Matthias Dropa

Matthias Dropa (born between 1646 – 25 September 1732) was a German organ builder. A pupil of Arp Schnitger, he built organs in Northern Germany, including St. Michaelis, Lüneburg.

Career Born in Transylvania, Dropa worked as an assistant of Arp Schnitger, probably between 1680 and 1692. He founded his own workshop in 1692 and achieved the citizenship of Hamburg on 18 November 1692. He built in 1696 three new organs in Bargteheide and Finkenwerder. From 1698 to 1700, he expanded the organ Cuxhaven-Altenbruch. He moved to Lüneburg in 1705, where he built a new organ at St. Michaelis, together with his assistant . From 1712 to 1715, he expanded the organ of St. Johannis, supervised by Georg Böhm by a pedal. Dropa was the teacher of , whom he trained from 1707 to 1715. The organ builder married his daughter Catharina Margaretha on 22 June 1734. Dropa died in Lüneburg.

Works Year Location Church Image Manuals Stops Notes 1696 Hamburg-Finkenwerder not extant 1696 Bargteheide Protestant church frameless|upright=0.5 only prospect extant 1698–1700 Cuxhaven-Altenbruch frameless|upright=0.7 II/P 28 renovation, five stops 1705–1708 Lüneburg St. Michaelis frameless|upright=0.7 III/P 43 new, prospect and five stops extant 1708 Lüneburg St. Lamberti I 6 1801 to Camin, 1855 to church in Dreilützow 1712–1715 Lüneburg St. Johannis frameless|upright=0.7 III/P 46 expansion

Literature Gustav Fock: Arp Schnitger und seine Schule. Ein Beitrag zur Geschichte des Orgelbaues im Nord- und Ostseeküstengebiet. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1974,