‘We cannot be grateful enough for the fact that, though the church
itself went up in flames, the Arp Schnitger organ of St. Jacobi in Hamburg survived the in-
ferno of the Second World War intact. This unique instrument comes from the Golden Age
of North German organ building. It still contains a stop of the organ which was built bet-
ween 1512 and 1516 by Harmen Stiiven and Jacob Iversand after a fourth nave had been
added to the church. Many alterations were made to the organ of St. Jacobi in subsequent
years. Famous master organ builders especially from the Scherer family, Jacob Scherer,
Hans Scherer the elder, Hans Scherer the younger and Fritz Scherer, as well as Dirck Hoyer
and Hans Bockelmann all worked on this organ. Already in 1635 four manuals and pedals
were added to the organ by Gottfried Fritzsche. This is the instrument that Matthias Weck-
mann found when he took up his post at St. Jacobi in 1654.
~ His successor, Heinrich Frese, persuaded the church authorities to get in touch with the
famous organ builder Arp Schnitger. Schnitger had built a large number of important organs
“in and around Hamburg. In particular, in the years between 1674 and 1678 he had made
an-excellent job of the organ of the neighbouring church of St. Peter’s (which is no longer in
existence). Schnitger submitted three proposals for the rebuild of the organ and although
originally the medium plan was favoured, it was the largest that was in fact executed.
While the work was in progress Schnitger and his assistants lived in Frese’s house near the
church, He began the work in 1689 and on the Friday after Easter 1690, the 25th. April, the
new organ was so far completed that it could be played on the manuals.
But it took a long time to finish the work and it was not until February 14, 1693 that the
whole work was tested and approved by the organists Andreas Knoller of St. Peter’s and
Christian Flohr from Liineburg and Vincent Liibeck from Stade. The total cost came to
about 30000 Taler, a considerable sum for those days, though it has to be remembered that
wealthy members of the congregation probably made substantial contributions.
In his rebuild Arp Schnitger incorporated a large number of very valuable and beautiful
old ranks of pipes out of regard for the masters of the earlier organs, working them into
an organic whole.
The uniqueness of this organ derives from the fact that the tonal development can be
traced back to 1512 and has been preserved continuously and systematically since that time.
It may be presumed that it was played on by, among others, Georg Bohm, who lived for a
time in the parish of St. Jacobi and Georg Friedrich Handel who was shown the Hamburg
organs by Mattheson. When Heinrich Frese died in September 1720 and the organistship of
St. Jacobi became vacant, Johann Sebastian Bach applied for the post. Bach had played on
the organ of St. Catherine’s church before a select audience which included the nearly
hundred years old Reinken and he was therefore excused an audition at St. Jacobi. But
neither his outstanding ability nor the fact that his librettist Erdmann Neumeister was
chief pastor of St. Jacobi and keenly urged that he should be elected, were able to give
Bach precedence over his rival candidates. Joachim Heitmann was in a position to pay 4000
marks into the church coffers (the evil custom of »selling« vacant posts had been adopted
in Hamburg for some time) and so he was given the post coveted by Bach. From Mattheson
(Musikalische Patrioten) we know that the disappointed chief pastor Neumeister made the
following remark in his sermon on the following Christmas Day: »I definitely believe that
if even one of the angels of Bethlehem came down from heaven, played divinely and
wanted to become organist of St. Jacobi but had no money, he might as well fly back home
again.«
Needless to say, in subsequent years the organ inevitably underwent minor repairs. During
the French occupation slight damage was caused by the military. The fact that in spite of
changes in taste the organ has remained tonally almost intact may be regarded as the achie-
vement of Heinrich Schmahl who was organist and organ adviser at St. Jacobi from 1864-92.
In the year 1917 the church was compelled to give up the large pewter pipes of the screen
for war purposes. Even though the lowest notes of the organ have no important influence
on its tonal structure, it is deeply to be regretted from the antiquarian point of view that it
was not possible to prevent this loss.
In 1928-30 the Arp Schnitger organ of St. Jacobi in Hamburg was comprehensively
restored by the organ builder Karl Kemper. The pipes surrendered in the First World War
were copied and reinstalled. In addition, the missing notes of the short octaves were added.
Hitherto their absence had greatly hindered the performance of many organ works, includ-
ing those of J.S. Bach. Only a brief ten years life were granted to the restored and now
world famous instrument to which, as Albert Schweitzer had predicted, pilgrimages were
made by German and foreign organists, organ builders and music lovers. The Second World
War made it necessary for the organ to be put in safe keeping. When the church of St.
Jacobi was destroyed by fire in 1944 the case and console were burnt but all the pipes and
the wind chest survived in an air-raid shelter.
The restoration of the church was completed in 1959. It was then possible for work to begin
on restoring the organ to its original position in the church. It had been set up provisionally
in an aisle used for services. The rebuild was carried out by E. Kemper & Son of Liibeck.
The restoration of the screen was carried out by the architects Hopp & Jager in colla-
boration with the experts on the care of ancient monuments, Professor Grundmann and Dr.
Gerhardt. In order that the Schnitger organ may reproduce its original authentic sound as
far as possible it has not been tuned to equal temperament but in mean tone.
Arp-Schnitger Organ Hauptkirche St. Jacobi Hamburg
Riickpositiv Hauptwerk Oberwerk Brustwerk
Prinzipal 8’ Prinzipal 16’ Prinzipal 8° Holzprinzipal 8°
Quintadena 8’ Quintadena 16’ Rohrfléte 8’ Oktave 4’
Gedackt 8’ Oktave 8’ Holzfléte 8° Hohlfléte 4’
Oktave 4’ Spitzflote 8° Oktave 4’ Waldfléte 2’
Blockfléte 4’ Viola da Gamba 8’ —_Spitzflite 4’ Sesquialtera 2fach
Oktave 2’ Oktave 4” Nasat 22/3’ Scharff 4—6fach
Quinte 27/3” Rohrfléte 4’ Oktave 2’ Trichterregal 8’
Siffldte 1/3" Superoktave 2’ Gemshorn 2’ Dulcian 8’
Sesquialtera 2fach —_Flachfléte 2’ Scharff 6fach
Scharff 6—8fach Rauschpfeife 2fach | Cymbel 3fach
Dulcian 16’ Mixtur 6—8fach Trompete 8°
Birpfeife 8’ Trompete 16’ Trompete 4
Schalmey 4’ Vox humana 8"
Pedal Subba 16° Rauschpfeife 3fach Dulcian 16°
Oktave 8” Mixtur 6—8fach — Trompete 8’
Prinzipal 32’ Oktave 4’ Posaune 32’ Trompete 4’
Oktave 16° Nachthorn 2’ Posaune 16’ Cornet 2’
