Jürgen Ahrend

Jürgen Ahrend was a German organbuilder and technician. He restored instruments such as the Gothic Rysum organ and the Arp Schnitger organs of the [Organ in the Organ in the Martinikerk at Groningen|Martinikerk at Groningen|Martinikerk] in Groningen, Netherlands, and of [Schnitger Rysum organ|organ (Hamburg)|St. Jacobi] in Hamburg as well as building organs of his own creation. He presided over his eponymous firm, Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau in Leer, from 1972 to 2004, operating internationally.

WWW orgelbau-ahrend.de

Life and career

Early and personal life

Ahrend was born in Treuenhagen, a village near Göttingen, on 28 April 1930. His father, Heinrich Ahrend, was an administrative employee by profession; however, he maintained a stringent passion for music, being a singer and choir director who also played various instruments. Following the destructive events of World War II, his mother Elisabeth became a single mother to her five children. His first marriage was to Margarete Bartels; following their divorce, she married the Dutch organist Klaas Bolt. They had five children: two of them have taken up musical professions, Seivert and Heiko. His most famous child, Henrik, is the current head of the organbuilding firm he founded.

Organbuilding and workshops

From 1946 to 1948, he held an apprenticeship in the firm of, a Neo-Baroque organbuilding firm in Göttingen. He then worked for the firm as an employee. He undertook study travel with, who had also been an apprentice of Ott, to European organ builders, Metzler Orgelbau in Switzerland, Flentrop in the Netherlands and Marcussen & Søn in Denmark. The two formed a partnership in Leer–Loga, Lower Saxony in 1954, which they called Ahrend und Brunzema. They produced 54 new organs and restored nineteen, until Brunzema left the firm in 1972 to work in Canada. They restored the original tuning of organs from the Renaissance and Baroque eras, beginning with the, the and the Gothic Rysum organ. When they built a new organ in Baroque style for the Zorgvlietkerk in Scheveningen in 1958, they received international recognition. They built a new transept organ for the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam and a new organ for the Doopsgezinde Kerk in Haarlem, and restored instruments of the Waalse Kerk in Amsterdam and the Hooglandse Kerk in Leiden.
The workshop operated as Jürgen Ahrend Orgelbau from 1972. Ahrend was also commissioned to restore the organs and their tuning for the Arp Schnitger organs in the Martinikerk in Groningen, the organ of St. Jacobi in Hamburg and organ of St. Ludgeri in Norden. In Hamburg, the organ pipes had been removed from the organ case for safety in 1942. The church was destroyed by bombing. In the restored church, Ahrend used the historic pipes in a new case to revive the sound he had in mind.
Ahrend used several historic building techniques in his restoration work. He devoted about half of the workshop's time to restoration. He restored internationally, such as the organ of Frederiksborg Castle in Hillerød and the Martinikerk. He was interviewed extensively in the film Martinikerk Rondeau, released in 2009.
Since 2005 his son Hendrik Ahrend has run the workshop. Jürgen Ahrend became involved in the organ festival Orgelfrühling in Krummhörn from its beginning. The 2020 edition was dedicated to him to honour his 90th birthday, but it could not be held until 2022 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ahrend died in Leer, Lower Saxony, on 1 August 2024, at the age of 94.

Awards

1962, Staatspreis für Kunsthandwerk Niedersachsen
1986, Lower Saxony State Prize for culture
2000, Honorary doctorate of law from the Monash University, Victoria, Australia
2007, The Buxtehude Prize from the city of Lübeck.

Works

Ahrend & Brunzema (1954–1971)

year	opus	town	church	picture	kind	manuals	stops	information
1954/88	1	Larrelt	Larrelt church		R	I/p	11
1955	4	Westerhusen			R	I/p	7
1957	9	Uttum			R	I	9
1957	10	Veldhausen	Altreformierte Kirche		NB	I	6
1959/2002	18	Scheveningen	Zorgvlietkerk		NB	III/P	26
1961	25	Rysum	Rysum Church		R	I	7	organ
1961	27	Aurich			NB	II/P	25
1962	29	Espel	Ref. Church		NB	I	7
1962	30	Bremen	St. Martini		NB	III/P	33
1963	34	Wassenaar	Kivietkerk		NB	II/P	21
1965	41	Amsterdam	Oude Kerk		NB	II/P	17
1965	43	Amsterdam	Waalse Kerk		R	II/P	26
1965	40	Groningen	Magnaliakerk		NB	II	13
1965	42	The Hague	Johanneskapel		NB	II/P	14
1966	45	Bremen	Protestant Church Oberneuland		NB	II/P	22
1967	49	Castrop-Rauxel	Johanneskirche Schwerin-Frohlinde		NB	III/P	27
1968	51	Aalten	Gereformeerde Zuiderkerk		NB	II/P	16
1968	58	Haarlem	Mennonite Church		NB	III/P	24
1969	62	Hamburg	Reformed Church, Altona		NB	II/P	15
1966/69/87	65	Marienhafe	Marienkirche		R	II/p	20
1970	68	Frankfurt am Main	Cantate Domino		NB	III/P	33
1970	69	Uelsen	Reformed Church		NB	II/P	20
1970/76	70	Innsbruck	Hofkirche		R	II/p	15
1963–71	74	Leer	Große Kirche		R	III/P	37

Jürgen Ahrend (1972–2004)

year	opus	town	church	picture	kind	manuals	stops	information
1972	76	Eugene	MarAbel B. Frohnmayer Music Building of the University of Oregon		NB	IV/P	38
1966–73	79	Ochtersum			R	I/p	9
1972–75, 1993/94	81	Stade	St. Cosmae et Damiani		R	III/P	42
1974	83	Taizé			NB	III/P	28
1975	84	Hamburg	Christengemeinschaft Johnsallee		NB	II/P	18
1975	90	Frankfurt am Main			NB	II/P	18
1975	92	Sloten	Reformed Church		R	II/p	16
1977	97	Duderstadt			NB	III/P	28
1978	98	Edinburgh	Reid Concert Hall		NB	II/P	21
1978	100	Joure	Reformed Church		NB	III/P	27
1979	103	Melbourne	Monash University		NB	IV/P	45
1980	104	Leiden	Hooglandse Kerk		R	II/P	24
1981	105	Toulouse	Musée des Augustins		NB	III/P	33
1982/99	107	Lüdingworth			R	III/P	35
1978–83	108	Weener			R	II/P	29
1976/77/83/84	111	Groningen	Martinikerk		R	III/P	52
1985	115	Porrentruy	Lycée Cantonale		NB	II/P	30
1981–85	116	Norden			R	III/P	46	organ
1985	118	Stellichte			Rc	II/p	12
1986	120	Tokyo	St. Gregory House		NB	II/p	13
1986/2007	121/178	Kantens	Ref. Church		R/Rc	II/p	15
1986/87	127	Vienna	Michaelerkirche		R	III/P	40
1987–90	128	Stade			R	III/P	40
1989	130	Tsukuba	Bach-Grove		NB	II/P	19
1989	131	Wetzlar			NB	II/P	22
1990	134	Milan	San Simpliciano		NB	III/P	35
1991	135	Pilsum			R	II/p	16
1991	138	Zwettl	Zwettl Abbey		R	III/P	35
1990–93	139	Hamburg	St. Jacobi		R	IV/P	60	organ
1993	140	Payerne	Payerne Priory		Rk	II/P	22
1993/94	143	Trondheim	Nidaros Cathedrale		R	II/P	30
1994/95	144	Osteel			R	II/p	13
1995	145	München	Deutsches Museum		NB	II/P	17
1997	147	Landshut			NB	II/P	15
1997	149	Tokyo	Casals Hall, Nihon University		NB	III/P	41
1997	150	Stuttgart	Musikhochschule Stuttgart		NB	II/P	15
1998	151	Logabirum			NB	I/P	10
1997/98	153	Dornum			R	III/P	32
2000	157	Lübeck	Lübeck Cathedral		R	I/p	10
2000	158	Kongsberg	Kongsberg Church		R	III/P	42	organ
2001	159	Trebel			R	II/P	19
2002	160	Leer			NB	III/P	39
2002	161	Köln			NB	II/P	19
2002/03	162	Wilten			R	I/P	4
2003/04	163	Altenbruch			R	III/P	35
2004	164	Hokksund	Haug, Norway kirke		NB	II/P	22
2004	165/183	Oldersum			NB	II/P	16

Hendrik Ahrend (from 2005)

year	opus	town	church	picture	kind	manuals	stops	information
2005	170	Notre Dame/Indiana	University of Notre Dame		NB	I	5
2005	171	Pernegg			R	II/P	18
2006	172	Calgary	University of Calgary		NB	II/P	21
2007	176	Herzogenaurach			NB	II/P	26
2007	177	Vaison-la-Romaine	Vaison Cathedral		NB	II/P	20
2007	178	Kantens	Antoniuskerk		Rk	II/p	15
2007	179	Våler, Hedmark	Våler kirkelige fellesråd		R	I	8
2007/08	180	Leer	Catholic-Apostolic Church		NB	II/P	10
2009	187	Venice	Chiesa di San Salvador		NB	I	8
2009	188	Melle			R	II/P	23
2009	189	Königs Wusterhausen			NB	II/P	19
2010	194	Brixen			R	I/P
2010/11	195	Hollern			R	II/P	24
2011/12	199	Worpswede	Zions's Church		NB	II/P	24
2011/12	200	Buttforde			R	I/p	9
2012/13	202	Badia, South Tyrol			NB	III/P	about 35
2013	203	Sankt Peter			NB	II/P	17
2013/14	204	Rinteln			R	II/P	20
2015	207				NB	II/P	21
2015–16	210	Heidelberg			N	II/P	32
2017	213	Tokyo	Concert Hall		NB	II/P	21
2014–18	206/215	Leer			R	III/P	48
2018–20	217	Regensburg			NB	II/P	30