Zacharias Hildebrandt (1688, Münsterberg,

Silesia Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is split ...

– 11 October 1757,

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

) was a German organ builder. In 1714 his father Heinrich Hildebrandt, a cartwright master, apprenticed him to the famous organbuilder

Gottfried Silbermann Gottfried Silbermann (January 14, 1683 – August 4, 1753) was a German builder of keyboard instruments. He built harpsichords, clavichords, organs, and fortepianos; his modern reputation rests mainly on the latter two. Life Very little is kn ...

, brother of

Andreas Silbermann Andreas Silbermann (16 May 1678 – 16 March 1734) was a German organ builder, who was involved in the construction of 35 organs, mostly in Alsace. Andreas also established the Silbermann family tradition of organ building, training his brother Go ...

Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...

. In 1721 Hildebrandt finished his masterpiece, the organ of the Nikolaikirche of Langhennersdorf, a small village near Freiberg. Afterwards he built an organ in

Störmthal Störmthal is a village, part of Großpösna in the Leipzig (district), Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany. It is known for its church in Baroque architecture, Baroque style. The organ, an early work by Zacharias Hildebrandt, was played and inaugu ...

near

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

(where befriended

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

) and from 1724 to 1726 an organ in

Lengefeld Lengefeld is a town and a former municipality in the district Erzgebirgskreis, in the Free State of Saxony, Germany. It is situated in the Ore Mountains, 23 km southeast of Chemnitz. On 1 January 2014 it was merged with the municipality Pock ...

. 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 Thuringia (; german: Thüringen ), officially the Free State of Thuringia ( ), is a state of central Germany, covering , the sixth smallest of the sixteen German states. It has a population of about 2.1 million. Erfurt is the capital and larg ...

. J.S. Bach thought Hildebrandt was the best organ builder of his time. Hildebrandt's largest organ has 3 manuals and a pedalboard with 53 stops, and is located in the church of St. Wenzel in

Naumburg an der Saale Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNES ...

. Built from 1743 to 1746, in the 27th of September of the latter year, examinations were carried out by Silbermann and Bach. Hildebrandt had resorted to advice from the latter for its stoplist. The organ which had been rebuilt several times since then has been completely restored from 1993 to 2000 by Eule Orgelbau, and is commonly deemed Hildebrandt's ''magnum opus''. His son Johann Gottfried Hildebrandt (1724 or 1725 – 1775) was also an organbuilder.

Organ list

He constructed the following organs:

External links

*
Association for reconstructing the Hildebrandt organ in Lengefeld

Official site of Hildebrandt organ in St. Wenzel church in Naumburg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hildebrandt, Zacharias 1688 births 1757 deaths People from Ziębice People from Austrian Silesia German pipe organ builders