Though organs are mostly associated with church music the positive organ was a smaller version, most often used in domestic settings in the 16th and 17th centuries. It would be set on a table, and the player would press the keys while an assistant pumped the bellows from the back in order to produce the sound.
This instrument may have belonged to Johann Georg I Duke of Saxony (1585-1656), whose portrait is painted on the instrument. The crest of the organ is decorated with openwork scrolls, known as 'strapwork', a style popular throughout Northern Europe during the Duke's lifetime.
Place of Origin
Dresden, Germany (probably, made)
Date
1627 (made)
Artist/maker
Fritzsche, Gottfried, born 1578 - died 1638 (attributed to, maker)
Defrain, Tobias (restorer)
Materials and Techniques
Pine case, carved, painted and gilt; birch keys, slides and windchest; paper organ pipes
Marks and inscriptions
"Erbaut 1741 Tobias Defrain Orgelbauer a Dresden". Built in 1741 by Tobias Defrain, Organ builder in Dresden.
DG. IOAN. GEOR. D. SAX. ML. CL. & MON. ELEC. By the Grace of God, Johan Georg , Duke of Saxony ... and Elector
Agar ancilla ab Abraham dimittur cum puero Agar the maid is dismissed by Abraham with her boy
Abraham Parentus offeret fillium suum Isaac in Sacrificium domini. Abraham, as a parent, will offer his son Isaac as a sacrifice to the Lord.
Dimensions
Height: 129.5 cm, Width: 112.5 cm, Depth: 58.5 cm
Labels and date
POSITIVE ORGAN
German
Possibly by Gottfried Fritzsche (1578-1638), 1627
Inscribed DG. IOAN. GEOR. D. SAX. ML. CL. & MON. ELEC, with a portrait of Johann Georg I of Saxony. Inside the shutters are painted the stories of The Dismissal of Hagar and The Sacrifice of Isaac.
The case is of pine and the keys, slides and windchest are of birch. The three ranks of pipes are made of layered paper.
The instrument's range is forty-one notes, C/E - g2, a2.
Keyboard Catalogue No.: 13
Gottfried Fritzsche was organ builder to Johann Georg I, Elector of Saxony during the 1620s, and worked extensively in Hamburg during the 1630s. It is thought that the pipes were originally of lead.
2-1867 [pre September 2000]
Production Note
'The organ has long been believed to be the work of Gottfried Fritzsche (1578 - 1638), organ builder to the Electoral Court of Saxony ... During restoration of the case work in 1967, a faint pencilled inscription was found on the key-frame, reading: "Erbaut 1741 Tobias Defrain Orgelbauer a Dresden". This doubtless refers to a renovation of the instrument rather than to its initial construction. The organ's compass and the portrait of Duke Johann Georg I (1585 - 1656), who reigned from 1611, all confirn its seventeenth century origin. The specific date 1627, traditionally associated with this organ and given in previous catalogues, is therefore not improbable. It cannot, however, be substantiated at present.' - Howard Schott.
Materials
Paper; Pine; Birch
Techniques
Painting; Carving; Gilding
Subjects depicted
Abraham; Isaac; Hagar; Ishmael; Duke Johann Georg I of Saxony
Categories
Musical instruments
Production Type
Unique
Collection code
FWK
