Hans Scherer Organ Tangermuende at St.Stephanus replaced the three year old organ when a fire that swept through the town in 1617, Hans Scherer (the younger) of Hamburg was commissioned in 1620 to build a new instrument, which he completed in 1624. Around 1790, Johann Gottfried Zabel of Tangermünde undertook a major technical rebuild, including replacement of the Hauptwerk and Oberpositiv windchests and action, and new keyboards.

After that organ had suffered severely during a major renovation of the church in 1844-54, it was extensively rebuilt by Friedrich Hermann Lütkemüller of Wittstock in 1856-58. The stoplist was substantially altered, and the short octave, which had been retained in all divisions, was filled out. Only about half of the original Scherer pipework remained. After cleaning and repairs in 1913, in 1929 Furtwängler und Hammer of Hannover changed the pitch to a1=435 by installing new pipes for C and C sharp on additional pneumatic chests and connecting the action of the other keys one tone higher. The Oberwerk was converted into a swell division.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall studies of comparable organs in the West were made and, it became possible to plan a fundamental restoration. Examination of the pipework revealed that at least a few pipes of nearly all the Scherer stops had survived, and that only five stops were entirely missing. This fortunate circumstance facilitated a faithful reconstruction of nearly all the stops. Besides examination of traces in the case and a few remnants of the chests, the technical layout was largely reconstructed by taking parts of other instruments as model. The bellows installed by Lütkemüller were retained. The organ case was brought back to its original form by Paul Schuster of Magdeburg in 1990-92, after which the instrument was reconstructed in 1992-94 by Matthias Schuke of Potsdam. In order to draw on as much expertise as possible, an international team of consultants was formed, which included Harald Vogel, Uwe Droszella and Bernhardt Edskes.

About 50% of the original pipework has survived. What this percentage does not reveal is the fact that about half the pipework of this organ is in the mixtures, and precisely these stops suffered severely from changing taste in the nineteenth century. The foundation stops in particular form quite a different picture. The Prinzipal pipes in the front have all survived, and even a substantial part of the reeds as well. The sound of many stop combinations is therefore largely determined by old pipework. This makes the Tangermünde organ a most exceptional instrument. In no other organ of this tradition have more original pipes survived. It is also the only historic organ of this size in which so much of the Netherlands tradition can be heard. As a consequence, no other large historic organ lends itself so well to the music of Sweelinck as the Tangermünde organ.

For a recording of the Hans Scherer Organ Tangermunde at St.Stephanust organ click here