Background
Merklin was born in Oberhausen and was trained in his craft first by his father and then by Friedrich Hasse in Berne and Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Ludwigsburg.
Merklin was born in Oberhausen and was trained in his craft first by his father and then by Friedrich Hasse in Berne and Eberhard Friedrich Walcker in Ludwigsburg.
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. 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 had to leave France at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War.
After the war ended, he became a naturalized French citizen and in 1872 set up a new branch in Lyon. In 1879, he gave half the shares in the Lyon company to Charles Michel, who had married Merklin"s daughter Marie-Alexandrine in 1875.
Merklin"s last firm was in Paris, established with Philippe Decock and Joseph Gutschenritter. Merklin retired in 1898 and died in Nancy at the age of 86.
In his lifetime he had built, restored, or repaired over 400 organs.
Many of the organs he built in France are now classified as historical monuments by the French Ministry of Culture. 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. Churches with organs built or restored by Joseph Merklin include:
Murcia Cathedral, Murcia, Spain
Notre-Dame de Clignancourt, Paris, France
Louisiana Rochelle Cathedral, Louisiana Rochelle, France
Guadalajara Cathedral, Jalisco, Mexico.
Saint-Barthélemy, Liege, Belgium
Saint-Georges, Lyon, France
Saint-Michel Basilica, Bordeaux, France
Saint Peter"s Church, Vorselaar, Belgium
Strasbourg Cathedral, Strasbourg, France
Temple du Marais, Paris, France
Temple Neuf, Strasbourg, France
Trinità dei Monti, Rome, Italy
Troyes Cathedral Troyes, France.