Leopold Iwan Cirsovius

Leopold Iwan Cirsovius (born July 23, 1815 in Mettenhof , † March 24, 1895 in Lübeck ) was a German organist , teacher and organ researcher.

Life

As a member of the Cirsovius family, Leopold Iwan Cirsovius was a son of the farmer Adolph Friedrich Cirsovius (* May 8, 1777 in Kiel ; † September 28, 1833 in Rotenhahn ) and his wife Christine Margaretha , née Koyen (* March 27, 1784 in St. -Johannis-Kloster near Schleswig ; † 1834 during a trip to Jutland ). The paternal grandfather was Johann Carl Cirsovius . The maternal grandparents were the monastery administrator David Koyen († 1816) and his wife Christina Margaretha, née Hagen († 1789).

Cirsovis initially lived on the Meierhof Mettenhof, which his father leased in 1805 . An older brother gave him his first lessons. In 1823 there were signs that the father would go bankrupt. Cirsovis and the siblings then moved in with relatives and friends. He himself lived with an uncle in Bramstedt with an uncle in Bramstedt until 1825 with a former tutor in Wahlstorf . Then he moved back to his parents in Holnis . The father had leased a small land and ferry station there.

In the autumn of 1829 the Cirsovius family moved their residence to Schleswig . At Easter 1830 Leopold Ivan Cirsovius moved to the teacher Dietrich Bahr, who was to prepare him for a career as a teacher, according Wrohe . In the fall of 1832 he got a job as a private tutor with the pharmacist Johann Valentin Struck in Nortorf . Due to health problems, the activity ended in the spring of 1833. He then spent six months on the Bjernedegård farm near Sorø , which his brother-in-law owned. From autumn 1833 to Easter 1836 he worked as an assistant teacher in Malente , where he first dealt with the organ.

From Easter 1836 until his exam in 1839, Cirsovius received training at the teachers' seminar in Tondern and received compulsory training as an organist. He then worked for a short time as an assistant teacher at the Wilhelminen Free School in Flensburg. In autumn 1841 he received a call from the landowner Kaspar von Buchwaldt as organist at the Vicelinkirche and teacher from Pronstorf . Cirsovius worked here until the end of 1887 due to health reasons. Then he moved to Lübeck.

Working as an organist

When Cirsovius took office in Pronstorf there were three different chorale books. The melodies used by the community often did not correspond to the Schleswig-Holstein hymn book due to oral tradition . Cirsovius first introduced the chorale book by Johann Georg Christian Apel . Together with the pastor Friedrich Ernst Eugen Nissen, he selected around 40 songs that had to be known from school exams in the parish. Due to the poor condition of the organ, he pushed for a new building and asked Hermann Jimmerthal for advice on how to plan a new building. He probably had a friendship with the Lübeck organist since the early 1860s.

Organ in Pronstorf

Cirsovius examined organs in the surrounding area and asked other organists for reports. In 1869 a Marcussen & Søn organ was inaugurated in Pronstorf . In the course of organ building, a friendship developed with Jürgen Andreas Marcussen , who ran the most renowned organ building workshop in the country. Cirsovius wrote very benevolently about the company in his later publication.

Because of the conditions that he had encountered when he took up his post in Pronstorf, Cirsovius became involved in church music in the rural communities of the country. For this he used in particular meetings of the “General Schleswig-Holstein Teachers Association”, later the publication “Schleswig-Holstein School Time”, which most of the teachers read. In the school newspaper in 1862 he offered a subscription booklet that contained 19 antiphones , which were often used in the church of Pronstorf. These melodies, which Jimmerthal had checked, obviously never went to print.

In 1863 Cirsovius published the most common chorales by Johann Georg Christian Apel . Since these were sold out quickly, he created a revised version that appeared in 1864 and was published several times. In 1874 he created a new version. In 1864, after consultations with Jimmerthal and Rudolf Reinecke, he published the chorale book “Choralfreund”, which matched Apels chorales. He provided Apel's melodies with new, simpler harmonies that Jimmerthal had written. Reinecke recommended the book for teaching in teacher seminars, which made it quickly spread throughout Schleswig-Holstein and appeared in several editions. In 1880 Cirsovius added an additional collection of preludes.

In 1881, because of the works he had created, Cirsovius received a call from the commission to create a new chorale book for the Schleswig-Holstein hymnbook. In this context, a collection of the melodies of folk songs was created in 1886, which was intended to optimize the music in rural churches and schools. Cirsovius initiated a section on "Singing and Music" in the teachers' association and was a member of the board until his retirement.

Working as an organ researcher

Cirsovius' most important works come from the field of organ research. During the preparations for the new Pronstorf organ, he collected material. He published part of this in 1872 as “Organ Dispositions of Organs in Schleswig-Holstein”. He planned to expand this font and therefore wrote an "Organ Show" for the school newspaper almost every year. He always asked for further material to be sent to him. Organ researchers used to collect and publish dispositions at the time . Cirsovius did not deviate from this, but worked much more reliably than his predecessors. In addition, he collected very extensive all over northern Elbe and was interested in current developments in the building of organs.

In 1881 the consistory in Kiel under Friedrich Mommsen commissioned an inventory of organs. Cirsovius should evaluate this as the best organ specialist. In 1890 he gave up the idea of ​​publishing an expanded new edition of his work from 1872. Since his colleagues showed no interest, he could not compile any larger organ statistics. Since the material security of the widows and orphans of teachers was particularly important to him, he donated the proceeds of his works to the Pestalozzi Association.

family

In his first marriage, Cirsovius married Anna Margaretha Catharina Doll on November 3, 1840 in Hutzfeldt (* October 21, 1816 in Neukirchen ; † June 17, 1870 in Pronstorf). She was the daughter of an organist in Neukirchen. The couple had four sons and four daughters.

In his second marriage, Cirsovius married on December 30, 1873 in Pronstorf Elise Dorothea Friederike Lau (born October 30, 1835 in Preetz ; † June 16, 1920 in Schleswig ). From this marriage a daughter was born.

Publications

• Choralfreund: the most common chorales with preludes and interludes for organ and pianoforte as well as for four-part singing. Segeberg: Meier [1864]
• Life picture of the master organ builder Marcussen & Sohn: together with a list of the organs delivered from 1848-91 a. the time, b. the size and the main provisions according to which all are built, as well as expert opinions. Kiel: Jensen 1891 ( digitized at HathiTrust )
• Organ dispositions from Schleswig-Holstein: 194 dispositions and descriptions, 1868–1895. Edited by Reinhard Jaehn, Berlin: Merseburger 1986 ISBN 978-3-87537-217-5 (= Documenta Organologica) therein:

* Organ disposition of organs in Schleswig-Holstein. Kiel 1872

* The annual organ survey by LI Cirsovius, 1880–1894

* Life picture of the organ builder Marcussen and son. Kiel 1891

* Supplement: Individual descriptions of the organs written or arranged by Cirsovius, 1868–1895

• News about Pronstorf, the church, church patrons, preachers, church lawyers, organists, organs, funeral graves, purifiers, manners and customs , 1880 (reprint c. 1980)

literature

• Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Volume 9, Wachholtz, Neumünster 1991, ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pp. 75-77.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 75.
2. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 75-76.
3. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 76.
4. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 76.
5. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 76.
6. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 76.
7. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 76.
8. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , pages 76-77.
9. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 77.
10. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 75.
11. ↑ Leo Beckmann: Cirsovius, Leopold Iwan . in: Biographical Lexicon for Schleswig-Holstein and Lübeck . Wachholtz, Neumünster 1982–2011. Vol. 9 - 1991. ISBN 3-529-02649-2 , page 75.