Wilhelm Caspar Joseph Höffgen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Organ in Freepsum

Wilhelm Caspar Joseph Höffgen (also Wilhelm Heinrich) (* 1773 ; † June 11, 1849 ) was an organ builder in Emden , who worked in East Frisia from 1818 until his death . His organ in Emden- Uphusen (1825–31), which has been almost completely preserved, is of supraregional importance . His small factory in Freepsum is also almost in its original condition.

Life

Its origin is unclear. The name could indicate a Catholic family. In 1818 he appeared as a journeyman to Johannes Wilhelmus Timpe in the construction of the new organ at the New Church in Emden. In Emden, he then went into business for himself as an organ builder, building on the organ building tradition of Johann Friedrich Wenthin . On December 17, 1820, he married Harmke Heikes Borgmann. A daughter was born on October 19, 1821. His wife died on September 5th, 1848. He worked as an organ builder in East Friesland for three decades and became a competitor of Johann Gottfried and Arnold Rohlfs . However, Höffgen only builds two new organs and is largely engaged in repairs and organ maintenance. In 1849 he succumbed to a nervous fever and was unable to complete the major reconstruction of the organ of the Great Church in Leer (1845–49), which was completed in 1850 by Brond de Grave Winter .

plant

The historical testimonies handed down praise Höffgen's craftsmanship. His new organ in Uphusen (14 registers , 1836–39) shows southern characteristics with the mixture divided into individual registers . In contrast, his organ in Freepsum (7 registers) has no mixture. Both organs are single-manual, have an attached pedal and are almost completely original. From Höffgen's major extension of the Leeraner organ (Great Church) (1845–49) only two registers, the two pedal housings and the empty upper work housing are preserved.

List of proven works

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.

year place church image Manuals register Remarks
1819-1820 Rysum Rysumer Church Rysumorgan.jpg I. 7th Repair → organ of the Rysum church
1819-1842 Emden Inn church II / P 21st Repair; Burned down with the church in 1938 due to handicrafts
1819-1820, 1842-1843 Emden Big church II / P 40 Participation in the new building of Timpe (1816–18); Repair; Destroyed in a bombing raid in 1943
1825-1831 Emden- Uphusen Uphuser Church I / p 14th New building; almost completely original
1834-1835 Emden- Wolthusen Wolthuser Church I / p 8th Repair and probably some new pipes
1835-1836 Back Behind church 4720927 Rear organ.jpg I / p 8th Repair; Replaced in 1909 by a new building by Furtwängler & Hammer behind the historical prospectus
1836-1839 Freepsum Freepsumer Church Freepsum Organ.jpg I / p 7 (8) New building; almost completely original
1839-1841 Emden Martin Luther Church II / P 19th Repair and expansion; Replaced in 1892 by a new building by Furtwängler & Hammer
1843-1844 Camp reformed Church 24994966 Camping reformed organ.jpg I / p 5 repair
1845 Emden New Church II / P 30th Repair; 1944 Church and organ destroyed
1845-1849 Empty Big church Empty Great Church Organ.JPG II / P 27 Extensive renovation, today III / P / 37 → Organ of the Great Church (Leer)

literature

  • Jürgen Ahrend , Winfried Dahlke : Documentation of the organ of the Evangelical Reformed Church in Leer . Print-on-demand (presumably Stade 2008 without location and year information).
  • Walter Kaufmann : The organs of East Frisia . East Frisian Landscape, Aurich 1968.
  • Ralph Nickles: Organ inventory of the Krummhörn and the city of Emden . Hauschild Verlag, Bremen 1995, ISBN 3-929902-62-1 .
  • Harald Vogel , Günter Lade, Nicola Borger-Keweloh: Organs in Lower Saxony . Hauschild, Bremen 1997, ISBN 3-931785-50-5 .
  • Harald Vogel, Reinhard Ruge, Robert Noah, Martin Stromann: Organ landscape Ostfriesland . 2nd Edition. Soltau-Kurier-Norden, Norden 1997, ISBN 3-928327-19-4 .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Cf. the documents on the conversion of Höffgens in Ahrend, Dahlke: Documentation . 2008, pp. 18-66.

See also

personal data
SURNAME Höffgen, Wilhelm Caspar Joseph
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Höffgen, Wilhelm Heinrich
BRIEF DESCRIPTION East Frisian organ builder
DATE OF BIRTH 1773
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1849