Wolff (organ builder)

Wolff und Wulff was the name of organ builders in Prussia in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Organ builder

Johann Georg Wulff and Johann Wolff

An organ builder Wolff was mentioned for the first time in 1673, and in 1677 a Johann Georg Wolff from Danzig . He built a large choir organ in the Pelplin monastery , the prospectus of which has been preserved to this day.

In 1703 a Johann Wulff had a workshop in Wormditt . He died on April 30, 1726 in Wormditt. It is uncertain whether both are the same person.

Georg Wolff

Georg Wolff was born around 1706. He was mentioned in 1729 and 1735. He died on June 8, 1751 in Wormditt at the age of 45.

Johann Wilhelm Wulff

Johann Wilhelm Wulff was born around 1735 and worked for Andreas Hildebrandt in Danzig in 1750 . In 1758 he came to the Cistercian monastery Oliva and rebuilt the choir organ there in 1660 . The abbot then sent him on a longer journey, where he was supposed to see important organs of his time. Wulff was probably among others in the monasteries of Schwäbisch Weingarten , Ochsenfurt and Ottobeuren in southern Germany. On January 21, 1763 he was ordained a monk in Oliva as Father Michael and in the same year began building the great organ, which was to surpass all other buildings of his time. In 1776 he was ordained a priest. In 1788 the construction of the organ was abandoned for unknown reasons, and from 1790 to 1793 it was completed by Friedrich Rudolf Dalitz . Father Michael died on March 11, 1807.

Works (selection)

From organ builders Wolff and Wulff 14 new constructions, 4 repairs, 1 reconstruction and a repair estimate are known. Parts of the organs in Krosno (Krossen) and Oliva have been preserved, as is the prospectus in Pelplin . All other organs were later replaced by new ones.

year	builder	place	building	image	Manuals	register	Remarks
1677	Johann Georg Wolff	Pelplin	Monastery church		III / P	approx 45	Choir organ, prospectus preserved, 2003 reconstruction by Mollin (III / P, 42) → organ
around 1680	??	Oliva  ?	Monastery church				Choir organ, conjecture, Mosengel's workshop could also be the builder
1694	Wulff	Gross Bössau (Biesowo)	church
1703	Johann Wulff	Gallingen (Galiny)	church
before 1715	Wolff	Heilsberg (Lidzbark)	Catholic Church
around 1720	Wolff	Allenstein	St. Jacobi				Choir organ
?	Wolff	Allenstein	St. Jacobi				great organ
1729-1731	Georgius Wolff	Krossen (Krosno)	Pilgrimage church		II	15th	without pedal, 9 registers with 505 pipes and 6 registers with 337 pipes, extended in the 19th century (around 1843?) by Johann Rohn to II / P, 23, damaged in 1945 and looted metal pipes, restoration in 1957, restoration in 2000.
1735	Georg Wolff	Noßberg	church
1740	Wolff	Wormditt (Orneta)	church
1763-1788	Johann Wilhelm Wulff	Oliva (Oliwa)	Monastery church		III / P	81	Prospectus and parts of the organ preserved, largest preserved Baroque prospectus → Organ

literature

• Werner Renkewitz , Jan Janca : History of organ building in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944. Volume 1. Weidlich, Würzburg 1984, pp. 249-256.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in Wormditt's Book of the Dead, see Werner Renkewitz, Jan Janca, Hermann Fischer: History of Organ Building Art in East and West Prussia from 1333 to 1944. Volume II, 2. From Johann Preuss to E. Kemper & Sohn, Lübeck / Bartenstein. Siebenquart, Cologne 2015. p. 765.
2. ^ Entry by Georg Wulff in the Wormditter Book of the Dead, see Renkewitz, u. a., II, 2, p. 765.
3. ↑ Choir organ in Pelplin with current disposition (Polish)
4. ↑ Krosno. Sanctuary Nawieszenia NMP i św. Jozefa MusicamSacram, with history and disposition (Polish)
5. ↑ Sanctuary of the Annunciation in Krosno Leksykon Kultury, History (Polish)
6. ↑ Renkewitz, u. a., II, 2, pp. 765f.
7. ^ Organs of the cathedral in Oliva Gdansk organs