Klassmeier (organ builder)

Klassmeier (also: Klassmeyer and Klaßmeier ) is the family name of a German family of organ builders in Kirchheide near Lemgo who built more than 200 organs between 1872 and 1942.

history

Ernst Klassmeier (born February 2, 1840 in Talle , † January 16, 1926 in Lemgo) learned piano building from Theophil Mann in Bielefeld and organ building from Carl Krämer in Osnabrück . Until 1872 he worked for Friedrich Ladegast in Weißenfels . In 1878 he developed a form of cone chest in which the cone valves could be replaced. Nevertheless, until the 1880s, his organs had mechanical slide chests in the manuals and only cone chests in the pedal. From the 1890s he used the tube pneumatics in the pedal, while the manuals had cone chests. After the exhibition at the trade show in Detmold in 1881, he received the title "Schaumburg-Lippischer Hoforgelbauer". On the occasion of his 25th business anniversary, the Prince Regent Adolf von Lippe awarded him the gold medal of merit. By 1900 he had built 80 new organs, which were delivered to Rheinhessen, Westphalia, Rhineland and the Netherlands and occasionally also exported outside of Europe. In 1907 he handed the business over to his son Friedrich.

Friedrich Klassmeier (* 1880 in Talle; † 1943 in Lemgo) learned the organ trade from Goebel and Furtwängler and made use of the further developed pneumatics . He built in numerous playing aids on their basis , such as the melody coupler . Instead of rocker registers, he preferred buttons. In 1942, a year before his death, the company that had delivered its Opus 200 in 1926 went out.

The Klassmeier organs are characterized by high craftsmanship and are stylistically committed to romanticism . Numerous works were lost due to the organ movement and new organ building during the economic growth in the 1950s and 1960s.

List of works (selection)

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1877	Deserts	Protestant church		II / P		New building; not received
1877	Kalletal - Lüdenhausen	Ev.-ref. church		II / P	15th	Get prospectus; Pipework by Detlef Kleuker (1975)
1881	Hüllhorst - Schnathorst	Ev.-luth. church		II / P	12	acquired from Detmold trade exhibition; 1936 and 1978 extensions
1886	Bielefeld	Zionskirche (Bethel)		II / P		not received
1887	Barntrup	Ev.-ref. church		II / P	13	1965 Conversion by Gustav Steinmann
1894	Warendorf	Christ Church		II / P	16	1978 New building by Paul Ott behind the existing Klassmeier prospectus
1896-1897	Hartum	Protestant church		II / P	19th	almost completely preserved; neo-Gothic prospectus
1898	Gelsenkirchen-Buer- Alder	Trinity Church		II / P	about 20	1951 conversion by Förster & Nicolaus , 1977 extension conversion by Karl Schuke ; 16 registers received
1899	Listen (hall)	Protestant church		II / P	17th	with manual change loop ; preserved almost unchanged
1907	Holzwickede	Protestant church		II / P	21st	largely preserved
1907	Ibbenbueren - Laggenbeck	Johanniskirche		II / P	11	preserved almost unchanged
1912-1914	Pile bog	Stapelmoorer Church		II / P		New building behind the prospectus by Eike Schulte (1848); not received
1914	Greetsiel	Greetsieler Church		I / p	6th	New building behind the housing by Johann Friedrich Constabel ; not received
1924	Leer (East Frisia)	Big church		II / P	27	Exchange of some registers of the organ by Albertus Antonius Hinsz (1763–1766); Klassmeier register not preserved
1927	Emden	Big church		III / P	51	destroyed in World War II
1932-1933	Lemgo	St. Mary		II / P	20th	Reconstruction of the Scherer organ (1612–1613) with the assistance of Christhard Mahrenholz ; not received
1935	Oldersum	Oldersum Church		II / P	19th	Replaced in 1965 due to moisture damage

literature

• Hermann Fischer : 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders . Orgelbau-Fachverlag, Lauffen 1991, ISBN 3-921848-18-0 .
• Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 .
• Hannalore Reuter: Historic organs in Westphalia-Lippe . Ardey-Verlag, Münster 2006, ISBN 978-3-87023-245-0 .
• Sabine Thiel: Ernst Klaßmeier, Friedrich Klaßmeier - organ builder in Kirchheide near Lemgo . Pape, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-921140-89-5 .

Web links

• Short biography with pictures

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden. 1995, p. 140.
2. ^ Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau 1896/1897 . tape 17 . Leipzig 1897, p. 645 .
3. ↑ ^{a b} Fischer: 100 years of the Association of German Organ Builders. 1991, p. 226.
4. ^ Thiel: Ernst Klaßmeier, Friedrich Klaßmeier. 2009.
5. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 181.
6. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 174f.
7. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 43.
8. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 333.
9. ↑ Jürgen Brandhorst: The organs of the church in Hartum. A contribution to the history of organ building in the Mindener Land. Announcements from the Minden History Society. Volume 61, 1989, pp. 131-137.
10. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 129.
11. ^ Organ in Hörste , seen February 20, 2012.
12. ^ Organ in Holzwickede , seen February 20, 2012.
13. ↑ Reuter: Historical organs in Westphalia-Lippe. 2006, p. 175.
14. ^ History of the organ in Oldersum