Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau is a company to build pipe organs, founded in 1820 in Potsdam. It was taken over by Alexander Schuke in 1894, and by his sons Karl Schuke and Hans-Joachim Schuke in 1933. From 1950, Hans-Joachim Schuke ran the workshop, now in East Germany, from 1953. It became a VEB, Potsdamer Schuke-Orgelbau in 1972, but Matthias Schuke was able to reprivatise it in 1990 after German reunification, naming it after his grandfather Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau. He moved the workshop to Werder (Havel) in 2004 and passed leadership to his sons in 2018.
.jpg)
trade mark at the Propsteikirche, Potsdam | |
Company type | GmbH |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1820 |
| Headquarters | Werder (Havel) |
Key people | Michael Schuke, Johannes Schuke |
| Products | Pipe organs |
| Website | www |
History
The organ builder Gottlieb Heise founded the company in Potsdam in 1820, with a workshop in a courtyeard of a complex of buildings in the historic Dutch Quarter.[1] In 1848, his pupil Carl Ludwig Gesell took over, first together with Gustav Schulz who soon founded his own workshop. His son Carl Eduard Gesell became head of the company in 1868. When he died without children in 1994, Alexander Schuke bought the company and made it one of the best-known organ building workshops in Brandenburg.[2] When he died in 1933, his two sons, Karl Schuke and Hans-Joachim Schuke led the company jointly.[3]
During World War II, Hans-Joachim Schuke was a Soviet prisoner of war.[4] In 1950 the brothers decided to found a second workshop in West Berlin because of deteriorating conditions, both politically and economically, for manufactoring in the GDR. Hans-Joachim Schuke led the Potsdam section, while Karl Schuke moved to the new Karl Schuke Berliner Orgelbauwerkstatt. In 1972, the Potsdam branch became a state-owned Volkseigener Betrieb VEB Potsdamer Schuke-Orgelbau.
After German reunification, Matthias Schuke, in the third generation and working in the company from 1974, was able to reprivatise the workshop in 1990. He named it after his grandfather Alexander Schuke Potsdam Orgelbau. He moved the company to new premises in Werder (Havel) in 2004.[2]
Schuke erhielt wichtige Aufträge für den Neubau von Orgeln für den Dom zu Erfurt, den Dom zu Magdeburg, den Dom zu Kaliningrad und auch für den Dom zu Zamora in Mexiko.[1] Im 20. Jahrhundert In October 2018, Matthias Schuke passed leadership to his sons Johannes und Michael Schuke.
Musicologists appreciated the "romantic and symphonic sound" of Schuke organs, caused by diligent choice of material for the pipes and the production in their own workshop.[1]
List of works
The company's list of works has more than 630 new organs built between 1895 und 2024, more than 60 restoration works as of 2017, and expansions of existing organs.[1]
The following selected works list features their year of completion, opus location, name of the building, an image, the numbers of manuals, pedals (P) and stops and, if available, an additional reference, notes, a link, and an external link to the entry on the organindex.de website.
| Year | Op. | Location | Building | Image | Manuals | Stops | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1895 | 1 | Radewege | Dorfkirche |  |
I/P | 7 | [5] designed by Carl Eduard Gesell → |
| 1906 | 28 | Lübben (Spreewald) | Paul-Gerhardt-Kirche |  |
II/P | 29 | |
| 1908 | 45 | Golßen | Stadtkirche | _in_der_Stadtkirche_Golßen.jpg) |
II/P | 18 | Schuke gibt in seinem Werkverzeichnis das Baujahr 1908 sowie 14 Register an; 2010 von Scheffler restauriert[6] |
| 1908 | 48 | Toppel | Dorfkirche | I/P | 4 | heute in der Stadtkirche Bad Belzig, restauriert → Orgel | |
| 1911 | 64 | Berlin-Schmöckwitz | Dorfkirche | .jpg) |
II/P | 8 | → Orgel |
| 1912 | 75 | Großbeeren | evang. Kirche | .jpg) |
II/P | 18 | → Orgel --> |
| 1935 | 146 | Zehlendorf (Berlin) | Emmaus-Kirche | _Orgel_(retouched).jpg) |
II/P | 25 | Pionieering instrument of the organ reform movement; first Schleifladeninstrument of the company with mechanic tracture → organ |
| 1936 | 153 | Potsdam | St. Peter and Paul |  |
III/P | 41 | → organ |
| 1953 | 243 | Stendal | St. Nikolaus |  |
III/P | 56 | → |
| 1963 | 337 | Tbilisi, Georgia | Tbilisi State Conservatoire |  |
III/P | 40 | |
| 1966 | 371 | Leipzig | Thomaskirche | III/P | 47 | dismantled in 1999, 42 stops and other parts used for the Fürstenwalde Cathedral in 2005 | |
| 1969 | 402 | Magdeburg | Magdeburg Cathedral, transsept organ |  |
III/P | 37 | |
| 1981 | 499 | Leipzig | Gewandhaus |  |
IV/P | 91 | expanded by 2 stops in 2008 |
| 1988 | 552 | Varna, Bulgaria | Festival Centre |  |
III/P | 53 | |
| 1992 | 583 | Erfurt | Erfurt Cathedral | .jpg) |
III/P | 63 | → organ |
| 1994 | 595 | Tangermünde | St. Stephan |  |
III/P | 32 | Restoration and reconstruction of the organ by Hans and Fritz Scherer (1624) |
| 1997 | 606 | Lublin, Poland | Henryk Wieniawski Philharmonie |  |
III/P | 51 | |
| 2003 | 614 | Spandau | St. Marien am Behnitz |  |
II/P | 35 | |
| 2005 | 613 | Fürstenwalde | St. Mary's Cathedral |  |
IV/P | 69 | using parts of Op. 371, built in 1966 for the Thomaskirche in Leipzig (III/P/47) |
| 2006 | 616 | Kaliningrad, Russia | Königsberg Cathedral |  |
II/P | 32 | → choir organ |
| 2008 | 618 | Kaliningrad, Russia | Königsberg Cathedral |  |
IV/P | 90 | → main organ |
| 2008 | 619 | Magdeburg | Magdeburg Cathedral, main organ |  |
IV/P | 93 | |
| 2008 | 620 | Zamora de Hidalgo, Mexiko | Diocesan Sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe | .jpg) |
III/P | 51 | |
| 2014 | 630 | Pingtung City, Taiwan | Pingtung Performing Arts Center | .jpg) |
III/P | 45 | |
| 2016 | 632 | Kharkiv, Ukraine | Philharmonic buildling | .jpg) |
IV/P | 70 | |
