Berendt Hus

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Berendt Hus (also Huß or Huss; c. 1630 – February 1676) was a pipe organ builder from what is now Germany. His organbuilding philosophy belonged resonated with that of the early North German Baroque school, being influenced by these environments as well as that of the late Renaissance period.

Hus was the teacher and uncle of Arp Schnitger.

Hus was born around 1630^[1] around Oldenburg in Lower Saxony (present-day northwestern Germany), which was then a county of the Holy Roman Empire. Although with certain variations, his surname is still common there today. He was raised and baptised Lutheran, practising the religion throughout his life.

The earliest record of his activity comes from 1650, when he assisted his master, Hermann Kröger, in building a two-manual instrument in Langwarden, Butjadingen.^[2] This organ has been largely preserved in its original disposition, with fourteen out of its twenty-one stops originating from master and pupil.

Shortly following the completion of the organ the City Church of Saint Mary in Celle, where he worked in 1653 as a journeyman under Kröger on the organ's façade, Hus concluded his apprenticeship and opened his own organbuilding workshop. His first independent project was a new organ built in Diepholz between 1655 and 1656. He later moved to Glückstadt.

Hus is best known as having taught organbuilding of his nephew Arp Schnitger. Schnitger apprenticed with his uncle between 1666 and 1671 and thereafter worked for him as a journeyman (having received an unusually high salary) until Hus's death in 1676.^[3] From 1661 through 1665, Schnitger assisted Hus in augmenting the organ of Glückstadt City Church, which the latter built, by expanding it with a third manual division (Brustwerk). Their most significant collaboration, the organ in the Church of St. Cosmas and Damian (a contract originally signed by Hus alone) in Stade, was built from 1668 through 1673. Throughout his career, Hus built five organs of his own, and rebuilt or repaired several others.^[3]

In 1654, Hus married Maria Fritzschen in Oldenburg and became a citizen of this city. Baptisms of their four children were recorded between 1656 and 1671.

He died in February 1676.

Arp Schnitger renovated his uncle's first instrument in Langwarden from 1704 through 1705, augmenting it by revoicing the reeds, replacing parts of them, and strengthening the mixture-ranks. However, these efforts were mostly undone by reconstruction efforts by Schmid in the nineteenth century; they were later restored to Hus' state by Alfred Führer.

year	town	church	picture	manuals	stops	notes
1650	Langwarden	St. Laurentius		II/P	21	collaboration with Hermann Kröger; organ largely preserved
1653	Celle	Stadtkirche St. Marien		III/P	35	collaboration with Hermann Kröger, especially on the façade (which has been preserved); pipes reconstructed by Rowan West (presently III/P/49)
1655–1656	Diepholz	Stadtkirche		II/P	16
1658–1659	Mariendrebber	St. Marien und Pankratius		II/p	17	enlarged in 1857 by Gebrüder Haupt with the addition of a pedal division (II/P/22); reconstructed 1991
1658–1660	Eckwarden	St. Lamberti		II/p
1661–1665	Glückstadt	Stadtkirche Glückstadt		II/P	27	enlarged by Hus and Schnitger with the addition of a new division (Brustwerk) in 1674–1675; prospect preserved, now in St. Nicholas (Burg auf Fehmarn) (picture)
1667	Jade	Trinitatiskirche		I/p	11	attribution[2]
1668–1673	Stade	St. Cosmae et Damiani (Stade)		III/P	42	collaboration with his nephew and pupil Arp Schnitger; largely preserved
1673	Sandstedt	Ev.-luth. Kirche		II/P	16	organ case preserved; pipework by Gebrüder Hillebrand and Alfred Führer
1673–1676	Stade	St. Wilhadi		III/P	45	completed by Arp Schnitger; destroyed by fire in 1724