ARP SCHNITGER: ORGAN BUILDER, SOUNDSCAPER, PIONEER, 1648–1719

Those interested in organs built by Arp Schnitger visit small villages and encounter urban splendours of sound. Its richest forms unfold themselves in Hamburg and Groningen.

Arp Schnitger, born and bred near the North Sea in Lower Saxony, was a traditional craftsman – and far more modern. He acted as an engineer (organs were among the most complex machines of his time) and as an entrepreneur: he sometimes built several organs at the same time at places far distant from each other. Additionally, and as an ingenious logistics specialist, he planned access to scarce luxury commodities and the transport of finished organs across a pre-modern Europe. He himself was constantly on the go, monitored the work in progress and optimised his concepts of sound.