About the Organ builder Eberhard Friedrich Walcker

Eberhard Friedrich Walcker, born on July,3rd 1794 in (Bad) Cannstatt died on October, 2nd 1872 in Ludwigsburg, was the son of the organ builder Johann Eberhard Walcker in Cannstatt. Until 1811 he went to the Latinschool and after that he was apprentice to his father. Very important for Eberhard Friedrich Walcker was the possibility to meet Abbé Vogler who has been a real expert in organ-theory and a virtuoso in playing the organ as well.

He started with his own organ building company in 1821 in the city of Ludwigsburg north of Stuttgart. In 1827 the great economic breakthrough came with the contract for the large Organ for the Frankfurter Paulskirche. Suddenly he became famous not only in his home-country, the Kingdom of Württemberg, but worldwide. He won the contracts for more very large organs e.g. for St. Petersburg (Russia), Riga, Helsinki, Heilbronn, Zagreb, Ulm and the first concert organ in the USA (today) in the Methuen Memorial Music Hall (first in Boston (Opus 200)). A total of  266 organs left Walcker’s workshop in Ludwigsburg. The Neuhausen Walcker organ has the opus number 126 and has been consecrated in 1854.

Walcker’s main merit was to develop the knowledge of how to build very large organs which had 100 registers and more. In order to manufacture these big organs new ways of planning and specialization of the work-processes had to be invented. EF Walcker has been pioneering Taylorism in manufacturing long before Henry Ford did so in car manufacturing on a big scale. This new technology led to organs that have been the basis for the great composers to write their new organ music of the German Romantic movement. 

More about EF Walcker can be found in EF Walcker .

Bildnachweis Nr. 56