Reinken's organ in the Katharinenkirche in Hamburg

The organ is currently under reconstruction! (link to German site)

This is the place and the organ were in 1720 Sebastian Bach improvised for two hours on the chorale "An Wasserflüßen Babylons" for the nearly 100 years old Johan Adam Reinken. As Prof. Christoph Wolff proposed, the connection between Reinken and Sebastian Bach may have been far more intense and mutual than that with Dieterich Buxtehude.

But what about this organ. Who built this magnificent instrument, with the famous and promptly speaking Principal 32? What did it sound like?

The truth is that this is all unknown. The builder and sound of one of the most famous organs in musical history is unknown, but in all likelyhood Scherer, Fritzsche or Stellwagen contributed to the instrument. It is only known for sure that around the year 1670, the instrument was repaired by Johann Friedrich Besser from Braunschweig. Joachim Richborn also made reparations to the organ.

A complete history of the organ may be found in W. L. Sumner's "The Organs Played By Bach", which was reprinted in the March, 1985, issue of "The American Organist". Revisions and additions to this article were prepared by Teri Noel Towe and appeared in the December, 1985 issue.

Below, a detailed view of the organ is given. The large Principal 32' dominates the organ. The richly carved console of the Rückpositiv protrudes into the church. Try to imagine: nearly 100 years old Reinken en young Sebastian Bach climbing those stairs, both expecting ...... something musical, certainly something out of the ordinary. According to the accounts, they were not disappointed. Sebastian played for hours on this most beautiful organ. Reinken stated: "I thought this art had died, but I see it continues to live in you".

In later years, Sebastian had still not got tired of telling about the beauty of the instrument. As DÄHNERT (1970: 22) states: "For no other organ has Bach left behind such unqualified praise as for this Hamburg instrument". It thus seems an extra grievious loss, that during the bombing of Hamburg in WWII, this instrument was lost in the fire. We don't know how this once beautiful organ sounded. According to a display in the church, broadcasts were made of this organ before the destruction. Maybe that somewhere in one or the other archive, a copy of such a recording still exists. However, the famous organ builder Von Beckerath investigated the organ in the 1940s and concluded that only a small portion of the old pipework had survived the ages.

The stoplist of the organ has come to us through a 18th century, hand-written collection of organ stoplists. The citation here is cited from DÄHNERT (1970: 33):