Joseph Franz Bittner

Joseph Franz Bittner (born September 14, 1852 in Hilpoltstein , † February 25, 1915 in Eichstätt ) was a German organ builder .

Life

Joseph Franz Bittner was the son of the organ builder Joseph Bittner . He completed an apprenticeship in his parents' company and attended the trade school in Augsburg. Then he went on a hike and was “active in various respected organ building companies”. After completing his compulsory military service, he worked briefly with his father and in 1880 took over the company of Augustin Ferdinand Bittner junior. in Nuremberg . He was able to expand it by purchasing a new piece of land on Deutschherrnstrasse. At times his father also supported him in his work. In 1897, due to competitive pressure, he gave up the Nuremberg company, which by then had a 70-year tradition, took over his father's workshop and in 1897 moved the company to Eichstätt. On June 7, 1907, he received the title of court organ builder . His younger brother Karl also became an organ builder, as did his sons Wilhelm August and Max Rupert. Wilhelm August, who had been with the company since 1908, took over the business after the death of Joseph Franz Bittner.

Works

At the beginning of his activity he built organs with mechanical action . Like most of his fellow organ builders, he began building organs with pneumatic action . His specific development is the "bowl drawer": This is a register drawer that is based on the usual membrane or pocket drawer with horizontal pockets. Instead of a rectangular hollow wooden body, on the upper edge of which the membrane made of the finest nappa leather is glued, one finds a round, hemispherical piece of wood, hollow on the inside, similar to a bowl. All of these membrane constructions, especially the design with the variant of the horizontal pockets, had not proven to be particularly effective. In the event of a malfunction (howling) caused by soiling or aging of the leather, the pipes must be cleared to get to the valves. Attempts to make this type of shop more “service-friendly” caused severe static damage to the shop structure (for example in Beilngries).

List of works (excerpt)

year	opus	place	building	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1890	36	Trisching	St. Nicholas cemetery church		I / P	5	Receive. Mechanical slide drawer, free-standing gaming table. Tin prospectus pulled in during World War I, replaced by zinc. 2001 General overhaul of Heribert Heick (Regensburg), new tin prospectus.
1890	39	Berching	City parish church of the Assumption		II / P	17th	In the case of the previous organ. New building 1996 Sandtner . Organ stored at Castle Valley → Organ
1890		Ingolstadt	Liebfrauenmünster		II / P	40	1928 reconstruction and extension by Steinmeyer , 1978 new building by Johannes Klais using many registers from the previous organs.
1891	44	Hagenhausen	St. Maria Dolorosa		I / P	6th	Mechanical cone shop, free-standing gaming table
1891	46	Regensburg - deching beds	Assumption Day		II / P	11	Donated by Johann Babtist Ulrich, inaugurated on January 31, 1892. Original received. → organ
1892	45	Raitenbuch	Parish Church of St. Blaise		II / P	17th	Preserved in its original condition. Restored in 2013.
1894		Gleismuthhausen	St. Antonius Abbas		I / P	6th
1895	60	Berching	Pilgrimage Church of Maria Hilf		I / P	9	Pneumatic cone tray
1895	61	Ebermannstadt	Lady Chapel		I / P	9	receive; restored by Benedikt Friedrich, Oberasbach.
1901	92	Large vineyard	St. Michael		II / P	12	preserved → organ
1902	95	Altenhof	Our Lady of Sorrows		I / P	5	receive
1903	103	Nuremberg	St. Elisabeth		II / P	38	receive; Restored in 2010.
1905	116	Banz	Banz Monastery		I / P	9	New building behind the historic Seuffert prospect. Changed in 1939. Parts of this organ in the Immanuel Chapel in Bremen-Walle .
1908	137	Ellingen	St. George		II / P	27	preserved, 1945 war damage, restored in 1961, Opus 247 by OBM August W. Bittner
1909	140	Burgwindheim	St. James		II / P	22nd	not preserved, new building Kögler
1912	154	Buxheim (Upper Bavaria)	St. Michael		II / P	20th	Not received. 2001 New building by Orgelbau Sandtner in the organ case from 1912
1913	159	Beilngries	St. Walburga		III / P	43	2012 restored action and valves renewed by Orgelbau Kuhn
1913	152	Hilpoltstein	St. John the Baptist		II / P	25th	Replaced in 2017 by a new building by Orgelbau Goll Luzern (28 / II / P) in the Baumeister housing

See also

• Organ builder family Bittner

literature

• Eberhard Kraus: Historic organs in the Upper Palatinate. Schnell & Steiner 1990, ISBN 3-7954-0387-1

Web links

• Joseph Franz Bittner in the Bavarian Musicians' Lexicon Online (BMLO)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Hermann Fischer and Theodor Wohnhaas : The Nuremberg organ building in the 19th century. In: Mitteilungen des Verein für Geschichte der Stadt Nürnberg, Vol. 59, 1972, p. 233. online , accessed on July 20, 2016
2. ^ Hermann Fischer and Theodor Wohnhaas : Lexicon of the South German Organ Builders. Heinrichshofen, Wilhelmshaven 1994. ISBN 3-7959-0598-2 . P. 37.
3. ↑ Design clarified with employees of Orgelbau Kuhn
4. ↑ Description of the Beilngrieser Bittner organ at www.bistum-eichstaett.de
5. ↑ Information about the culture and organ center at Schloss Valley
6. ↑ Main organ of the Liebfrauenmünster in Ingolstadt on www.die-orgelseite.de
7. ↑ Albert Börschlein: Dear parish , in: contact. Parish letter of the Catholic parish Altdorf 2/2005, p. 2 ( online )
8. ↑ also according to the inscription on the gaming table
9. ↑ according to the inscription on the gaming table
10. ↑ Norbert Dengler: The old organ sounds fresh again , February 6, 2013 at www.nordbayern.de
11. ↑ Information on the organ in Maria Hilf in Berching at orgelbau-friedrich.de
12. ↑ Cathedral organist played a rehearsal on www.465.f3.gcore.info ( Memento from March 7, 2016 in the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ Organ on www.organindex.de
14. ↑ cis: Nuremberg's most beautiful organ is being polished up again , in: Abendzeitung , June 1, 2010 ( online )
15. ↑ The organ of the Immanuel Chapel in Bremen-Walle on the Edition Lade website.
16. ↑ Sandtner organ building
17. ^ Hilpoltstein St. John the Baptist at Orgelbau Goll Lucerne