The three organs of St. Lorenz in Nuremberg form an organ system that is the eleventh largest in the world. It consists of the main organ (on the main gallery under the rose window), the Laurentius organ (the swallow's nest organ in the nave) and the Stephanus organ (choir organ in the upper hall choir passage). With 162 registers and a total of over 12,000 pipes, the Lorenzkirche houses the second largest organ in Germany after the largest organ in Germany in Passau and the largest organ in a Protestant church in Germany. All three organs can be played via two five-manual electronic central console behind the altar and on the west gallery. The Laurentius organ and the Stephanus organ have separate, mechanical console tables .
One reason for the size of the organ is the porous, sound-absorbing sandstone from which the church is made.
There were organs in St. Lorenz even before the hall choir was completed in 1477. At that time, there is evidence that there were two organs. Both were not enough to fill the church interior with the new choir. The council then had the organ builder Leonhard Mertz (Frankfurt) expand the existing nave organ into one of the largest organs of the time. The instrument had over 1,600 pipes; its weight caused structural damage and had to be dismantled in 1498.
There have been three organs in St. Lorenz since the 16th century. The Lorenz wedding order of 1590 confirms that the instruments were played at the same time; The reason for this was probably the difficult room acoustics, caused by the porous, sound-absorbing Nuremberg sandstone from which the church was built. This problem persists and still results today in the fact that the large church space of St. Lorenz is sounded by three instruments. Today's spatial sound concept is based on the concept from 1937 by Johannes G. Mehl and the organ building company Steinmeyer.
Main organ
Main organ
former central gaming table (Steinmeyer)
The main organ is the oldest instrument built for the Lorenz Church and comes from the workshop of GF Steinmeyer & Co. from 1937, combined with components, e.g. B. Pipes and cone chests of the Steinmeyer predecessor organ from 1879, the pipes of which were largely melted down during the First World War. Its external structure was chosen after war damage during the restoration from 1950 to 1952 so that the rosette of the west wall can be seen from the church interior. The organ is supplied with wind by large double-fold and single-fold magazine bellows.
In 2002 the instrument was restored by Johannes Klais Orgelbau (Bonn) and inaugurated again in 2003. As far as possible, the pipework was traced back to the sound ideal of 1937; Above all, the interim changes to the intonation were reversed or the intonation was restored to the sound image of 1937. In the course of the restoration, the instrument was extended by a high-pressure unit, which was placed directly under the west rosette, behind the breast unit; the wind pressure of the high pressure plant is 280 mm water column and is generated by an additional high pressure fan with additional magazine bellows. The high pressure unit was planned and bored based on the conception of the organ by Steinmeyer in Trondheim Cathedral (Norway); it contains 3 labial registers and 4 tongue registers. In addition, a new gaming table was built on the gallery, which was made based on Steinmeyer gaming tables from the 1930s and equipped with modern technology (including light barrier contacts). The main organ - together with the Stephanus and Laurentius organs - can also be played from a central console, which was also built in 2002 by Klais Organ Builders; the five-manual game table was also made according to Steinmeyer 's model and has fiber optic cable technology. It can be used mobile in the church.
The instrument has a total of 106 sounding registers on five manuals and pedal. It has electric pocket shops (lying and standing), electric cone shops and an electric register action . The disposition corresponds to that of a universal organ.
Normal coupling: I / II, I / III, I / IV, II / I, III / I, III / II, IV / I, IV / II, IV / III, V / I, V / II, V / III, V / IV, I / P, II / P, III / P, IV / P, V / P
Sub-octave coupling: I / I, II / II, III / III, IV / IV, V / V
Super octave coupling: I / I, II / II, III / III, IV / IV, V / V
Game Aids : Setter with 5120 combinations, Tutti I - IV, tongues off roller register sill (for main organ and for Stephanus and Lawrence organ), plant separator for all three organs.
Effect register: Cymbelstern in G major, Cymbelstern in C major
The youngest instrument in the Lorenz Church is the Laurentius organ, built in 2005, on the top wall on the north side of the nave. There was an organ at this location as early as the 12th century. An organ that was hung there in the 15th century was sensationally large for the time (about twice the size of the current one), but it was too much for the wall's load capacity. So it was removed again and the wall was stabilized with iron clips. To hide the brackets, the mortuary tablets were attached to the wall in the area around the organ.
The Laurentius organ built by Steinmeyer in 1937 was lost during the war and was replaced by this company in 1962, but its dimensions were too weak acoustically. The current new building by Klais with a disposition designed for baroque organ music forms the link between the main organ in the west and the Stephanus organ in the east. With a concert on March 13, 2010, the so-called "Hans-Sachs-Game" was inaugurated in the Laurentius organ. In a box in the floor area of the organ there is a wooden figure of the master singer Hans Sachs who, at the push of a button, looks out of an opening flap towards the pulpit of the church. A Zimbelstern sounds . It also contains a carillon with almost 40 bowl bells and a nightingale register (a pipe immersed in water that imitates the chirping of birds).
The Laurentius organ has 33 stops on three manuals and a pedal; the stop action is electrical, the tone action is mechanical.
Normal coupling: I / II, III / II, III / I, I / P, II / P, III / P
Super octave coupling: III / P
Playing aids : 5120 free combinations, cymbal star, Rossignol
Stephanus organ
Stephanus organ
Steinmeyer's large organ system in 1937 also included an organ distributed over four sound bodies in the hallway in the east choir, which, like the Laurentius organ at that time, was destroyed by the effects of the war. With the Stephanus organ, the idea of the organ triad from 1937 has been realized again.
The Stephanus organ is the oldest organ in St. Lorenz. It was built in 1862 by the Steinmeyer organ builder for the parish church of Hersbruck and has been preserved in its original form, but only came to St. Lorenz in 2002. With 24 registers it is - apart from the positives by Beckerath and Friedrich also present in the church - the smallest organ in the church. Since it is well suited for literature by romantic composers with its romantic disposition, it is one of the jewels of St. Lorenz. A rare register is the phisharmonica, which sounds like a harmonium. The instrument has mechanical cone chests.
Playing aids : sill pull and step for the phisharmonica.
Cymbelstern (melody “Everything is in God's blessing”).
literature
Hermann Harrasowitz: History of church music at St. Lorenz . In: Communications from the Association for the History of the City of Nuremberg . Nuremberg 1973, ISBN 3-87432-019-7 ( online ).
Christian Schmidt and Georg Stolz: Soli deo Gloria - The organs of the Lorenz Church . In: Association for the preservation of the St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg (ed.): Series of publications of the association for the preservation of the St. Lorenz Church in Nuremberg eV VolumeIII . Mabase, Nuremberg 2005, ISBN 3-9809649-7-3 .
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