1677/1688 Hus - Arp Schnitger Organ
Ev.-Luth. Kirche Ss. Cosmae et Damiani
Stade/Niedersachsen, Germany
 

 Short Introduction and History
The Hus-Schnitger organ in the St. Cosmae church in Stade, Niedersachsen, with its three manuals and 42 speaking stops on a 16 foot basis is one of the most important large North-German Baroque organs of this day. This organ gives an insight into the North-German organ culture of the 16th and 17th century and offers an authentic representation of organ compositions from this period. The first organist in 1675 was Vincent Lübeck who worked here for 30 years.
 
In 1668 Berendt Hus was contracted with the building of a large new organ for the St. Cosmae. His nephew, Arp Schnitger, who had already been working at his uncle's shop since he was 18, had an important influence on the design and tonal concept of this instrument. In 1972-1975 and 1993-1994 followed a systematic restoration by Jürgen Ahrend of Leer reconstructing the situation of 1688.
 
This instrument has an exceptionally large number of original pipes. All of the manual reeds and most of the pedal ones are original.

Recording technique
The organ was recorded in Oct./Nov. 2008 with 48 kHz, 24 bit, multi-channel for Hauptwerk 3, using the multi-release technique introduced by OrganART. The stops were recorded with multiple release levels for short, medium and long key attacks for optimal acoustical mapping.