Maass, Nikolaus

(d Copenhagen, 1615). German organ builder. He was active in central and

northern Germany and in Denmark from 1584 to 1615, and came perhaps from
Saxony; the supposition that he was from Brabant is not borne out either by
Praetorius, who is a major source of information about him, or by the style of his
work. Maass worked in 1584 and 1598 on the organ of the Marienkirche, Prenzlau,
built by F. Petersen in 1567, and from 1599 to 1603 on another of Petersens
organs, that of St Nikolai, Greifswald (1575). He was granted citizenship in
Stralsund in 1592, where in 15924 he built a large organ (three manuals, 43
stops). He built another in the region, in the Marienkirche at Barth, in 1597, and he
worked in Grimma, Saxony, at some time before 1598. Maass settled in
Copenhagen in autumn 1603 as organ builder to the royal Danish court. He built a
large organ in the Nikolaikirche, Flensburg, 16049 (three manuals, 38 stops; the
case by H. Ringerinck survives). In 1611 he supervised the rebuilding of the
Roskilde Cathedral organ, built in 15535 by H.R. Rodensteen. His last large
organ, 161315, in the chapel at Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerd, was completed
after his death by his pupil Johann Lorentz from Saxony, who succeeded him as
court organ builder. In important characteristics Maasss organs are in the style of
the large central German Baroque organs; his principal model seems to have been
David Beck. He equipped the Hauptwerk, Rckpositiv and Pedal each with a
complete Principal chorus and a comprehensive group of foundation stops and,
especially in the Rckpositiv and Pedal, a colourful series of reed stops. Maasss
larger organs have, in addition, a separate Brustwerk with its own keyboard, which
was also provided with three comprehensive groups of stops at least that is true
of the Stralsund organ; it was a rarity in north German organs of that date. Maass
built slider wind-chests; his keyboards have compasses of CDEg''a'' or CDEd'
(St Nikolaikirche, Flensburg).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MGG1 (M.A. Vente)
PraetoriusSM, ii
W. Gurlitt: Zum Schlerkreis des kurschsischen Hoforgelmachers Gottfried
Fritzsche,Musik und Kirche, x (1938), 15869
N. Friis: Orgelbygning i Danmark: renaissance, barok og rokoko
(Copenhagen, 1949, 2/1971)
P.G. Andersen: Orgelbogen: klangteknik, arkitektur og historie (Copenhagen,
1956; Eng. trans., 1969)
M.A. Vente: Die Brabanter Orgel (Amsterdam, 1958, enlarged 2/1963)
H.P. Detlefsen: Musikgeschichte der Stadt Flensburg bis zum Jahre 1850(Kassel, 1961)
O. Schumann: Quellen und Forschungen zur Geschichte des Orgelbaus im
Herzogtum Schleswig vor 1800(Munich, 1973)
HANS KLOTZ