Die Christian-Vater-Orgel (1730/31) in Wiefelstede

In 1730 and 1731, Christian Vater, an organ builder from Hanover, constructed an organ with 18 stops in St. Johannes Church in Wiefelstedt. The organ façade and eight stops—as they stand in the church today—come from the workshop of Vater, a student of Arp Schnitger. Ten stops were restored between 2011 and 2014 by organ builder Henk van Eeken of Herwijnen, Netherlands, using an elaborate process of replication, so that the organ can now be played with the same stop configuration as when it was installed in 1730 and 1731. It is time to shed new light on Vater’s significance, the organ-building tradition in which he is rooted, and the distinctive features of his organ-building art. This book takes a first step in that direction and serves to document what has been ascertained and researched to date regarding the construction of the organ in Wiefelstede and its history, the 1909 renovation, the restoration attempts in the 20th century, and the successful restoration in the 2010s.