Arp Schnitger

 ( 1648 Births ) 

Arp Schnitger (2 July 164828 July 1719 (buried)) was an influential Northern German organ builder. Considered the paramount manufacturer of his time, Schnitger built or rebuilt over 150 organs. He was primarily active in Northern Europe, especially the Netherlands and Germany, where a number of his instruments still survive.

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Biography Schnitger was born near Schmalenfleth in Oldenburg, Germany, and was baptized on 9 July 1648 in Golzwarden. The exact date of Schnitger's birth is unknown; the scholar Gustav Fock hypothesises it was on 2 July 1648, a week before his baptism. Schnitger was born into a family of woodworkers and wood carvers. He was apprenticed at the age of 18. Between 1666 and 1671, Schnitger studied organ building with his cousin Berendt Huss ( 1630-1676) in Glückstadt and worked as a journeyman. In 1682, Schnitger and his workshop moved to Hamburg. In 1708, he was appointed organ builder of the Prussian court. In 1684, Schnitger was married to Gertrude Otte (1665-1707). His sons Franz Caspar and Johann Jürgen Schnitger trained with their father and continued his work after his death. His burial was recorded in the parish of St. Pancratiuskirche at Neuenfelde-Hamburg on 28 July 1719.

Schnitger was one of the most prolific builders of his time, having built approximately 95 new instruments, rebuilt about 30, and repaired or renovated another 30.

He ran several shops and had a team in Magdeburg, in Bremen and in Groningen. His organ designs typify the essential North German organ: multiple divisions, usually with a rückpositif (division on the gallery rail, behind the player's back); large, independent pedal divisions, often placed in towers on either side of the main case; well-developed principal choruses in each division with abundant reeds, flutes, and mutation stops; and meantone temperament. All of these features could be found on North German organs prior to Schnitger's activity; Schnitger's genius lay in his ability to synthesize these elements into a prototypical style of organ building, and in his prolific output. The latter was made possible by his good business sense: Schnitger was one of the first builders to use cost-cutting measures on a large scale to ensure the affordability of organs for small village churches.

One of Schnitger's landmark instruments, the organ at St. Jacobikirche, Hamburg, was a renovation and enlargement of an instrument previously rebuilt in 1636 by Gottfried Fritzsche (1578–1638).

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Notable examples of his work still in use

• St. Cosmae und Damianikirche, Stade (Schnitger's first organ, completed in 1676 after the death of his teacher Berendt Huss)

• St. Peter und Paulkirche, Cappel (perhaps the most authentic of Schnitger's organs still in existence, originally in the Johanniskirche, Hamburg, 1680)

• St. Pancratiuskirche, Neuenfelde, Hamburg (completed in 1688, his largest two-manual instrument);

• St. Ludgerikirche, Norden (1688)

• Martinikerk, Groningen, the Netherlands (1692)

• St. Jacobikirche, Hamburg (perhaps the most famous surviving Schnitger organ, completed in 1693)

• Grote or St. Michaëlskerk, Zwolle, the Netherlands (completed by his son Franz Caspar after Schnitger's death)

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Legacy Organs like these are credited with inspiring the renaissance in organ building during the early twentieth century, with a return to tracker action and smaller, more cohesive instruments, as distinct from the late-Romantic trend of extremely large symphonic organs. In particular, the organ at the Jacobikirche, Hamburg, played a pivotal role in the organ reform movement beginning in 1925, as a series of conferences taking place at historical organ sites in Germany and Alsace was inaugurated there.

A number of Schnitger's organs were featured on recordings by E. Power Biggs, who is generally credited with reintroducing them to modern listeners. More recently, Schnitger's organs can be heard on several recordings by German organist Harald Vogel. Schnitger's instruments in Groningen, Uithuizen, Noordbroek and Nieuw Scheemda were featured in the documentary Martinikerk Rondeau, in which Jürgen Ahrend, Cor Edskes and Bernhardt H. Edskes detail Schnitger's life and demonstrate his working methods. Schnitger's organs have also served as inspiration for many modern builders; GOArt, a Swedish organ building consortium, has even gone so far as to build an exact copy of a Schnitger organ for research purposes.

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Surviving Schnitger organs

1668–1675/1688	Stade (D)	St. Cosmae et Damiani		III/P	42	case, , 35 stops (8 partly)
1677–1679	Bülkau (D)	St. John the Baptist		I	10	case, prospect; today II/P/22
1678–1679/1709	Jork (D)	St. Matthias		III/P	35	case, prospect; today II/P/22
1680	Cappel (D)	St. Peter and Paul		II/P	30	case, prospect, 18 stops, 10 other old stops re-used by Schnitger → Organ of St. Peter and Paul in Cappel
1678–1682	Oederquart (D)	St. Johannis		III/p	28	case, prospect; today II/P/17
1682–1683	Cuxhaven (D)	St. Jacobi		III/P	35	case, prospect, 14 stops (complete or partly), much old pipework reused by Schnitger (half of the organ)
1684	Elmshorn (D)	St. Nicolai		II/P	23	case; today III/P/33
1686	Hamburg-Bergstedt (D)	Ev. Church		I	8	case, 2-3 stops
1687	Blankenhagen (D)	Village Church		II/p	12	case, 4-5 stops
1687	Steinkirchen (D)	St. Nicolai et Martini		II/P	28	case, prospect, 13 stops, 8 other partly
1683–1688	Hamburg-Neuenfelde (D)	St. Pankratius		II/P	34	case, prospect, 18 stops
1688	Mittelnkirchen (D)	St. Bartholomäus		II/p	22	6-8 stops; today II/P/32
1688–1690	Hollern (D)	St. Mauritius		II/P	24	case, prospect, 13 stops (complete or partly)
1686–1688/1691–1692	Norden (D)	St. Ludgeri		III/P	46	case, 13 stops, 8 old stops reused by Schnitger → Organ of St. Ludgeri in Norden
1691–1692	Groningen (NL)	Martinikerk (Groningen)		III/P	53	case of the pedal, prospect, 6 stops, other old stops reused by Schnitger; today III/P/52 → Organ in the Martinikerk at Groningen
1689–1693	Hamburg (D)	St. Jacobi		IV/P	60	43 stops (complete or partly), some reused by Schnitger → Schnitger organ (Hamburg)
1693	Groningen (NL)	Pelstergasthuiskerk		II/p	20	case, 2 register (7 partly)
1693	Eutin (D)	castle		I	9	case
1693–1694	Grasberg (D)	Luth. Church		II/P	21	case, 14 stops → Organ of the Grasberg church
1695–1696	Noordbroek (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		II/P	20	case, 10-11 stops; today II/P/24 → Organ at the Dorpskerk at Noordbroek
1695–1696	Harkstede (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		I	7	case, prospect, 5 stops; today I/p/9 (10)
1696–1697	Peize (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		II/P	22	case, prospect, 4-6 stops, old stops reused by Schnitger
1697–1698	Stedingen (D)	St. Johannes		II/p	12	case of the Hauptwerk, 2 stops; today II/P/15
1697–1698	Loxstedt (D)	St. Laurentius		II/p	12	case of the manuals, 10 stops; today II/P/18
1697–1698	Golzwarden (D)	St. Bartholomäus		II/P	20	case; today II/P/22
1699	Scheemda (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		I/p	8	case, 4-6 stops
1696–1699	De Marne (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		I	9	case, prospekt, 6 stops
1699	Ganderkesee (D)	St. Cyprian und Cornelius		II/p	16	case, prospect, 9 stops; today II/P/22
1700–1601	Uithuizen (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		II/P	28	case, 19 stops, 6 others partly → Organ in the Jacobikerk at Uithuizen
1701	Maia, Portugal	Monastery Church San Salvador		II	12	case, 11 stops
1701	Mariana, Minas Gerais (Brazil)	Cathedral Nossa Senhora da Assunção		II/p	18	case, prospect, 14 stops (complete or partly); probably by Schnitger's co-worker Heinrich Hullenkampf Organ Tours of Brasil
1699–1702	Clausthal-Zellerfeld (D)	St. Salvatoris		III/P	55	case; today II/P/29
1699–1702	Groningen (NL)	Der Aa-kerk		III/P	32	case, prospect, 13 stops, 10 old stops reused by Schnitger; today III/P/40 → Organ in the Aa-kerk in Groningen
1702	Estebrügge (D)	St. Martin		II/P	34	case
1704	Eemsdelta (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		I	10	case, prospect, 4-6 stops; today I/p/10
1704	Godlinze (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		II/p (?)	16	case, prospect, 8-9 stops; today I/p/12
1705	Schortens (D)	St. Willehad		II/p	14	case
1707–1708	Lenzen (D)	St. Katharinen		II/P	27	case partly, 2-3 stops
1707–1708	Hamburg-Ochsenwerder (D)	St. Pankratius		II/P	30	case, prospect, 5-11 stops; today II/P/24
1709–1710	Weener (D)	St.-Georg		II/p	22	case, 6 stops; today II/P/29
1710–1711	Pellworm (D)	Old Church		II/P	24	case, 11 stops (complete or partly)
1710–1711	Sneek (NL)	Grote of Martinikerk		III/P	36	case, prospect, 10 stops (complete or partly)
1711	Ferwert (NL)	Hervormde Kerk		II/P	26	5 stops
1710–1713	Nordenham (D)	St. Laurentius		II/P	24	case, prospect, 2 stops
1715–1716	Faro, Portugal	Cathedral		II	22	probably by Schnitger's co-worker Heinrich Hullenkampf
1714–1716	Rendsburg (D)	Christuskirche		II/P	29	case, 4 stops; today IV/P/51
1715–1719	Itzehoe (D)	St. Laurentii		IV/P	43	case, prospect; today IV/P/58
1719–1721	Zwolle (NL)	Grote of Sint-Michaëlskerk		IV/P	64	case, main part of the stops; finished by the sons Franz Caspar Schnitger and Johann Georg Schnitger

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See also

• Johann Sebastian Bach
• Dieterich Buxtehude
• North German organ school
• Pipe organ

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Other sources

• Peggy Kelley Reinburg (1982). 9780253309273, Indiana University Press). . ISBN 9780253309273
• Cornelius H. Edskes, Harald Vogel (2002) Arp Schnitger and His Work (Organ Historical Society)

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External links

• Literature about Arp Schnitger
• Organs of Arp Schnitger
• Organ Restoration In Arp Schnitger's Home Church
• Arp Schnitger Centrum
• Original designs of Arp Schnitger organs

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