Joseph Merklin

Joseph Merklin

Joseph Merklin (born February 17, 1819 in Oberhausen, today municipality of Rheinhausen (Breisgau) , district of Emmendingen; † July 10, 1905 in Nancy ) was a German organ builder who also worked in Belgium and France.

Live and act

Joseph Merklin gained his first professional experience in the organ building town of his father Franz Joseph Merklin before he continued his apprenticeship with Friedrich Haas in Basel. An important station was the further training with Eberhard Friedrich Walcker before he worked in Linnich near Aachen for the organ builder Wilhelm Korfmacher , who is known for his romantic organs . During this time (1840s) he became active in Belgium by helping to build two organs in Stavelot and Namur .

From 1843 Merklin ran his own workshop in Brussels , from 1847 together with his brother-in-law Friedrich Schütze . In 1853 the company, under the name J. Merklin-Schütze et Cie. , converted into a limited partnership. From 1870 he lived in Paris and then went to Lyon , where he teamed up with the organ builder Théophile Kuhn (from the Swiss organ building family Kuhn ). At the end of the century the company was then called Michel, Merklin & Kuhn. Over time he developed into a strong competitor of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll .

Descendants (sons?) Were later Gustav Merklin (active from 1865), August Merklin and Fridolin Merklin.

List of works (selection)

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1850	Paris	St Jean Baptiste de la Salle Church
1852	Liege	Saint Barthélemy Collegiate Church		III / P	30th	Restored 2012/2013 Description of the organ
1856	Paris	Église Saint-Eugène - Sainte-Cécile		III / P	33	together with Friedrich Schütze
1857	Oplinter	St. Genoveva Church
1860	Dijon	St-Benigne Cathedral		V / P	73	repair
1862	Basel	Elisabethenkirche		II / P	29
1867	La Rochelle	Cathédrale Saint-Louis de la Rochelle		III / P	29	Restoration (1991–1995) by Bernard Raupp
1867	Nancy	Saint-Epvre basilica
1868	Brussels	St. Boniface
1869	Paris	World exhibition		II / P	31	Bought in 1875 by the Bishop of Périgueux for the Saint-Front cathedral there , description of the organ in the article of the cathedral
1870	Liege	St. Paul's Cathedral		III / P	30th	Description of the organ in the article of the cathedral
1875	Commentry					Restored and reconstructed in 2007/2008
1875	Paris	Great synagogue		II / P	26th	Restored by Gutschenritter (1960)
1876	Clermont-Ferrand	Notre-Dame-du-Port		III / P	42	Thorough restoration (2005–2010) by Pierre Saby and Olaf Dalsbeck with the aim of restoring the Merklin organ from 1877
1877	Strasbourg	Temple Neuf		III / P		listed ( Monument historique )
1878	Montpellier	cathedral
1878	Strasbourg	Strasbourg Cathedral				Choir organ
1878	Aubenas	Saint-Laurent				since 1987 in St. Paul Church, Minnesota
1880	Moulins	Moulins Cathedral				preserved unchanged
1881	Rome	San Luigi dei Francesi			35	preserved unchanged
1882	Obernai	Sts Pierre et Paul		III / P	43	listed ( Monument historique )
1884	Lyon	Grand Temple de Lyon			38	First Merklin organ with electro-pneumatic action
1890	Villefranche-sur-Saône

literature

• Heinrich Richard Trötschel: The organ builder Franz Joseph Merklin and his license to practice as an organ builder. In: Roland Behrens, Christoph Grohmann (Ed.): Dulce Melos Organorum. Festschrift for Alfred Reichling's 70th birthday (= publication by the Society of Organ Friends. Volume 200). Society of Organ Friends, Mettlach 2005, pp. 487–502.

• Michel Jurine: Joseph Merklin, facteur d'orgues européen ., Édité par Association Aristide Cavaille-Coll, diffusion Klincksiek 1991

Web links

Commons : Joseph Merklin  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Joseph Merklin Inventoryis (Dutch)
• Joseph Merklin Ministère de la Culture, organs in France (French)
• Joseph Merklin Orgeldatabase, 229 organs (Dutch)
• Merklin-Schütze organ database, 96 organs

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Description of Merklin's life and company history (in French, accessed in February 2013)
2. ↑ https://www.tienen.be/sint-genovevakerk-oplinter
3. ↑ Le Grand Orgue - Cathédrale catholique Notre-Dame de Clermont (in French, accessed January 12, 2020)