1714 Gottfried Silbermann Organ, Saxony, Germany

Located in St. Marien Cathedral, Freiberg, Saxony, Germany. Its current disposition is three manuals and pedalboard with a total of 44 stops.

In 1710, Silbermann was commissioned to build a large organ in Freiberg Cathedral at the request of the Leipzig Thomaskantor Johann Kuhnau. Suffice it to remind that in that year Gottfried had begun working with his brother Andreas on the organ of St. Etienne Abbey in Marmoutier and left for Saxony upon Kuhnau’s request. The disposition of the organ and the design of the façade were conceived by the cathedral’s young organist Elias Lindner. According to Silbermann’s approach to organ building, here too Gottfried merged both French and German traditions. The organ was consecrated in August 1714. In 1738, Silbermann himself reworked the Oberwerk disposition modifying two stops. It resulted in the largest of the 30 organs built by the reputed organ builder.

Thanks to the reverent care of Silbermann’s students and further organ builders, the organ was preserved without alterations. A thorough restoration was carried out between 1981 and 1983 by the firm Jehmlich Orgelbau from Dresden keeping all the original elements and conditions of 1714. Only the original meantone temperament was modified in 1985, to satisfy modern music requirements, but with a reversible system avoiding any change of the pipes length.

Contextual Historical Chronology

1713: Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) Decease on January 8th.

1714: Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788) Birth on March 8th; Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Concertmeister in Weimar.

1717: Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Kapelmeister in Köthen. Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) Water Music.

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