Nicolaus Seeber

Nicolaus Seeber (born November 11, 1680 in Haina ; buried April 5, 1739 in Römhild ) was a German organ builder , composer and teacher.

life and work

Seeber was born the son of a princely court tenant. He learned to play the organ and piano with Johann Günther Harreß in Römhild. During his time as a school clerk in Römhild, Seeber got to know the organ builder Johann Schröder while he was building a new organ in Schmeheim . From 1698 he was a clerk and city organist in Themar and learned organ building from Schröder. He opened his own workshop in Römhild, where he was a teacher at the Latin school . When he received a call as organist in Amsterdam in 1705, he was appointed court musician at the court in Hildburghausen and city organist. Study trips took him to Franconia, Swabia and the Rhine region. Seeber held the office of court musician until 1730. As the successor to Johann Philipp Käfer , with whom he had been instructed in composition, he also became court organist in Römhild in 1709. Seeber wrote two years after Ernst Ludwig Gerber with church cantatas , only one of which has survived .

As a school clerk at the Latin city school in Römhild, he had 132 piano students as "collega infimus" until 1737, according to Johann Mattheson , but had to limit this activity due to the time-consuming organ building. Johann Clethus Otto, who had been Seeber's son-in-law since 1730, took over his duties at the Latin school. Seeber was a “princely-privileged organ maker” in the Duchy of Saxony-Hildburghausen , which led to conflicts when Johann Christian Dotzauer, as successor to Caspar Schippel, also received the organ -building privilege of the court organ builder around 1725. A legal dispute lasting several years ended with a settlement in 1728, according to which both organ builders had to share the privilege.

Seeber can be verified as a Römhilder organ builder from 1714 to 1739. One of his students is Johann Ernst Döring , with whom he worked from 1731 and who later founded his own workshop in Ostheim before the Rhön . According to Mattheson, Seeber built a total of 56 organs in the regions around Würzburg, Bamberg, Hildburghausen, Schleusingen , Römhild and Fulda, which presumably includes modifications and major repairs.

The importance of Seebers can be seen in Mattheson's entry in his basis of an honor gate :

“Nicolas Seber was born in 1680 in Heyna, a place belonging to Römhild, in Franconia. His father was a royal Saxon court tenant there. At the thought of Römhild, our Nicolas attended the city school in the 15th year of his age; After this he learned to play the piano and the art of organism, with Johann Günther Harres, organist in Römhild; then came, as a scribe, to Themar in the Henneberg area, to the then councilor and bailiff Reyher; lay down on the organ and got an. 1705. a job in Amsterdam; which he did not accept because Hertzog Hinrichs to Römhild Durchl. asked him to be their court musician and city organist.

He laid the foundations for the art of composition with the famous court organist, Johann Philipp Käfer, who was last capellmeister in Durlach; then made various trips to hear many other artists, and to make use of them. But after the imaginary Käfer, as capellmeister, was accepted by Duke Ernst von Hildburghausen's passage, Seber, as court and city organist, was given the administration of the organs and at the same time had his oath substituted for his work abroad.

The organ works, if they are made in Wirtenberg, Bamberg, Bayreuth, Hildburgshaus, Schleusing, Roman and Fulda, are 56. new, without the repaired or renewed ones. The scholars who teach the piano are 132, some of whom have become capell masters, some of them organists and school servants. Among other things, two years have also been executed by him. He died in April 1739 and, with so much useful work, deserves a good honor and a good reputation in the musical world. "

- Johann Mattheson : Basis of an honor gate, 1740

List of works (selection)

year	place	building	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1714-1716	spleen	St. Mary Magdalene				New organ; 1988 New organ built by VEB Orgelbau Schönefeld
1718	Leutersdorf	St. Vitus		I / P	13	New organ; 2009 general repairs / cleaning
1718	Mendhausen	St. Urban		I / P	13	New organ; 2009 general repairs / cleaning
1719	Marisfeld	St. Mauritius		I / P	12	New organ; bad condition
1720	Haina	Johanniskirche		II / P	16	New organ; 1994 Reconstruction and restoration by Schuke Orgelbau Potsdam
1720	Beaver strike	Biberschlag village church				bad condition
1721	Bedheim	St. Kilian		I.	7th	Cultivation of the swallow's nest organ ; 1995/1996 reconstruction and restoration by Schuke Orgelbau Potsdam; largely preserved
1722	Sun field	St. Moritz				Extension by II. Manual; Replaced in 1856
1722	Weidhausen					repair
1722/1723	Reurieth	Reurieth village church		I.		New organ; not received
1725	Schleusingen	St. Johannis		II / P		New organ building including parts of the previous organ; 2009 New organ built by Hey-Orgelbau Urspringen / Rhön
1728	Metzels	St. Nikolai				New organ; Prospectus received
1730	Bibra	St. Leo				New register; not received
1731	Völkershausen	Michaeliskirche				New organ
1733	Kirchrimbach ( Burghaslach )	St. Mauritius		I.	4th	New organ
1734	Sondheim	Village church				New organ; Prospectus received

literature

• Hermann Fischer, Theodor Wohnhaas: Lexicon of southern German organ builders . Florian Noetzel Verlag, Wilhelmshaven 1994, ISBN 3-7959-0598-2 , p. 384 .
• Ernst Ludwig Gerber : Historical-biographical lexicon of the Tonkünstler. Volume 2. Breitkopf, Leipzig 1792, column 492 f. ( online ).
• Maren Goltz: Musicians' Lexicon of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen (1680-1918) . Meiningen 2008, pp. 336–337 (PDF).
• Johann Mattheson : Basis of an honor gate. Hamburg 1740, reprint, Berlin 1910, p. 335 f. ( online )
• Uwe Pape (Ed.): Lexicon of North German Organ Builders . tape 1 : Thuringia and the surrounding area . Pape, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-921140-86-4 , pp. 279-280 .
• Torsten Sterzik: Two Organ Builders - One School. For the 300th birthday of F. Volckland and Chr. Dotzauer. In: Thüringer Orgelsommer eV (Ed.): Thüringer Orgeljournal 1996. Arnstadt 1996, pp. 27-50.
• Ingward Ullrich: Hildburghausen musician. A contribution to the music history of the city of Hildburghausen. Frankenschwelle, Hildburghausen 2003, ISBN 978-3-86180-129-0 .

Web links

• Thuringian composers alphabetically
• The organs in the Hildburghausen-Eisfeld church district

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Ernst Ludwig Gerber : Historical-biographical lexicon of the Tonkünstler. Volume 2. 1792, Col. 493 ( online ).
2. ^ Goltz: Musicians' Lexicon of the Duchy of Saxony-Meiningen . 2008, pp. 336-337 (PDF); see. “Inauguration memorial of the Princely Sächsische Hof-Kirchen In der Glücks-Burgk zu Römhild”, Gotha / printed by Christoph Reyhern / in the year M.DC.LXXXIV, castle archive Römhild.
3. ↑ Sterzig: Two Organ Builders - One School. 1996, p. 28.
4. ^ Pape: Lexicon of North German Organ Builders. 2009, p. 280.
5. ^ Fischer, Wohnhaas: Lexicon of south German organ builders. 1994, pp. 68, 384.
6. ^ Pape: Lexicon of North German Organ Builders. 2009, p. 279.
7. ↑ Mattheson: Basis of an honor gate. 1740/1910, p. 335 f. ( online ).