Rudolf von Beckerath organ building

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Rudolf von Beckerath organ building
legal form GmbH
founding 1949
Seat Hamburg , Germany
management Holger Redlich and Rolf Miehl
Branch Musical instrument making
Website www.beckerath.com

Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau is the name of a German organ building company based in Hamburg. It was founded in 1949 by Rudolf von Beckerath (born February 19, 1907 in Munich ; † November 22, 1976).

history

Rudolf von Beckerath was born in Munich in 1907 as the son of a painter and a pianist. Soon after his birth, his parents moved to Hamburg . There he went to school and began training as a mechanical engineer, but then switched to organ builder, although the buildings by Arp Schnitger obviously influenced his decision. On the recommendation of Hans Henny Jahnn , he finally went to France in order to receive the necessary fine-tuning from 1929 in Victor Gonzales' organ building workshop in Chatillon sous Bagneux near Paris . After completing his apprenticeship, he briefly moved to the Frobenius & Co company in Denmark , where he was involved in building the large organ in the Frauenkirche in Copenhagen .

Gonzales brought him back in 1931 and Beckerath became a partner in this company. In the course of the sanctions in France against German companies and company employees, he separated in friendship from his Paris company in 1935 and returned to Germany, initially to work as a freelance consultant in Hamburg. There he designed the organ for the Christ Church in Othmarschen .

In 1938 he also became an “expert for organ and bells” in the Reich Ministry for Church Affairs and in 1939 he also moved to Berlin .

In 1941 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht and in 1945 was taken prisoner by the Americans . In May 1946 he was released and initially returned to Munich. He then worked again as an organ expert. Rudolf von Beckerath's notes, which he made of numerous North German organs after the war, are of great documentary value.

After many problems, he succeeded in taking his master's examination in organ building in 1949, so that he could start his own business. He built his first organ in 1951 for St. Elisabeth in Hamburg-Harvestehude (II / P / 18). His international career began in the 1950s.

Von Beckerath died in 1976 and the company was converted into a GmbH, which was managed by his wife and his closest employees. The managing directors Helmut Kleemann and Herta Deichmann retired in 1987 and 1990 and Timm Sckopp, a former student of Beckeraths, took over the management. 1995 von Beckerath's wife Veronika passed the company on; Organ building was handed over to Rolf Miehl by Timm Sckopp, while Holger Redlich took over the commercial area. Both have been managing directors since 1995. 2001 the company was taken over by both with the help of the investor Whitney Reader.

List of works (selection)

year place building image Manuals Rows of pipes Remarks
1951 Hamburg-Harvestehude St. Elisabeth Seharv organ.jpg II / P 18th Opus 1
1951 Hamburg Laeiszhalle Hamburg Laeiszhalle organ (2) .jpg IV / P 59 organ
1953/1954 Dusseldorf Johanneskirche Düsseldorf Johannes Organ.jpg IV / P 66
1954/1955 Wetzlar Wetzlar Cathedral
Wetzlar Cathedral Organ.jpg
III / P 49 organ
1955 Hamburg Main Church of St. Petri Hamburg St. Petri Organ 2.jpg IV / P 66 organ
1957 Cleveland , USA First Trinity Church IV / P 44
1957 Kiruna , Sweden Kiruna Church KirunaKirche-10.jpg IV / P 40
1958 Hamburg-Barmbek-Nord Catholic Church of St. Francis II / P 20th organ
1959 Nuremberg St. Andrew II / P 27 organ
1960 Montreal , Canada St. Joseph's Oratory Montreal - QC - St Joseph's Oratory (organ) .jpg V / P 78 Its largest organ with 78 stops and five manuals
1960 Munich St. Ludwig Muenchen Ludwigskirche Organ2.jpg IV / P 54 organ
1960 Wurzburg St. John's Church
Johanniskirche 10.jpg
III / P 39 organ
1962 Pittsburgh , USA St. Paul's Cathedral Interior of Saint Paul Cathedral - Pittsburgh 02.jpg IV / P 67
1963 Bad Reichenhall Evangelical town church
Orgelstadtkirchebadreichenhall.jpg
III / P 36
1965 Bremen St. Stephani StStephani-03-1.jpg III / P 39 organ
1966 Hildesheim St. Andrew
Hildesheim St Andreas Organ.jpg
IV / P 63 organ
1966/2008 Hamburg St. Mary's Cathedral (Hamburg) Hamburg Cathedral Organ.jpg IV / P 65 Built in 1966 with III / P / 50, expanded in 2008 by a swellable rear section and two 32 ′ in the pedal → organ
1966 Travemünde St. Lorenz
StLorenzTrave-04-1a.jpg
II / P 30th organ
1966 Hamelin Market Church of St. Nicolai Market Church Hameln Organ 2017-09-29.jpg III / P 41 Originally III / P / 39; Goll added one register each in 1991 and Hillebrand in 2003
1967 Darmstadt Bessunger Church / Petrusgemeinde III / P 28
1969 Hamburg Catholic Church of St. Erich
1970 Berlin-Kreuzberg St. Thomas
SarahEwart-100.JPG
II / P 25th organ
1970 Munich St. Thomas Apostle Muenchen St Thomas Organ.jpg II / P 18th
1971 Dusseldorf Andreas Church St. Andreas Duesseldorf 11.jpg III / P 42
1971 Bad Salzuflen Church of the Redeemer II / P 28
1972 Sydney , Australia Sydney University Great Hall centered II / P 53
1973 Hanover University of Music and Theater , auditorium
Beckerath organ HMTH Hannover.jpg
III / P 43
1975 Honolulu , Hawaii, USA Lutheran Church of Honolulu II / P 25th
1976 Dubrovnik , Croatia Samostan Dominikanaca II / P 26th
1978 gain St. Sebald II / P 22nd
1980 St. Wolfgang in the Salzkammergut Parish and pilgrimage church Sankt Wolfgang Church - Organ gallery.jpg II / P 28
1981 Bad Kreuznach Diakoniekirche
Organ Diakoniekirche.jpg
II / P 20th
1982 Saarbrücken Ludwig Church SaarbrückenLudwigskircheOrgelempore.jpg III / P 49 organ
1982 Detmold St. Michael im Kampe II / P 19th
1985 Herxheim near Landau / Pfalz St. Mary of the Assumption Beckerath organ Herxheim looking from the altar.JPG III / P 50
1991 Hamburg-Blankenese Blankenese Church
Bk orgel.jpg
III / P 46 organ
1995 Hamburg-Farmsen-Berne Church of the Redeemer
Ekfa orgelprospekt.jpg
II / P 18th
2002 Wichita, Kansas , USA Holy Cross Lutheran Church III / P 50
2007 Marlborough, Wiltshire , England Chapel of Marlborough College IV / P 61
2008 Incheon , South Korea The Heavenly Dream Methodist Church III / P 48

literature

  • Rudolf von Beckerath . In: The American Organist . tape 19 , no. 5 , 1985, pp. 59 .
  • Wolfgang Adelung: 25 years of organ building by Beckerath . In: Ars Organi . tape 22 , no. 45 , 1974, p. 2008 .
  • Arthur Carkeek: Rudolf von Beckerath . In: The American Organist . tape 29 , 1995, pp. H. 9, 58-63; H. 12, 54-58. 30, 1996, H. 3, 54-57; H. 8, 56-59 .
  • Paul S. Hesselink, Rolf Miehl: Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau, Hamburg, Germany. Maurine Jackson Smith Memorial Organ, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Doc Rando Recital Hall. In: The Diapason . tape 98 , no. 8 , 2007, p. 30th f .
  • Christoph W. Linde: On the 100th birthday of Rudolf von Beckerath . In: Ars Organi . tape 55 , 2007, p. 130 f .
  • Thomas Lipski: A Bajuware as a Hanseatic organ builder - Rudolf von Beckerath (1907–1976) . In: Instrument building magazine . tape 54 , no. 3–4 , 2000, pp. 74-77 .
  • Almut Rößler : Letter to Rudolf von Beckerath, August 1974. In: Music and Church . tape 47 , 1977, pp. 99-101 .
  • Karl Schuke : A fulfilled life has come to an end. Rudolf von Beckerath. February 19, 1907 - November 20, 1976. In: ISO Information . tape 1 , no. 15 , 1976, p. 43 f .
  • Helmut Winter : Rudolf von Beckerath † . In: Ars Organi . tape 25 , no. 52 , 1977, pp. 67 .

Web links

Commons : Beckerath Orgeln  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. richardsfowkes.com: Historic organs Beckerath Notes , accessed February 12, 2012.
  2. Catalog raisonné Rudolf von Beckerath , accessed on October 13, 2016.
  3. ^ Organ of St. Elisabeth Church, Hamburg , accessed on October 17, 2016.
  4. Description of the organ on the Lutheran Church of Honolulu website , accessed July 17, 2020.