Arp-Schnitger-Festival

The most important European organ builder of his time

The instruments of master organ builder Arp Schnitger (1648–1719) from the Wesermarsch have achieved cult status, and not just among devoted organ fans. Nobody else in the time around 1700 built and exported such magnificent and beautiful-sounding organs all over Europe. He was an inspiration for others in the area, leading to other important organs being built in the workshops of Joachim Kayser, Erasmus Bielfeldt and Dietrich Christoph Gloger. The Arp-Schnitger-Festival once again shines a spotlight on all these treasures in the unique organ paradise that surrounds Bremen. This year, the concert series is centred around a composer who held Schnitger’s instruments in particularly high regard: Johann Sebastian Bach. The programme ranges from works by his predecessors in the office of Thomaskantor to influences from his own extended family of musicians and composers, whom Bach studied assiduously and owes a great deal of inspiration to. So through two of its great exponents, Bach and Schnitger, the unique Northern European organ culture is given new life in the extraordinary atmosphere of the North German churches.