Auferstehungs Church

Prehistory until 1877

Around 1500, the church of Plauen received its first organ from the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, which had been damaged by fire in 1491 and was intended for a complete reconstruction. Although, for example, an organ repair took place in 1692, the then teacher Kretschmar complained in 1709 about the unusually poor condition of the instrument. Only after the demolition of the old Frauenkirche in Dresden did the church receive 9 registers of the Weller organ there, donated by the inhabitants. Tobias Schramm (1701–1771), city organ builder and later court organ builder, created a new organ from this by 1754 with 11 registers on one manual and pedal, which was consecrated in May 1746.

However, when the village of Plauen was severely affected and plundered during the Battle of Dresden in August 1813, almost all the wood was torn out of the church, and the organ was destroyed.

It now took only three years until a new, presumably again single-manual, organ could be consecrated, which was probably built by Friedrich Traugott Kayser (one of the sons of the organ builder Johann Christian Kayser): It was consecrated on the 11th Sunday after Trinity in 1816.

Organ 1878–1901

In connection with the comprehensive renovation of the church – (5th church building) – Traugott Bienert (1813–1894) donated 8000 M to the community in 1877 for a new organ. Carl Eduard Jehmlich's proposal for a new building with 20 registers on 2 manuals, which also responded to the changed sound perception in the meantime, received the best evaluation and was commissioned for execution. On the 1st Advent 1878, the newly built organ was put into service, and subsequently, the new church was consecrated at Christmas 1878. However, the organ was only finally completed in February 1879 (photo left).

Organ 1901–1985

In 1900, as part of the last major expansion of the church by architects Lossow & Viehweger, negotiations began for a new organ with the organ building company Gebr. Jehmlich. The reuse of all 20 registers of the old organ was planned, of which ultimately 19 registers were actually reused, with the disposition proposals being evaluated by the then cantor Ferdinand Witzmann and the then church school teacher. The case design comes from the aforementioned architects, which allowed for a consistent, unified spatial concept to be implemented with the interior design of the church space also carried out by them. The case, unique in its kind and elaborately designed by them, is indebted to the Art Nouveau style of the time, but also incorporates stylistic elements from various epochs. Like the entire interior, it is adorned with numerous angel heads; the carving below the facade pipes refers to the Bible through symbols such as fish and grapevine.

The old organ was dismantled in April 1901, when construction work on the church was already in full swing, and on April 1, 1902, the new organ could be inspected by senior seminar teacher Karl Richter (photo right). It originally had cone chests, a detached console, and pneumatic action and stop action.

From today's perspective, according to organ researcher Wolfram Hackel, "this organ represented a typical example of its time, in which a changed sound perception is again recognizable." "Through the fundamental tone and the construction of solo registers, an attempt was made to imitate the sound of orchestral instruments and the orchestra. The clear brightness of the sound of Baroque organs was no longer in demand. In addition, the pneumatic action, praised as a technical advance at the time, was used. Here, the control of the tone valves and registers occurs through compressed air in thin tubes. The power transmission from the key is delayed by the several-meter-long tubes."

The costs for the new organ building, amounting to 14,375 Marks, were again borne by the Bienert family.

However, the new organ in this form only existed for a few years. In 1917, the tin facade pipes had to be removed and handed over for war purposes. Likewise, repairs were carried out over the years, and in 1934, the company Gebr. Jehmlich installed three "Baroque registers" and acoustically redesigned other registers.

In 1946, the organ was tuned higher from 435 Hz to 440 Hz to enable interaction with orchestral instruments. 75% of the costs were borne by the Dresden Kreuzchor, which, after the destruction of the Kreuzkirche and Kreuzschule, initially found its home as a school in the Dresden-Plauen Gymnasium and sang for the first time on July 1, 1945, in the service of the Auferstehungskirche and also gave its concerts here until the Kreuzkirche was reused.

In 1958, the company Gebr. Jehmlich received the order for a technical renewal of the action (redesign of the console) and an acoustic redesign of the disposition, whereby for financial reasons, the community preferred the cheaper conversion to the new construction of an organ, especially a slider chest organ. In 1959, the work was carried out, but in this way, only the most urgent problems could be solved.

A change in the situation occurred with the arrival of Cantor Gerald Stier in the community, who initially strove for further improvement, but this ultimately failed in 1972 with the attempt to bring the completely uneven action to an even delay by relocating the intermediate gears and increasing the action wind. With great personal commitment, Cantor Stier, who was also church music director of the Dresden West church district from 1976, initiated an organ donation collection within the community for a new organ building, in which community members actively participated for years with the most diverse initiatives.

Organ since 1985

Starting in 1977, conceptual considerations were also made. For example, it was determined that with a new organ and the requirements of organ playing, only 28 registers would have been possible within the existing case. Due to the wooden barrel vault, the church interior has hardly any reverberation, which also had detrimental effects on the disposition of the new building: The acoustic presence of the organ in the room could not be achieved in this way. Finally, in 1983, after much deliberation, it was decided to move the case 1.25 meters into the room, which was also to be extended backward and at the same time improve sound radiation by installing a back wall. In addition, an expansion of the disposition from (previously planned) 28 to 44 registers was decided: The Oberwerk (swell organ) received a richer complement, and a Rückpositiv was planned as another manual division. In terms of sound concept, the community aimed for the synthesis of a "healthy, fundamental foundation with brighter, Baroque sounds to do justice to the room and its dry acoustics." Corresponding playing aids (electric stop actions and setter combinations) would have been sensible for an organ of this size but failed due to the lack of foreign currency to purchase this technology in West Germany. However, it was undisputed from the outset that it should be a slider chest organ.

After obtaining offers, the church council finally decided to entrust VEB Eule-Orgelbau Bautzen with the new organ construction, which began with constructive preliminary work in 1984. For cost reasons, the reuse of still usable material was insisted upon. The architect of the Rückpositiv, Dr. Karlheinz Georgi, in turn stylistically adopted the design of the main case. At Christmas 1984, Pastor Hoch once again urgently reminded the community during the Christmas vespers of the impending new construction and the continued need for support, as it was the second-largest new organ construction in Dresden after the Kreuzkirche since the Second World War.

The old organ was finally dismantled at the beginning of 1985 by volunteers, and through enormous efforts by all involved, the new organ was consecrated on the 4th Advent (December 22) 1985. In 2000, after the renovation work on the church, technical work, an acoustic review, and a cleaning of the organ were carried out by the builders.

For the village church – whose pastor was first known by name in 1329 – a single local pastor was sufficient for centuries, until 1890. In 1890, the second pastoral position was established, and in 1902, with the consecration of the 6th church building, the third pastoral position. In 1945, after the destruction of the Frauenkirche, the Auferstehungskirche was designated as the new Ephoralgemeinde (episcopal parish) for the Dresden-Land church district and thus received the superintendency of the Frauenkirche. With this, the (existing) third pastoral position was linked to the Auferstehungskirche. With the reorganization of the Ephoral districts in 1976, the Dresden-West superintendency was formed and dissolved in 1999. From 1999, the number of local pastors was also gradually reduced again to a single local pastoral position – since 2005.

In the First World War, in 1917, the three largest bells from 1893 were confiscated and melted down. In 1922 and 1929, the peal was restored, with the fourth bell from 1893 being used as metal. During the Second World War, the bells from 1922 and 1929 again fell victim to metal collections; they were melted down again for war purposes. After the war, the community received the steel bells of the destroyed Zionskirche, which still form the peal of the Auferstehungskirche today.

During the air raids of February 13, 1945, the building remained largely undamaged; only almost all glass windows, especially those in the chancel, were destroyed by the pressure waves and splinters of the explosive bombs.

The elimination of war damage in 1952/1953 was used by the then church building custodians as an opportunity to also remove all the stucco in the chancel. Influenced by the taste of the time, it was perceived as "bombastic and unbearably overloaded." During the renovation of the church rooms from 1996 to 1999, the original condition could be almost restored.

Directly above the church is the small Inner Plauen Cemetery on Krausestraße. The significantly larger Outer Plauen Cemetery is located at the southern end of Bernhardstraße on the border with Coschütz – directly next to the Coschütz Cemetery.