Heinrich Andreas Contius, also Cuntius (1708 – 1795 in Valmiera, Livonia) is considered the most important organ builder in the

Baltic States The Baltic states, et, Balti riigid or the Baltic countries is a geopolitical term, which currently is used to group three countries: Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. All three countries are members of NATO, the European Union, the Eurozone, ...

in the 18th century.

Life

Contius was born in 1708 as the son of the organ builder Christoph Cuntzius in Halle an der Saale, Duchy of Magdeburg. In 1732 he is recorded as a journeyman of

Joachim Wagner Joachim Wagner (13 April 1690 – 23 May 1749) was an important Brandenburg organ builder. Origin Wagner was born as the son of the pastor Christoph Wagner (1653-1709) and his wife Anna Dorothea ''née'' Tiefenbach in Karow, Duchy of Magdeburg ...

. He initially had his own workshop in

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

. From 1736/37, Contius worked in Halle and the surrounding area. From 1748, a letter of recommendation from Johann Sebastian Bach in his favour for the planned new organ building in the is known, then a letter to Contius himself. Den Auftrag erhielt er aber nicht. In 1760, Contius moved to

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Ba ...

in Courland, where he built an organ for the

St. James's Cathedral, Riga St James's Cathedral (, ) is the Roman Catholic cathedral of Riga in Latvia. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint James the Greater. The building is part of the Old Riga UNESCO World Heritage Site and lies directly opposite the House of the Livonia ...

.Imants Lancmanis: ''Libau. Eine baltische Hafenstadt zwischen Barock und Klassizismus''. Böhlau, Cologne 2007, , . He then worked in Tallinn in Estonia and became the leading organ builder there. In 1771, he returned to Riga and in 1773 was commissioned to build a

new building The New Building (in Hungarian language, Hungarian Újépület, in German language, German Neugebäude) was a fortress located in Pest, Hungary, Pest as a jail. The construction began under the direction of János Hild, the father of József Hild ...

in the great Holy Trinity Cathedral, Liepāja (Libau), which was completed in 1779. In Valmiera, Contius opened a workshop together with Johann Andreas Stein (1752-1821) from Augsburg, who subsequently built further organs in Courland (1787 Cēsis, St. Johannis, 1788 Evele Wohlfahrtskirche).Alexander Fiseisky: ''Die Geschichte der Orgel in Lettland.'' In ''Acta Organologica'', 28, 2004.
Summary

Works (selection)

Contius is known to have built several new organs, as well as repairs and a maintenance contract in the Duchy of Magdeburg,

Courland Courland (; lv, Kurzeme; liv, Kurāmō; German and Scandinavian languages: ''Kurland''; la, Curonia/; russian: Курляндия; Estonian: ''Kuramaa''; lt, Kuršas; pl, Kurlandia) is one of the Historical Latvian Lands in western Latvia. ...

and Estonia. Preserved are most of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, Liepāja, as well as the casing in the St. James's Cathedral in Riga. A replica of the organ in Liepāja has been under construction since 2016 in

Leuven Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest city of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. The municipality itself comprises the historic ...

, Belgium.

Life

Works (selection)

References

Further reading