Biggest Mechanical Organ in the WorldAs soon as the church was built, the
new organ with 36 stops was also ready, built by the Courland Duke’s privileged
organ constructor Johann Heinrich Joachim (Johann Heinrich Joachim, 1696. -
1762.). Unfortunately, the congregation was not satisfied with the instrument.
The only thing that remains today from J.H. Joachim’s initial instrument is its
prospectus.
In 1773 Heinrich Andreas Contius
(1708. – 1792?), one of the most outstanding masters of that time, was invited
to Liepāja. In 1779, he constructed the instrument with 38 stops and this time,
people of Liepāja were pleased with their organ.Starting from 1844, the organ of Holy
Trinity Church experienced a further development, father and son Herrmann,
organ builders, worked on the instrument. The father, Karl Peter Otto Herrmann
(1807. – 1868.), increased the organ up to 64 voices, and in 1868 the organ
already had four manuals. After father’s death, his son Karl Alexander Herrmann
(1848. – 1926.), proceeded with the work. In 1877, K.A. Herrmann did his second
and last extension of the Holy Trinity Church organ, and then he moved on to
Petersburg. At that moment, the organ had 77 voices and more than 3,800 pipes,
21 wind chests and 12 swell boxes.
When the biggest organ in the world
was installed in the Rīga Dome Cathedral, people of Liepāja had only one
target- beat Rīga.
In 1884, the extension of the
complex Holy Trinity Church organ was entrusted to the well-known Barnim
Grȕneberg’s organ building company from Stettin (Karl Barnim Theodor Grȕneberg,
1828.-1907.). The organ obtained its current
appearance in 1885. It is the biggest
mechanical organ in the world with 4 manuals, 7,000 pipes and 131
independent voices. The mechanical organ means that a rather complex mechanical
transmission system, which is ready to respond to every organist’s strike to
the keys, takes care of the valve opening. During this extension period, the
organ also obtained its side prospectus. Mostly, the organ extension work was
performed thanks to the long-lasting incessant and devoted fervour of the Holy
Trinity Church cantor and organist Adolph Wendt, 1819. - 1886.Above the fourth manual a porcelain
plaque is placed, on which there is an inscription in German: “In 1885 the
biggest organ in the world was built in B. Grȕneberg’s organ-building workshop
in Stettin.” The inscription confirms that the organ really was the biggest
organ in the world. It preserved the status until 1912, when in Hamburg a
bigger instrument was introduced in Michael’s Church. Nevertheless, the status
of the world’s biggest mechanical organ still belongs to the organ of Liepāja
Holy Trinity Cathedral.
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