Organ landscape Lithuania

The organ landscape of Lithuania today comprises more than 400 organs , including over 100 historical instruments.

history

The oldest surviving message about an organ in Lithuania is from 1408 about a portative as a present for Ona, the wife of Grand Duke Vytautas, by the Grand Master of the Teutonic Order Ulrich von Jungingen . There is little information about organs and organ builders in Lithuania from the following centuries.

In the 18th century, German organ builders shaped the production, especially Gerhard Arend cell, a student of Georg Casparis from Königsberg, and his student Nicolaus Jentzen (Jantzon) from Hamburg. Individual instruments from Adam Gottlob Casparini from Königsberg and his student Johann Preuß have been preserved. Up to the middle of the 19th century there were mostly only positive ones , mostly single-manual with about 7 to 15 registers and without a pedal . Special features were almost always a Zimbelstern and a timpani register (two large floating wooden pipes).

Romantic organ building in the 19th and early 20th centuries was dominated in Lithuania by Juozapas Radavičius , Jonas Garalevičius, who had learned from Barnim Grüneberg in Stettin, and Martynas Masalskis. Individual instruments were also made by well-known organ builders such as Friedrich Ladegast , EF Walcker and Franz Rieger . In the 20th century, numerous historical organs were replaced by newer ones.

After the incorporation into the Soviet Union in 1944, many instruments initially fell into disrepair due to church closings. Since the 1960s, some have been increasingly used again, more often in concert halls. Some new ones were built, among others by Schuke Orgelbau from Potsdam. In 1972, a local organ building workshop was founded by Rimantas Gučas in Vilnius on the orders of the state , which has since dedicated itself to the maintenance, restoration and documentation of organs in the country. Numerous new instruments have been created since 1992.

Organs

Of the over 400 organs in Lithuania, over 100 have been preserved from the 17th to 20th centuries, plus some historical cases.

The most important is the almost completely preserved organ by Adam Gottlob Casparini from 1776 in the Church of the Holy Spirit in Vilnius , other baroque organs are in the monastery church and the Lutheran church in Kretinga , as well as in Tytuvėnai , Linkuva and Adakavas .

The instruments are sorted according to the number of registers , a capital "P" means an independent pedal, a small "p" means an attached pedal.

place	building	year	builder	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
Vilnius	St. John's Church	1983-2000	Rimantas Gučas		III / P	64	in historical case from 1765/66 by Nicolaus Jantzon
Kaunas	Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul	1882	Juozapas Radavičius		III / P	63	based on the French romantic model
Vilnius	National Philharmonic	1963	Schuke , Potsdam		III / P	52
Vilnius	cathedral	1969	Schuke , Potsdam		III / P	49	in historical housing from 1785 by Nicolaus Jantzon
Vilnius	St. Casimir's monastery church	1968/2003	Oberlinger		III / P	45	originally in Durlach , town church, reassembled in Vilnius in 2003, with a new housing
Kaunas	St. Michael Church	1939	EF Walcker		III / P	39	Restored by Ugale in 2008
Klaipeda	Franciscan monastery church	2013	Rieger		III / P	37
Vabalninkas	Church of the Assumption	around 1890	Juozapas Radavičius		III / P	32
Vilnius	Dominican monastery church of the Holy Spirit	1775/1776	Adam Gottlob Casparini		III / P	31	Almost completely original, the most important baroque organ in the Baltic States, restored by Gučas in 1995–2005 - organ
Vilnius	Lutheran Church	2008	Klais		II / P	29
Šiauliai	Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul	1973	EF Walcker		II / P	29	originally in Bargteheide , implemented by Gučas in 1995
Tytuvėnai	St. Mary	1789	Nicolaus Jantzon		II	24	without pedal
Švėkšna	St. James	1906	Bruno Goebel		II / P	24	Restored in 2005 by Šauklys
Linkuva	Maria Scapula Church	1764	Nicolaus Jantzon		II / p	23	oldest surviving baroque organ in northern Lithuania , expanded in 1897 by Emil Martin
Vilnius	Church of St. Peter and Paul	1905	Juozapas Radavičius		II / P	22nd	Organ prospectus after Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in Madeleine Church in Paris
Pumpėnai	St. Mary	1898	Modest Masalskis		II / P	20th	Restored in 2007 by Šauklys
Kretinga	Lutheran Church	1785	Johann Preuss , Koenigsberg		II / P	14th	originally implemented in Werden (Verdaine), church, 1899
Dotnuva	St. Maria Monastery Church	1827	Michniewicz		I / P	12	Restored in 1996 by Gučas
Griškabūdis	church	1804	Georg Adam Neppert		I / P	13	in the 19th century
Cards a	Church of the Assumption	1774	Paul Gerhard cell		I.	11	Baroque organ, rebuilt in 1805 and restored from 2007 to 2009
Vilnius	Music academy	1990-2000	Organ builder Pirchner		I / P	11	originally built for Mozarteum , moved to Vilnius in 2008
Vilnius	Church of St. John , Oginski Chapel	1974	Rimantas Gučas		I / p	8th	in historical case from 1778, with historical disposition
Kretinga	Monastery Church of the Annunciation	1680	?		I.	8th	oldest preserved organ in Lithuania, originally in Gintališkė, church, restored in 2004 by Gučas, Kalnins
Adakavas	Church of John the Baptist	around 1780?	?		I.	7th	Positive, attributed to Casparini or his surroundings, restored by Gučas in 1986

literature

• Rimantas Gučas : Lietuvos vargonai: katalogas (Lithuanian organs. Catalog ). Vilnius 2009.

Web links

Commons : Organs in Lithuania  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Historical organs (German)
• Organs in Lithuania Organ index, with dispositions
• Martin Rost: Organ Baroque in Vilnius Baltic Organ Center, with dispositions
• Historical organs with links to organs and organ builders

Individual evidence

1. ↑ On the Königsberg influence in Lithuania see Rimantas Gučas : Die Orgelbautradition Königsberg-Lithuania. In: Acta Organologica . Volume 30. 2008. pp. 35-66.
2. ↑ On the history also organ baroque in Vilnius Baltic Organ Center
3. ↑ Šiauliai, Cathedral of St. Peter and Paul organ index, with disposition and photo (German)
4. ↑ Tytuvėnai, St. Mary's Monastery Church Organ index, with disposition
5. ↑ Organ Linkuva vargonai.lt, with disposition and photo (Lithuanian)
6. ↑ Rimantas Gučas : The organ building tradition Königsberg-Lithuania. In: Acta Organologica . Volume 30. 2008. pp. 35-66, here pp. 46-52.
7. ↑ Griškabūdis vargonai.com, with photos and dispositions
8. ↑ Organ in Kartena vargonai.com, with disposition (Lithuanian)
9. ↑ Organ in the music academy vargonai.lt, with disposition and photo (Lithuanian)
10. ↑ Repair and documentation of the Casparini organ in Adakava's Baltic Organ Center