When the festive year is ushered in on Sunday in Hofheim with a festive church consecration service on the occasion of the 500th anniversary of the city parish church, the sounds of the organ will probably also contribute their musical part to the festive atmosphere. The large pipe instrument in St. Johannes is the work of the organ building family Hoffmann from Ostheim. In 1987 the organ builders from Ostheim, whose company has been known as Orgelbau Hoffmann & Schindler for ten years, installed the two-manual instrument in the parish church of St. Johannes der Tufer.
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Other churches in the home region are also associated with the name Hoffmann. The Dreieinigkeitskirche in Rentweinsdorf received a Hoffman organ in 1984. A year earlier, the organ builder had already installed an organ in the Catholic church in Ebelsbach. An organ made by Ostheimer organ builders has been playing in the Protestant church in Gleisenau since 1976 and in St. Michael in Gochsheim since 1971. Several churches throughout Lower Franconia and beyond are equipped with an organ from the company, including four churches in Wrzburg. In 1983 in Lahm im Itzgrund, the company restored the baroque instrument made by organ builder Heinrich Gottlieb Herbst from 1732 in the palace church. In Berlin, in 2003, the company restored one of the largest organs in the federal capital, the Kemper organ built in 1937 with 64 registers Protestant Church in the Johannesstift Berlin-Spandau. The list could be continued extensively. In 1997, the order to reconstruct a historical organ in Thringen earned it a special reputation. It was the Wendler organ in the New Church in Arnstadt, where Johann Sebastian Bach had got his first job as an organist in 1703.
Organ landscape in the Habergen
The origins of organ building go back a long way, but the workshops that build or restore them often have a long tradition. The organ builder Johann Georg Markert (1813 1891) founded his company in Ostheim in 1848, which was taken over by the Hoffmann family after the Second World War. In 1985, the organ builder Gnter Hoffmann took over the company from his father Otto Hoffmann. Since 2010 he has been working with the organ builder Christoph Schindler and in 2020 he transferred his business share to his son.
“We often have a very personal relationship with long-serving organists,” says Schindler. Thanks to the annual maintenance work on the instruments, you have often known each other for decades. “This way we can see where the shoe pinches or the key jams in order to speak in pictures,” says Schindler.
Organists preserve the cultural heritage
Organ building and organ music have been recognized intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO since 2017. The organ builders in Ostheim regard this as an appreciation. “Especially in rural regions of Lower Franconia there are wonderful organs that are often dormant and whose preservation will preserve the music, culture and care of our region,” said Schindler. As long as there are many organists, mostly working on a voluntary basis, “who let themselves be captured by the charm of the instruments”, he shouldn’t be afraid.
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An extraordinary instrument by the organ builders Hoffmann and Schindler is their “Open Air Concert Organ”, which toured Germany and made concerts possible in a special atmosphere. When asked whether the instrument is particularly in demand during the Corona period and whether it will also sound here, Schindler said: “Our open air organ was very well booked for 2020. At the beginning of the pandemic, all appointments were canceled The situation slowly normalized and new bookings came in. This year we were in Emden, among other places, but also to a drive-in theater service in Hof. In the nearby region, the open-air instrument was in the event hall on Friday, September 11th Geiselwind to hear the introduction of the Synodal of the Evangelical Lutheran Regional Church. On September 27th, the portable organ in Grafenrheinfeld will be heard on a special organ day. ” People will be happy to come to the Hassberg region with the rolling organ, provided there is a corresponding interest. “You have some wonderful, very suitable places for this, such as the beautiful castle courtyard,” says the organ builder.
Die Open Air Orgel
The open air concert organ from Ostheim’s organ builders is a unique instrument. Built in 1998, the organ has already experienced many concerts in a special ambience and under open-air conditions. It has 1,830 electronic wooden and metal pipes. A clearance height of 3.40 meters and a width of 2.80 meters must be given for their approach. If there is an electrical connection within 100 meters and the weather god means well, then nothing stands in the way of a concert in the open air. It can sound as a solo instrument or in combination with wind ensembles, orchestras or chren.
Quelle: pem
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Ostheim
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Protestant church
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celebration
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Gnter Hoffmann
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Heinrich
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Johann Georg
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Johann Sebastian Bach
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John the Baptist
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Catholic Church
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Church buildings
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Organists
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organ
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Orgelbau
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Organ builder
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Organ music
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Sebastian Bach
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St. Johannes
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Shne
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UNESCO
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World wars
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