József Angster (7 July 1834 – 9 June 1918) was a

Hungarian German German Hungarians (german: Ungarndeutsche, hu, magyarországi németek) are the German-speaking minority of Hungary, sometimes called Danube Swabians (German: ''Donauschwaben'', Hungarian: ''dunai svábok''), many of whom call themselves "Shw ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

-making master. He was the founder of the Angster dynasty, one of Central Europe's most sought after in the craft, and an important figure in Hungarian applied arts history.

Origins

Angster was born at Kácsfalu, in present-day

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into a

Danube Swabians The Danube Swabians (german: Donauschwaben ) is a collective term for the ethnic German-speaking population who lived in various countries of central-eastern Europe, especially in the Danube River valley, first in the 12th century, and in grea ...

family who had travelled to Hungary from

Michelstadt Michelstadt () in the Odenwald is a town in the Odenwaldkreis (district) in southern Hesse, Germany between Darmstadt and Heidelberg. It has a population of 28,629 people. Geography Location Michelstadt is the biggest town in the Odenwaldkre ...

in the 1790s. He wrote his memoirs in German, they were translated in his old age into Hungarian, he later said that in speaking Hungarian he was a beginner, and in writing it he was an unschooled senior.

Studies

He studied

cabinet making A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...

then travelled to

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

and worked in Germany. He studied organ manufacturing in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

at the Titz factory and from 1863 to 1866 worked in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. ...

under

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ build ...

where he also worked on the organs of

Cologny castle Cologny () is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Canton of Geneva, Switzerland. History Cologny is first mentioned in 1208 as ''Colognier''. The oldest trace of a settlement in the area is a Neolithic lake side village which ...

Notre Dame Notre Dame, French for "Our Lady", a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, most commonly refers to: * Notre-Dame de Paris, a cathedral in Paris, France * University of Notre Dame, a university in Indiana, United States ** Notre Dame Fighting Irish, th ...

and Sainte-Trinité. He returned home on foot although he was asked to stay and work abroad. He was a deeply religious man and was made member of the

Order of St. Gregory the Great The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great ( la, Ordo Sancti Gregorii Magni; it, Ordine di San Gregorio Magno) was established on 1 September 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election as Pope. The order is one of ...

by the

Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

and was also president of the old boy's club in Pecs until his death.

Life and work

His first domestic commission was for the new

Pécs Synagogue Pécs ( , ; hr, Pečuh; german: Fünfkirchen, ; also known by other alternative names) is the fifth largest city in Hungary, on the slopes of the Mecsek mountains in the country's southwest, close to its border with Croatia. It is the administ ...

and he founded a workshop in that city in 1869. The organ still remains in the synagogue today. In the following decades he received numerous commissions in Hungary and surrounding countries, including

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. His domestic works include: *

Kalocsa Kalocsa (; hr, Kaloča or ''Kalača''; sr, Kaloča or Калоча; german: Kollotschau) is a town in Bács-Kiskun county, Hungary. It lies south of Budapest. It is situated in a marshy but highly productive district, near the left bank of the ...

Cathedral. *Pécs, Inner city R.C. church. *

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, Terézváros (Budapest) R.C. church. *Pécs Cathedral, built in 1880, it was the 100th organ built by Angster. *Budapest, Kálvin squ. Reformed church *

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

, Kossuth str. Reformed church *

Győr Győr ( , ; german: Raab, links=no; names in other languages) is the main city of northwest Hungary, the capital of Győr-Moson-Sopron County and Western Transdanubia region, and – halfway between Budapest and Vienna – situated on one of t ...

Cathedral

Legacy

His legacy is the instruments he built. His name is attached to a Technical college in Pécs, where he died, as well as one street in the city. After his death, the organ factory's business was run by Emil and Oskar Angster after 1903 and from 1940 to 1949 by Jozsef Angster, who had been born in 1917. He and his nephew, Imre Angster, established a second factory at Rakospalota and introduced some technical innovations. The

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

takeover resulted in the factory being closed as far as organ manufacturing was concerned. However, since 1992 a new workshop was set up in Pécs with backing by Jozsef Angster.

Written works

*''The history and workings of the organ'', (Pécs, 1886)

Literature

*Jozsef Angster (the younger): ''Angster - a book about the Pécs workshop and family history'',

Pannonia books Pannonia (, ) was a province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, coterminous westward with Noricum and upper Italy, and southward with Dalmatia and upper Moesia. Pannonia was located in the territory that is now west ...

, 1993. *''Jozsef Angster obituary'', Musical journal/Zenei Szemle, 1918 no. 5

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Angster, Jozsef 1834 births 1918 deaths People from Jagodnjak Hungarian pipe organ builders Musical instrument manufacturing companies of Hungary