Stellwagen

Friedrich Stellwagen (Halle, c. 1600 or later, date not recorded; died in Lübeck or Stralsund in 1659) was one of the most active organ builders in northern Germany in the seventeenth century. He belonged to a family of organ builders, and his work spread across Hanseatic and Lutheran towns such as Lübeck, Hamburg, Lüneburg, Mölln and Stralsund.

He began his training as a travelling journeyman in Hamburg, working alongside Gottfried Fritzsche, whose daughter he would eventually marry. In 1635 he set up independently in Lübeck, where he undertook large-scale commissions: the organ of the cathedral and those of the churches of St Jacobi, Marienkirche, St Petri and St Ägidien. He also worked in Lüneburg, in Hamburg (St Catherine's) and in Mölln, where he criticised the work of Jakob Scherer. Some of his instruments were completed after his death; the commission for the Lambertikirche in Lüneburg, for example, was finished by his son-in-law Michael Berigel between 1661 and 1665.

His most important instrument was the organ of the Marienkirche in Stralsund, built from 1653 to 1659, with 51 stops distributed across three manuals and pedalboard. His organs follow the Baroque style of northern Germany, with principal choruses, reed stops and pipes of large scale, as well as unusual stops such as the Feldpfeife and the Trichterregal, the latter probably attributable to him. His son Gottfried worked as an organist and organ builder in Güstrow and, around 1664, in Heide.