Schnitger, Franz Caspar (1693-1729)

Abstract

Dutch organbuilder of German birth, son of Arp SCHNITGER. Franz Caspar was born on 15 October 1693. He worked in his father's shop and helped to build the organ in Weener (1709-10). After their father's death, Franz Caspar and his brother Johann Jürgen Schnitger (chris. 4 Sep 1690, d. after 1733) completed the four-manual organ for Zwolle, Grote of St. Michaelskerk (1718-21, extant). Although the instrument received much praise, it was also criticized for not being able to combine the Vox Humana with the Quintadena and Baarpijp (a much-favored Dutch registration) and for its use of unequal temperament (after Werckmeister), considered less good than the meantone temperament still widely used in the Netherlands at the time.