Zacharias Hildebrandt
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The organ builder Zacharias Hildebrandt was born in 1688 in Münsterberg/Silesia. In 1714 his father, a cartwright master, apprenticed him to Gottfried Silbermann in Freiberg. In 1721 Hildebrandt finished his masterpiece, the organ of the Nikolaikirche Langhennersdorf. Afterwards he built an organ in Störmthal near Leipzig, whereby he got to know Johann Sebastian Bach, and from 1724 to 1726 the organ in Lengefeld. Due to the last project a dispute with Gottfried Silbermann took place, who treat him as a rival and sued him. The dispute was settled by an agreement, in which Hildebrandt obliged himself to take over only orders rejected by Silbermann. Therefore he moved his radius of action to the region near Leipzig and to Thuringia. Zacharias Hildebrandt died in 1757.
He constructed the following organs:
| Place | Building time | Manuals | Stops | Annotations |
| Langhennersdorf b. Freiberg |
1722
|
II / Ped |
21
|
Restored (1990-1996) |
| Störmthal b. Leipzig |
1723
|
I / Ped |
14
|
Partially restored (1934) |
| Hilbersdorf b. Freiberg |
1724
|
I |
5
|
Restored, now in Leipzig |
| Liebertwolkwitz b. Leipzig |
1725
|
I / Ped |
13
|
Destroyed (1813) |
| Lengefeld i. Erzgebirge |
1726
|
II / Ped |
22
|
Modified (1933) |
| Sangerhausen, Hl. Geist-Stift |
1727
|
I |
6
|
Not preserved |
| Sangerhausen, St. Jacobi |
1728
|
II / Ped |
27
|
Restored (1976-1978) |
| Pölsfeld b. Sangerhausen |
1728
|
I / Ped |
11(?)
|
Extended by Hildebrandt |
| Sotterhausen b. Sangerhausen |
1730
|
I / Ped |
9
|
Restored (2005) |
| Lindenau b. Leipzig |
1732
|
I / Ped |
10
|
Not preserved |
| Eutritzsch b. Leipzig |
1736
|
I / Ped |
10
|
Not preserved |
| Naumburg, St. Wenzel |
1746
|
III / Ped |
53
|
Restored (1993-2000) |
| Großwiederitzsch b. Leipzig |
1748
|
I / Ped |
10
|
Demolished (1902) |
| Hettstedt i. Südharz, St. Jacobi |
1749
|
II / Ped |
31
|
Only facade preserved |
| Goldbach b. Bischofswerda |
1756
|
I / Ped |
10
|
Modified (1908) |
| Dresden, Dreikönigskirche |
1757
|
II / Ped |
38
|
Destroyed (1945) |
The organs of Zacharias Hildebrandt are a living testimony of baroque organ building art and sound imagination. Their restoration and preservation deserves much attention.
