Leipzig: Thomaskirche II

Leipzig: Thomaskirche II
The Sauer Organ of 1889/1908

Introduction

The organ currently in the west end gallery of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig was built in 1889 by Wilhelm Sauer (1831-1916) of Frankfurt an der Oder and installed as part of a general renovation of the church.¹⁹⁶ The 63-stop instrument had cone-valve windchests and mechanical action, and it was housed in an oak case built by a local woodworker named Arnemann.

In 1902 Carl Piutti, the organist of the Thomaskirche, requested some changes, and Sauer added pneumatic action, three frei Kombinationen (combination pistons), an electric blower, and two stops. He also made some changes in voicing at this time.

After Karl Straube became organist in 1902 (following the death of Piutti in June), he began discussing further changes with Sauer. As a result, in 1908 Sauer added 23 new stops with additional windchests and a new console. Changing taste during the decades following Straube's tenure (which ended in the 1920's) resulted in tonal modifications to the instrument followed by an extended period of neglect.

Restoration of the Sauer organ was begun in 1988 by Christian Scheffler, who worked for the Frankfurt Organ Company, the successor to the Sauer firm. Scheffler has reconstructed original mixtures and some of the other altered stops, and plans have been made for the complete restoration of the organ to its 1908 disposition.

Organ Disposition

Manual I		Manual II		Manual III		Pedal
Principal	16	Salicional	16	Lieblich Gedackt	16	Majorbass	32
Bordun	16	Gedackt	16	Gamba	16	Untersatz	32
Principal	8	Principal	8	Principal	8	Contrabass	16
Geigenprincipal	8	Schalmei	8	Viola	8	Principal	16
Viola di Gamba	8	Salicional	8	Aeoline	8	Violon	16
Gemshorn	8	Harmonika	8	Voix céleste	8	Gemshorn	16
Dulciana	8	Dolce	8	Spitzfloete	8	Subbass	16
Doppelfloete	8	Flûte harmonique	8	Flûte d'amour	8	Salicetbass	16
Flûte harmonique	8	Konzertfloete	8	Gedackt	8	Lieblich Gedackt	16
Flauto dolce	8	Rohrfloete	8	Gemshorn	8	Quintbass	102/3
Gedackt	8	Gedackt	8	Quintatön	8	Offenbass	8
Quintatön	8	Octave	4	Fugara	4	Principal	8
Quinte	51/3	Salicional	4	Traversfloete	4	Cello	8
Octave	4	Flauto dolce	4	Praestant	4	Gemshorn	8
Gemshorn	4	Quinte	22/3	Quinte	22/3	Bassfloete	8
Rohrfloete	4	Piccolo	2	Flautino	2	Dulciana	8
Violini	4	Cornett III		Harmonia aetheria III		Octave	4
Octave	2	Mixtur III		Oboe	8	Flauto dolce	4
Rauschquinte II		Cymbel III		Trompette harmonique	8	Contraposaune	32
Mixtur III		Tuba	8			Posaune	16
Cornett II-IV		Clarinette	8			Fagott	16
Scharf V						Trompete	8
Gross-Cymbel IV						Clarine	4
Trompete	16
Trompete	8

Manualkoppeln II/I, III/I, III/II Pedalkoppeln I/P, II/P, III/P Mezzoforte, Forte, Tutti, Rohrwerke Piano-, Mezzoforte-, Forte- und Tuttipedal mit Absteller Handrigister ab drei frei einstellbare Kombinationen Rollschweller mit Absteller Jalousieschweller für Manual III Röhrenpneumatik (Spiel- und Registertraktur) Manualumfang: C-a''' Pedalumfang:C-f'

Photographs

Organ Gallery and Case The case front was moved forward to its present position during the alterations of 1908. The floor plan and placement of columns in the building give the impression in this photograph that the building is narrow and tall. Look at the diagram to the right, which shows the floor plan of the west end of the nave in a simplified form. The small dots represent the first three or four of the columns that appear to be a wall in the photograph to the left. The double lines outline the gallery that not only extends across the west end of the nave but also extends along both sides. The church is actually rather wide, with sides equal in width to the center section of the nave, but the space is quite broken up (both visually and acoustically) by the large columns and galleries.

The photograph to the right was taken from a different angle, and you can see how the organ gallery extends past the columns to the side walls of the nave. The corner of the organ gallery and the south wall gallery can also be seen.