Organ of St. Mary's Church in Gdansk

Organ of St. Mary's Church in Gdansk
General
place	Marienkirche (Danzig)
Organ builder	Gebr. Hillebrand
Construction year	1982-1985
epoch	20th century
Organ landscape	West Prussia
Illustrations
Technical specifications
Number of registers	46
Number of rows of pipes	64
Number of manuals	3
Number of 32 'registers	1

Rückpositiv with rich carving

The organ in St. Mary's Church in Gdansk is a reconstructed Renaissance organ that was built by the Hillebrand brothers from 1982 to 1985 . It has 46 registers with three manuals and a pedal . The previous instruments up to 1945 were among the most important in the Baltic Sea region.

Historical organs

First organs

The Marienkirche in Gdańsk was one of the most important churches in the Baltic Sea region and its main organ was also one of the largest until 1945. The oldest record of an organist ( magister organista ) at the Marienkirche is preserved for 1385 . In 1475, in addition to the large organ in the west gallery , positive organ in the Reinhold and All Saints' Chapel were also mentioned.

In the years 1509 and 1510 Blasius Lehmann from Bautzen built a new large organ in the main nave with 1926 pipes for 3800 marks . He implemented the previous instrument via the entrance to the All Saints Chapel. In 1522 Hans Hauck built another organ on the singing gallery above the sacristy . In 1523, Blasius Lehmann again created another above the Reinhold chapel. At that time there were at least four organs in the Marienkirche, possibly even one above the Dorotheenkapelle von Lehmann (?).

Anthoni organ from 1585

As early as 1583, Julius Anthoni (Friese) began building a new organ in the main nave, which, after a fatal accident, was completed in 1585 by his assistant Johann Koppelmann. The organ front was created in the Dutch Renaissance style by the carpenter Stephan Kelch and the carver Leo Wiegk. It had three towers with fields in between. With 53 registers, the instrument was one of the largest in the Baltic Sea region at the time. The organ researchers Werner Renkewitz and Jan Janca were able to reconstruct a possible disposition . The organ probably consisted entirely of metal pipes, as wooden pipes were not yet in use at that time. In 1673 Georg Nitrowski repaired the entire wind chest and the pipework with his son Andreas and Johann Balthasar Held . The 26-fold mixture was eliminated. Andreas Hildebrandt carried out further repairs from 1734 to 1735 .

From 1758 to 1760 a general overhaul was carried out by Friedrich Rudolf Dalitz . In the process, some registers were implemented and some were renamed, the playing and registration mechanisms were overhauled and the keys on the manual keyboard were replaced. The prospectus was also improved, to what extent and whether it was possibly completely rebuilt based on the old model is unclear.

From 1777 to 1778 Friedrich Rudolf Dalitz built a new choir organ on the singing gallery. For this he used material from the previous instrument, as well as the positive ones above the entrances to the Reinhold Chapel and the All Saints Chapel. This had 23 registers on a manual and pedal. The prospectus consisted of five towers with angel figures and two cymbal stars.

Terletzki organ from 1891

In 1891 the August Terletzki company from Elbing built a new instrument with a pneumatic action and 56 stops. For this, the pipes in the Rückpositiv and in the breastwork were removed with the exception of the prospect pipes. More root registers than overtone registers were used in the romantic sound of that time.

In 1895, the organ builder from Gdańsk, Otto Heinrichsdorf, added a second manual with five registers to the choir organ in the choir's gallery and built in a pneumatic action with a different intonation . Due to lack of care, this instrument soon fell into disrepair.

After Josef Goebel changed the intonation of the main organ in 1931, Emanuel Kemper from Lübeck carried out a comprehensive reconstruction of this instrument in 1935. He placed pipes in the Rückpositiv and the breastwork again and expanded the number of registers to 88 with a different intonation. Around 1938 Kemper built a new choir organ in the old prospectus with 32 stops and two manuals, also in neo-baroque intonation. The two instruments were connected by an electrical cable and could be played together from the console of the large organ. With 120 registers and 8172 pipes, they were both the largest organ in the Baltic Sea region .

In March 1945 the large organ was largely destroyed in a fire, the choir organ completely. In 1961 an electronic organ was donated by Poland from the USA to St. Mary's Church.

Friese Hillebrand organ from 1985

Today's organ

In 1979 the preserved prospectus of the Renaissance organ of the Johanneskirche was placed in the Marienkirche. It had remained largely undamaged due to early storage during the war. The organ was built from 1625 to 1629 by Merten Friese , the son of Julius Anthoni Friese . With donations collected by a support association in Germany, this organ was reconstructed from Altwarmbüchen in its historical disposition between 1982 and 1985 by the Hillebrand brothers . Most of the historic prospect pipes were preserved. In keeping with the work principle, the principal registers of the main work and the Rückpositiv sound significantly different. The 46 registers are divided into three manuals and pedal, the action is mechanical.

The disposition is

I Rückpositiv CD – d ³
01.	Principal	08th'
02.	Dumped	08th'
03.	Quintadena0	08th'
04th	octave	04 ′
05.	Reed flute	04 ′
06th	Nasat	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
07th	octave	02 ′
08th.	Forest flute	02 ′
09.	Scharff V
10.	Zimbel IV
11.	Trumpet	08th'
12.	Dulcian	08th'

II main work CD – d ³
13.	Principal	16 ′
14th	octave	08th'
15th	Hollow flute	08th'
16.	Capstan whistle	08th'
17th	octave	04 ′
18th	Capstan flute	04 ′
19th	Fifth	2 ² ⁄ ₃  ′
20th	octave	02 ′
21st	Sesquialtera II0
22nd	Mixture VII
23.	Trumpet	16 ′

III Breastwork CD – d ³
24.	Dumped	08th'
25th	Transverse flute0	08th'
26th	Principal	04 ′
27.	Dumped	04 ′
28.	Pointed flute	04 ′
29	third	1 ³ ⁄ ₅  ′
30th	Fifth	1 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
31.	Sif flute	01'
32.	shelf	08th'
33.	Schallmey	04 ′

Pedal C – f ¹
34.	Principal	16 ′
35.	Subbas	16 ′
36.	octave	08th'
37.	Dumped	08th'
38.	Fifth	5 ¹ ⁄ ₃  ′
39.	octave	04 ′
40.	Quintad	04 ′
41.	Peasant flute0	01'
42.	Mixture V
43.	trombone	32 ′
44.	trombone	16 ′
45.	Trumpet	08th'
46.	Cornett	04 ′

Coupling : I / II, III / II, I / P, II / P, III / P

Playing aids : Tremulant I, tremulant for the whole organ, Zimbelstern

Action : mechanical action action , mechanical stop action , mechanical slide chests

monotonous mood

Concert pitch a ¹ = 440 Hz

literature

Werner Renkewitz , Jan Janca : History of organ building art in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944. Volume 1. Weidlich, Würzburg 1984, p.

Web links

Commons : Organ of St. Mary's Church in Gdansk - collection of images, videos and audio files

Organ St. Marien Danzig organs with historical arrangements

Individual evidence

↑ After the siege in 1520, cf. Karl Friedrich Friccius: History of the fortifications and sieges of Danzig: With special consideration for the East Prussian Landwehr, which stood in front of Danzig in the years 1813 - 1814 . Veit, Berlin 1854, p. 9 .
^ Heinz Lingenberg : Oliva - 800 years. Outline of the story. Publishing house UNSER DANZIG. Lübeck 1986, ISBN 3-926482-00-1 , pp. 354-358.
↑ Disposition of the organ in St. Marien Danziger Orgeln

[1] After the siege in 1520, cf. Karl Friedrich Friccius: History of the fortifications and sieges of Danzig: With special consideration for the East Prussian Landwehr, which stood in front of Danzig in the years 1813 - 1814 . Veit, Berlin 1854, p. 9 .

[2] Heinz Lingenberg : Oliva - 800 years. Outline of the story. Publishing house UNSER DANZIG. Lübeck 1986, ISBN 3-926482-00-1 , pp. 354-358.

[3] Disposition of the organ in St. Marien Danziger Orgeln