Foundation Musick's Monument
Georg Kurschus, Pastor
On the history of the organ in St. Nicholas' Church in Siegen
The first mention of an organ in St. Nicholas' Church can be found in the town accounts of Siegen for 1515/16. It states: "... when these mayors leaned towards the organ builders, money, as the builders and church wardens needed money to build the newly started organ at St. Niclas, these mayors, with the knowledge of the aldermen and council, supplied them with 36 guilders for such an organ to be built. ... On Tuesday after Conglättet)
According to the city accounts for 1516/17, the following was spent: ‘For a new organ, church tower and school ... 56 guilders 6 albus. City clerk and organist Thomas Laer.’
The next piece of news about the organ, this time rather sad, appears in the town accounts for 1555/56: ‘On Monday after Candlemas (i.e. 3 February), the organ in St. Nicholas' Church was dismantled on the orders of our gracious lord.’ This was connected with the introduction of the Reformed confession in Siegen.
Huldrych Zwingli, the Zurich reformer, rejected singing in church in any form. He believed that the apostles taught us to praise God only with our hearts, not with our voices. In Zurich, congregational singing was completely banned from church services. Other congregations later followed this strict prohibition. As a result, organs were also removed from churches in many congregations. A wordless instrument had no place in the church of the Word – this was the reasoning behind the organ storm, which claimed many valuable organs as its victims. The Synod of Dordrecht in 1574 decided to ban organ music in church services for the Reformed congregations of the Netherlands and the Lower Rhine.
From 1530 to 1626, St. Nicholas' Church was the church of the Lutheran, then Reformed congregation. In 1626, the church was assigned to the Catholic congregation and remained a Catholic parish church until 1650. In 1636, the Catholic congregation commissioned a new organ from a master craftsman named Hieronymus Ruprecht from Cologne. An old note states: ‘On 6 September 1637, the organ in St. Nicolai Church was played for the first time ...’. In 1638, an organist named Petrus Meiensus is mentioned in the council book of Siegen.
When St. Nicholas' Church was handed over to the Reformed congregation in 1650, disputes arose over ownership of the organ. A report states: ‘On 19 December, when the Jesuits wanted to remove the organ from the main church, a commotion and crowd gathered among the Reformed citizens.’ The organ was ultimately awarded to the Catholic congregation by the imperial commissioners. The Catholic congregation had the organ dismantled. It was installed in 1654 in the then existing St. John's Church by its builder, Hieronymus Ruprecht from Cologne.
An invoice ‘de Anno 1652 biß 1658’ mentions a ‘large and small organ in St. Nicolai Church’. Apparently, a positive organ had been temporarily installed. We know from the city accounts that collections had been taken up for a new organ in St. Nicolai Church since 1656. In 1658, a citizen of Siegen named Daniel Niederndorf received board for an organ builder. So it seems that a large organ had been in St. Nicolai Church again since 1658. Valentin Rod and a Rector Dülcken are named as organists on this organ. It can be assumed that Prince Johann Moritz, who donated the beautiful baptismal bowl and the silver communion vessels to the congregation and who also had St. Nicholas' Church renovated at his own expense in the years leading up to 1658, contributed considerable funds to the construction of a new organ. Unfortunately, we do not know the name of the organ builder.
Johann Moritz focused on a career in the Netherlands, where members of his family held high positions. The political and military situation and the flourishing economy of the young republic offered good prospects. At the age of sixteen, he joined a cavalry regiment and subsequently pursued a career as an officer. During the war between Spain and the Republic, which flared up again in 1621, he took part in the siege of Schenkenschanz (1635/1636), among other things. At that time, he also began construction of his city palace, the Mauritshuis, in The Hague.
View of the Mauritshuis
Jan de Bisschop, 1648 - 1671
View of the Mauritshuis from the garden of Constantijn Huyghens the Younger. RIJKSMUSEUM
A letter dated 2 October 1679 from Constantijn Huygens to Johan Maurits shows that there was an organ in the Mauritshuis.
We know of the construction of a new Nikolai organ in 1689/90.
An old chronicle, quoted in the Siegener Zeitung newspaper on 25 July 1877, reports: "In 1689, the interior of the main church here at St. Nicolai was built, as was the new organ inside it, made by a master craftsman from Dortmund named Alberti, who received 550 Reichsthaler for the bellows, wind chest and pipes, according to the agreement. The wooden structure was made by the old Crüdelbach, who received 100 Reichsthaler for it. It has 14 stops, one of which is a Gedackt." As Heinrich Zipp, a long-time organist in the 19th and 20th centuries, knew, this organ had the following disposition:
There was no separate pedal; it was attached to the relevant manual.
This organ was repaired in 1769 by Johann Gottlieb Hausmann from Siegen.
On 3 January 1791, Johann Christian Kleine from Freckhausen submitted an “improvement plan” for this organ.
