With more than 90 important organs from six centuries, the Organ landscape East Frisia is one of the richest organ landscapes in the world.Johnson: Ems-Dollart Region. 2006, p. 170f. The term organ landscape alone refers to the historically determined regional characteristics of the organs. 60 of the East Frisian organs date from before 1850. In addition, there are 15 historical Prospekt, behind which new Werke are installed.Vogel, Lade, Borger-Keweloh: Orgeln in Niedersachsen. 1997, p. 54. While Dutch organ building was influential for East Frisia in the 15th and 16th centuries, influences from Hamburg and Westphalia were added in the 17th and 18th centuries. East Frisian organ building in the 19th century was conservative until around 1870 and created instruments according to Baroque building principles. As relatively few new organs were built between 1870 and 1950, many historical instruments were preserved. Almost all of the original instruments have been restored in an exemplary manner over the last 50 years, bringing them back to their original sound and providing impetus for restoration practice and organ building worldwide.Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 8, 13. In recent decades, the public has become increasingly aware of the value of these instruments and the organ landscape of East Frisia has been made accessible to organ builders and organists from all over the world, as well as to the general public.
History Gothic When the organ became the main instrument in the Christian liturgy during the Gothic period, organs found their way into many churches. A flourishing organ culture is documented in East Frisia as early as the late Gothic period, which was mainly influenced by the Netherlands, where a center of Northern European organ building was located in the 15th to 17th centuries.Maarten A. Vente: Die Brabanter Orgel. Zur Geschichte der Orgelkunst in Belgien und Holland im Zeitalter der Gotik und der Renaissance. H. J. Paris, Amsterdam 1963. In Krummhörn alone, there is evidence of ten organ works from the second half of the 15th century, when East Frisia experienced a heyday under Ulrich I. One of these first organs was the work of Master Thidricus de Dominis, which the Marienkirche in Marienhafe received in 1437. In 1480, Master Hinrick built an organ for Emden. Around 1500, many East Frisian monasteries and churches already had an organ.Nickles: Orgelinventar der Krummhörn und der Stadt Emden. 1995, p. 43. These Gothic instruments were so-called Blockwerks, in which the individual ranks of pipes could not yet be operated separately, but instead the full work always sounded. The pipes were usually made of hammered lead and the labia have the characteristic Gothic pointed arches. As a rule, the instruments were fitted with richly painted double doors until the 17th century.Friedrich Jakob u. a.: Die Valeria-Orgel. vdf-Hochschulverlag, Zürich 1991, These closeable doors were installed for artistic, tonal and liturgical reasons, but also for practical reasons to protect the organ from bird droppings and other soiling.
One of the world's oldest organs, still preserved in its basic state and playable to this day, can be found in Rysum. The instrument was probably built around 1440 by Master Harmannus from Groningen, who is also associated with the Organ of the Groningen Martinikerk (around 1450). The Rysumers paid in kind and asked the local chieftain Olde Imell in writing for permission.
Originally, this instrument was probably a blockwerk with a range of B-f2 for the middle to high pitch (the treble) with a bass action, the pipes of which have been preserved in the prospectus with the original scaling. A lever at the console for this pre-stop still bears witness to the transformation of the blockwerk into an organ with slider chests. This conversion can probably be dated to 1513, as the organist's pulpit inserted into the gallery bears this date.Vogel, Lade, Borger-Keweloh: Orgeln in Niedersachsen. 1997, p. 94 f. The principal stops made of hammered metal are extremely leaded and sound unusually dark and intense. The interplay of organ and bell is impressive, as Harald Vogel has demonstrated using the Redeuntes compositions from the Buxheim Organ Book.Klangbeispiel Rysum: Orgel mit Glocke, Conrad Paumann: Redeuntes in mi from the Buxheimer Orgelbuch with Harald Vogel, released on CD as Orgelland Ostfriesland. 1989. German Harmonia Mundi, HM 939-2. Until then, the long organ stop sustained notes in the bass could not be interpreted liturgically. By using the bell, which in Rysum corresponds to the pitch of the organ, these compositions could be musically re-explored. The case of the Rysum organ is characterized by strong gallery profiles, similar to the Gothic lower case in Westerhusen. The pipe fields with their veil boards, the tapering pointed arches and (reconstructed) crowning pinnacles show typical late Gothic characteristics.
Late Renaissance and early Baroque
In the 16th and 17th centuries, East Frisia was influenced by Dutch and Hamburg organ culture. Emden was the center of East Frisian organ building in the 16th century. Petrus von Emden built an organ for Groothusen in 1520. Johannes Emedensis ("von Emden") is known to have built an organ for Uphusen in 1531, of which the later double doors (1571) and case fillings are still preserved. The ornate façade of his organ (1526) in Scheemda in the Netherlands with its chiseling pipes is now in the Rijksmuseum Amsterdam.Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 8 f. Illustrations under Rijksmuseum, retrieved on March 25, 2018. Religious refugees of the Reformed faith, who fled from the Netherlands during the Eighty Years' War and found refuge in Emden, also shaped organ building in East Frisia in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. The external structure is characterized by the central polygonal bass tower and two lateral pointed towers for the tenor pipes. The high (and correspondingly short) pipes in the treble are arranged between them in two flat fields, which are often two-storied. The Hamburg facade owes much to this Dutch influence. The original range of the keyboards on Renaissance instruments of FGA-g2a2 was extended over the centuries to the modern range from C upwards. The Renaissance style is also characterized by the type of veiling above the façade pipes, the crowning on the pipe towers and the continuous banners.Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 18. It should be emphasized that in many East Frisian organs of the 17th century, pipe material from the previous instruments of the 16th century was reused. With the advent of the Baroque era, the double doors gave way to side ears made of veilwork.
The Organ of the Great Church in Leer goes back to the organ from the Thedinga Monastery, which was probably built by the German-Dutch organ builder Andreas de Mare around 1570. When Count Enno III donated this organ to the reformed parish in Leer in 1609, Marten de Mare converted it into a Renaissance instrument for the old Liudgeri church.Jürgen Ahrend, Winfried Dahlke: Dokumentation der Orgel der Evangelisch-Reformierten Großen Kirche zu Leer. Print-on-Demand, no place [Stade] no year , p. 5 f. In 1787, the organ was transferred to the Great Church and over the centuries underwent several expansions to become a large town organ, whereby the respective basic components were essentially retained. The internal supporting structure of the Hauptwerk probably originates from the de Mare organ, the proportions of which are still reflected in the façade.Jürgen Ahrend, Winfried Dahlke: Dokumentation der Orgel der Evangelisch-Reformierten Großen Kirche zu Leer. Print-on-Demand, ohne Ort [Stade] ohne Jahr , p. 75.
The Dutch organ builder Johannes Millensis built the organ in Larrelt between 1618 and 1619 using older stops from the 16th century. Between 1848 and 1855, the organ was extensively rebuilt by Gerd Sieben Janssen, reusing about half of the old stops. The organ reflects the early Dutch influence on organ building in East Frisia and, with its old lead pipes, is considered particularly suitable for representing the vocally influenced polyphony of the Renaissance.Zitiert nach Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 113.
The precious late Renaissance Organ in Osteel, which is one of the best-preserved Renaissance organs in northern Germany,Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 18 f. also comes from a German-Dutch organ builder: Edo Evers from Groningen. Evers used pipes and parts of the case from the old Andreas de Mare organ (1566-67) of the Ludgeri Church in Norden for his work from 1619. Characteristic are the rich decorations on the middle façade pipe in each tower. The individual stops are characterized by tonal elegance and high vocal quality. As they retain their great transparency even in various combinations, they are particularly suitable for the performance of polyphonic Renaissance music.Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 19.
A key factor in the further development of organ building was the introduction of organ accompaniment for congregational singing in church services in East Frisia from 1640. Prior to this, the congregation sang unaccompanied and the organ only had a liturgical function. In larger churches, it played alternately with the choir or took over individual organ verses, i.e. arrangements of motets, chorales or psalms.Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 9f. For the first time in 1640, an attempt is reported in Emden to have the organ played together with the congregation for the upcoming Christmas celebrations, after the congregation had requested that the organ be played for the first time.
After such hesitant beginnings, the organ quickly asserted itself in its new function as a vocal accompaniment, but this necessitated a new sound concept.
With its powerful sounds despite its limited Disposition, the organ in Westerhusen by Jost Sieburg (1642-43) was specially designed for strong congregational singing. For this purpose, a large part of the stops from the Gothic predecessor organ (around 1500) were rebuilt behind a Hamburg façade. The wide, heavily leaded Gothic Principal stops were cut open and soldered back together in a narrower scale. This resulted in relatively wide labia.Vogel, Lade, Borger-Keweloh: Orgeln in Niedersachsen. 1997, p. 122. The four-foot principal in the facade sounds powerful and rich in overtones. The colorful and overtone-rich trumpet with the open throats and short cups is typical of the Renaissance style. Alongside the Uttum organ, it is considered to be one of the oldest Trumpet stop in existence.Zitiert nach Vogel, Ruge, Noah, Stromann: Orgellandschaft Ostfriesland. 1997, p. 21. The mixture gives the plenum a brilliant sound, which is further enhanced by the Meantone temperament with pure thirds. Due to its high choirs and narrowly scaled pipes, the mixture is designed for homophonic accompaniment of congregational singing.Vogel, Lade, Borger-Keweloh: Orgeln in Niedersachsen. 1997, p. 123.