Orgelbau Klais is a German firm that designs, builds and restores
pipe organs. It is a family run company, founded in 1882 by Johannes Klais senior and is now run by his great-grandson Philipp Klais. The firm is based in
Bonn, Germany, and has completed many large-scale building and restoration projects around the globe in more than a century of organ building.[1]
History of the company
Johannes Klais studied organ building in
Alsace, Switzerland and
Southern Germany. He founded his own organ building workshop in
Bonn in 1882. His way of building organs was closely bound up with traditional construction methods using slider windchests. But as early as before the turn of the century he built high pressure stops with two mouths on pneumatic cone valve chests. In 1906, together with his son Hans, he introduced electric action. Hans Klais took over in 1925. In his time facade design began to come under the influence of the modern age, ergonomic
console designs were also being developed. Hans Gerd Klais, the founder's grandson, took charge in 1965. Philipp Klais, the great-grandson of the founder, studied organ building in
Alsace, France; in Germany; and overseas. He now runs the company.
Klais instruments around the world
Here is a short list naming a few of the Klais instruments around the world:
Cologne Cathedral in
Cologne, Germany: The main instrument was finished in 1998 and although enormous, it is almost dwarfed inside the colossal gothic church as it clings to the balconies. Klais also restored other organs in the cathedral and added a detached console that operates all of them at once.
St. John's, Smith Square in
Westminster, UK, a redundant but still consecrated church which commissioned its organ when the building became a concert hall.
^Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his correspondent Book as an example of a "
Hidden Champion" (Simon, Hermann: Hidden Champions of the 21st Century : Success Strategies of unknown World Market Leaders. London: Springer, 2009.-
ISBN978-0-387-98147-5.)
Hans Gerd Klais: Beiträge zur Geschichte und Ästhetik der Orgel: Aus Anlass der Einhundertjahrfeier Orgelbau Johannes Klais Bonn, 1882–1982. Bonn 1983.
Architecture of Music. Inspired pipe organs in world class buildings. Johannes Klais Orgelbau (Ed.), Bonn w.J.
Horst Hodick: Johannes Klais (1852–1925); ein rheinischer Orgelbauer und sein Schaffen. Musikverlag Katzbichler, München/Salzburg 1993,
ISBN3-87397-139-9.