Quick Facts
| Intro | German organ builder | ||
| Was | Organ maker Musical instrument maker | ||
| From | Germany | ||
| Field | Music | ||
| Gender | male | ||
| Birth | 1688, Ziębice, Poland | ||
| Death | 1757, Dresden, Germany (aged 69 years) | ||
| Family |
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Biography
Zacharias Hildebrandt (1688 – 11 October 1757) was an organ builder, born in Münsterberg, Silesia. In 1714 his father, a cartwright master, apprenticed him to Gottfried Silbermann in Freiberg. In 1721 Hildebrandt finished his masterpiece, the organ of the Nikolaikirche Langhennersdorf. Afterwards he built an organ in Störmthal near Leipzig, where he got to know Johann Sebastian Bach, and from 1724 to 1726 the organ in Lengefeld. On this project, a dispute developed with Gottfried Silbermann, who treated him as a rival and sued him. The dispute was settled by an agreement in which Hildebrandt obliged himself to take over only orders rejected by Silbermann. Therefore he moved his work to the region near Leipzig and to Thuringia.
He constructed the following organs:
| Place | Manuals | Stops | Annotations | |
| Langhennersdorf b. Freiberg | 1722 |
II / Ped | 21 |
Restored (1990-1996) |
| Störmthal b. Leipzig | 1723 |
I / Ped | 14 |
Restored (Eule 2008) |
| Hilbersdorf b. Freiberg | 1724 |
I | 5 |
Restored, now in Leipzig |
| Liebertwolkwitz b. Leipzig | 1725 |
I / Ped | 13 |
Destroyed (1813) |
| Lengefeld i. Erzgebirge | 1726 |
II / Ped | 22 |
Restored (2010-2014) |
| Sangerhausen, Hl. Geist-Stift | 1727 |
I | 6 |
Not preserved |
| Sangerhausen, St. Jacobi | 1728 |
II / Ped | 27 |
Restored (1976-1978) |
| Pölsfeld b. Sangerhausen | 1728 |
I / Ped | 11(?) |
Extended by Hildebrandt |
| Sotterhausen b. Sangerhausen | 1730 |
I / Ped | 9 |
Restored (2005) |
| Lindenau b. Leipzig | 1732 |
I / Ped | 10 |
Not preserved |
| Eutritzsch b. Leipzig | 1736 |
I / Ped | 10 |
Not preserved |
| Naumburg, St. Wenzel | 1746 |
III / Ped | 53 |
Restored (1993-2000) |
| Großwiederitzsch b. Leipzig | 1748 |
I / Ped | 10 |
Demolished (1902) |
| Hettstedt i. Südharz, St. Jacobi | 1749 |
II / Ped | 31 |
Only facade preserved |
| Goldbach b. Bischofswerda | 1756 |
I / Ped | 10 |
Modified (1908) |
| Dresden, Dreikönigskirche | 1757 |
II / Ped | 38 |
Destroyed (1945) |