Gottfried Fritzsche

Gottfried Fritzsche (sometimes spelled Frietzsch) (1578 – 1638) was a German organ builder.

Life Gottfried Fritzsche was born in Meissen in 1578. He was the son of goldsmith Jobst Fritzsche (died 1585), and began his professional life learning and working in his father's craft. His grandfather Johannes Fritzsche (1508-1586) was cathedral syndic in Meissen.

Before 1603 Fritzsche probably learned organ building from Johann Lange (sometimes given as Hans Lange) From 1619 to 1627, he worked in Wolfenbüttel and from 1628 to 1629 in Celle, before coming to Ottensen in 1629. He remained there until his death in 1638. Also characteristic is his double zill, which takes the place of Scherer's high-lying Scharff, as well as the use of various as single voices. For example, the simbel installed by Fritzsche in 1635 in the organ of the St. James' Church, Hamburg was the first of its kind in northern Germany. He also liked to use secondary stops such as tremulant and "drum", which do not yet appear in Scherer's work, and Effect stops such as "Cuckoo", "Birdsong", and "Nightingale". While hammered lead pipes had been the rule in northern Germany until then, Fritzsche planed the pipes and used an alloy with a higher tin content; for the cups of the trombones and trumpets he added marcasite. Compared to Scherer, the use of Subsemitones (double upper keys) was new. During his time in Hamburg, he carried out alterations to the organs of all four main churches. Fritzsche's extensions made the organs in St. Jacobi and St. Katharinen among the first organs ever to have four manuals.

Fritzsche died in Ottensen, modern-day Hamburg.

List of work

Year Location Church Picture Manual Stops Notes 1603 Meissen Meissen Cathedral II/P 17 Swallow's nest organ; destroyed by lightning on 27 April 1647. 1609–1610 Meißen Frauenkirche not preserved 1612–1614 Dresden Schlosskapelle 160x160px II/P 33 in collaboration with Hans Leo Hassler; transferred to St. Matthew's Church in 1737; not preserved; disposition by Michael Praetorius: Syntagma Musicum. Vol. 2: De Organographia 1615–1617 Sondershausen Trinitatiskirche II/P 33 Burnt in 1621 1617 Wolfenbüttel St. Trinitatis 160x160px II/P 21 Originally built for the castle chapel Schöningen; transferred and rebuilt in 1722/23; façade preserved much altered 1618–1619 Bayreuth Stadtkirche II/P 35 not preserved 1621–1622 Harbke St. Levin center 160x160px I/P 18 Addition of a rückpositiv by Christoph Treutmann in 1728; front and pipe material preserved. 1619–1623 Wolfenbüttel Marienkirche 160x160px III/P 39 Reconstructed front and 6 stops preserved 1621–1623 Braunschweig St. Katharinen III/P 6 stops preserved and integrated in the new building by Rudolf von Beckerath Orgelbau (1980) 1622–1625 Village church center 160x160px I/p Originally built for Wolfenbüttel Castle Church; rebuilt by Johann Andreas Graff in 1725/26; transferred to Clauen in 1796; baroque facade and parts of pipework and wind chests preserved; restored by Bernhardt Edskes in 1995 1620er Coswig Alte Kirche 160x160px I 9 Builder unknown, possibly Frietzsch or Tobias Weller; moved to Coswig around 1735, repainted in 1760; preserved → Orgel 1626–1627 Braunschweig St.-Ulrici-Kirche III/P 26 not preserved 1627 Dresden? I 1 Attribution; positiv with parchment pipes; today preserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.. 1629–1630 Hamburg Maria Magdalena II/P 23 not preserved 1630 Hamburg-Ottensen Christianskirche Extension conversion of an older organ; some stops taken over in 1744/1745 in new building by Johann Dietrich Busch. 1630 Hamburg Ehemalige Hauptkirche Sankt Nikolai Transfer from the space above the north door to a new gallery "under the tower in the west"; extension and conversion of unknown size. 1624–1631 Torgau Torgauer Schlosskapelle not preserved 1630–1631 Braunschweig St. Martini 160x160px II/P 24 Draft for a disposition, which Jonas Weigel executed in a modified form 1632 Hamburg Hauptkirche Sankt Katharinen center 160x160px IV/P 56 Extension reconstruction; Frietzsch pipes in four Brustwerk stops preserved; 2013 reconstruction of the state of 1720 (photo) 1633–1634 Hamburg St.-Petri-Kirche IV/P (three manuals) Renovation, extension and conversion. New: Brustwerk (attached to Oberwerk), all Rückpositiv stops, individual stops in Hauptwerk and pedal. New keyboards or extension of the manual range up to c3, with divided upper keys, sub-semitones, in all (linkable) manual keyboards for the additional notes dis, as und ais. Not preserved. 1634 Neuengamme St. Johannis I/P 1803 by Johann Paul Geycke and later rebuilt several times; 5 stops complete and 6 partly preserved. 1634 Altengamme St. Nicolai New building; replaced by Johann Dietrich Busch in 1751 1635–1636 Hamburg St.-Jacobi-Kirche IV/P 56 Expansion to four manuals with a range of 4 octaves (in the Rückpositiv from dis° up to and including dis2 seven divided upper keys, subsemitones, for the additional notes dis, as and ais); during the new construction in 1693, Schnitger took over 20 stops from Frietzsch in varying ranges. 1637 Hamburg-Allermöhe Dreieinigkeitskirche center 160x160px New building; later rebuilt several times, front burnt in 1900. 1636–1638 Trittau 12 remained unfinished. 1637–1638 Borstel (Jork) St. Nikolai II/P etwa 20 Repair of the organ by an unknown builder (2nd half of the 16th century); organ rebuilt several times, intervened in 1770-1772 by Johann Paul Geycke, who also created a new casing; soundboards of two reed stops by Frietzsch preserved.

Notes and references