H. Koulen & Son

H. Koulen & Sohn was a German organ builder that built around 200 organs in Alsace and southern Germany between 1871 and 1921 .

Heinrich Koulen

The company was founded by Heinrich Koulen (born June 23, 1845 in Waldfeucht , † March 14, 1919 in Augsburg ). He was the son of the organ builder Wilhelm Koulen (1801–1885), who had his workshop in Waldfeucht. After his home apprenticeship he went to Paris to study with Joseph Merklin . In 1871/72 he founded his own organ building company in Strasbourg . In 1891 he opened a branch in Oppenau , which in 1895 became the company's headquarters after closing down in Strasbourg. The last work in Alsace was the reconstruction of the Andreas Silbermann organ in the Strasbourg cathedral , which was completed in 1897. This work was controversial and was dismantled after only 10 years.

After the construction of the great organ in St. Ulrich and Afra in Augsburg in 1903, a branch was founded in Augsburg in 1905.

Max Koulen

Max Koulen (born October 10, 1876 in Strasbourg , † September 30, 1948 in Freiburg ), Heinrich's son, became a partner in 1909.

In 1914 the company moved to a larger workshop in Zweibrückenstrasse in Augsburg- Pfersee . In 1915 Heinrich Koulen left the joint company. In 1917 the company in Oppenau was sold. Due to the difficult economic situation, operations in Augsburg were closed in 1921.

Max Koulen became head of the organ building department at M. Welte & Sons in Freiburg im Breisgau . When the construction of the organ for the Freiburg Minster was put out to tender in 1927, Koulen's reputation was one of the reasons why M. Welte & Sons received the order. At the beginning of 1930, the organ work in the Freiburg Minster was completed with long-ship organ (III / 50), high-pressure organ (8 registers) and remote work (9 registers). The Walcker choir organ (from 1881 with II / 34) could also be controlled from the new console. In 1936 there was another major renovation: the long-ship organ was reduced to 14 registers, a new main organ was created on the northern transept gallery with 59 registers and the remote control was expanded to 29 registers (Michael’s organ).

Organs

Koulen first built a cone shop . In 1884 he led the first in Alsace pneumatic and 1888 electro-pneumatic action one. Father and son were inventive minds and excellent voicers ; in particular her art of intoning reed voices was internationally recognized. Émile Rupp saw them as protagonists of the Alsatian-New German organ building.

List of works (excerpt)

year	opus	place	building	Manuals	register	Remarks
1879		Hall	St. Bartélémy	III / P	26th	Replaced by a new building in 1923
1880		Andlau	St-Pierre-et-Paul	II / P	28	receive
1884		Strasbourg	Nikolaikirche	III / P	33	Reconstruction of the Andreas Silbermann organ, preserved changed
1884		Strasbourg	Aurelia Church	II / P	23	New building using some Andreas Silbermann registers 1952 New building by Ernest Muhleisen with III / 52
1885		Zinswiller	prot. church			first pneumatic organ in Alsace
1888		Strasbourg	St. Barbara	III / P	36	first el.-pneum. Organ in Alsace
1893		Prague	Emmaus Monastery	III / P	62
1894		Strasbourg	Magdalenenkirche	III / P	30th
1897		Strasbourg	Strasbourg Cathedral			not received
1901	103	Unterreitnau	St. Urban and New Years Eve	II / P	16	2012 in such bad condition that an electrical device was used instead of the organ
1902	110	Piesport	St. Michael	II / P	16	Disposition neo-baroque
1903	112	augsburg	Ortisei and Afra	III / P	73	1982 New building by Orgelbau Sandtner . → organ
1904		Mettlach	St. Lutwinus	II / P	27	1956 New building by Haerpfer & Erman using some registers.
1907	142	Aretsried	St. Pancras	II / P	15th
1907	146	Anhofen (Bibertal)	St. Maria Immaculata	I / P	7th
1908	150	Scheyern	Monastery Church of the Holy Cross and the Assumption of Mary	IV / P	60	1979 New building by Georg Jann → Organs of the Scheyern Basilica
1909	158	Augsburg -Pfersee	Heart Jesus Church	III / P	44	replaces → organ
1909		Weilheim in Upper Bavaria	Assumption Day	II / P	36	Replaced in 1970 by a new building by Max Offner
1911	170	augsburg	St. Michael in the Herman Cemetery	II / P	8th	In the general sill; receive
1911	174	Landsberg am Lech	Ursuline Monastery	II / P	17th	Restored in 2009 by Orgelbau Vleugels
1911	176	Hausham	St. Anton	II / P	32	Restored in 2013 by Orgelbau Vleugels
1912		augsburg	St. Sebastian	III / P	43	in use
1913		augsburg	Catholic Holy Cross Church	II / P	33	Destroyed in 1944.
1914	190	Landshut	St. Martin	III / P	70	Dismantled in 1983. Now in the Valley Organ Center .
1914	191	Market forest	Assumption Day	II / P	23	receive
1915		Polling	Polling Monastery	II / P	31	replaced
1915		Bad Woerishofen	Wörishofen Monastery	II / P	22nd
1916		Altötting	St. Anne's Basilica	III / P	62	1976 New building by Gerhard Schmid , individual stops preserved → organ
1917	203	Rohrenfels	Visitation of the Virgin Mary	II / P	19th	receive
1917		augsburg	synagogue	II / P	32	Transferred to Weßling in 1940 .
1919	207	Sulzberg		II / P	26th	received changed
1930/1936		Freiburg in Breisgau	Freiburg Minster	III / P	107	replaced by various new buildings

literature

Hermann Fischer and Theodor Wohnhaas : Lexicon of southern German organ builders . Florian Noetzel Verlag, Heinrichshofen-Bücher, Wilhelmshaven 1994, ISBN 3-7959-0598-2 .

Heinz J. Koulen, Sixtus Lampl : The Organ Builders Koulen: Pioneers in a Time of Change . Schloßverlag Valley, Valley 2006, ISBN 978-3-932055-02-7 .

Individual evidence

^ W. Widmann: The Strasbourg cathedral organ and its critics In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, Vol .: 19, Leipzig, 1899, pp. 784–786, 816-817
^ E. Rupp: The great organ of the St. Ulrichs Church in Augsburg In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, Vol .: 24, Leipzig, 1903, pp. 239–243
^ E. Rupp: The organ of the future In: Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, Vol .: 27, Leipzig 1907, p. 404.
^ Heinz J. Koulen, Sixtus Lampl: The organ builders Koulen: Pioneers in a time of upheaval. Schloss-Verlag Valley, Valley 2006, ISBN 978-3-932055-02-7 , pp. 240-241.