Johann Michael Röder

Johann Michael Röder was a German organ builder in Berlin and Silesia from the first half of the 18th century. He was a pupil of Arp Schnitger.

Life
Röder's year of birth and death are unknown. He was apprenticed to Schnitger for four years as a journeyman carpenter. In 1712, Vincent Lübeck described him in a letter to the Tangermünde council as a "big talker" who "greatly despises and contempts Herr Schnitger". In Röder's works, the influence of his teacher can be clearly heard, but he went his own way in the external design of the organs and moved further away from Schnitger than any of his students. Thus, he abandoned the Werkprinzip, did without a Rückpositiv and built the pipe organ rather flat. His special technical skills earned him the name "Mechanicus" and led to all kinds of late Baroque such as kettledrum-beating angels, eagles, stars of orders, suns and others.

Johann Mattheson commented positively on Röder's organ in Breslau: "All emperors, kings and princes would be astonished if they saw the engraving of it and it consists of 56 sounding parts: 4 principals, as one a 32, one a 16 and two a 8 feet, a glockenspiel, which is tracted by the angels moving in the Gloria with their hammers in their hands with the help of the pedal as well as a pair of küpferner (visible) timpani, on which likewise two angels perfectly present everything that can be had on natural timpani with their mallets and can be played with the trumpet as well as intros and lifts.

List of works (selection)
New organs by Röder are known in Orgellandschaft Brandenburg and Lower Silesia. Some are partially preserved.