Katholische Hofkirche, Dresden

Note: This church is also referred to as Dresden Cathedral since 1980 (label: ‘Kathedrale Zu Dresden’), when it was elevated to cathedral status by papal decree. Of the two labels for this church, please use the one that comes closest to the church name used on the release! Name variations: Court church of Dresden; Hofkirche zu Dresden. Catholic church in Baroque style in Dresden (Germany), built in 1739-1751 for the Catholic court in the predominantly Protestant city. Severely damaged during WW2 in the 1945 air raid, the reconstruction finally lasted until 1965. The church has a famous large Gottfried Silbermann organ (III/P/47), built in 1751-54; retuned to Equal temperament in 1884, the instrument finally was slightly enlarged in 1937 and tuned to pitch a'=440 Hz; pipework, action and console beeing stored away during WW2, only the case of the instrument was destroyed during the 1945 air raid. Re-installed in the church in 1963, the organ was partially restored by Jehmlich until 1971, and then finally by Wegscheider and Jehmlich in 2001/02, when the pitch was adjusted to the original historical pitch of a'=415 Hz, retaining the equal temperament tuning of 1884.