An Innovative Organ for St. John’s

This chapter describes the new organ Johann Scheibe built for the St. John's Church in Leipzig in 1741–43. Scheibe re-used part of the so-called "swallows-nest" organ, an instrument he assessed, dismantled and removed from St. Thomas's in 1741, and he also was given the small Trost organ that had stood in St. John's since 1695. Although the organ was declared faultless by examiners Thomascantor J.S. Bach and organ builder Zacharias Hildebrandt, a dispute arose when Scheibe demanded a large additional payment (which he eventually received). The exacting examination the organ underwent appears to have been used to support Scheibe's claims and may not have been because of the criticism levied against Bach's compositional style by Johann Adolph Scheibe, the organ builder's son.