Joseph Merklin (17 February 1819 – 10 July 1905) was a Baden-born organ builder who later became a French citizen. By the time of his retirement in 1898, he was a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and had built, restored, or repaired over 400 organs, primarily in the churches of Belgium and France.
French organbuilder
Joseph Merklin (17 February 1819 – 10 July 1905) was a Baden-born organ builder who later became a French citizen. By the time of his retirement in 1898, he was a Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur and had built, restored, or repaired over 400 organs, primarily in the churches of Belgium and France.
He set up his own firm in Belgium in 1843 and later went into partnership with his brother-in-law, Friedrich Schütze, renaming the firm Merklin, Schütze & Cie. In 1855 he bought out the Ducroquet firm in Paris and began to work almost exclusively in France. Three years later, he reorganized the company as the Société Anonyme pour la Fabrication des Orgues, Établissement Merklin-Schütze.
Merklin retired in 1898 and died in Nancy at the age of 86.
His nephew, Albert Merklin (1892 – 1925), became an organ builder. He went to Madrid at the outbreak of World War I to establish a firm there and wrote a treatise on the history and construction of Spanish organs published in 1924.
Source: Wikipedia, referencing additional sources.
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