Johann Friedrich Constabel

Organ in Jennelt (1738)

Johann Friedrich Constabel (* 1690 ; † December 24, 1762 in Wittmund ) was an East Frisian organ builder from Wittmund. A dozen new buildings come from him, of which only the organ in Jennelt is almost completely preserved.

Life

Constabel was born in 1690 to Hinrich Christian Constapel. On January 30, 1732, he married the widow Anke Jürgens in Wittmund, who brought a daughter Elisabeth with her from her first marriage. She married Johann Adam Berner , who was also an organ builder and supported his father-in-law. Although nothing is known about his apprenticeship years, Constabel initially seems to have worked as a carpenter for various organ builders. Due to the fortunate circumstance that between 1730 and 1750 he had no competition in the East Frisian area, he was able to carry out various repairs, conversions and new buildings. His request for a privilege as an organ builder, submitted in Aurich on August 10, 1752, was not granted. In the East Frisian area we only know from Gerhard von Holy that he had such an organ building privilege for the Harlingerland . After Constabels death on December 24, 1762 in Wittmund, his company was continued in 1763 by Hinrich Just Müller , with whom he had already worked.

In contrast to the Netherlands , where the Schnitger School maintained the tradition of Arp Schnitger until the 19th century, serviced his instruments and essentially prevented major interventions in the sound substance, a different development took place in Germany after his death in 1719. Compared to Schnitger, Constabel developed an independent sound that was based on the East Frisian organ builder Joachim Kayser . The significant instrument in Jennelt in particular made it possible to correct the disdain for Constabel that was recorded in earlier literature as an organ builder without a guild who was "initially and later mainly a carpenter". Such statements by contemporary organ builders can be explained by the envy of competition.

Works

The size of the instruments is indicated in the fifth column by the number of manuals and the number of sounding registers in the sixth column. A capital “P” stands for an independent pedal, a lowercase “p” for an attached pedal. Italics indicate that the organ in question is no longer available or that only the prospectus has been preserved.

New buildings

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1733	Remels	St. Martin Church		I.	5	New building. The original positive was transferred from Leer to Remels in 1758 and integrated into his new work by Hinrich Just Müller as a return positive in 1782 .
1738	Jennelt	Jennelter Church		I / p	8th	The only almost completely preserved (except for three registers) organ Constabels. It was originally built for Norden- Bargebur , but in 1864 it was sold to Hamswehrum , where it was played in church services until 1967. Finally the instrument got its current location in Jennelt. After the exemplary restoration by Ahrend & Brunzema (1970), the original radiant and brilliant sound can be heard again, which also has chamber music qualities. Even if the system is kept quite traditional and simple, the elaborate carving that Constabels demonstrates technical mastery is striking.
1738	Greetsiel	Greetsieler Church		I / p	6th	New building; Housing preserved; Replaced by a new building in 1914
1740	Timmel	Peter and Paul Church		II / P	18th	New building; Housing preserved; the organ in Timmel had to give way to a new organ in 1917/1918.
1741	Neustadtgödens	Lutheran Church		I / p	11	New building; not received
1747	Ochtelbur	Ochtelburer Church		I / p	7th	New building; all registers divided into bass / treble; not received
around 1750	Loga	reformed Church		I / p	5	New building; Housing preserved; was sold to Juist in 1893 and to Hatshausen in 1968 (photo shows Hatshausen)
1752-1753	Pewsum	Nicolai Church		I / p	7th	New building; not received
1754	Emden	St. Michael		I / p	8th	New building; not received
1755	Dykhausen	reformed Church		I / p	12	New building; not received
1756	Rhaude	Rhauder Church		I / p	8th	New building; Housing preserved; Organ scrapped in 1930
1755-1760	Aurich	Lamberti Church		II / P	27	New building. The project could only be completed with the active help of Ernst Berner, his son-in-law's brother. The model seems to have been the Wagner organ in Trondheim . The prospectus has been preserved in St. Marien (Niederbreisig) (photo from there).
1760	Funnix	St. Florian		I / p	8th	New building, completed in 1762 by Hinrich Just Müller

Repairs

The number of manuals and registers relates to the time when Constabel carried out the repairs.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1745	Weener	St. George's Church		II / p	22nd	→ Weener
1748	Uttum	Uttum Church		I.	9	→ Uttum
1748-1749	Back	Behind church				Not received
1750	north	Ludgeri Church		III / P	46	→ north
1757	Logabirum	Logabirum Church		I / P	7th	Repair of the organ from around 1725; Brochure received in Cleverns (photo)
1761	Osteel	Warnfried Church		II / p	13	→ organ

See also

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

literature

• 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

• Ref. Church in Jennelt with photos of the organ (accessed on October 26, 2008)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Kaufmann: Die Orgeln Ostfriesland , p. 44, who cites the derogatory judgment of a councilor from Aurich from 1753 in support. See ibid., P. 23: "His skills hardly went beyond that of a good carpenter and village organ maker."
2. ↑ Ahrweiler Wiki: Catholic Parish Church "St. Marien “Niederbreisig , seen July 30, 2011.