Hans Christoph Fritzsche Explained

Hans Christoph Fritzsche (before 1629 – 1674 in Hamburg) was a German organ builder from Dresden who worked in northern Germany, Denmark and southern Sweden.

Life

Fritzsche was the son of the organ builder Gottfried Fritzsche from his first marriage. In 1655, he established his workshop in Copenhagen. There were family ties to Friederich Stellwagen, as he married Fritzsche's sister Theodora. His son-in-law Hans Heinrich Cahman married his daughter Anna Christina and continued the business after Fritzsche died during work on the new building in Hamburg-Neuenfelde.

Proven works

Year Location Church class=unsortable Picture !Manual Stops Notes
1646HandorfSt. Marien13New building; some stops preserved
1647–1649Cuxhaven-St.-Nicolai-KircheII/P25Extension conversion;[1] after further enlargement by Johann Hinrich Klapmeyer (1727-1730) III/P/35 (present condition); 12-16 stops preserved by Fritzsche
1651 (ca.)LisbonDelivery of an organ of unknown size
1652OederquartSt. JohannisIII/PIncluding 10 stops of the predecessor organ (1581, badly damaged in 1632); 1678-1682 extension by Arp Schnitger, who moved the organ from the choir loft to the north loft; nothing has survived of the Fritzsche organ.
1653Oberndorf (Oste)St.-GeorgskircheLater replaced
1655HamburgSt. James' Church, HamburgIV/P53 ?1655-1658 major renovation work for the 1656 ;[2] → main article: Orgel der Hauptkirche Sankt Jacobi
1655CopenhagenTrinitatis ChurchIII/P42New building
1662HelsingørMarienkircheII/P24Reconstruction of the Lorentz organ (1634-1636) by order of Dietrich Buxtehude; only the front pipes of the Rückpositiv are preserved.
1662/63?HelsingborgSankt-Marien-KircheII/P24Work commissioned by Dietrich Buxtehude. The organ was sold to the church of Torrlösa in 1849.
1666Halmstad (Schweden)II/P24New building
1670–1671St. Catherine's Church, HamburgIV/PExtension of the pedal by principal 32' and trombone 32'; the work was not completed (Fritzsche received a payment of 960 Mark lüb.).[3] The work was completed in 1671-1674 during the extension to IV/P 58 by Johann Friedrich Besser (before 1640-1693).[4] ausgeführt.
1671DömitzJohanneskircheII/p13New building
1673Hamburg-NeuenfeldeSt. Pankratius-KircheCompleted by Cahman. Later taken by Arp Schnitger to Stade (castle church) and subsequently sold to Bremen.[5] In his new construction, Schnitger integrated older material from two stops by Fritzsche.

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Konrad Küster: „Wolbestimmete Musica ... nach Davids Manier und Gebrauch“. Eine Altenbrucher Trauerpredigt von 1653 als Schlüssel zu norddeutscher Musikkultur. In Stader Jahrbuch 2007 (Stader Archiv, N.F. 97), ; and Orgelstiftung Altenbruch: H.C. Fritzsche
  2. Fock 1974, .
  3. Fock 1974,
  4. Book: Uwe Pape and Wolfram Hackel . Lexikon norddeutscher Orgelbauer . Bd. 3: Sachsen-Anhalt und Umgebung . Pape . Berlin . 2015 . 978-3-921140-98-7 . 49–50.
  5. http://www.schnitgerorgel.de/orgel/geschichte.php Neuenfelde, St. Pankratius