Organ of St. Marien (Buttforde)

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Organ of St. Marien (Buttforde)
Buttforde Organ 2012.jpg
General
place St. Mary's Church (Buttforde)
Organ builder Joachim Richborn
Construction year 1681
Last renovation / restoration 2011/12 by Hendrik Ahrend
epoch Baroque
Organ landscape Ostfriesland
Technical specifications
Number of registers 9
Number of rows of pipes 14th
Number of manuals 1

The organ of St. Marien (Buttforde) was built by Joachim Richborn in 1681 and is the only one of his works that has largely been preserved. It has nine registers on a manual and attached pedal and, along with the works of Arp Schnitger, is considered to be one of the most important baroque organs in East Frisia.

Building history

Original wind chest, repaired in 1949

In 1681 the first new organ was built for 400 Reichsthalers in the Marienkirche in Buttforde . Richborn placed the instrument on a wooden gallery above the Romanesque rood screen . Because of the necessary height for the Principal 8 ′, a recess (cuckoo hood) had to be made in the wooden ceiling, which was too low. The structure of the prospectus with the polygonal bass tower in the middle, the pointed side towers for the tenor pipes and the flat fields in between for the treble reflects the Hamburg influence, as it is also found in Schnitger. 1691 took place the version of the prospectus including the gallery balustrade.

In its original state the organ had double doors, the traces of which were already covered in the first version (1691) when the ornaments on the side were attached. Richborn's organ in Pakens still has the original double doors.

Joachim Kayser serviced the instrument in 1704 and made sure that the bellows and wind tunnels were sealed. In 1727 they were covered with leather again. Johann Friedrich Constabel renovated the organ together with Johann Caspar Struve, son of Schnitger's master craftsman Gregorius Struve . They renewed the tremulant, sealed the bellows and the trumpet boots and provided the prospect pipes with a new foil. In addition, they set up a pleasant atmosphere . Gerhard Janssen Schmid carried out work on the organ in 1801 and retuned the organ again. Presumably he attached the classical urns to the case above the decorative cymbal stars. In 1937 an electric fan was installed. In the 20th century, the organ was then tuned to the same level for most of the time .

Restorations

Housing part in the Ahrend workshop
Pipes in the workshop, on the right prospect pipes with gilded labia
Whistle before restoration (January 2012)

According to an appraisal by the Emden organ keeper Wolfgang Pahlitzsch in 1946, Rudolf von Beckerath took stock in 1947 on behalf of the regional church office in Hanover. As a result, the overall condition is threatening and there is an urgent need for action. The cutting heights of the pipes in Buttforde were not changed in the course of the organ movement, in contrast to many other historical organs: “It is probably the oldest unchanged work in East Friesland, whose pipes are still in astonishingly good condition, only the heads (made of lime wood) of the trumpet are worried. "

In 1949 Alfred Führer carried out a renovation of the organ, which also included changes to the pipework. In the course of this, the old, still original trumpet register - apparently the expert advice of Beckerath was not available - was replaced by a new one made by the Giesecke (Göttingen) pipe- making company in a modern style. The pulpit bungs of the wind chests were re-glued, slider chests and valves re-leathered, the action mechanism repaired and partly renewed, the wave board relocated, oxidized pipe feet or entire pipes replaced, core stitches removed, the wind pressure lowered to 65 mm and damaged case parts repaired. Three years later the valuable instrument was listed as a historical monument (1952). In the following years, the instrument, especially the windchest, suffered from warm air heating and the organ floor and individual parts of the case from woodworm, so that further renovation measures were carried out by guides.

The community collected money over many years for a comprehensive restoration of this important organ and from 2004 worked together with the Hanna and Carl Siefkes Foundation. The northern organ auditor Reinhard Ruge prepared the master plan for the organ restoration in 2005/06. Since the wind chests were not tight, the high registers could hardly be used. The mouths of the pipes were split open and the bodies dented. As a result of the lower wind pressure, the pipes were shortened and no longer had their original length. This also resulted in a reduction in the volume of the sound. The case and other wooden components also urgently needed restoration. The lead prospect pipes were covered with a tin foil, which decomposed; the labia were gilded. It is noteworthy that the intonation with its vocal tonal coloration is still largely preserved in the principal in the prospectus and has hardly any core stitches, which is almost without parallel for organs of the Schnitger period. The fact that the instrument was still functional for such a long time without major interventions shows the quality of Richborn. Despite the partially poor state of preservation of the pipework, it was considered one of the best preserved from the 17th century.

Hendrik Ahrend was commissioned with the restoration, which was carried out in 2011/12 . An international group of experts accompanied a documentation project that was supervised by the “Institute for Organ and Organ Building” at the Bremen University of the Arts in conjunction with the Organeum . This funded project was carried out by Reinhard Boellmann from Munich and employees of the Ahrend organ building workshop. Ahrend stabilized the housing and reconstructed three wedge bellows that can be operated manually. The pedal keyboard was reconstructed and the coverings of the manual keyboard extended by Führer were brought to the original size. In the course of the reconstruction of the action, the wave board returned to its original place. The pipework was carefully restored and the lost trumpet was reconstructed according to the dimensions of 1947. The new foiling gave the prospect pipes their shiny appearance again. Finally, the wind pressure measured in 1947 and the mid-tone tuning (with eight pure thirds) were restored according to the soldered-on whistles .

Disposition since 1681

Manual CDEFGA – c 3
Principal 8th' R.
Gedact 8th' R.
Octav 4 ′ R.
Floit 4 ′ R.
Nassat 3 ′ R.
Octav 2 ′ R.
Sexquialt. II 1 3 ⁄ 5  ′ + 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ R.
Mixture V 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′ R.
Drum up 8th' A.
Tremulant A.
R = Richborn (1681)
A = Ahrend (2012)

Technical specifications

  • 9 registers
  • Pedal attached (CDEFGA-d 1 )
  • Action :
    • Tone action: mechanical
    • Stop action: mechanical
  • Wind supply:
    • 3 wedge bellows (manually operated)
    • 73 mm water column wind pressure
  • Mood :
    • Altitude: a 1 = 473 Hz at 19 ° C, 5 ⁄ 8 tone above normal (440 Hz) (= chorus tone )
    • mid-tone ( 1 ⁄ 4-point )

literature

  • Walter Kaufmann : The organs of East Frisia . East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 1968.
  • Harald Vogel , Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 .
  • Harald Vogel, Reinhard Ruge, Robert Noah, Martin Stromann: Organ landscape Ostfriesland . 2nd Edition. Soltau-Kurier-Norden, Norden 1997, ISBN 3-928327-19-4 .

Recordings / sound carriers

  • Organ landscapes. Episode 6: A musical journey to eight organs in the East Friesland region (part 2) . 2 CDs, 2016, NOMINE e. V. (W. Dahlke in Buttforde, Weener, Esens, Groothusen, Midlum, Böhmerwold, Manslagt, and Backemoor with works by JS Bach, D. Buxtehude, G. Böhm, JL Krebs, JA Holzmann, CPE Bach, F. Mendelssohn and others ).
  • Organs in East Frisia . Vol. 1. 1996. Organeum, OC-09601, CD (Harald Vogel in Osteel, Buttforde, Neermoor, Veenhusen, Groothusen).
  • Dietrich Buxtehude: Organ Works . Vol. 5. 1993. MD + GL 3425 ( Harald Vogel in Pilsum, Buttforde, Langwarden, Basedow, Groß Eichsen: BuxWV 141, 146, 147, 151, 152, 168, 170, 175, 182, 183, 191, 211, 224, 245, 246)

Web links

Commons : Orgel von St. Marien (Buttforde)  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Vogel, Ruge et al. a .: Organ landscape Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 25.
  2. ↑ NOMINE eV: Organ in Pakens seen on Jan. 17, 2012.
  3. ↑ Vogel, Ruge et al. a .: Organ landscape Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 26.
  4. ↑ a b NOMINE eV: Organ in Buttforde , seen January 14, 2012.
  5. ↑ Anzeiger für Harlingerland: Top quality of the organ builder , seen on November 19, 2012.
  6. ↑ East Frisian Landscape: Organ Documentation Buttforde , viewed January 14, 2012.

Coordinates: 53 ° 37 '17.2 "  N , 7 ° 43' 30.4"  E