Paul Schmidt (organ builder)

Paul (Arndt) Schmidt (* 1715 / 16 in Rostock, † 25. April 1798 in Ludwigslust) was a German organ builder . In the second half of the 18th century he built numerous new organs in Mecklenburg.

Life

Paul Schmidt was born in Mecklenburg in 1715 or 1716. Although the place of birth is unknown, his local origin is confirmed by a written testimony from his last lifetime. When and where and who his parents were cannot be found out yet. His birth is also not recorded in the Rostock church registers for 1715 and 1716. On October 26, 1744, he was entered in the Rostock city register, presumably when he started working as an independent organ builder. One month later, on November 20, 1744, he married the virgin Catharina Cortsen (Cordsen) in the St. Jacobi Church in Rostock. But there is also no reference to his birth or origin in the church book of St. Jacobi Church.

Apart from a few organs and parts of the correspondence between Schmidt and his clients, nothing remained for posterity.

Schmidt learned the trade of organ building, as he himself wrote in a letter dated May 25, 1790, from his blessed teacher Caspar Sperling. This Caspar Sperling came to Rostock from Quedlinburg around 1700 and built a new organ here in 1706 for St. Nikolai and in 1735 for St. Petri . Further news is missing, and Schmidt was never referred to as an organist. It can be assumed that Schmidt was either unable to play the organ at all or only to a very limited extent.

When Caspar Sperlings died in 1743, however, he did not leave his workshop to Schmidt, but to another of his employees. Schmidt had a difficult start with his job in Rostock. It was a great help to him when, in 1749, Duke Christian Ludwig gave him the privilege of calling himself a ducal-Mecklenburg-Schwerin organ builder . The privilege was renewed in 1766, which brought him further public orders for organ building in the country.

Schmidt's period of activity can be proven from 1743 to 1790, in Mecklenburg there were only a few organ builders in those years. As far as we know today, Schmidt built around 30 organs.

It is known that his first new organ was built for the monastery church in Dobbertin. It was an organ with two manuals and 23 registers. According to the organ construction contract signed on May 15, 1746 between the monastery captain and provisional Jobst Heinrich von Bülow auf Woserin and the organ builder Paul Schmidt for the repair of the Closter church in 1746 with a directory and inventory , the work should be completed by Christmas 1747 .

Schmidt also did not seem to have been a talented businessman, because he built some organs bigger, contrary to the contract, and then asked for more money, which he did not always get. He was almost 75 years old when he accepted his last new building contract. During the Seven Years' War , Schmidt was busy not only supervising and maintaining the Rostock organs but also building mechanical organs and barrel organs.

On January 19, 1753, he had a daughter Christiane Louise Ulrike baptized in Rostock. Godparents were Christian Ludewig and Hereditary Princess Amalie and Princess Olrica. From 1778 to 1779 Paul Schmidt worked in St. Petersburg . On April 9, 1779 it is said that he was returned from Petersburg. During this time there was also a creative gap in Mecklenburg.

Unfortunately, at the time of his greatest triumph, there was also all sorts of criticism of his work and his appearance. He was accused of arrogance and righteousness and, despite his privilege, he had to tolerate the fact that other organ builders were increasingly preferred to him. He felt deeply affected when he did not receive the order to build the new cathedral organ in Schwerin , and it was only a slight satisfaction for him that the organ builder Stein, who built the organ, failed in this task.

Around 1790 Schmidt moved to Ludwigslust to his younger daughter Christiane Louise Ulrike, who was married there to the ducal court and portrait painter Johann Heinrich Suhrlandt . Impaired by signs of age, he had to finish building the organ. His last repair was on the Ludwigslust church organ from August to October 1790. In Ludwigslust he also found out that his most magnificent work, the St. Marien organ in Rostock, had been completely rebuilt and rebuilt by Ernst Marx from Berlin.

On November 25, 1792, his wife died of emaciation. Little is known about his family.

His son Heinrich, born in Rostock in 1754, was an organ builder in the Dobbertin monastery. In 1770 he was mentioned as his father's journeyman. Own works, except for the partially new building in Ruchow, are not known. Not always healthy, he lived in debt and died before his father in 1797 in Dobbertin. Schmidt's health and economic situation deteriorated, so that Ludwigslust citizens asked the Duke for financial support for Schmidt. Duke Friedrich Franz approved a first gift of grace of 25 thalers on March 10, 1795, which Schmidt confirmed on March 16.

Completely impoverished, Paul Schmidt died on April 25, 1798 at the age of 82 and was buried two days later in the Ludwigslust churchyard. The church book names the cause of death: exhaustion.

List of works

In the fifth column, the Roman number indicates the number of manuals , a capital "P" indicates an independent pedal , a lower-case "p" indicates a pedal that is only attached. The Arabic number indicates the number of sounding registers . The last column provides information on the state of preservation and links with further information. Italic letters indicate that the work has not been preserved or that only the prospectus has been preserved.

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1747	Dobbertin	Monastery church		II / P	23	1856 converted into a single manual organ for Mestlin by Ernst Sauer in 1856; Remains preserved, since 2002 in the Malchow Organ Museum
1752	Parchim	St. Georgen		II / P	24	not received
1752	Goods (Müritz)	George Church				not received
1754	Dreveskirchen	Dreveskirchen village church		I / P	15th	1840 reconstruction by Friedrich Wilhelm Winzer ; partially preserved
1755	Schwerin	Shelf church				not received
1760	Great Upahl	Ev. Village church		I.	3	1709 by Johann Engelbrecht Gerhardt for Schloss Rossewitz, 1760 Paul Schmidt for Countess S. v. Bassewitz at Gut Dalwitz, 1790 Polchow church with Jacob Friedrich Friese, transferred to Groß Upahl by Edmund Bruder in 1893, repaired by Wolfgang Nußbücker in 1996.
1764	Guestrow	Parish Church of St. Mary				Renovation; Prospectus received
1768	Klein Belitz	Neukirchen village church		II / P	16	1849 reconstruction by Friedrich Wilhelm Winzer
1769-1770	Klenow ( Ludwigslust )	City Church				not received
1770	Neustadt-Glewe	Marienkirche		I.	9	Inaugurated November 1770, not preserved. New instrument (I / P / 12) by Albert Mehmel in 1873, still stands today
1770	Rostock	St. Mary		IV / P	62	his greatest work; Replaced in 1793 by a new building by Ernst Marx; Prospectus received
1772	Hohen Luckow	Village church		I.	5	1857 reconstruction by Friedrich Wilhelm Winzer
1782	Malchin	St. John's Church		II / P		Prospectus received
1783	Dummerstorf	Pechov village church		I / P	15th	New double bellows installed by Carl Börger in 1906, restauro by Wegscheider from Dresden in 1993, otherwise completely preserved
1786	Reinshagen	Reinshagen village church		I / P	15th	1885 rearrangement by Carl Börger, new manual keyboard, 1981/83 repair by Axel Stüber from Berlin
1789	Teterow	City Church		II / P	22nd	1825, 1828 repair by Friedrich Friese I., 1850 by Heinrich Rasche, 1891 new building by Schlag & Söhne, only the prospectus preserved
1790	Schorssow -Bülow	Village church		I / p	10	completed by journeyman Johann Schmidt; 1884 reconstruction by Carl Börger (II / P / 11)

literature

• Walter Haacke, Reinhard Jaehn: Paul Schmidt and Mecklenburgs organ building in the 18th century. In: Acta Organologica. Volume 18, Merseburger, Kassel 1985.
• Friederike Praetorius, Willi Lange: Paul Schmidt organ Dreveskirchen. Dreveskirchen 2000.
• Max Reinhard Jaehn, Karl and Wolf Eschenburg: Organs in Mecklenburg. Rostock 2008, ISBN 978-3-356-01267-5
• Grete Grewolls: Schmidt, Paul (Arnd). In: Who was who in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. 2011.
• Ulrich Nath, Joachim Vetter: The organ of the St. Marien Church in Rostock and the organ builder Paul Schmidt. Rostock undated (2000)

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Unprinted sources

• State Main Archive Schwerin (LHAS)
  • LHAS 3.2-3 / 1 Provincial Monastery / Monastery Office Dobbertin. No. 1190 Register of monthly accounts 1713–1714, No. 3160 Restoration of the nuns' choir 1746/49, No. 3185 Estate of organ builder Schmidt 1797/98.
• State Church Archives Schwerin (LKAS)
  • LKAS, OKR Schwerin, local files Stavenhagen, Ludwigslust.

Web links

Commons : Paul Schmidt (organ builder)  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature about Paul Schmidt (organ builder) in the state bibliography MV
• Mecklenburg organ museum: organ builder

Individual evidence

1. ^ Friedrich Drese: The organ builder Paul Schmidt. In: Paul-Schmidt-Organ Dreveskirchen. 2000, p. 9.
2. ↑ Rostock City Register 1656–1806.
3. ↑ Church book of the St. Jacobi Church in Rostock, marriage register year 1744.
4. ^ Mecklenburgisches Orgelmuseum: Orgelbauer , accessed on July 7, 2014.
5. ↑ LHAS 3.2-3 / 1 Landeskloster / Klosteramt Dobbertin. No. 3160 Restoration of the nuns' choir 1745/49 Num. 54.
6. ^ Extract from the latest Rostock newspapers from June 3, 1757.
7. ^ LKAS, OKR Schwerin, City Church Stavenhagen.
8. ↑ Ulrich Nath: The organ of the St. Marien Church in Rostock and the organ builder Paul Schmidt. Rostock 2000.
9. ↑ LKAS, OKR Schwerin, Kirchenbuch Ludwigslust, Microfilm 69322, Kopulationsregister Jg. 1777, p. 208 No. 2.
10. ↑ LHAS 3.2-3 / 1 Landeskloster / Klosteramt Dobbertin. No. 3185 estate of organ builder Schmidt 1797/1798.
11. ↑ Church book of the parish of Ludwigslust, death register 1798.
12. ^ Organ in Dobbertin , accessed on July 7, 2014.
13. ^ Organ in Dreveskirchen , accessed on July 7, 2014.
14. ↑ Groß Upahl village church
15. ^ Walter Haack, Reinhard Jaehn: Paul Schmidt and Mecklenburgs organ building in the 18th century. 1985 pp. 185-186.
16. ↑ Organ in Rostock ( Memento of the original from October 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed July 7, 2014. 
17. ^ Organ in Hohen Luckow , accessed on July 7, 2014.
18. ^ Organ in Petschow , accessed on July 7, 2014.
19. ^ Walter Haacke, Reinhard Jaehn: Paul Schmidt and Mecklenburgs organ building in the 18th century. 1985 pp. 243-247.
20. ^ Organ in Bülow , accessed on July 7, 2014.