Slegel (organ builder)

Slegel is the surname of a Dutch family of organ builders from the 16th and 17th centuries. The family was based in Zwolle . She was one of the most important organ builders of her time and had a large area of ​​activity in the east of the Netherlands and in northwest Germany. Only remains of the Slegel organs are preserved today.

Life

Master Georg (alternatively: Jürgen, Jorrien, Joris, Georgia) Slegel († around 1560) is considered the founder of the organ building family. He came from Zwolle and was married to Merritgen (Meike). He was the father of Cornelis (Cornelius) († 1585) and Michael († 1593), who can be traced back to the Netherlands between 1525 and 1583. The two sons became known as “Gebrüder Slegel” through numerous new organs and modifications.

Cornelis' first marriage was to an Aleyt who gave him four daughters: Grietje, Jannitgen, Wendell and Anna. In November 1584 he married a second wife in Zwolle, who was also called Aleyt. This marriage apparently remained childless. Michael had two sons who also became organ builders: Jan I († before 1604), who lived in Zwolle, and Jorrien II (Jürgen). Jan I had three sons who became organists in Zwolle (Jan II), Kampen (Arent) and Steenwijk (Herman). Jan III Slegel, presumably a son of Arent, appeared as an organ builder in Kampen in the 1670s.

Jorrien II (Jürgen) worked in Osnabrück from 1592 , where he gained citizenship and worked at least until 1629.

plant

Since Georg worked on various occasions in the county of Bentheim , he is believed to be the builder of the new organ in Neuringe (around 1542).

The Slegel brothers were characterized by high productivity and a wide range of activities. Starting from Overijssel , they received orders from Westphalia-Lippe to Hildesheim and Bremen . They developed the older traditions further, according to which the plenum of the main work functioned on a common drawer as a block work and the other registers were on a separate upper drawer in the main work. The principals in the Brustwerk or Rückpositiv could, however, be played individually. The Slegels, on the other hand, put all the voices of the main work on a common drawer, which suggests a system with a spring drawer .

The production of a major trumpet for Zwolle (1556) and Stadthagen (1557) for the treble and bass and a halved one in Münster (1565) suggests that it was exclusively a melody register.

List of works (selection)

The size of the instruments is indicated in the fifth column by the number of manuals and the number of sounding registers in the sixth column. A capital “P” stands for an independent pedal, a lowercase “p” for an attached pedal. Italics indicate that the organ in question is no longer preserved.

Cornelis and Michael Slegel

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1545-1547	Osnabrück	Osnabrück Cathedral		II / p	14th	New building; not received
1549	Uttum ?	Uttum Church		I.		Possible attribution; Material integrated into the new building in 1660 → organ of the Uttum church
1549	Greetsiel ?	Greetsieler Church				Possible attribution; New building; not received
1556	Zwolle	Dominican Church		II	12	New building, together with Jorrien I; not received
1557	Stadthagen	St. Martin				Building a trumpet 8 ′; not received
1559-1561	Bremen	Church of Our Lady				Not received
1565	Uelsen	Ref. Church				Not received
around 1565	Warendorf	St. Laurence				Not received
1565	Muenster	Überwasserkirche				Construction of a trumpet cut in half 8 ′; not received
before 1570	Oldenburg	Lamberti Church		I.	9	New building; 1635 sold to Golzwarden; not received
around 1570	Bassum	Bassum Collegiate Church				Not received
around 1570	Bocholt	St. George Church				Not received
1581	Kampen	Bovenkerk		III / p		Repair of the great organ by Johan van Kovelens (1524); of which older material was integrated in the new building in 1670 → organs from the Bovenkerk (Kampen)
1586	Hildesheim	St. Andrew				New building in 15 weeks, which suggests a small plant; not received
1587-1595	Lemgo	St. Mary		II / P	20th	Or from Jorrien II; New building; 2010 reconstruction by Rowan West to the state of 1613; Housing and a wind chest from Slegel preserved

The catalog raisonné of the Slegel brothers (before 1571) also lists the following Dutch locations: Aalten / St. Helena (1560), Hellendoorn / Ref. Old Church (after 1560), Hoya , Oldenzaal / St. Plechelmus Basilica (1560/1570), Sibculo Monastery (Positiv, after 1560) and Zwartewater Monastery .

Other new buildings are attested: Deventer / St. Lebuinus (1540/41), Emlichheim ? / Ref. Church (1544), Hasselt / St. Steven (1545–1549), Herford / St. Johannes (1576/77) and Berg Abbey (1587), Kampen / Cellebroerskloster (1560/70) and Our Dear Lady (1592), Lemgo / St. Johann (1588?), Nienburg / Weser / St. Martin (after 1560), Ootmarsum / Ref. Church (1569), Osnabrück / St. Marien (1571) and St. Johann (1592/93), Steenwijk / St. Clemens (after 1587).

Organ building in St. Martini (Minden) is ascribed to Jürgen (Jorrien) Slegel . The Rückpositiv case has been preserved and dated to 1591, the main movement case partially and some registers have been preserved.

Jan III Slegel

year	place	church	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1677	Hattem	Grote of Andreaskerk		I / p		Partial wind chest and some registers preserved
1670-1679	Kampen	Bovenkerk		II / P	28	New construction using older material; 1741–1743 extension conversion by AA Hinsz (III / P / 33), 1790 extension by HH Freytag and FC Schnitger (IV / P / 46); later further changes, today IV / P / 56; 10 stops completely and 5 partially preserved → Organs of the Bovenkerk (Kampen)

literature

• Douglas E. Bush, Richard Kassel (Eds.): The Organ. To Encyclopedia . Routledge, New York, London 2006, ISBN 0-415-94174-1 ( limited preview in Google Book Search).
• Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag , Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 .
• Fritz Schild: Monument organs. Documentation of the restoration by organ building guides 1974-1991 . Florian Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2005, ISBN 978-3-7959-0862-1 (2 parts: Backmoor-Groothusen, Hage-Wiesens).
• Maarten A. Vente: The Brabant Organ. On the history of organ art in Belgium and Holland in the Gothic and Renaissance ages . HJ Paris, Amsterdam 1963.
• Harald Vogel, Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 .

Web links

• Vera Lüpkes: The organ landscape in Westphalia and neighboring regions in the 16th century (with catalog raisonné)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Nickles: Organ inventory. 1995, p. 128.
2. ^ Vente: The Brabant Organ . 1963, pp. 130f.
3. ^ Vogel / Lade / Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . 1997, p. 274.
4. ↑ Sign: Monument organs. 2005, p. 715.
5. ^ Vente: The Brabant Organ . 1963, p. 145.
6. ^ Vente: The Brabant Organ . 1963, p. 167.
7. ↑ ^{a b} Nickles: Organ inventory. 1995, pp. 111, 46f., 128, 308, 528.
8. ^ Vogel / Lade / Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . 1997, p. 314.
9. ^ Nickles: Organ inventory. 1995, p. 111.
10. ↑ Vera Lüpkes: The organ landscape in Westphalia and neighboring regions in the 16th century , as seen on November 24, 2011.
11. ^ Organ in Minden , seen May 20, 2013.