Organs of the St. Jakobi Church (Stralsund)
The organs of the St. Jakobi Church in Stralsund were three large organs in the smallest and youngest of the three large medieval churches in Stralsund , the St. Jakobi Church . The first was from the 16th century, its successor from the 18th century. The organ, made by Friedrich Albert Mehmel in the 19th century as a further successor instrument , has not been playable since the Second World War . A reconstruction was initially planned, but has since been abandoned in favor of a new building. With four manuals , pedal and 69 registers, the Mehmel organ was the largest of the three large organs in the three parish churches in Stralsund.
Main organ
First organ (16th century)
The first organ of the Jakobikirche in Stralsund is mentioned for the first time in a text dated "anno 82"; probably the year 1582 is meant. This text, preserved in the parish archive, mentions work on the organ, such as the gilding of the instrument, a relocation of the organ choir as well as the materials used and an organ builder Nicolai . This organ builder could be Nikolaus Maaß .
This organ is mentioned again in a repair proposal dated March 2, 1633. This provides for the cleaning of the shop, the tuning and "softer" intonation of the pipes, the production of new mouthpieces, the replacement of the cornet with a small sonic bass as well as work on the Rückpositiv and other additions. A receipt for the wages received for the work is signed by Paul Ludemann . According to Hellmuth Heyden, this came from Pasewalk .
The organ builder Johann Jaster , who came from Altentreptow to Heyden , drew up another repair proposal for this organ. This also shows the disposition , but without giving any information about the foot tones:
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The scope of the manual keyboard can be assumed from later information on the work.
On July 2, 1653, the organist Friedrich Schuck asked for the organ to be repaired; he wanted to take advantage of the presence of Friedrich Stellwagens , who had just made the organ of the Stralsund Johanniskirche. In 1659 Friedrich Stellwagen repaired the organ in St. Jakobi after the organ in the Marienkirche was completed . A receipt signed by Stellwagen is from November 9, 1659.
On August 19, 1699, the organ builder Johann Engelbrecht Gerhardi from Rostock ruled that the organ was "(...) an old, dismembered and torn piece of work and is of no use (...)".
Second organ (18th century)
The provisional St. Jakobis brought an application for a new organ to the city senate, which was negotiated on March 5, 1732. On March 24, 1732, the Senate approved the motion to commission the organ builder Christian Gottlieb Richter from Stettin with a new building. The provisional planned to erect the new building on a gallery on the south side of the church. In the contract between the Senate and Christian Gottlieb Richter of July 7, 1732, the question of location was left open. On August 20, 1732, the Senate determined the location on a gallery above the west portal of the church, which made the organ builder's previous planning obsolete. However, Richter waived an additional contract - he later wrote that he had been under high competitive pressure - and signed the contract. From then on, the organ builder's work was overshadowed by disputes between him and the Senate. The disposition carried out ultimately deviated fundamentally from the originally planned one.
Using a larger number of registers from the old organ, Richter built the new instrument until 1741.
The new location allowed a new, much larger dimension of the organ. An application from the Church's provisional agency dated March 5, 1732 provided for costs of 2,592 Reichstalers for the work. Of these, 1672 reichsthalers were due to Richter's proposal for the construction, another 350 reichsthalers for the work of the sculptor Michael Möller, 270 reichsthalers for the carpenter Höppner and 300 reichsthalers for the carpenter Pirlstiber. Christian Gottlieb Richter submitted a few additional claims because the work deviated greatly from the plans. On February 10, 1740 Richter corrected his demand, which now amounted to 1826 Reichstaler and 44 Schillinge. However, the provisional from St. Jakobi refused him the requested certificate about his work on the grounds that the organ was defective. After weeks of dispute, a final inspection of the instrument was carried out on July 19, 1741. The three organists of the Jakobikirche, Christopher Raupsch, Daniel Schön and Jacob Artmer, certified that the organ was "a good work". In the certificate the disposition is also mentioned:
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Main unit, upper unit, pedal and lower unit were combined in one main housing; In terms of sound, the upper works and the lower works became secondary works. The design of the prospectus was characterized by well-balanced proportions and was admired.
In 1751, however, the organ had to be overhauled due to structural defects. The Lübeck organ builder Christoph Julius Bünting put the defects together in a list with a cost estimate (“Specification of the defects that are found in the St: Jacobi church”). Then there were deficiencies in the windchest and valves, clumsy mechanics, too few wind tunnels and, moreover, poor wind tunnel guidance and poorly constructed bellows. Various defects are also named on the pipes. Bünting also called for some changes to the pipes. He wanted to have up to 1,000 new pipes made. He estimated between 800 and 1000 Reichstaler for his work. On May 28, 1751, he was given a good certificate for the work.
The Rostock organ builder Paul Schmidt , however, attests to the organ twelve years after major repairs by Bünting in a report dated August 12, 1763 significant deficiencies; u. a. the larger pipes, although already tied with straps, would fall out. Schmidt did not, however, receive a repair order.
On March 2, 1778, Ernst Julius Marx from Berlin was contractually obliged to expand the organ in St. Jakobi. At that time Marx was busy working on the organ of the Marienkirche in Stralsund. Already at the organ there, however, Marx was said to have done unfair business, and at the organ in St. Jakobi he also promised partial improvements and new constructions, which ultimately did not materialize. The redesign of the organ, which Marx himself incorrectly declared as a new building, initially estimated at 2800 Reichstalers, which, however, was ultimately not adhered to.
The disposition after Marx's remodeling was as follows:
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The organ was only opened on September 1, 1783, after the organist Escherich and Johann Joachim Meyer, who was scheduled for acceptance, had inquired about it, by the organist Johann Joachim Meyer from Wismar and the Stralsund organists Anton Friedrich Mahlstädt (St. Marien) and Johann Christoph Escherich (St. Jakobi) removed. In 1979, Dietrich W. Prost judged the acceptance report from 1783 to be written in an "unusually flattering tone" and assumed that Marx bribed the organists. Prost judges that Marx carried out a repair rather than a new building, which is also indicated by the construction period of two years. In fact, correspondence between Ernst Marx and the provisional office on financial and technical issues lasted until 1787.
Organ builder Christian Kindten, who has lived in Stralsund since 1792, was entrusted with the maintenance of all Stralsund organs. After his death in 1803, the instrument maker Weith took over the maintenance of the organ in St. Jakobi.
After Carl August Buchholz had completed the work on the organ in the Marienkirche , he repaired the organ in St. Jakobi. The rededication of the instrument was celebrated on Ascension Day in 1829.
At the end of the 1860s, however, the organ was again in such a condition that it was decided to build a new one.
Third organ (19th century)
| Organs of the St. Jakobi Church (Stralsund) | |
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| General | |
| place | St. Jakobi Church (Stralsund) |
| Organ builder | Friedrich Albert Mehmel |
| Construction year | 1877 |
| Last renovation / restoration | (planned) |
| epoch | romance |
| Organ landscape | Western Pomerania |
| Technical specifications | |
| Number of pipes | 3,500 (of which 300 available (as of 2017)) |
| Number of registers | 69 (organ cannot be played (as of 2017)) |
| Number of rows of pipes | 83 (organ cannot be played (as of 2017)) |
| Number of manuals | 4th |
| Wind chest | Slider drawer |
| Tone tract | Mechanical ( Barker lever ) |
| Number of 32 'registers | 2 (organ cannot be played (as of 2017)) |
| Number of 64 'registers | - |
In 1868 negotiations began between the parish and the city senate. On July 26th, 1870 the Stralsund organ builder Friedrich Albert Mehmel was contractually committed to a new building. On May 10, 1870, Mehmel submitted a cost estimate. He explained:
"I have set myself the goal of supplying my hometown with an organ that can be placed alongside the organ works of larger cities."
Mehmel took over the prospectus from the old organ. Since this prospectus had provided for a baroque division of the work, Mehmel got into major technical difficulties as a result of this decision, as his disposition required a different work structure. Completion and acceptance were delayed several times due to operational difficulties. The final price increased noticeably. On November 7, 1877 the organ was examined by Otto Wangemann . The disposition looked like this:
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- Couple
- Playing aids : check valves
In his acceptance report, Wangemann also describes the sounds of the individual registers. Even Wilhelm Walther gives in his memoirs in 1922 a description of the bodies set up by Mehmel Tones:
“(...) Fortunately, the organ builder Mehmel from Stralsund had a deep understanding of tone colors (...). For example, in the Ritzebüttel organ he intoned principal 16 '8' 4 'and 2' very differently. So you could use these four registers alternately if you just want the piece of music one octave higher, resp. played an octave or two lower. "
Mehmel himself judged his work in St. Jakobi with confidence:
“I have to say, with full awareness of my work, that the organ for St. Jacobi is allowed to stand next to the first in Germany, and I am not afraid that it will not be inferior in any respect and that it will be the top of the strictest assessment. "
In Otto Wangemann's acceptance report, he describes the individual registers in detail. The wind pressure described is very low: 36 ° in the pedal, 34 ° in the main works, 31 ° in the auxiliary works and 27 ° in the remote works. The organ had slide chests , mechanical action with Barker lever and mechanical registry. The report does not provide any information on paddocks. In summary, Wangemann remarks about Mehmel's organ:
“The intonation of the entire pipework was excellent, the timbres well done, so that no organ work has better beauty. The entire whistle was in the concert pitch and had been tuned to the constant temperature. The progression and disposition of the voices was excellent, the division into sections only appropriate. The p. Mehmel has successfully used the most beautiful inventions of modern times in organ work. (...) The art of p. Mehmel showed himself here in the most brilliant light. Anyone can deliver material and work well, so do not intonate. (...) In terms of sound and richness of timbres and intonation, this organ is one of the most beautiful things I have ever come across. (...) It gives me the most sincere pleasure to be able to testify that the above organ is one of the most beautiful works of art in Germany. "
The main reason why the instrument did not become famous in spite of the characteristics described is that it was not suitable for playing the works of Johann Sebastian Bach or Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . Suitable music came from Franz Liszt , Julius Reubke or Josef Gabriel Rheinberger - but the pieces were mostly not very well known and not all organists could play them. So there was nobody in Stralsund who could play the instrument to the full.
After the death of Friedrich Albert Mehmel in 1888, his son Paul Mehmel took over the maintenance of the organ. In 1890 the organ was retuned to the new concert pitch. Paul Mehmel made some changes, such as improving the wind supply. Paul Mehmel's suggestions were mostly assessed by Barnim Grüneberg .
The bellows system was changed several times and ultimately the required amount of wind was achieved by installing an electric fan system.
After Paul Mehmel's death, A. Stutz took over the business, but he was soon withdrawn from maintenance. Jean Ratzmann and then F. Beyer were then entrusted with the maintenance of the instruments.
During the Second World War, only parts of the baroque carving were outsourced in 1943. Little attention was paid to the romantic bulk of the organ. The storage work led by the Keibel assembly of the Prussian Ministry of Finance was accompanied by a measurement, a graphic and photographic documentation of the case and a scale recording of the baroque pipes of the prospectus. The organ work itself was not documented and remained in the church. From then on the organ was looted, metal and wood were stolen by thieves. The instrument remained unsecured in the church. The four-manual play cabinet fell victim to vandalism in the 1980s.
Fourth organ (21st century)
In 1999, the company Hermann Eule Orgelbau Bautzen determined that the technical system of the organ had remained largely closed. Of the 3,500 pipes, fewer than 1,000 were preserved, mostly wooden ones and the reed stops. Nevertheless, the existing structure makes a complete reconstruction of the organ appear possible.
“As a whole and in every detail, the existing parts of the play facility show a masterful, first-class quality in the choice of materials and workmanship, in the construction and ingenuity and strict quality of the builder. The system is an important testimony to the romantic art of organ building. "
In June 2002, the German Foundation for Monument Protection guaranteed the financing of the complete restoration of the organ in the form created by Mehmel. The Baltic Organ Center in Stralsund also looks after this organ. The first work to restore the organ was a wood preservation treatment and the storage of the loose organ parts on a mezzanine floor above the Gustav Adolf Hall in the church building used as a cultural church.
In January 2012 an organ commission was set up to organize the reconstruction. In addition to the Herbert Ewe Foundation of the Citizens Committee “Save the Old Town of Stralsund”, the Baltic Organ Center and the St. Jakobi Association were also involved in the commission . The estimated cost of restoring the organ was two million euros. In September 2016, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media and the City of Stralsund each approved one million euros for a restoration of the instrument, for which around 2.8 million euros have now been estimated. Following calls for tenders in 2017, the work should be completed in 2020.
At the beginning of 2017, the organ committee decided to abandon the goal of restoring the Mehmel organ in favor of building a new "high baroque organ" behind the preserved prospectus case. The Stralsund urban renewal company, which was tendering the project , then issued a tender. The main committee of the Stralsund citizenship decided on July 11, 2017 by a majority (against an application for postponement by the Bündnis 90 / Die Grünen parliamentary group ) to award the new construction contract to the cheapest provider in the competition, the Wegscheider organ workshop , which already has the Buchholz organ the Stralsund St. Nikolai Church and the Stellwagen organ in Stralsund Marienkirche had restored and reconstructed. In a public meeting of the building and finance committee on July 4, 2017, the organ building workshop Eule (Bautzen) stated that 51% of the Mehmel instrument could be reused and that restoration was possible and must be demanded. The organ commission, however, assumed that only 16% of the historical substance could be reused. In addition, the lost registers were not documented, so that a reconstruction of the Mehmel organ would be a tonal new creation. The organ expert from the Eule company confirmed that only 9% of the old pipe inventory (around 300 Mehmel pipes) has been preserved. The organ commission therefore came to the conclusion:
“The technical system of the Mehmel organ has been preserved as a torso in the degree of greatest destruction. ... In terms of sound, the instrument is lost, almost all metal and reed pipes are missing. What has been preserved is a remnant of large wooden pipes that are heavily infested with anobia . "
The new building incorporates individual historical parts, including the wind chests and the mechanics in the pedal unit I from 1741 and 3 single shutters and 3 stops in the rear grand pedal from 1877. Mehmel's principal bass 32 'and open bass 16' are made of wood, his 32 'contrapotion has resounding Tongues. The reconstructed action is based on the surviving remains from 1741. The new instrument has a total of 51 registers, which are distributed over three manuals and pedal. In terms of style, the work is based on the previous organ from the 18th century by Richter and Marx and forms a unit with the baroque case.
The consecration of the new organ, which ultimately cost around 2.4 million euros, is to be celebrated on September 19, 2020. Kristian Wegscheider , whose organ workshop had built the new building, called the organ "a magnificent, large Bach organ".
Disposition since 2020
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- Coupling : I / II, III / II (sliding coupling), II / P, coupling large pedal
- Tremulant, cymbal star, kettledrum
- M = Mehmel (1877)
Technical specifications
- 51 stops, 74 rows of pipes
- Case / prospectus: late 16th century / Richter (1741) / Marx (1783), carving by Müller (1741)
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Wind supply :
- 6 wedge bellows (Wegscheider)
- Magazine bellows for large pedal (Mehmel, 1877)
- Wind chests : Oberwerk (Marx, 1783), Pedalwerk I (Richter, 1741), Pedalwerk II: 3 single-drawer large pedal (Mehmel, 1877)
- Action:
- Tone action: mechanical
- Stop action: mechanical
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Mood :
- Well-tempered mood ( Neidhardt "for a small town")
- Pitch a 1 = 440 Hz
Organists
The main occupation of the organists in the three large parish churches was always teachers, who had learned to play the organ but did not pursue it as an exclusive profession. Until 1941 there was no organist in Stralsund who had learned or operated the organ with artistic goals.
- Friedrich Schuck (around 1650)
- Jacob Artmer (around 1750)
- Johann Friedrich Escherich (around 1780)
- Johann Jakob Blechschmidt (around 1790)
- Rudolf Looks (after 1877)
literature
- Friends of St. Jakobikirche zu Stralsund e. V. (Ed.): The forgotten room. 700 years of St. Jakobi Stralsund. , Mückenschweinverlag, Stralsund 2003, ISBN 3-936311-12-9 .
- Dietrich W. Prost : The organ in the Jakobikirche to Stralsund. In: Greifswald-Stralsund yearbook . Volume 12. Hermann Böhlaus successor, Weimar 1979, pp. 161-182.
- Dietrich W. Prost: Stralsund as an organ city. Organs and organ builders in practical theological service for the churches of Stralsund. Publishing house Dr. Kovac, Hamburg 1996, ISBN 3-86064-238-3 .
- Dietrich W. Prost: Stralsund's organs . Organ building specialist publisher Rensch, Lauffen 1996, ISBN 3-921848-07-5 .
Web links
- St. Jakobi. Website of the Baltic Organ Center. Retrieved October 3, 2012 .
- Homepage of the parish
Individual evidence
- ↑ Prost: Stralsund as an organ town. 1996, p. 55.
- ↑ Hellmuth Heyden: The churches of Stralsund and their history. Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Berlin 1961, p. 216.
- ↑ Prost: The organ in the Jakobikirche in Stralsund. 1979, p. 162.
- ↑ a b Prost: Stralsund as an organ town. 1996, p. 56.
- ↑ a b Prost: The organ in the Jakobikirche in Stralsund. 1979, p. 166.
- ↑ Prost: The organ in the Jakobikirche in Stralsund. 1979, p. 169.
- ↑ Prost: The organ in the Jakobikirche in Stralsund. 1979, p. 170.
- ↑ a b Stralsund City Archives, KiH II a 23
- ^ Wilhelm Walther: Memories from 50 years. F. Bahn, Schwerin 1922.
- ↑ a b c d Restoration of the organ in the Kulturkirche St. Jakobi in Stralsund on jakobi-stralsund.de, accessed on September 16, 2017.
- ↑ Ostsee-Zeitung of January 9, 2012: Third organ diamond should sound ( online , accessed on September 16, 2017).
- ↑ Ostsee-Zeitung of July 6, 2017: Will the Mehmel organ still be preserved? , accessed September 16, 2017.
- ↑ Evangelische Zeitung : Dispute about the Stralsund Mehmel organ , accessed on September 18, 2017.
- ↑ Ostseezeitung Stralsund, May 12, 2020 "Sponsors wanted for the organ pipes of St. Jakobi"