Nikolaus Maass

Nikolaus Maaß (* around 1550 ; † August 1615 in Copenhagen ) was a north German organ builder who mainly built organs in the Dutch late renaissance style in Pomerania and Denmark . Apart from a few stops of the organ in Roskilde Cathedral, nothing of his work has survived.

life and work

Maaß was probably born in the Netherlands. In addition to his name, this is indicated by the Dutch construction of his organs, which, however, is characteristic of the entire northern German area of ​​this time. His teacher is unknown, it is believed that David Beck .

His activity as an organ builder can be proven from 1582 in Stettin and Copenhagen. It is possible that Maaß carried out work on the St. Jakobi Church in Stralsund in the same year , since we are talking about a Nicolai . Between 1584 and 1592 he was probably in Saxony, where he met the Lorenz family of organ builders. In 1592 he acquired the citizenship of Stralsund ; So Maass was not born in the city. He owned there. In 1598 he gave a credit of 200 guilders as a pledge for Stralsund, which he owned in Grimma .

Maaß moved to Copenhagen in 1602, where he succeeded Hans Brebus as court organ builder for the Danish-Norwegian King Christian IV. Johan Lorentz the Elder was one of Maaß's students and accompanied him to Copenhagen. The brother Balthasar Lorenz was also a journeyman from Maass. As early as 1601, Maaß had built a portative on behalf of Christian IV . For the Copenhagen arsenal in 1602 made Maass to a lead roof. The king sent Maaß with the Lorenz brothers to Flensburg in 1604, where he built one of the most important Renaissance organs in the country until 1609 . In 1606 two more portatives were made for the king, and in 1610 a “silver” positive was made for Frederiksborg Castle .

After leaving Stralsund, Maaß brought the city to court over what he believed to be an illegally sold house. Maaß died while he was building a new organ in Frederiksborg Castle , which was completed by his master craftsman Lorenz. After his death, his widow continued the trial against the city of Stralsund. She was supported by Duke Philipp Julius and Christian IV, which suggests her husband's high reputation.

List of works

The size of the instruments is indicated in the fifth column by the number of manuals and the number of sounding registers in the sixth column. A capital “P” stands for an independent pedal, a lowercase “p” for an attached pedal. Italics indicate that the organ in question is no longer preserved.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1582	Szczecin	Jacob's Cathedral		II / P	27	Extension conversion; not received
1582-1586	Szczecin	Marienkirche				Renovation; not received
1590	Greifswald	St. Jacobi Church				Working on the organ; not received
1592-1594	Stralsund	St. Mary's Church		III / P	43	New building ?; Disposition handed down to Michael Praetorius ; not preserved → organ
1597	Greifswald	St. Mary's Church				Restoration of the organ for 666 marks; not received
1597	Barth	St. Mary's Church		I / P	16	Extension conversion; 8 stops in the Hauptwerk, 8 stops in the pedal; not received
1584, 1595, 1598	Prenzlau	Marienkirche		III / P		1584 repair and 1598 expansion of the organ by Fabian Peters from Sneek (1567/1568); not received
1598-1601 / 1612	Stralsund	St. Nicholas Church		III / P	44	New building, which initially comprised 22 registers and was expanded to double its size in 1612; not received
1599-1603	Greifswald	St. Nikolai Cathedral				Works on the organ by Fabian Peters (1575–1577); not received
1604-1609	Flensburg	Nikolaikirche		III / P	38	New building; Prospectus received from Heinrich Ringerink
1605-1609	Flensburg	Marienkirche				larger work; not received
1611	Roskilde	Roskilde Cathedral		II	24	Restoration of the organ by Hermann Raphael Rodensteen (1550–1555); probably got three registers
1613-1615	Hillerød	Frederiksborg Castle		II / P	28	New building completed by Johan Lorenz the Elder; not received

literature

• Beate Bugenhagen: The music history of Stralsund in the 16th and 17th centuries. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Vienna 2015, ISBN 978-3-412-21874-4 .
• Gustav Fock : Arp Schnitger and his school. A contribution to the history of organ building in the North and Baltic Sea coast areas . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1974, ISBN 3-7618-0261-7 .
• Ole Olesen: Maass, Nicolaus . In: Douglas E. Bush, Richard Kassel (Eds.): The Organ. To Encyclopedia . Routledge, New York, London 2006, ISBN 0-415-94174-1 , pp. 314 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
• Dietrich W. Prost: Stralsund as an organ city. Organs and organ builders in practical theological service for the churches of Stralsund. Publishing house Dr. Kovač, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 978-3-86064-238-2 .
• Maarten Albert Vente : The Brabant Organ. On the history of organ art in Belgium and Holland in the Gothic and Renaissance ages . HJ Paris, Amsterdam 1963.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans Klotz: About the organ art of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque. Music, disposition, mixtures, lengths, registration, use of the pianos . 3. Edition. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1986, ISBN 3-7618-0775-9 , p. 211 .
2. ↑ ^{a b} Vente: The Brabant Organ. 1963, p. 108.
3. ^ Olesen: Maass, Nicolaus. 2006, p. 314.
4. ^ Vente: The Brabant Organ. 1963, p. 109.
5. ^ Bugenhagen: The music history of Stralsund in the 16th and 17th centuries. 2015, p. 275.
6. ↑ Fock: Arp Schnitger and his school. 1974, p. 170.
7. ↑ The information from Michael Praetorius: Syntagma musicum . Volume 2: De Organographia. Wolfenbüttel 1619, pp. 198-199 ( online ), possibly refer to St. Nikolai; see Bugenhagen: The music history of Stralsund in the 16th and 17th centuries. 2015, p. 274, and Prost: Stralsund as an organ town. 1996, pp. 23-24.
8. ^ Organ in Barth , accessed on August 26, 2017.
9. ^ Bugenhagen: The music history of Stralsund in the 16th and 17th centuries. 2015, p. 273.