Egbert Ennulat’s is the featured soloist of a new CD titled BAROQUE MUSIC, on a very famous northern German baroque organ by Arp Schnitger; built in 1680. Recorded in May 1999, the CD features composers who were contemporaries or friends of the organ builder: Jan Pieterzon Sweelinck; his student Samuel Scheidt; the well-known Spanish composer Antonio de Cabezon; Vincent Luebeck, a lifelong friend of Schnitger’s; the Italian-born Domenico Zipoli, who emigrated to Uruguay; Nikolaus Bruhns, of the northern German baroque—and who died very young; Johann Sebastian Bach; Dietrich Buxtehude; and the French rococo master of Noels, Louis-Claude Daquin.

Arp Schnitger (1648-1719) was the master of organ building during the northern German baroque period. The founder of a dynasty of organ builders, his influence and fame extended not only to the rest of Germany and the Netherlands, but also to England, Spain, Portugal and Russia. In 1691 Schnitger built an organ of 16 stops for the Grand Duke of Moscow, who later became Czar Peter the Great.

Between 1662 and 1666, Schnitger worked under the guidance of his father, who was a renowned carver of organ cases. From 1666 to 1676, Schnitger apprenticed himself to his cousin, the organ builder Berendt Huss. After the latter’s death in 1676, Schnitger completed several of Huss’ instruments.

In 1678, Schnitger set out as an independent organ builder, and his first extant instrument (1680) was the organ for the church of the Benedictine monastery St. Johannis in Hamburg, Germany. During the French occupation (1806-1814), this church was occupied by Napoleon’s army and served as a military depot. The organ was put into storage in 1813.

Meanwhile. The church of St. Petri and St. Pauli in Cappel, a village northwest of Hamburg, was destroyed by fire (1810) due to negligence by the organist. The rebuilding of the church drained the finances of the congregation, making impossible the acquisition of a new organ. An opportunity to buy the St.Johannis/Hamburg organ, for 600 Reichstaler in Louisdor, brought the instrument to Cappel in 1816. The remote location of the village—and the continuing lack of finances—allowed this organ to fall into oblivion and to escape the inappropriate and even harmful restorations typical of the 19th century. The fact that Cappel was accessible only by a dirt road during World War I also prevented the confiscation of the organ’s front pipes for the war effort. Of all Schnitger’s instruments, the organ in Cappel is the only one to retain the original pipes in the front part of the organ case. Built for a much larger space, this organ dominates the small church in Cappel. Until its 1816 installation, the organ had eluded alteration and, fortunately, all the way to 1939, when the concepts of the Orgelbewegung made possible a faithful stylistic restoration.

The organist sits between the two sections of the instrument. The main portion, the Hauptwerk (main organ), is situated at the back wall, and    

the Rueckpositiv, the division of the other manual, hangs on the balcony 

 rail behind the performer.