Gottfried Silbermann (1683 – 1753)

Compiled by dr. Jan Skvaril

He belongs to the master organ builders of the German Baroque.
His ancestors were from Saxony in the southeast Germany. Gottfried was born in the village of Kleinbobritzsch. His father was a carpenter and taught Gottfried the precision woodworking.

From 1702 to 1707 Gottfried stayed with his elder brother Andreas in Strasbourg where he studied the arts of organ-building. Andreas was greatly influenced by French and Italian school of organ construction and this undoubtedly had effect on young Gottfried. To fulfill the condition that Gottfried would not work in his brother's territory, in 1710, Gottfried returned to his native Saxony.

He built his first independent organ (I/P/15) for the small town Frauenstein, where he went to school and where is now his museum. This instrument, similarly like the other one for Frauenstein (1738, II/P/20) were later destroyed by fire. His second organ was right away considered a master-piece (1714, Freiberg Cathedral, III/P/44). Silbermann was a prolific builder and built around 45 organs in the rather small area of lower Saxony until his death in 1753. His last organ, for the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden, was finished by his associates in 1755. Regrettably, almost half of his organs succumbed to fire or wars over the years or were irreversibly changed. Silbermann built only four 3-manual organs. His typical instrument had 2 manuals, 20-21 registers and rather uniform disposition – more expansive disposition was rare, and only the instrument in Petrikirche in Freiberg was preserved, as a similar instrument in Sophienkirche in Dresden was destroyed in 1945.

Silbermann spent most of his life in Freiberg. His shop and apartment were located in a corner house on the Schlossplatz (Castle Square) where is now his epitaph.
Silbermann was not only a remarkable craftsman and artist but also a skilled businessman with meticulous documentation and bookkeeping who attained a substantial wealth. He was aware of his own worth as is documented by his petition for an official title to an August den Starken dated June 10, 1723. Already by the end of the month, the king honored him by the title „Honorary Court and State Organ Builder to the King of Poland and Duke of Saxony“.

Silbermann’s relation to J.S. Bach is frequently cited. They were contemporaries and friends. Silbermann was godfather to Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emmanuel. On the artistic level however, they did not agree on everything. One can’t claim that Silbermann’s organ is a prototype Bach organ, even only for the fact that Bach learnt Silbermann organs not until 1725, by which time he already wrote many of his works. Bach played many of these organs but was never asked for his opinion on final approval of the instruments.

The hallmark of Silbermann organs beside the sound is the perfection of the woodworking and the smooth mechanics. He used higher tin content in the pipes to achieve his distinctive brightness to the tone. He was also a master in intonation and adjusted voicing of his rather uniform organs (P, II, 20) according to the site acoustic characteristics. He left detailed registration instructions in his organs in Grosshartmannsdorf and Fraureuth. He was conservative in his preference of modified meantone temperament despite relatively small number of aliquots. His organ sound is more equal, with emphasis on the basic position and with time is getting darker (Gravität). The keyboards typically have small extent, especially so in pedal (C-c1) with omission of C sharp. Solo pedal play including playing cantus firmus is made difficult by the limited pedal disposition (exception here is the Freiberg Cathedral organ). Silbermann was building the pedal firmly linked to the Hauptwerk until 1731. A selectable coupler (usually in the form of a bass ventil) was added much later.

Silbermann organs are unification of perfect honest craftsmanship, tradition bordering with conservatism on one side and leaning away from the peak Baroque acoustic ideal with Romanticism foretaste on the other side. This makes his organs so unique and recognizable. With the proper choice of the instrument and music, one can play successfully works from late Renaissance, Baroque or early Romanticism periods.