building	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1786	Tamsweg	St. Leonhard ob Tamsweg		I / P	12	unrealized
1791	Adnet	Parish church				realized, not received
1793	Mittersill	Parish church				realized, not received
1794	Radstadt	Maria Loretto whether larks				realized, not received
1802	Salzburg	St. Johanneskirche am Imberg				Attribution, received
1803	Altenmarkt	Parish church		I / P	11	unrealized
?	Straßwalchen	Parish church				realized, not received

Individual evidence

1. ↑ digitized version
2. ↑ His son Caspar Oechsle achieved a certain degree of popularity.
3. ^ Benedikt Pillwein: Biographical descriptions or lexicon of Salzburg, partly deceased and partly living artists, including those who supplied works of art for Salzburg e [t] c , Salzburg: Mayr'sche Buchhandlung 1821, p. 209.
4. ^ Wilhelm A. Bauer / Otto Erich German: Mozart. Letters and Notes . Kassel u. a. 1963, Vol. III, No. 904, lines 55-60.
5. ^ University archive Salzburg: University files No. 29 . Quoted from Gerhard Walterskirchen: Organs and Organ Builders in Salzburg from the Middle Ages to the Present . Contributions to 700 years of organ building in the city of Salzburg, dissertation Salzburg 1982, p. 118.
6. ^ AES , Salzburg St. Andrä, death book. See: [1]
7. ^ Roman Matthias Schmeißner: Studies on organ building in pilgrimage churches of the Archdiocese of Salzburg. Dissertation University Mozarteum Salzburg 2012, p. 285 ff.

literature

• Ernst-Ludwig Gerber: New historical-biographical lexicon of the Tonkünstler. Part 4. Leipzig: Ambrosius Kühnel 1814, column 86 f. ( books.google.com digitized version).
• Ernst Hintermaier: The Salzburg Court Chapel from 1700 to 1806 . Organization and staff, dissertation University of Salzburg 1972.
• Benedikt Pillwein: Biographical descriptions or lexicon of Salzburg partly deceased partly living artists, also those who supplied works of art for Salzburg e [t] c , Salzburg: Mayr'sche Buchhandlung 1821.
• Roman Schmeißner: Organ building in Salzburg pilgrimage churches , Duisburg & Cologne 2015, ISBN 978-3-86553-446-0 (also dissertation, University Mozarteum Salzburg 2012).
• Constantin von Wurzbach : Schmidt, Johann Evangelist . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 30th part. Kaiserlich-Königliche Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, Vienna 1875, p. 271 ( digitized version ).
• Gerhard Walterskirchen: Johann Schmidt (Schmid). In: Organs and Organ Builders in Salzburg from the Middle Ages to the Present. Contributions to 700 years of organ building in the city of Salzburg, dissertation University of Salzburg 1982, pp. 109–118.

Web links

• Schmidt fortepiano
• Johann Schmidt Grand Piano