Organ landscape West Prussia

The organ landscape of West Prussia includes organs and organ builders in the historical province of West Prussia from the 14th to the 20th century.

Territory and Political Affiliations

The province of West Prussia comprised the areas of Pomerania , Pomesania , Kulmerland and northern parts of Greater Poland . Most of the time these belonged to the Polish state. The Teutonic Order conquered them in the 13th and 14th centuries . From 1453/66 they came back under the sovereignty of the Kingdom of Poland as Prussia royal share with a certain partial autonomy. The citizenship in Danzig , Thorn , Elbing and other cities was mostly German, in the villages there were many Polish residents.

In 1773 the province of West Prussia was formed in the Kingdom of Prussia after the First Partition of Poland , and since 1871 it has belonged to the German Empire. In 1919 most of the area became part of the new Polish state . The Free City of Danzig was formally independent, but had good connections to the Polish hinterland. A small area around Elbing and Marienwerder came to the German province of East Prussia as the administrative district of West Prussia. Since 1939 the entire territory belonged to the German Empire.

Since 1945, the area is Polish, in the since 1998 Voivodeships Pomerania ( Pomerania ) and Kujawy ( Kujawy Pomerania ), Elblag (Elbing) and around the Warmia and Mazury .

history

The oldest organ in the area is known in Thorn from 1342/50, followed by others in Marienburg , Marienwerder , Elbing and Danzig . In the 15th century there were already two organs in each of the main churches in Danzig and Elbing. In the 16th century Hans Hauck worked in Konitz and Julius Anthoni (Friese) in Danzig. In the 17th century his son Merten Friese worked in Danzig, Johann Hellwig in Thorn, Johann Werner in Elbing, Georg Nitrowski in Danzig and Matthäus Brandtner in Thorn. The most important organ builder of the 18th century was Andreas Hildebrandt in Danzig. Friedrich Rudolf Dalitz was his successor . In addition, Johann Friedrich Rhode was active in Danzig. Johann Wilhelm Wulff built the largest organ of his time in Oliva from 1761 to 1788, which was then finished by Dalitz.

The Schuricht family worked in Gdansk in the 19th century . August Terletzki opened a workshop in Elbing with his brother Max. Wilhelm Sauer from Frankfurt / Oder built over 50 organs from his Königsberg branch in West Prussia from 1860 to 1910. In 1891, Gerhard Wittek took over the Terletzki workshop and was the first to build pneumatic organs in West Prussia. In Danzig Otto Heinrichsdorf followed the Schurichts. In 1908 Paul Voelkner , who came from Pomerania, opened his company in Bromberg.

In 1920 Joseph Goebel founded a workshop in the Free City of Danzig, in Elbing, which had remained German, and in 1927 Gerhard Wittek followed his father. Polish organ builders like Dominik Biernacki were mainly active in the Polish regions . In 1945 many organs, especially in the larger cities, were damaged or destroyed.

Organs

The most important preserved historical organ is in Oliva , partially preserved, with the largest baroque prospectus ever. A Brandtner organ in Toruń , a Hildebrandt organ in Pruszcz and some smaller baroque organs have been preserved. There are also Renaissance prospectuses in Toruń and Gdansk, some baroque prospectuses and other historic organs from the 19th and 20th centuries. The status is given in 1944 , organs that were destroyed later are in italics, the following new buildings are mentioned in the comments.

place	building	image	year	builder	Manuals	register	Remarks
Gdańsk (Danzig)	St. John		1629	Merten friezes	III / P	46	Relocated in 1943, the prospectus in St. Marien rebuilt
Gdańsk (Danzig)	St. Mary		1891	August Terletzki	IV / P	88	1935 extended by Goebel to IV / P, 88, 1938 electrical connection with choir organ to 120 registers, one of the largest organs in the Baltic Sea area, destroyed in 1945, 1972-1985 reconstruction of the Friese organ from St. Johannes historical prospect by the Hillebrand brothers → organ
Gdańsk (Danzig)	St. Trinity		1914	Otto Heinrichsdorff	III / P	58	Prospectus from Merten Friese from 1621 and Tobias Lehmann from 1703 preserved, 2018 reconstruction of the historical baroque organ by Wegscheider (III / P, 45)
Oliwa (Oliva)	cathedral		1763-2010	Johann Wilhelm Wulff , Friedrich Rudolf Dalitz , Friedrich Wilhelm Kaltschmidt, Joseph Goebel, a. a.	IV / P	87	originally the largest organ of its time, rebuilt and expanded several times, baroque prospectus and parts of the historical organ preserved → organ
Pelplin	cathedral		1844-1845	Carl August Buchholz	III / P	72?	Main organ, rebuilt in 1908 by Bruno Goebel , in 1998 rebuilt and restoration by Marek Cepka, now III / P, 73 → organ
Pelplin	cathedral		1677-1679	Johann Georg Wolff	III / P	42	Side organ, prospectus preserved, 2003 reconstruction by Zdesław Mollin → organ
Pruszcz Gdański (Praust)	Holy cross		1728	Andreas Hildebrandt	I / P	21st	receive
Runowo Krajeńskie	Trinity Church		1st half of the 17th century?	?	I.	7 (8)	Positive , received
Toruń (Thorn)	St. Jacob		1882	Wilhelm Sauer	II / P	25th	Brochure from 1565/1611 u. a. by Matthäus Brandtner ; after 1925 pneumatic reconstruction by Wybrański
Toruń (Thorn)	St. John		1688	Johann Hellwig	I / P	15th	The side organ, the prospectus, some pipes and other parts of the organ are preserved, partially destroyed in 1945, restoration in the 1980s
Toruń (Thorn)	St. Mary		1925	Dominik Biernacki	II / P	30th	Renaissance brochure from 1609 received from Matthäus Brandtner , 1976 electropneumatic action and new console by Cepka, 2004 restoration by Cepka

See also

• Organ landscape East Prussia
• List of organs in Poland

literature

• Werner Renkewitz , Jan Janca : History of organ building in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944.
  • Volume 1. Weidlich, Würzburg 1984.
  • Volume II, 2. From Johann Preuss to E. Kemper & Sohn, Lübeck, Bartenstein. Siebenquart, Cologne 2016.

• Jan Janca: East Prussia. In: Douglas E. Bush, Richard Kassel (eds.): The organ. To encyclopedia. Routledge, New York 2006. ISBN 0-415-94174-1 . Pp. 157-159

Web links

Commons : organs in Pomeranian Voivodeship  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pomeranian Voivodeship MusicamSacram, some organs (Polish)
• Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship MusicamSacram, some organs (Polish)
• Pomeranian Voivodeship Wirtualne Centrum Organowe, organs (Polish)
• Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship Wirtualne Centrum Organowe, organs (Polish)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Andrzej Szadejko: discover a new country. For the 66th International Organ Conference 2017 in Gdańsk. In: Ars Organi. 66th year. 2018. pp. 3–7, here p. 5 pdf
2. ↑ Organs of the cathedral in Oliva Danziger Orgeln (German)
3. ↑ Runowo Krajeńskie MusicamSacram Church (Polish)
4. ↑ Toruń, kosciół sw. Jakuba MusicamSacram (Polish)
5. ↑ Toruń, Katedra św. Jana Chrzciciela i św. Jana Ewangelisty, boczne organy MusicamSacram, with history and disposition (Polish)
6. ↑ Toruń. Kościół Wniebodzęnia NMP MusicamSacram, organ with a history (Polish)
7. ↑ Torun Orgues France (French)