1000 Year tradition of organ building in Halberstadt

Organ building in Halberstadt has a continual history stretching back about 1000 years. The relevance of this to us - today's organ builders in Halberstadt - is explained by the importance of our legacy from the old masters.

The most well-known is surely the first recorded description of the organ in Halberstadt Cathedral, by the Halberstadt music scholar, Michael Praetorius. Another famous music scholar - who worked in Halberstadt temporarily - was Andreas Werckmeister.

With regard to organ builders, Nikolaus Faber (builder of the 1361 Cathedral organ, described by Praetorius) is one of the most well-known, alongside Heinrich Compenius the Older, David Beck, Christoph Contius, Adolarius Papenius, Ludwig Jesse, Christoph Boden and sons, Willhelm Bergen, Carl Voigt, Eduard Huelle, Willhelm Sohnle and many others.

Since there are still very many instruments from past centuries in the Harz-region of Germany, it has been possible for us to gain extensive experience of restoration (see page "Repair and Restoration").

Through this continual handling of the work of the old masters, we have learnt to appreciate with how much care, creativity and perfection the different generations of organ builders lived, worked, and characterised their organs.

With this in mind, we plan for organ building in the modern day, drawing on our experiences (gained during apprenticeship, working as associates, and the Master training course) and the exchange of thoughts and ideas with other colleagues and musicians.