Heinrich Traxdorf (dates of birth and death unknown) was an early German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 organ

Pipe organ

The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

 builder. He was born in Mainz

Mainz

Mainz under the Holy Roman Empire, and previously was a Roman fort city which commanded the west bank of the Rhine and formed part of the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire...

, probably in the beginning of the 15th century. During the 1440s he built three organs in Nuremberg

Nuremberg

Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...

 (the large organ of St. Sebaldus Church

St. Sebaldus Church

St. Sebaldus Church is a medieval church in Nuremberg, Germany. Along with Frauenkirche and St. Lorenz, it is one of the most important churches of the city, and also one of the oldest. It is located at the Albrecht-Dürer-Platz, in front of the old city hall...

, destroyed in 1945, and two small organs for the Frauenkirche

Nuremberg Frauenkirche

The Frauenkirche is a church in Nuremberg, Germany. It stands on the eastern side of the main market. An example of brick Gothic architecture, it was built on the initiative of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor between 1352 and 1362. The church contains many sculptures, some of them heavily restored...

) and one in Salzburg

Salzburg

-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...

, for St. Peter's abbey church

St. Peter's Archabbey, Salzburg

St Peter's Archabbey, otherwise St Peter's Abbey in Salzburg is a Benedictine monastery in Austria. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German-speaking area, if not in fact the oldest.-History:...

. Traxdorf was a progressive builder, one of the first to depart from the gothic

High Middle Ages

The High Middle Ages was the period of European history around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries . The High Middle Ages were preceded by the Early Middle Ages and followed by the Late Middle Ages, which by convention end around 1500....

 organ model by dividing the Blockwerk into independent divisions, dividing the chests and separating the front stops

Organ stop

An organ stop is a component of a pipe organ that admits pressurized air to a set of organ pipes. Its name comes from the fact that stops can be used selectively by the organist; some can be "on" , while others can be "off" .The term can also refer...

 into Flute (Principal) and Octave. The instruments had a single manual and pedal

Pedalboard

A pedalboard is a keyboard played with the feet that is usually used to produce the low-pitched bass line of a piece of music...

, whose ranges were B to d" (manual) and A to b (pedal).