In the footsteps of the young Johann Sebastian Bach

The Brick Gothic Phenomenon in Northern Germany

by Aldo J. Baggia

What strikes one immediately in the north of Germany is the uniformity of the style of architecture of the major churches. Throughout Schleswig-Holstein and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern the cathedral-size edifices have certain things in common. They are all massively-built gothic churches with high arching naves, some of which are well over a hundred feet in height, and they are made of brick. This last element creates a significant difference in feeling from the churches of the south of Germany or from the great French cathedrals whose soaring features have a more delicate nature about them. The use of bricks makes for a monumental effect that is striking from within and without. The Nikolaikirche in Wismar has a vaulting of 37 meters, which is the second highest in Germany after that of the Marienkirche in Lübeck, which rises to 40 meters. The steeples of the Marienkirche in Lübeck reach the height of 125 meters and are the center-pieces of the Lübeck skyline which emphasizes a row of seven church towers in the island core that is the city center. The Marienkirche of Stralsund in Ostvorpommern is 96 meters long with a vaulting of 32 meters, and the Baroque organ of 1659 is the last work of one of Lübeck's most famous organ builders, Friedrich Stellwagen. Not only is it his last work, but it is one of his largest organs (III/51) in a case that is absolutely spectacular, which rivals that of St. Bavo's in Haarlem, Holland. One cannot help but be inspired without even having heard a note from the instrument. This feeling is reproduced in the other brick gothic churches, where the combination of a formidable organ case blends so well with the aesthetic value of the architecture.

 

A common quote from a variety of sources is: "A Lutheran church must have a Bach organ." The implication would be that it must be a Baroque instrument with certain specifications and yet when one listens to Bach on a variety of organs, it would be difficult to make a definitive case for specifications, given the organs that are found in the typical North German Lutheran church, most of which are a far cry from what is labeled as a typical Baroque organ. I recall a recording by Nicholas Danby doing favorite works by Bach on the 1970 Marcussen organ (III/47) in the Cathedral of Lübeck. In the liner notes he wrote that he considered that particular instrument to be ideal for Bach's music because "of all the organs of our time, I find no other that matches its majesty and subtlety."1

One could add that the Cathedral's interior itself is quite majestic and subtle. I heard Peter Stenglein from Coburg play Bach's Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C, BWV 564, on that organ and was impressed with the colors produced, but the instrument was just as scintillating in the final movement of Vierne's First Symphony, a piece which requires brilliance and power. Conversely a small instrument can produce marvelous effects in Bach, depending on the virtuosity and articulation of the organist. I think of Simon Preston's recording on DGG of some of Bach's major works, including the Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565, on the Kreuzbergkirche organ (II/24) in Bonn. There is a strength that easily matches the sound produced by much larger organs, but the style is a winning one.

It is clear that Bach appreciated larger instruments, including those that had features not normally associated with a Baroque organ. In the Oxford Composer Companions book on Bach (edited by Malcolm Boyd), it is stated that "The 18th century Thuringian organ is characterized by an increasingly generous number of 8' flue stops, including string stops of delicate but incisive timbre, with a slight purr or sizzle, and with a characteristic initial speech suggesting the bowstroke of a string instrument. The 8' flue stops, together with an ample number of 16' and 32' stops, provide gravity of tone."2 There tended to be relatively few reeds, but Silbermann was known for having powerful reeds, which he adopted after having studied with his brother, Andreas, in Strasbourg. His implementation of reed stops of power and brilliance had a considerable influence on organ building throughout Germany for generations.

Two instruments directly provide significant information on the question of a Bach organ because of the fact that Bach played and appreciated both of them. In the Schlosskirche in Altenburg, Thuringia, the Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost organ (II/36) was praised by Bach for its workmanship and the character of its individual stops. One can play his most ambitious works on it. Zacharias Hildebrandt built the organ of the Wenzelskirche (III/53) in Naumburg between 1743 and 1746. Both Bach and Silbermann examined the instrument and found it successful. This organ has many 8' stops, but also has a full array of 16' stops and mixtures. There is a full complement of high-pitch stops and even by today's standards would be considered a relatively large organ. The case is elaborately decorated and quite spectacular. The Totentanz organ (IV/56) in the Marienkirche in Lübeck is noted as a Bach organ and Ernst-Erich Stender, the church organist since 1972, has played the entire gamut of Bach's works on this organ with great success. If one examines this instrument, which was built by the Führer Orgelbau of Wilhelmshaven in 1985, one finds a broad base whose divisions have a diversity of stops, including a total of 13 reed stops which give the organ a shine and power that one usually associates with very large instruments. It does not have any 32' stops, but is abundant in 8' and 16' stops. This organ is capable of playing romantic and modern compositions with success, but is usually limited to Bach, Buxtehude and their contemporaries in concerts.

Romantic and modern compositions are usually played on the V/101 Kemper & Sohn organ that was installed in 1968. Interestingly enough, Ernst-Erich Stender played major pieces of practically all of the well-known composers for the organ in the summer of 1999 and this represented a considerable feat of virtuosity. Featured at different times were the works of Liszt, including Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Zagen, the Prelude and Fugue on BACH, Ad nos, ad salutarem undam, Reubke's 94th Psalm, Franck's Pièce héroïque, and Choral No. 3 in A-minor, plus works by Vierne, Widor, Langlais, Alain, Reger, Jongen and Messiaen. This is a daunting show of virtuosity on the part of the organist, and the instrument produces a sound that is significant in size, color and brilliance. The organ sits so high in the West Tower that one can barely make out the organist when he takes a bow after a concert. This has to be the highest loft in the world and just thinking of the 40 meter vaulting in the nave puts one in awe.

In pursuing the work of the three Friedrichs--Ladegast, Friese and Stellwagen--it is noteworthy to see how their organs dove-tail with the style and architecture of the churches for which they were built. The Ladegast organ in the Schweriner Dom was basically untouched by the Second World War and was restored in the late 80s by Schuke VEB of Potsdam. This organ, IV/84, has essentially the same specifications as the organs in the Cathedral of Merseburg and the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig and represents Ladegast at the height of his powers. We know that Franz Liszt's major pieces and Reubke's 94th Psalm were first performed on the Ladegast organ in Merseburg Cathedral, and this is interesting because the installation was early in his career. There is a similarity with Silbermann's experience in Saxony in that he was given the contract for the large organ of the Freiberger Dom after having had very little experience. A recent recording by Christoph Schoener on the Mitra label of Liszt's Ad nos, ad salutarem undam and Reubke's 94th Psalm on the organ in Schwerin gives ample testimony to the fact that it matches or surpasses the Merseburg organ in color, brilliance and power. And in comparing these performances with all the other recordings that I know of the pieces, I would say that they hold their own comfortably with the competition. In a concert in July 1999, Andreas Liebig, an organist from Oslo, played Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on BACH, and the organ responded brilliantly. The acoustics of the cathedral are very good,  and one senses a warmth as well as a monumental quality to the sound. The organ was dedicated in 1871, some sixteen years after the dedication of the Merseburg instrument, which brought Ladegast instant fame.

That organ was built with 81 stops on four manuals and pedal and with its 5686 pipes was the largest in Germany at the time. The Hauptwerk had 20 stops, the Oberwerk 16, the Brustwerk 14, the Rückpositiv 11 and the Pedal 20. Liszt was so impressed with reports of the organ that he immediately sought to hear it. The Leipzig music critic, Dr. Franz Brendel, a champion of the North German school, wrote on August 31st, 1855, in the "Neue Zeitschrift für Musik," of which he was the editor, "that this instrument opened a new phase in organ-building, in which things have been achieved here that had never been attained on any other organ."3 In his review of the dedication he wrote "it was the unanimous feeling that this is a musical instrument that establishes the organ-builder as an outstanding master. The character of this work is different from any other organ. Insofar as power and fullness (body and depth, using all the stops) it is clearly the best; however it is also unique in the softer and peaceful stops. There is a euphony and mellowness to it that we have not yet heard from other organs. The sound is, to describe the main point in a couple of words, poetic nature."4

The large organ has retained the Baroque case of 1716, but was rebuilt by Schuke of Potsdam in 1984. Most of the restoration work in the former East Germany has been done by two companies in the north, Schuke of Potsdam or Wilhelm Sauer Orgelbau of Frankfurt/Oder and two in the south, Eule Orgelbau of Bautzen and the Gebrüder Jehmlich Orgelbau of Dresden. Obviously there are other companies, but it is interesting to note how many times these four firms have been mentioned since the time of the Second World War with respect to building new organs or restoring historic ones.

Following Merseburg, Ladegast moved from strength to strength and in the large organs he showed what he had learned from other sources, having particularly profited from studies with Cavaillé-Coll in France. Clearly additions were made to his art in the construction of the Nikolaikirche organ in Leipzig (IV/84) in 1862. Here he introduced the Barker lever and divided the wind chests of three manuals into two compartments, which made the playing easier and made a difference in the wind pressures as well as bettering the air intake. Johann Gottlob Töpfer's book of 1855, Theorie und Praxis des Orgelbaus, laid down principles for the specifications of pipes, wind chests, bellows and wind trunks, and Walter Ladegast writes that this organ was the first large organ that put Töpfer's principles into practice.5 This organ has had rebuilds and additions by the Wilhelm Sauer Company of Frankfurt/Oder and now has 94 stops.

   The other major organs that Ladegast built and which still exist include

1. The Marienkirche in Weissenfels (III/41) in 1863. This is where he had his workshop.

2. The Schlosskirche in Wittenberg (III/39) in 1864. The organ was rebuilt and enlarged to IV/56 in 1993-1994 by Eule Orgelbau of Bautzen. Knobs in different colors indicate the origin of the stops--red for the original ones, light red for the rebuilt ones, two Sauer stops are brown and the new Schwellwerk is in black. As such, one can play the organ with only the original specifications if one wishes.

3. Stadt-und Kathedralkirche St. Jakob in Köthen (III/47) in 1872. This organ was restored in 1993-1994 by Christian Scheffler.

4. Kreuzkirche in Posen, now Posnan, Poland (III/43) in 1876. This organ has not been altered.

5. Stadtkirche St. Marien in Ronne-burg (III/32) in 1879. The organ was restored in 1992-1993 by Rösel & Hercher Orgelbau of Saalfeld.

6.  St. Johann's in Wernigerode (III/33) in 1885. This organ was an example of his using cone chests as opposed to the slider chests that he had used in his earlier organs. There was a full restoration by Schuke of Potsdam in 1989/1991 with a view to putting the organ back into its original condition.

7. The Kirche "Zu unserer lieben Frauen" in Mittweida (III/42) in 1888. In a rebuild in 1931 by the Jehmlich Brothers of Dresden, the case and pipes were used.

I did not mention the organ of the Grosser Saal der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (III/52) in Vienna, which was installed in 1872, because it was replaced by a Rieger (IV/71) in 1907, which was replaced by an even larger organ (IV/100) in 1968 by Walcker of Ludwigsburg.

  We have to look at the organ of the Schweriner Dom to see what would have to be considered his magnum opus because it is now the largest of those that are in as close to an original state as possible. This instrument of 5197 or 5235 pipes, depending on the source, has 84 stops divided over four manuals and pedal and sits high in the West Tower of the Cathedral. It is an impressive sight and the sound surrounds one in the nave and is characterized by brilliance in the reeds and tremendous power in the 32-foot pedal stops. The key action uses the Barker lever, and  a combination action allows crescendo/

decrescendo. The pipes are 97.8% original (according to the report that the Schuke Company had written at the time of the restoration) and the tin pipes were "built according to Silbermann's principles."6 This last quote has been mentioned in a number of sources and stresses the point that Ladegast used Silbermann as his model with respect to the fashioning of the pipes. This instrument is capable of playing the entire literature and is equally as effective in Bach as it is in the moderns. A number of recent recordings give ample testimony to this point.

Schwerin is the home base of Friedrich Friese, who is little known outside of the region. Friese built primarily smaller instruments, and the II/31 organ of the Paulskirche in Schwerin, whose restoration was completed by Kristian Wegscheider at the end of June, 1999, is a good example of a medium-sized organ which produces airy sound that has heft and which is comfortable in romantic as well as baroque music. The celebrations in the summer of 1999 included a series of six concerts in which one of the Mendelssohn sonatas was played as part of the program. There is brightness at the top and the strings sing. The Paulskirche is a large brick church whose acoustics rival those of the Cathedral.  A number of other churches in Mecklenburg have Friese organs and they tend to be two-manual instruments with 20 + stops. In Schwerin itself, there is also the organ (II/33) of the Nikolaikirche, better known as the Schelfkirche because of the section of the city in which it is located, which was restored within the last few years and which typifies the clear sound of a Friese organ.

Another notable one is in the Georgenkirche in the city of Parchim, which is not too far from Schwerin. Here we have an organ (II/25) that is in a case which is quite similar to that of the Paulskirche in Schwerin. The church is not as large as some of the others, but still has an air of power because of the brick element.

Lastly we come to Friedrich Stellwagen, who is known in North Germany for two organs in particular. The small organ (III/31) in the Jakobikirche in Lübeck, which dates from 1636-1637, was a renovation project that included a new Brustwerk and Rückpositiv. Fortunately this church was not destroyed during the Second World War, and the organ survives with restoration work done in 1978 by the brothers Hillebrand. His last and largest work (III/51) was installed between 1653-1659 in the Marienkirche in Stralsund. This instrument has been maintained by different sources over the years and underwent a restoration in 1959 by the firm of Alexander Schuke of Potsdam in order to reclaim the original scalings of 1659. Further work has been done on the organ since then, and currently the church is undertaking a major fund drive to do a definitive restoration of the organ. Martin Rost, the organist at the Marienkirche, expects this project to be a very costly one and indicates that world-wide help would be appreciated. The account for the project at the Deutsche Bank in Stralsund is: 5440144-01 (Stellwagen-Orgel Stralsund).

Needless to say, this is one of the great organs in the world, one whose sound matches the incredible decoration of the case. If majesty were an adjective that one would apply to an instrument, it would certainly fit here. The first track of a recording that is available at the church tells the whole story.7 Martin Rost plays Nicolaus Bruhns' Prelude in e minor and one is struck immediately by the extraordinary sound that emanates from the organ.

Stellwagen came from Halle and moved to North Germany in 1630 and was considered the best student of Gottfried Fritzsche. Gustav Fock thought that he was the most significant conduit to Arp Schnitger, who is generally considered the most famous German organ-builder of the seventeenth century.8 Stellwagen added new stops to those introduced in the north and, in particular, was known for his Trichterregal (a type of horn or trumpet) in the Rückpositiv. Fock mentions that it was a "Schalmey construction, with a longer, slightly conical resonator and wide conical top."9  This stop is also found in the Jakobikirche organ in Lübeck.

One could easily continue with descriptions of other organs of importance in the area such as those in Güstrow (the Cathedral and the Stadtkirche), Greifswald (the Cathedral) or in the Nikolaikirche in Wismar, whose Mende organ (II/30) has a striking case and stands out because of the extraordinary mass of the interior of the church.

In Stralsund there is also the Nikolaikirche which has an historic Buchholz organ (III/55) of 1841 as well as a new Baroque-style organ (II/22) of 1986 by Schuke of Potsdam. This church has the dimensions of  the Marienkirche and the organs stand out impressively. In Rostock the Marienkirche was one of the few buildings in the heart of the city that escaped the bombing of the Second World War, and the elaborate case of the Paul Schmidt organ (IV/62) of 1766-1770 still stands. The organ was rebuilt and enlarged to 85 stops in 1983 by the Sauer Orgelbau of Frankfurt/Oder. The architecture of the church is in keeping with that of most of the large churches of North Germany and mirrors the same visual effects.

Not so far from Lübeck is the island city of Ratzeburg, which features the fortress-like Cathedral that contains an organ (IV/76) that has been widely recorded. The original organ was built by Rieger in 1978 and was subsequently enlarged and revoiced in 1993-94 by Glatter-Götz Orgelbau of Owingen. The Cathedral contains two smaller organs of recent vintage--the Choir organ (II/20) by Rieger (1972) and Michael Becker (1996), and the Becker Paradies organ (II/15) of 1985.

Suffice it to say that North Germany is a region that contains organs that would interest any aficionado and which make a visit worth while.10              n

 

Notes

                  1.              CBS Masterworks recording, CD MDK 45807, Bach Organ Favorites by Nicholas Danby.

                  2.              Oxford Composers Companions, J. S. Bach (Malcolm Boyd, Editor), Oxford University Press, 1999, p. 339ff.

                  3.              Friedrich Ladegast-Der Orgelbauer von Weissenfels, by Walter Ladegast, Weiding Verlag, Stockach am Bodensee, 1998, p. 54.

                  4.              Ibid.

                  5.              Ibid, p. 64

                  6.              cf. Notes from Mitra Schallplatten,  CD16245, Christoph Schoener an der Ladegast Orgel im Dom zu Schwerin.

                  7.              Die Stellwagen-Orgel von 1659 in St. Marien zu Stralsund, Discus STW 95906, Martin Rost spielt norddeutsche Orgelmusik, 1995.

                  8.              cf. Gustav Fock, Hamburg's role in Northern European Organ Building (Translated and edited by Lynn Edwards and Edward C. Pepe), Westfield Center, Easthampton, Massachusetts 1997.

                  9.              Ibid, p. 71.

                  10.           Other sources of information. All translations with the exception of the Fock were done by the author.

Die Orgelbauten der Residenzstadt Schwerin, Julius Massmann, Wismar, 1875. Commentary and additions by Hermann J. Busch and Reinhard Jaehn, Merseburger, 1988.

Wiedereinweihung der Ladegast-Orgel im Dom zu Schwerin, Evangelischer Presserverband für Mecklenburg, e. V., 1995

Die Schweriner St. Paulskirche und Ihre Orgel, im Auftrag der St. Paulsgemeinde Schwerin (Christian Skobowsky), 1999.

Einweihung der rekonstruierten Friese-Orgel in der Schelfkirche zu Schwerin, Kirchgemeinderat der St. Nikolai (Schelf), 1994.

Die Stellwagen-Orgel von 1659 zu St. Marien, Stralsund, Gemeindekirchenrat St. Marien, Stralsund, Rügen-Druck, Putbus, 1995.

Die Orgel der St. Marien-Kirche zu Rostock, Stiftung St.-Marien-Kirche zu Rostock, e. V.

Die Restaurierung der Mende-Orgel von 1845, Kirchgemeinde St. Nikolai Wismar, 1995.

Ratzeburger Dommusiken 1999, Ratzeburger Domchor (KMD Dr. Neithard Bethke), 1999.

CD, Orgelkonzert im Schweriner Dom, Jan Ernst spielt an der Ladegast-Orgel von 1871, Domkantorei Schwerin, 1997.

CD, Orgelmusik in St. Nikolai zu Stralsund, Evangelischer Kirchengemeinde St. Nikolai, Stralsund, 1998.

CD, Ornament 11445, Johann Sebastian Bach, Grosse Orgelwerke, Ernst-Erich Stender an der Totentanzorgel in St. Marien zu Lübeck, 1991.

 

Aldo J. Baggia is Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages and Instructor in French, Spanish, German, and Italian at Phillips Exeter Academy in Exeter, New Hampshire. He holds a Bachelor's degree from Iona College and the MA from Middlebury College, and has completed graduate work at Laval University and Duke University. He has pursued postgraduate studies in France, Germany, Austria, and Spain, and travelled extensively in Europe. He has written reviews for Quarterly Opera Review, Opera, Opera News, Orpheus, Monsalvat, and The Diapason.

 

St. Marien, Stralsund

HAUPTWERK

                  16'          Prinzipal

                  16'          Bordun

                  8'             Oktave

                  8'             Spitzflöte

                  51/3'     Hohlquinte

                  4'             Superoktave

                  4'             Hohlflöte

                  2'             Flachflöte

                                    Rauschpfeife II-IV

                                    Mixtur VI-X

                                    Scharff IV-VI

                  16'          Trompete

OBERPOSITIV

                  8'             Prinzipal

                  8'             Hohlflöte

                  4'             Oktave

                  4'             Blockflöte

                  4'             Kl. Quintadena

                  22/3'     Nasard

                  2'             Gemshorn

                                    Scharff IV-VII

RÜCKPOSITIV

                  16'          Gr. Quintadena

                  8'             Prinzipal

                  8'             Gedackt

                  8'             Quintadena

                  4'             Oktave

                  4'             Dulzflöte

                  2'             Feldpfeife

                  11/2'     Sifflöte

                                    Sesquialtera II

                                    Scharff VI-VIII

                                    Zimbel III

                  16'          Dulzian

                  8'             Trichterregal

                  4'             Regal

PEDAL

                  24'          Gr. Prinzipal

                  16'          Prinzipal

                  16'          Gedacktuntersatz

                  8'             Oktave

                  8'             Spitzflöte

                  4'             Superoktave

                  4'             Nachthorn

                  2'             Feldpfeife

                                    Mixtur IV

                  16'          Posaune

                  8'             Trompete

                  8'             Dulzian

                  4'             Schalmei

                  2'             Cornett

 

 

by Gregory Crowell

Gregory Crowell is university organist of Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan, where he also teaches harpsichord, music theory, and music history. He also serves as director of music at Trinity United Methodist Church in Grand Rapids and is secretary of the Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society. Crowell holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and the University of Cincinnati, and has studied with Yuko Hayashi, Bernard Lagacé, Mireille Lagacé, Harald Vogel, and Roberta Gary. He has performed as organist, harpsichordist and clavichordist in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States. In 1994 he was invited to speak on the music of Bach for the AGO national convention in Dallas, and in 2000 he was the only non-Japanese invited to lecture and perform at St. Luke’s Bach Week in Tokyo.

One defining characteristic of late twentieth- and early twenty-first century musical culture has certainly been a devotion to the reconstruction of the performance traditions of the past.1 Defunct instruments like the viola pomposa have been eagerly researched, and their historical playing technique scrupulously recreated.2 Everything from the proportions of Bach's fingers3 to the cost of his candles4 has been examined in an attempt to understand the atmosphere and circumstances in which his music was made. While many such pursuits have taught us much about the music's genesis and relevance, sometimes the result has been an enthusiasm-induced myopia that has kept us from seeing the true possibilities. For example, a generation of harpsichordists played Bach on their copies of late eighteenth-century French harpsichords before recognizing that the eighteenth-century German harpsichord was a different animal altogether--indeed, one that has yet to be fully revived. And it has only been in very recent years that the not unimportant role played by the early German piano in Bach's late life has come to be appreciated and explored. This state has largely been caused by a simple deflection: the mere recognition of a larger truth (e.g., Bach played the harpsichord and not the modern piano) has sometimes been sufficient distraction to urge us down a side-winding path toward the most convenient solutions.

 

The same can be said of the situation with Bach's keyboard continuo instruments. Early on in the revival of historical performance practices, it was recognized that a keyboard instrument was needed to reinforce the bass and fill out the harmony in Bach's music. Yet the full extent to which the chosen keyboard instrument can influence the total sonority of a work was given little attention. In fact the debate quickly degenerated into the essentially unimportant and uninteresting argument of whether to use organ or harpsichord in Bach's vocal works.5 Once the dust settled over this question however, few musicians felt compelled to look much further into the matter. Among the groups that are currently recording Bach under the umbrella of historically informed performance, not one can claim to be truly faithful to the total body of historical literature on the sonority of Bach's keyboard continuo.

The first question to ask, then, is: what instruments were being used for continuo playing in Bach's time? It might surprise many to learn that there is very little evidence of box-shaped portable organs6 resembling our continuo organs in use in Central Germany in the eighteenth century. Bach certainly knew very small organs. There was a four-stop organ as well as a regal at St. Michael's in Lüneburg, where Bach went to study in 1700.7 In Leipzig there was a harpsichord and a small organ in an auditorium adjacent to the Cantor's office in the Thomasschule,8 and Bach used a small organ built in 1628 and tuned to choir pitch at St. Paul's in Leipzig when he accompanied the eight-part motet Der Geist hilft unsre Schwachheit auf (BWV 226) in 1729.9

None of these organs still exists, but we do have some idea of what was considered an average small organ at the time.  Positiv organs were sometimes found in a private house or a palace chamber, but also in churches and church rehearsal rooms. Standing anywhere from seven to ten feet tall, and containing anywhere from four to eleven stops, these instruments were distinguished from larger organs by two outstanding features: they had only one manual, and they lacked a Pedal division. Such organs may or may not have had an 8' Principal.

A few organs of this size by Bach's friend Gottfried Silbermann still exist. The organ presently in the undercroft of the Cathedral in Bremen, Germany,  was originally conceived for a small church in Etzdorf bei Roßwein in 1745. (See Illustration page 20; the Pedal in the photograph is a later addition.) The instrument contains eight stops and numerous registration possibilities:

                  8'             Rohrflöte

                  4'             Principal

                  4'             Flöte

                  3'             Nasat (treble only)

                  2'             Octava

                  11/2'      Quinta

                  1'             Sifflöt

                                    Sesquialtera (treble only)

A positiv organ by Silbermann from 1728 still survives in Tiefenau. It contains nine stops, including an 8' Principal.

                  8'             Principal

                  8'             Gedackt

                  4'             Octav

                  4'             Rohrflöte

                  3'             Nasat

                  2'             Octav

                  11/3'      Quinte 

                  1'             Sifflöte

                                    Zimbel II

There is still one small organ in existence definitely used by Bach for continuo: the small Zacharias Hildebrandt organ in the village church of Störmthal.  On November 2, 1723 Bach dedicated this organ with a performance of his cantata Höchsterwünschtes Freudenfest (BWV 194). The original specification was:10

Manual

                  8'             Principal

                  8'             Gedackt

                  8'             Quintadena

                  4'             Praestant

                  4'             Rohrflöte

                  3'             Nasat

                  2'             Octave

                  13/5'      Terz 

                  11/2'      Quinte

                  1'             Sifflöte

                                    Mixtur III

                                    Cornet IV

Pedal

                  16'          Subbaß

                  16'          Posaune

For the most part, however, organ continuo accompaniments would have been played on a large instrument. During his time in Weimar, Bach had at his disposal an organ of twenty-four stops in a gallery high above the altar in the castle chapel. When desired, a sliding unit could be engaged to close off the gallery's opening into the main body of the chapel, thus creating a separate music rehearsal chamber containing (besides the organ) a harpsichord, a spinet, and other musical instruments. In St. Thomas Church in Leipzig, the organ Bach used would have been most likely the three-manual, thirty-six stop organ in the rear gallery, or, for special effects (such as in the St. Matthew Passion), the two-manual, twenty-one stop swallow's nest organ that was situated high above the crossing.

With all of these resources at the continuo player's fingertips"organs small, medium, and large"it is no surprise that continuo players were creative in their continuo realizations. Before delving into some of the more impressive registrations, it is would be worthwhile to consider the stop most commonly heard in continuo realizations today, the Gedackt 8'. It is true that the Gedackt 8' was often regarded as the basic continuo stop. Indeed, Bach's colleague in Leipzig, Johann Adolph Scheibe, specified that one should use a Gedackt 8' in soft arias and recitatives,11 and Bach himself asked for a Stillgedackt 8' for his organ in Mühlhausen for playing concerted music.12 Nevertheless, an 8' Gedackt on Bach's instruments in Weimar or Leipzig would have had a substantially more supportive voice than the very small-scaled stops found on the average trunk organ.

With all of this in mind"the size of the instruments used by Bach and the presence their larger-scaled stops must have made"it is surprising that virtually no modern conductors have ventured beyond the now-traditional use of the four-to-six-stop trunk organ. One Dutch musician who is currently traversing the Bach cantatas in the recording studio acknowledges that the effect of the trunk organ used in his performances is remarkably different than that of the organs used by Bach.13 Yet he justifies his decision by explaining that the trunk organ offers greater convenience in tuning and logistics"advantages, he says, that must outweigh the loss in sonority. What is bothersome about this argument is that it admits to purchasing convenience at the cost of musical effect. Indeed, where else does an historically conscientious approach to performance begin than with an attempt to use the right instrument?

The present preference for the trunk organ may be no more than a symptom of a lingering neo-baroque reticence to trust the evidence that has come down to us. A simple example will explain. In his proposal for the rebuilding of the organ in Mühlhausen in 1708 Bach proposed a manual Fagotto (Bassoon) 16' "that sounds delicate in concerted music."14 Ton Koopman confessed that he has tried using a 16-foot reed as a continuo support, but that it so seriously compromised the dynamic flexibility of the continuo group that he found it impractical. The truth is, however, that evidence of the use of a Bassoon 16' in continuo among Bach and his contemporaries is simply too great to ignore, no matter how puzzling it may seem, at least initially. For example, the organ builder Heinrich Gottfried Trost, whose organ in Altenburg Bach played and admired in 1739, stated that the Bassoon 16' "can be well used in concerted music."15 As with all historical registrations, however, the effectiveness of the use of a Bassoon 16' as a continuo stop will largely depend on the texture and character of the music in which it is used. Bach gives us no clue as to his intentions, but his contemporary Johann Friedrich Walther stipulated that the Bassoon 16' in a 1732 Joachim Wagner organ in Berlin was useful specifically for playing running basses in continuo.16 The experience of using such a stop in faster-moving basses might teach us a great deal about what sort of instrumental playing and ensemble that continuo stop supported. The result could well be revelatory, prompting a reevaluation of how we expect Bach's music to sound. This sort of evidence confronts us once again with the chicken-and-egg question that has been part of the performance practice argument from the very beginning: Were the tools at Bach's disposal an inspiration or a limitation?  A deeper look at the evidence will convince us to view these tools as not only an inspiration, but an invitation as well.

Let us examine some alternatives to the trunk organ's small-scaled 8-foot Gedackt. Jacob Adlung recommends accompanying a soft voice with a single flute, such as a Gedackt 8' or a Quintatön 8'. According to Adlung, one can also use a Principal 8' or a Gemshorn 8' for difficult recitatives, or if the singer is insecure. Running passages on the manuals, however, can be played with Violdigamba 8' with or without a Principal. Ideally, the organist should have one or two flute stops drawn on one manual, and a Principal on another manual, in order to facilitate quick dynamic changes.17 Unlike the trunk organ, which relies on upperwork for color, sources such as Adlung clearly called for great color flexibility at the eight-foot level.

Adlung then adds that the organ must play out in chorales, especially since chorales usually involve full choir and congregation. For chorales he recommends Principal 8', Oktave [4'?], or Quinte 3'.

The Principal 8' seems to have been a valued continuo stop altogether. Among other sources close to Bach that mention the importance of the Principal 8' as a continuo stop are Walther,18 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel,19 Christoph Gottlieb Schröter,20 and Johann Samuel Petri.21 Supported by a fuller-sounding continuo, even small ensembles will be encouraged to play with the sort of full-throated, forceful sound that we know so well from German Baroque organs like those of Arp Schnitger and Gottfried Silbermann.

With only a handful of stops, the skilled organist at an organ of some size then had the resources to play a wide variety of dynamics, at the same time making a substantial contribution to the overall color of the ensemble. For example, in 1738 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel required the following stops for concerted music at the large two-manual Trost organ in Altenberg:

Principal choir with mixtures

Quintaden 16' and 8'

Bordun and Gedackt 8'

Gemshorn 4'

Nasat 22/3'

Subbaß, Violonbaß22

While Stölzel used a Principal chorus, the use of higher and more powerful Principal stops is not always sanctioned. Adlung notes the habit in village churches of accompanying the choir at the end of pieces with full organ, adding that one does not hear the singers or instrumentalists well.23 Petri warned against using reeds, mixtures, or mutations in continuo.24

Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel named the stops Subbaß and Violonbaß among his continuo stops, and this fact reminds us of an important function of the continuo, and one that is completely unfulfilled by the use of a trunk organ. The continuo player is not just to fill out the harmony, but should make a substantial contribution to the overall sonority of the bass line itself. A number of sources mention the use of 16-foot manual stops to strengthen the bass. These include:

1. Jacob Adlung, who recommends Quintatön 16' or Bordun 16', even strengthened by an Oktav and a quiet 8-foot, especially if one is playing staccato.25

2. Heinrich Gottfried Trost, who recommended Flute traverse 16' und Spitzflöte 8' (as found on the organ at Altenburg).26

3. Daniel Gottlob Türk, who stipulated that "one can still lend to the bass the needed depth and emphasis by means of one or two [!] 16-foot registers in the Hauptwerk. . . ."27

4. Johann Gottfried Walther, who stated that Gedackt 16, 8, 4 "are the most accommodating for the general bass."28

While many of these sixteen-foot stops are manual stops, clearly organists were called upon to double the bass line in the Pedal as well, another practice virtually ignored in modern performances. The number of contemporary sources that describe playing the bass line on the Pedal is simply overwhelming. Petri writes:

. . .Im Pedale ein 16füßiges [ziehen], oder wenn sie nicht stark sind, zwey: und höchstens noch ein 8füßiges Principal zum forte, und zum äußersten forte noch ein 4füßiges Principal, welches jedoch besser wegbleibt, es wäre denn, daß gar keine Violons, Violoncelli und Fagotts mitspielten, und der Organist den Baß allein machen müßte, wie auf dem Lande. . . .

. . .In the Pedal, [draw] a 16', or, if the [Pedal stops] are not strong, two, and at least an 8-foot Principal for the forte, and for extreme forte a 4-foot Principal as well, which is better left out if there are no violones, cellos, and bassoons playing along, and the organist must play the bass alone, as is done in the country. . . 29

Türk states the case clearly:

Daß aber die ganz tiefen Register, z. B. Posaune 32 und 16 Fuß im Pedale nicht einmal geschwind ansprechen, und noch überdies mehr ein Getöse machen, als einen deutlichen Ton angeben, lehrt die Erfahrung. Außerdem muß man freylich, ohne einen hinlänglichen Grund, das Pedal nicht weglassen. . .

Experience teaches that the very low stops such as Posaune 32' and 16' in the Pedal do not speak quickly, and furthermore [they] produce more of a racket than a clear tone. Otherwise one must certainly not leave the Pedal out without sufficient reason. . . . 30

Sufficient reasons to leave the Pedal out are explained in a footnote: when the violone (i.e., an instrument playing at sixteen-foot pitch) drops out, when there is a senza basso indication in the score, when a short passage is repeated an octave higher, and when the bass pauses in fugues. In these cases the bass should be played only on the manuals without a 16-foot stop.

Sources closer to Bach include Johann Friedrich Walther (Pedal Principal 16 "gravitaetisch," used in large ensembles; Pedal Violon 16 "sehr tief und kräftig"),31 Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel32, and Friedrich Eberhardt Niedt (who recommends Pedal 16', even a reed 16', to make the Pedal clearer).33

Indeed, many sources state that Pedal stops need not be restricted to Principals and Flutes. In 1719 E. Lindner ordered a reworking of the Pedal Posaune at the famous Silbermann organ in Freiberg to make it more suitable for use in concerted music.34 Just how such a stop could be used in continuo is difficult to imagine, at least until one considers a work like Ein' feste Burg ist unser Gott (BWV 80). The manuscript of the Leipzig version (a copy by J. C. Altnickol from 1744) specifies a double continuo: Violoncello e cembalo for the first bass (i.e., 8-foot), and organ and violone for the cantus firmus bass (i.e., 16-foot).35 The manuscript specifies "Pedal Posaune 16 Fuß." What performers today would seek to find an instrumental, choral, and acoustical solution to justify such an overwhelming registration?

Perhaps all that has been discussed here can be summed up and amplified best by a remarkable source of information on continuo practice that is very little known in the English literature on the subject. That it is so little known is lamentable especially because it may well be the most telling witness to the continuo registrations practiced by Bach and his associates in Leipzig.

The registrations by Christoph Gottlieb Schröter (1699-1782)36 summarized at the end of this article provide a glimpse of the sort of continuo registrations used on Saxon organs in Bach's immediate circle. Schröter and Bach knew each other well. Like Bach, Schröter was a member of Lorenz Christoph Mizler's Society of Musical Science in Leipzig. When Bach's music came under attack 1749 by the critic Scheibe, Bach turned to Schröter, a friend of some thirty years,37 to muster a counterattack in the musical press. Undoubtedly, Schröter was intimately familiar with Bach's music as well as with Bach's performance style. Though these registrations were not published until the 1770s, they were recorded in the early 1750s, at which time Schröter was organist in Nordhausen,38 a city about halfway between Leipzig and Göttingen, where he played a sizable organ built in 1729 by Johann Georg Papenius.39

There are several extraordinary things to note about these registrations, including:

1. The frequent use of more than one 8-foot stop together.

2. The tendency to avoid stops higher than 4-foot for chordal, i.e., non-solo accompaniments.

3. The practice of combining quick-speaking stops (such as a Flute) with slow-speaking stops (such as a String).

4. Dynamic flexibility, largely achiev-ed by manual changes.

5. The general size of the registrations, including those suggested for recitatives and ariosi (with the left hand on the Hauptwerk).

6. Color extended even to recitatives, where four-foot stops are included.

7. Varied registrational color according to the obbligato instrument used (oboe, flutes, muted strings).

8. The simply fantastic registrations for organ obbligato.

There is still a lot to investigate in the matter of continuo sonority in Bach's music. For example, there is the question of pitch. While many organs were tuned to choir pitch (Chorton A = 460-490), many had certain stops tuned to the lower chamber pitch Kammerton A = 390-415)40, giving them a handful of stops suitable for accompanying instruments tuned to chamber pitch.41 Some organs even had entire keyboards tuned to different pitches, or a manual division that was playable at either Chor- or Kammerton.42 And then there is the entire question of harpsichord sonority, including the use of a 16-foot register in continuo accompaniment. And then there are fortepianos, Lautenwerke, Geigen-Claviere, keyed pantaleons, and any number of other instruments awaiting a willing and wondering ear to explore how rich and how varied the sonority of Bach's continuo realizations must have been.43

It has not been the intention of this article to vilify completely the use of trunk organs today; indeed, their usefulness and often their beauty are undeniable. Nor is there any desire to throw verbal cold water on the vital music making of great musicians like Ton Koopman, Philippe Herreweghe, Masaaki Suzuki, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, or Gustav Leonhardt. It is not the trunk organ's existence, but its pervasiveness that is so limiting, serving as an ever-present reminder of our anti-baroque insistence that the continuo must somehow live in the shadow of the real music. Perhaps it is time for us as continuo players to step forward from behind the little box and become a full voice in the total sonority of Bach's music.

After playing a prelude, the organist takes off all stops except the following:

Hauptwerk: Principal 8', Gemshorn 8', Viola di Gamba 8', Octava 4'

Rückpositiv: Quintadena 8', Gedackt 8', Flöte 4', Rohrflöte 4'

Brustpositiv: Gedackt 8', Gedackt 4', Violetto 4'

Pedal: Principal 16', Principal 8', Violon 16'

Couple Hauptwerk to Pedal

Accompany full chorus and orchestra on the Hauptwerk. For passages with orchestra alone, play with the right hand on the Rückpositiv.

For echo passages, leave out the Pedal and play with the right hand on the Rückpositiv.

For various kinds of recitatives:

1. Use the same registration above, removing the Pedal coupler and the Hauptwerk Octava 4'.

2. Use the registration above, playing on the Hauptwerk with the left hand, and on the Rückpositiv with the right hand.

Aria with oboe obbligato accompanied by violins:

Hauptwerk (left hand): Principal 8', Gemshorn 8', Viola di Gamba 8'

Rückpositiv (right hand): Quintadena 8', Gedackt 8', Rohrflöte 4'

Pedal: Principal 16', Violon 16', Hauptwerk to Pedal

Aria with one or two flutes and muted strings:

Hauptwerk (right hand): Flauto traverso [8'], Gemshorn 8'

Rückpositiv (left hand): Quintadena 8', Gedackt 8'

Pedal, uncoupled: Violon 16', Principal 8'

 

Mournful aria with a single solo instrument (e.g., oboe) and organo concertato, without other accompanying instruments:

Hauptwerk (left hand): Viola di Gamba 8', Gemshorn 8'

Rückpositiv (right hand): Vox humana 8', Quintadena 8'

Pedal, uncoupled: Violon 16', Principal 8'

Aria with more than one solo instrument, organo concertato, and other accompanying instruments:

Hauptwerk (left hand): Principal 8', Gemshorn 8', Viola di Gamba 8'

Rückpositiv (right hand): Quintadena 8', Gedackt 8', Rohrflöte 4', Principal 4', Octava 2'

Pedal, coupled: Principal 16', Violon 16', Principal 8'

Notes

                  1.              This article began as a lecture delivered at the Improvisation Symposium held at Eastern Michigan University in November 2000, and was sponsored by the Ann Arbor Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. I am grateful to Dr. Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra, Professor of Organ at EMU, and the Ann Arbor Chapter of the AGO for affording me the opportunity to delve into these matters.

                  2.              Ulrich Drüner, "Violoncello piccolo und Viola pomposa bei Johann Sebastian Bach: Zu Fragen von Identität und Spielweise dieser Instrumente" Bach Jahrbuch (1987), pp. 85-112.

                  3.              Quentin Faulkner, J. S. Bach's Keyboard Technique: A Historical Approach (St. Louis: Concordia, 1984), p. 18.

                  4.              Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician (New York: Norton, 2000), p. 540.

                  5.              These arguments were finally given a rest by Lawrence Dreyfus, Bach's Continuo Group: Players and Practices in His Vocal Works (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1987).

                  6.              Also referred to as trunk organs, positive organs, continuo organs, Kastenorgeln, or Truhenorgeln.

                  7.              Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, p. 477.

                  8.              Ibid, p. 250.

                  9.              Ibid, p. 316.

                  10.           As the organ survives today, only the specification of the Pedal has been slightly altered.

                  11.           " . . .da man hingegen bey schwachen Arien und bey Recitativen allein des Gedackt acht Fuß gebrauchen darf." See J. A. Scheibe, Critischer Musicus (Leipzig: 1745), p. 415.

                  12.           "Stillgedockt 8f., so da vollkommen zur Music accordieret". See Frans Brouwer, Reinoud Egberts, Hans Jansen, Paul Peeters, Maurice Pirenne, editors, Bach's Orgelbüchlein in nieuw perspectief (Utrecht: Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, 1988), p. 172ff. The term Music as used in this context most certainly refers to concert music. Gott-fried Silbermann, in his proposal for the organ in Freiberg, described his Gedackt 8 as being gently voiced for concerted music ("Gedacktes 8 Fuß zur music liebl. intoniert"). See Frank Harald Greß, Die Klanggestalt der Orgeln Gottfried Silbermanns (Frankfurt and Wiesbaden: Bochinsky and Breitkopf und Härtel, 1989), p. 132.

                  13.           Ton Koopman, "Aspekte der Aufführungspraxis" in Christoph Wolff and Ton Koopman, Die Welt der Bach Kantaten (Stuttgart and Weimar: Bärenreiter and Metzler, 1996), vol. 1, p. 222.

                  14.           ". . .in der music delicat klinget." See Brouwer, et. al., Bach's Orgelbüchlein, p. 172ff.

                  15.           Quoted in Ewald Kooiman, Gerhard Weinberger, and Hermann J. Busch, Zur Interpretation der Orgelmusik Johann Sebastian Bachs (Kassel: Merseburger, 1995), p. 163.

                 16.           See Brouwer, et. al., Bach's Orgelbüchlein, p. 181. The organ was in the Garnisonskirche. Jacob Adlung also mentions the Bassoon's usefulness as a continuo stop. See J. Adlung, Anleitung zur musikalischen Gelahrtheit, Erfurt, 1758, p. 386.

                  17.           Adlung, Gelahrtheit, p. 386ff.

                  18.           Principal 8 "unter dem Tutti einer Music." See Brouwer, et. al., Bach's Orgelbüchlein, pp. 181-82.

                  19.           Specifically on the Trost organ in Altenburg. See Greß, Klanggestalt, p. 132.

                  20.           Christoph Gottlieb Schröter, Deutliche Anweisung zum General-Baß, Halberstadt 1772, pp. 187-90.

                  21.           Johann Samuel Petri, Anleitung zur praktischen Musik, 2. Auflage (Leipzig, 1782), p. 169ff.

                  22.           Greß, Klanggestalt, pp. 132-33.

                  23.           Adlung, Musica mechanica organoedi (Berlin, 1768), p. 171ff.

                  24.           Petri, Anleitung, p. 169.

                  25.           Adlung, Anleitung, p. 386. Elsewhere Adlung even suggests using a Principal 16'. See Musica mechanica organoedi, p. 171ff. One assumes the staccato reference is because 16-foot stops alone generally do not speak quickly enough to perform staccato notes successfully.

                  26.           Kooiman et. al., Interpretation der Orgelmusik, p. 163.

                  27.           Daniel Gottlob Türk, Von den wichtigsten Pflichten, (Halle, 1787), p. 156.

                  28.           ". . .so zum G[eneral B[aß] am bequehmsten ist." See Johann Gottfried Walther Musikalisches Lexicon (Leipzig, 1732), p. 275.

                  29.           See Petri, Anleitung, p. 169ff.

                  30.           Türk, Pflichten, pp. 156-57.

                  31.           Brouwer, et. al., Orgelbüchlein, p. 183.

                  32.           Greß, Klanggestalt, pp. 132-33.

                  33.           Friedrich Eberhardt Niedt, Musikalische Handleitung (Hamburg: 1710-12).

                  34.           Greß, Klanggestalt, p. 132.

                  35.           Dreyfus, Bach's Contiuo Group, pp. 15-16.

                  36.           Christoph Gottlieb Schröter, Deutliche Anweisung zum General-Baß, Halberstadt 1772, pp. 187-90.

                  37.           Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach, p. 423.

                  38.           Julie Ann Sadie, Companion to Baroque Music, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990, p. 192.

                  39.           See Johannes Schäfer, Nordhäuser Orgelchronik (Berlin: Buchhandlung des Waisenhauses, 1939), pp. 54-56.

                  40.           See Daniel R. Melamed and Michael Marissen, An Introduction to Bach Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), pp. 142-45, for an introduction to this thorny issue.

                  41.           Adlung stipulates just which stops are to be tuned to Kammerton: In the Pedal at least the Subbaß and in large churches an 8-foot and a 16-foot flute as well.  In the Positiv the Musikgedackt, in the Hauptmanuale "as much as is needed for an obligato bass" ("so viel, als ein obligater Baß nöthig hat"). He then goes on to say that the castle organ in Merseburg has the following stops in Kammerton: Gedackt 4', Principal 4', Grobgedackt 8', Pedal Subbaß 16' and Octav 8'. See Adlung, Gelahrtheit, p. 386. The Wagner organ in the Cathedral in Brandenburg had a Gedecktes 8 Fuß Cammer Thon in the Obermanual. See Andreas Kitschke, Die historische Wagner-Orgel im Dom zu Brandenburg/ Havel (Passau: Kunstverlag-Peda, 1998), p. 15.

                  42.           The Johann Michael Röder organ built 1722-1725 for St. Magdalena in Breslau had a Pedal Kammerbass 16' and Kammerbass 8' (tuned to Kammerton), and Chorbass 16', tuned to Chorton. The entire Unterclavier could be played in either Chorton or Kammerton.

                  43.           See John Koster, "The Quest for Bach's Clavier: An Historiographical Interpretation," Early Keyboard Journal 14 (1996), pp. 65-84.

Pipedreams Organ Tour, April 21-May 3, 2002, Part 2

Mary Ann Dodd

Mary Ann Dodd is Colgate University Organist Emerita. Her lectures and performances have often featured the music of contemporaryAmerican composers. She is presently at work on a book about the life and timesof organist Leonard Raver.

Day Four

Morning arrived all too quickly--cloudy and chilly--but by
now we were getting used to that. We were to spend the entire day in
Leipzig--no packing, no luggage to wrestle--and we would sleep in our same beds
again tonight. I was more than ready for a relatively "low-key" day
and looking forward to it. What I would soon learn is that there is absolutely
nothing "low-key" about the city of Leipzig!

Early in the Middle Ages, before the end of the ninth
century, Leipzig was settled by Slavs, who named it Lipsk (City of Limes).
Located at the crossroads of ancient trade routes and at the confluence of
three important rivers--Pleisse, White Elster and Parthe--Leipzig has been,
from the very beginning, an important center for commerce, publishing,
learning, technology and the arts. It has survived the devastation of many wars
and hostile occupations. Over the centuries, it has continued to preserve,
restore, and reconstruct, never losing sight of its identity. Today, the city
exudes an atmosphere of energy and vitality as it forges ahead on the cutting
edge of the future. From the very beginning, it has prospered and--rather like
the Energizer bunny--it just keeps going, and going, and going! And so it came
as no surprise to learn that Leipzig's motto is "Leipzig kommt!"

Leipzig Gewandhaus

There is so much here to see and to explore that one could
spend weeks and barely scratch the surface. The possibilities are dizzying. But
our time was short, and we were here to pay homage to J. S. Bach and some of
the other great musicians associated with Leipzig. What better place to start
our tour than at the famous Gewandhaus?! Located on the south side of the
Augustusplatz and opposite the Leipzig Opera House, which can be seen reflected
in its large glass windows, this is the third home of the Gewandhaus Orchestra,
the oldest civic orchestra in Germany, founded in 1743. The new building, built
in close cooperation with conductor Kurt Masur, was dedicated in 1981. It is
well worth the visit even if one never ventures beyond the breathtaking,
spacious lobby whose open tiers and stairways are dominated by a large and
dramatically colorful ceiling mural, said by some to be the largest in all of
Europe.

We were headed for the Great Hall and a demonstration of its
four-manual, 92-rank Schuke organ. The hall itself is a large, multi-sided
amphitheater seating 1900 people. The organ is visually stunning, mounted high
on the wall above and behind the gallery seating area, which faces the rear of
the stage. The action is mechanical, and--just as we saw at the Berlin
Konzerthaus--there is a second, electric-action console for onstage use. We were
greeted by the Gewandhaus organist, who turned out to be none other than
Michael Schönheit, who had so graciously demonstrated the little Ladegast
in Merseburg Cathedral only the day before. On this occasion we were treated to
the entire Widor Fifth Symphony--a good choice to put the organ through its
paces and an opportunity, for those who wished, to move around and hear the
instrument from every possible vantage point.

St. Nicholas Church

From there we made our way to the church of St. Nicholas,
easily identified by its triple towers. Nikolai Church is the city's oldest
church, dating from c.1165 when it sat at the crossroads of two important trade
routes. St. Nicholas is the medieval patron saint of merchants and travelers,
and even today the church sits at the center of the city among banks and office
buildings, open to visitors from all over the world. Both exterior and interior
have been altered over the years, reflecting the trends and tastes of the
times. At present, both church and organ are undergoing restoration, so an
organ demonstration was not possible. The lavishly decorated interior is indeed
splendid and more than one could possibly assimilate in one brief visit. For
me, the enormous galleries on three sides of the nave seemed to invoke those masterpieces
of Bach, the music of which had once filled this very space.

The organ started out as a large, four-manual Ladegast of
eighty-four stops with an open 32' in the case. Built between 1858 and 1862, it
was rebuilt by Sauer in 1902/03. Now, one hundred years later, it is being
restored as closely as possible to its original state by the Eule firm.

We cannot leave this sacred spot without taking a moment to
remember the events of October 9, 1989--events which forever altered the course
of history. It was here, on this very spot, led by Kurt Masur, among others,
that the more than 2000 people who had filled St. Nicholas for the Peace Prayer
Service were joined in the streets outside by more than ten thousand
demonstrators, all holding lighted candles. After forty years of oppression
under the GDR, this non-violent, bloodless revolution turned the tide and paved
the way for the reunification of Germany. I treasure the memory of the brief
time I was able to spend in the Church of St. Nicholas, and I find hope and
comfort in the knowledge that the prayers for peace continue in this very
special place.

Out on the sidewalk again and back to the present, we had
the luxury of some time on our own. We had been offered a guided tour of the
University of Leipzig's Musical Instrument Museum, which we had the option of
taking either before or after lunch. This important collection features 5000
exhibits spanning five centuries. For some of us it felt good to stretch our
legs and shed our tourist guises. After an alfresco coffee break and a little
more walking around, we encountered others from our group on their way to
lunch. We decided to join them, and that is why I cannot tell you about the
Musical Instrument Museum, because I never got there.

Just in front of The Old Stock Exchange is the famous statue
of Goethe, whose gaze is eternally fixed on the entrance to the Mädler
Passage, Leipzig's most magnificent arcade and the only one to have survived
the centuries intact. Just inside the entrance, marked by two unusual
sculptures, is the ancient stairway leading down to one of Leipzig's most
famous and historic restaurants--Auerbach's Keller, the barrel cellar
immortalized by Goethe in a famous scene from Faust. We were seated in a rear
corner at a table in front of a long banquette. Surrounded as we were by dark
wood paneling and soft lighting, the ambiance was deliciously warm. The large
room seemed to be filled nearly to capacity, and our table kept expanding as
others from our group joined us. My recollection of the meal is hazy, but I do
recall a delicious stein of beer and a hearty, hot soup. There may have been a
dozen of us at the table. It was a wonderful opportunity to get better
acquainted with some of our fellow travelers and to simply relax and soak up the
atmosphere of this timeless place. I remember thinking to myself: so this is
Gemütlichkeit! Service was slow and somewhat hampered by the size of our
group and our marginal--to say the least--German. By the time we had settled
our checks and were once more out on the street again, it was too late to join
the museum tour. Nourished and refreshed, we went our separate ways. We would
gather later on at the Thomaskirche for a demonstration of the organs by Ulrich
Böhme.

Thomaskirche

St. Thomaskirche is easily identified by its extremely
steep-pitched tower and the much-photographed statue of Bach in the small
square just to the south. The church occupies the site of an earlier church for
the Augustinian Monastery founded in 1212 by Margrave Dietrich with--as legend
would have it--a choir of twelve boys. At the time of Bach's 27-year tenure
(1723-1750), there were fifty-four boys, and today the choir consists of one
hundred boys and young men who give weekly performances of the cantatas, motets
and oratorios of Bach. Originally buried at St. John's Church, which was
destroyed in World War II, Bach's remains have since been removed and were
reburied here in 1950. His final resting place is in the choir room directly
under the chancel. Needless to say, the church has become a very popular
tourist attraction, generating an atmosphere more akin to a museum than to a
house of worship.

Although the basic architecture of the church has remained
unchanged since the end of the fifteenth century, many alterations and additions
have occurred over the years, reflecting current styles and tastes. After the
reunification of Germany in 1990, and after nearly one hundred years of
neglect, a total restoration of the church was undertaken and completed just in
time for the Bach anniversary in July of 2000. Included in the project was the
installation of a brand-new "Bach" organ built by Gerald Woehl.
Public funding for this 5.5 million dollar undertaking was provided by the
European Union, the German Federal Government, the State of Saxony and the City
of Leipzig. There were private donations as well. A four-manual instrument of
61 stops, the organ was designed in accordance with the principles of
eighteenth-century, middle-German organ building. The casework was inspired by
that of the Scheibe organ in the Pauliner (University) Church in Leipzig, which
Bach had examined in 1717. The specification is based on that of the
Georgenkirche in Eisenach (Bach's hometown), an instrument that the young Bach
would have known well, as it was designed by his uncle, Johann Christoph Bach.
The new Woehl organ sits in the center of the north balcony across from the
Bach window.

In addition to the new instrument, St. Thomaskirche has a
second, older, three-manual organ of 88 stops built by Sauer in 1889 (considerably
enlarged in 1908). Midway through the twentieth century it succumbed to the
"Baroque" craze, but in 1988 it was returned to its original state.
It sits in the rear (west) gallery. It has a rich, warm, romantic sound, and it
is this instrument that would have been played by Straube and Ramin, among
others. Ulrich Böhme, who demonstrated the organs for us, has been the
organist of St. Thomaskirche since 1985. He played the Bach Pièce
d'Orgue on the Woehl, and on the Sauer,
some Mendelssohn.

There was a little more free time at our disposal before we
gathered for an early dinner. Our day in Leipzig ended as it had begun--at the
Gewandhaus where we heard the famous orchestra, under the direction of Roger
Norrington, perform Ralph Vaughan Williams' Fifth Symphony
style='font-style:normal'> and Brahms' First. Filled with people, the huge
amphitheater bore little resemblance to the nearly empty space we had occupied
only a few hours before. The atmosphere was one of eager expectancy. Our group
was dispersed to various locations throughout the Great Hall so that it was
easy to imagine that we were simply Leipzigers out for an evening of fine
music. Often, in my lectures, I have spoken of the synergistic triumvirate of
composer, performer and listener. But never have I experienced it as I did on
this particular occasion. The audience seemed to be every bit as focused on the
music as were the musicians themselves. Listening in the Great Hall of the
Gewandhaus is clearly not a passive activity. Our collective ears were on the
edges of our seats. Music was happening here, and all of us were involved in
the process. It was an evening to remember. And then it was back to our hotel
to pack, to sleep and to prepare for an early departure the next morning.

Day Five

It was hard to leave Leipzig behind knowing how many of its
treasures--landmarks, architecture, monuments, museums and libraries--still
remained to be explored. Back on the bus once more, we headed out of the city
and toward the open countryside. Our final destination on this Friday would be
Eisenach, Bach's birthplace. But first we had some very interesting stops to
make along the way.

Rötha

First stop on our agenda was Rötha, a picturesque small
town of very narrow streets. It offered a pleasant contrast after the lively
hustle and bustle of Leipzig. We were about to see and hear our first
Silbermann organ. Photographs and recordings--wonderful as they are--cannot
begin to capture the actual visual and aural experience. St. Georgenkirche
dates back to the twelfth century. The architecture is eclectic, and it has
been rebuilt many times. The twin-towered edifice dominates the surrounding
landscape and is at once sturdy and elegant. When I stepped inside the church,
I felt as though I had entered another dimension. Although it was another dark
and gloomy day, the interior was bright, filled with a diffusion of soft,
golden light and a subtle, not unpleasant smell that seemed to invoke things
ancient and holy. One tended to speak in hushed tones. The space is not vast by
any means. The gothic-style windows are tall and narrow and of plain glass. The
impression is of elegance and simplicity with lots of dark wood and white
plaster. The nave opens into a rather spacious choir, and the eye is
compellingly drawn to a sumptuous altarpiece with frescos of the Crucifixion
and the Last Supper.

The organ, of two manuals and 23 stops, was built between
1718 and 1721 by Gottfried Silbermann. Dedicated in 1721 by Kuhnau, Bach's
predecessor at St. Thomaskirche, it is in meantone tuning and has reeds only in
the pedal. Although I would not have described the sound as
"silvery," it was indeed bright and, at the same time, very rich.
These small instruments are noteworthy for their economy and yet amazing
variety of sounds. A former cantor, Mrs. Schoedel, played the Bach A Major for
us, and then we were on our own. Those who wished to play needed no urging and
started queuing up immediately. It is perhaps interesting to note that this
particular instrument served as the model for the Marilyn Mason Organ at the
University of Michigan built by Fisk. Yet another Silbermann can be found in
Rötha at the Marienkirche--a one-manual instrument of eleven stops.

St. Wenzelskirche, Naumburg

Back on our bus once more, we headed for St. Wenzelskirche
in Naumburg. It was pleasant to ride through the peaceful, rural landscape. The
country here is quite flat, and we passed small farms, grazing cattle,
carefully tended gardens and fields of winter wheat, occasionally punctuated by
large automotive centers off in the distance.

Naumburg was founded in 1028. The medieval gates and
fortification walls still stand around the old city with its narrow, cobbled
streets. The City Church of St. Wenzel has been in existence since 1426. The
organ we have come to see and hear is a 1746 Hildebrandt of three manuals and
fifty-three stops. The instrument was drastically altered during the nineteenth
and early twentieth centuries. Miraculously spared in the WW II Allied bombing
of Naumburg, it suffered from years of neglect during the subsequent Communist
regime. By the time of the Reunification in 1990, the organ had deteriorated so
badly that it was barely playable. In 1992 the City of Naumburg and the Friends
of the Hildebrandt Organ convened an international symposium which recommended
the restoration of the organ to its 1746 condition. The cost of the project,
which was entrusted to the Eule firm, was estimated at 2.5 million dollars. The
Rückpositiv was tackled first and completed in 1996 in time for the 250th
anniversary of the organ, and the entire restoration was completed in the year
2000. It was re-dedicated on the first Sunday in Advent with a solemn worship
service and a dedicatory recital played by Ulrich Böhme, organist of St.
Thomaskirche.

What is it about this historic instrument that has generated
so much international excitement and attention? And why has this particular
instrument come to be regarded by many as the ideal "Bach" organ?

In 1723, shortly after coming to St. Thomas, Bach took his
choir to the nearby village of Störmtal to perform a cantata he had
written for the dedication of a new organ in the village church. It was on this
occasion that Bach first met the builder, Zacharias Hildebrandt, who had apprenticed
for five years under Gottfried Silbermann. The Störmtal organ, still
extant today, was examined by Bach and pronounced to be "an excellent and
durable instrument, very worthy of praise." The two men soon became
lifelong friends, and in 1735, Hildebrandt moved his workshop to Leipzig.

In 1743, Bach's advice, among others, was sought by the city
council of Naumburg in regard to the Wenzelskirche organ--a Thayssner
instrument built in 1700. Although two other builders had been consulted, the
contract for a new instrument went to Hildebrandt. When the organ was completed
in 1746, Bach played it, examined it, and wrote glowingly about it. Moreover,
there is good reason to believe that Bach himself collaborated with Hildebrandt
on the design of the instrument.

What are some of the characteristics that set this
instrument apart from other more typical middle-German instruments of the first
half of the eighteenth century? Consider the following: multiple color stops at
low pitches and a steady, copious wind supply; a spacious chest layout
affording easy and convenient access to all of the pipes; a complete and
well-developed pedal division; 16' stops in the manual divisions and two 32's
in the pedal; well-tempered tuning; a large and complete Rückpositiv; divisions
that achieve their distinction not by placement or Werkprinzip, but by the
individual scaling of each of the principal choruses--all of this espoused by
Bach and well documented.

As we gathered expectantly at the entrance to the church,
Michael said: "Take several deep breaths, because when you go into the
church, your breath will be taken away." He was right. Nothing could have
prepared us for the sight of the interior of this splendid gothic building with
its lavish baroque decoration, and then to let our eyes travel upward past the
first two galleries and then to the uppermost gallery and that sumptuous organ
case. The organ case, with its gorgeous decorations by the woodcarver Johann
Goericke, has been retained from the Thayssner. The keyboards and stops are
also original. Inside the white cabinet doors, the "interior" of the
console is painted a rich "bluer-than-blue" color.

The organist, Irene Greulich, played for us--Bach, of
course--and the sound was magnificent. The plenum was rich and brilliant with
plenty of that gravitas of which Bach was so fond.

This instrument stands, among many other things, as a model
of historically informed restoration. Archival documents and photographs
provided much important information. The preservation and restoration of this
very special instrument is surely no small miracle. To stand in this place
which has stood for more than half a millennium, to see, hear, touch, and
actually play this historic instrument is a spiritual experience to be
treasured and long remembered.

Our time at St. Wenzelskirche passed quickly, and all too
soon it was time to come back down to earth again. It was already early
afternoon, and after a quick lunch, we were back on the bus headed for
Eisenach, the birthplace of Bach. But first, our itinerary called for a visit
to Buchenwald.

Buchenwald

Buchenwald Concentration Camp is located just north of the
city of Weimar atop Ettersberg Hill. Buchenwald means beech tree wood, and at
one time this must have been a lovely spot. Legend has it that Goethe spent
many pleasant contemplative hours here beneath his favorite tree. Today, only
the stump remains of "Goethe's Oak," which was damaged by bombs in
1944 and later cut down. Buchenwald was not originally planned as a place of
genocide. Nevertheless, more than 250,000 people were held captive here, of
whom more than 50,000 died. Near the end, as many as 1500 prisoners a day were
sent to the crematorium. At the time of the liberation and the arrival of the
US Army on April 11, 1945, around 21,000 prisoners including 900 children and
young people remained in the camp.

Our tour, with Sonja as our guide, began at the top of the
hill at the entrance to the gate building, which is flanked on either side by
the arrest houses. Two of the twenty-two watchtowers remain, and the
crematorium is near by. Many artifacts remain in the buildings and about the
grounds, offering mute testimony to the atrocities committed here. The more
than fifty camp barracks that lined the hillside below in neat rows are no
longer standing, but the location of each is marked by a stone which displays
the block number, and the outlines of each building are shown by layers of
broken stone. As I stood at the top of the hill, taking in the stark scene
spread out below me, I was reminded that only four days ago I had stood in a
place of similar topography--Sansoucci Palace. Sansoucci had been all warmth
and color and light. Here at Buchenwald, all was cold and gray and dark. I'm
sure that on occasion the sun does indeed shine on Buchenwald. But at that
moment it seemed to me that sunshine--in this awful place of despair and
death--might easily be regarded as profane. Our usually lively and congenial
group was subdued and silent as we made the long descent to the Storehouse at
the bottom of the hill where the prisoners had been relieved of their clothing
and all personal effects. Today it is a museum with a permanent exhibition of
documents and relics depicting the grim history of Buchenwald and commemorating
the lives of the thousands who perished here. Our tour lasted nearly two hours.
There was much to see and to try to understand. How does one comprehend the
incomprehensible? The atmosphere of such a place is indescribable. As we left
the museum, a cold, steady, drenching rain had begun to fall. Finally, it was
time to make the long ascent back to the top of Ettersberg Hill, where warmth
and transportation and normalcy awaited us.

Bach House

And so we continued on to Eisenach, a bit weary and
bedraggled. After settling into our hotel where we were given dinner, we ended
our day with an evening arranged just for us at the Bach House. The house in
which Bach was actually born no longer exists, but today this house is
officially recognized as the Bach family home. There is much of interest to see
here, and the house is furnished as authentically as possible, and many
instruments of the period are on display. Having explored the museum a bit, we
were invited to make ourselves comfortable. Our amiable hosts, dressed in
authentic attire, treated us to a private concert using several of the period
instruments in the collection. It was an informal and relaxed occasion, and the
music was lovely. One could easily imagine that we had been transported back in
time to a musical evening at the Bach's. It was an extraordinary end to an
extraordinary day.

Day Six

Saturday morning came all too quickly, but what a delight to
wake up in the city of Bach's birth. Here we were in the heart of Bach country
with four organs and a castle awaiting our pleasure. By the time we had climbed
aboard our bus, we were primed and ready for our next adventure.

Wartburg Castle

Destination: Wartburg Castle. Dating back to 1067, this
medieval castle sits high atop a 1230 foot cliff overlooking the city of
Eisenach below. Complete with drawbridge, half-timbered ramparts, and dungeons
in the southern tower, Wartburg is one of the best preserved castles in
Germany. Although largely Romanesque and Gothic, some original sections from
the feudal period still remain. Legend has it that the Great Hall, which dates
back to 1160, provided the setting for the famous minstrels' competition
immortalized by Wagner in Tannhäuser. It has also been suggested that
perhaps Martin Luther had this magnificent structure in mind when he wrote
"A Mighty Fortress."

It was here, in 1521, that Martin Luther, excommunicated and
condemned as a heretic, took refuge for three hundred days under the protection
of William the Wise. Transformed from a pious monk to a bearded "Knight
George," Luther wore cloak and dagger and hunted the woods. It was during
these solitary days of voluntary captivity that he translated the New Testament
from Greek to German. Up until that time there had been no uniform written
language, and it was Luther's synthesis of the many dialects with which he was
familiar that came to define the German language as it is known today. The
rooms, in which Martin Luther lived and worked, have been preserved. For more
than four hundred years, they have been the object of countless pilgrimages,
and the names of many pilgrims--dating back to the 1600s--have been carved into
the walls.

Also inside the castle are many authentically restored and
furnished rooms filled with the art and artifacts of another age--frescos,
paintings, mosaics, tapestries, pottery, stone carvings and medieval clothing.
The whole experience was very much like entering a magical time machine, and we
were reluctant to leave.

Arnstadt

But we could not afford to linger. And so it was back to the
bus and on to the town of Arnstadt with its charming market square and uneven
cobblestone streets. It was here, in 1703, that Bach took on his first regular
employment as organist of the New Church.

Arnstadt was the hometown of Bach's grandfather, and many
Bachs were born, christened and buried here. Founded in 704 and granted a city
charter in 1266, Arnstadt is the oldest town in Thuringia. Located on the edge
of the Thuringian Forest, it was, in Bach's time, a thriving trade center of
3800 inhabitants. The New Church--one of three--was built between 1676 and 1683
on the site of the ruin of St. Boniface's, a medieval edifice, which had been
destroyed by fire in 1581. It took sixteen years to raise enough money for the
organ, and the contract went to the renowned organ builder, Johann Friedrich
Wender of Mühlhausen. A modest instrument of two manuals and 21 stops, the
organ was completed in 1703. The young Bach, only eighteen years old, recently
graduated from St. Michael's in Lüneburg, and now in the employ of Duke
Johann Ernst of Weimar, was invited to Arnstadt to conduct the official organ
examination. He was also invited to perform the inaugural recital, which
perhaps served as an informal audition for the organist position, which he
would assume in August of that same year. What a feather in young Sebastian's
cap, and what a testimony to his knowledge of organbuilding and his
considerable keyboard skills. Christoph Wolff, in his biography of Bach, Johann
Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, writes: "For the first time in his
life, he [Bach] had free reign over a fine instrument with no technical
defects, a luxury most organists of the time could only dream of." Bach
remained in Arnstadt for three years--years which were extremely important to
his development as an organ virtuoso and composer. It is not without
significance that the new instrument was tuned in the "new"
well-tempered tuning system developed by Werckmeister. Bach's duties were
minimal and he had lots of time to practice on a fine new instrument and to
study all of the organ repertoire he could get his hands on. It was here that
he confused the congregation with his wild hymn improvisations, clashed with
the town authorities over his job description, and overstayed his leave when he
made his famous pilgrimage to Buxtehude in Lübeck.

Unfortunately, the organ has been the victim of many
modifications over the years, and aside from the case, very little of the
original instrument remains. However, in the year 2000, it was reconstructed by
Otto Hoffmann and returned to something close to the original design in time
for the Bach sesquicentennial. Today the church is known as the Bachkirche, and
it was indeed a thrill to stand in the nave of this historic place. The wooden
building is plain, but elegant, with double galleries on three sides. The organ
sits high in the third (west) gallery under the barrel-vaulted ceiling, with
small galleries on either side of the choir loft for instrumentalists. Since
there is no Rückpositiv, the organist at the console sits in plain view.
On a typical Sunday, Bach might have had a congregation of as many as 1500
worshipers. After the demonstration by organist Gottfried Preller, those who
wished were free to try the instrument for themselves. However, we had a
schedule to keep and could not tarry long.

Waltershausen

Back on the bus once more with our "Bach's"
lunches, our next stop was the Parish Church of Waltershausen. The church tower
dates back to the fifteenth century and has been rebuilt many times over the
centuries. Today only part of the original tower still remains. The foundation
stone for the church was laid by Frederich II in 1719, and the church was
dedicated in 1723.

Nothing about the exterior prepares the visitor for the
amazing sights and sounds which lie in store. To step inside the church is to travel
back in time and enter another dimension. I was struck, as I had been earlier
at the St. Georgenkirche in Rötha, by the otherworldly quality of the
light in the vastness of this splendid interior. I found it mesmerizing. One's
eyes are drawn upward past the eight vertical pillars to the remarkable fresco
on the ceiling, which gives the distinct impression of a rounded ceiling vault,
when indeed the ceiling is quite flat. There are double galleries like those we
had seen at Arnstadt, except that the Bachkirche has a relatively long and
narrow nave, whereas the nave here is much wider. The three boxes in the first
gallery at the rear were reserved for the duke, the judges and the residents of
Tenneberg Castle. I had the feeling that they might walk in and take their
seats at any moment. Beautiful artwork adorns the walls, and one could spend
hours taking it all in.

But we were here to see, hear and play the organ of three
manuals and 47 stops built by Heinrich Gottfried Trost between 1724 and 1730.
It was at that time that Trost left the project even though the organ remained
unfinished. It was not finally completed until 1753. By now it came as no
surprise to learn that the instrument had undergone considerable alteration and
modification during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The original
organ, as well as the church, has recently been restored. The organ sits high
above the altar and the pulpit in its elaborately carved case. Organist
Theophil Heinke demonstrated for us. Visually magnificent as the instrument is,
nothing had prepared us for the remarkable sound, which was quite unlike
anything I had ever heard. Colorful, bold and bright, the sound is never harsh
or shrill. The plenum is gutsy, with gravitas, but never overwhelming. The music
seemed to surround us with a clarity and presence ideal for the polyphony of
Bach. There is a preponderance of colorful 8' stops--wide flutes and narrow
strings--including an especially luscious doppel flute. On the other hand,
there are only two mixtures and relatively few and mild reeds. It is an
instrument far removed from the Werkprinzip and the ideals espoused by the
organ reform movement. Harald Vogel, in an article for the Westfield Center
Newsletter, has praised this very successful restoration for bringing us ever
closer in our ongoing search for the ideal Bach organ. In any case, it is
understandably the pride and joy of the people of Waltershausen. It was for me
perhaps the highpoint of the tour. It was hard to take our leave.

Erfurt

And then it was back on the bus and on to Erfurt Cathedral.
Erfurt is the largest city in Thuringia with a population today of 200,000. One
of the oldest cities in Germany, it was first mentioned by St. Boniface in the
eighth century. It was here, in the year 1501, that Martin Luther came to study
at the university and later took his monastic vows at the Augustinian
monastery. It was also here that Bach's father and mother were born. In fact,
during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a whole dynasty of Bach musicians
flourished in and around the city of Erfurt.

Although archaeological evidence has been found of a
ninth-century church, construction 
on the Cathedral that stands today was not begun until the year 1153.
Over the centuries, many alterations and additions have been made, combining
both Romanesque and Gothic elements. Today the Cathedral is a treasure house of
religious art from the medieval, Romanesque and Renaissance periods. It is
arguably one of the most beautiful churches in all of Germany.

On this particular day, Saturday, April 26, we were not
certain exactly what to expect since only the day before, at the Gutenberg High
School, an expelled student had opened fire, killing eighteen people including
himself. What we found was a city in crisis--overwhelmed by shock and grief.
People had flocked to the cathedral in huge numbers, and crowds of people were
thronging the streets and the square. The entrance to the cathedral is high
atop a hill, approached by a huge, terraced flight of steps. The steps were
deeply flanked on either side by candles, flowers, messages and other mementos.
The cathedral was filled with mourners. Apparently a special mass had taken
place earlier. We were unable to climb up to the organ loft, and the organist,
Silvius von Kessel, was unable to play for us the organ demonstration he had
planned. There are two organs in the cathedral--a 1963 Schuke II/29, and a 1992
Schuke, III/63. Herr Kessel improvised for us on the larger, newer of the two
instruments, concluding with a very moving performance of the Bach O Mensch,
bewein. The improvisation was quite lovely and, by necessity, rather subdued. I
found myself pleasantly surprised by the rich principal sound and the warmth of
this modern instrument. I was seated near one of the side aisles, and the sight
of the grief-stricken, tear-stained faces of those young boys and girls as they
filed out of the church is a sight I will long remember.

By now our group was visibly drooping. It had been a very
long and full day, and our brief sojourn in the Cathedral had been emotionally
draining. But we had one more stop to make before our departure from Erfurt. A
cold and rainy walk through the congested streets brought us to the
Predigerkirche where we were to hear yet another Schuke (1978) instrument--a
rebuild of an 1899 instrument of 56 stops. The organ was demonstrated for us by
organist Matthias Dreissig. Johann Pachelbel had been organist here from
1678-90, and we were treated, among other things, to a lovely Pachelbel chorale
prelude on Vater Unser.

Back aboard our bus once more, we settled down for the drive
back to Eisenach, most of us more than ready for a quiet dinner and early bed.

Day Seven

We awakened to the pleasant prospect of a leisurely Sunday
morning. Our departure was not scheduled until late morning, and there was time
for a leisurely breakfast and a stroll around the Market Square with its
historic landmarks and picturesque half-timbered houses. Those who wished had
the option of attending the early service at the Georgenkirche where Bach was
baptized in 1685. The organ there today is a modern 1982 Schuke, III/60.

St. George Church

The parish church of St. George is an ancient structure
dating back to 1162 and rebuilt many times since. It has witnessed a lot of
history. It was here, in 1221, that Count Ludwig IV of Wartburg Castle was wed
to Elizabeth, daughter of Hungarian King Augustus II. When Count Ludwig died
six years later on his way to a crusade, the countess left the castle to
embrace a life of poverty and charity for which she was later canonized as St.
Elizabeth. As a boy, Martin Luther sang in the choir at St. George's and
studied in the Latin School, as did J. S. Bach nearly two hundred years later.
In 1521, Luther preached here twice on his way to and from the Diet of Worms.
Beginning with Johann Christoph Bach in 1665, all of the organists of St.
George's would be Bachs for the next 132 years!

Most of us know Eisenach as Bach's birthplace and St.
George's as the place he was baptized. But that was only the beginning. It was
here that the young Bach learned his trade, and learned it well from the ground
up. In 1671, Bach's father, Ambrosius, moved from Erfurt to Eisenach in order
to become the director of town music. What must it have been like for the young
Sebastian growing up in a large household surrounded by professional
musicians--family, assistants, and apprentices. The market square was the
center of all of this musical activity with regular and frequent performances
at the town hall, at the ducal court, and at the church. One can imagine the
young boy transporting, maintaining and repairing all manner of musical
instruments as he learned to perform on them as well. Collecting music and
copying scores and parts must also have been part of his duties. Bach's cousin,
Johann Christoph, organist of St. George's, was probably the most famous
musical Bach in Thuringia at that time. Renowned for his virtuosity and his
improvisational skills, he almost certainly must have given Bach his first
organ lessons. And what a role model to his young cousin Johann Christoph must
have been. The old organ had seen better days, and the young Bach must have
spent many hours inside the old organ helping with tuning and repairs as plans
for the new instrument, to be built by the local builder Stertzing, began to
take shape. By the time the actual construction of the organ was under way,
Bach was no longer living at home. But the influence of this firsthand
experience on Bach's knowledge of organbuilding and his ideas about organ
design can hardly be overestimated.

Mühlhausen

Much remained in Eisenach to explore and to reflect upon,
but we had promises to keep, and it was time to be on our way. Our first stop
would be at the Divi Blasii Church in Mühlhausen, the post for which Bach
left Arnstadt in 1707, remaining only one year before going on to Weimar. The
winding road from Eisenach to Mühlhausen took us through the lovely,
forested hills of the Thuringian countryside. We passed through small villages
nestled in green valleys with freshly tilled soil and flowering trees. The
ubiquitous half-timbered houses with their red-tiled roofs were becoming a
familiar sight. One descends down into Mühlhausen, population, 44,000--a
lively, commercial city that managed to survive WW II unscathed.

Mühlhausen was a free, imperial city, independent of
princely rule since the thirteenth century. Second only to Erfurt in size, it
too is a city of churches with at least thirteen spires gracing the skyline.
Some of the original fortifications and gates from the twelfth century still
remain and mark the boundaries of the original town. St. Blasius, with its twin
towers, is a compact, but elegant Gothic cathedral dating from the thirteenth
century. At the time of Bach's arrival it already had a distinguished tradition
of church music as well as an important music library, which must have been an
added incentive to the young Bach. It was a step up for him professionally in
every way, offering more income, more responsibility, and greater opportunities
than he had had at Arnstadt. The organ, built by Jost Pape of Göttingen,
dated from the mid-sixteenth century and had been extensively rebuilt and
enlarged (1687-1691) by Bach's old friend Friederich Wender, builder of the new
organ at Arnstadt. It was a fairly large two-manual instrument of 30 stops with
a Rückpositiv. Though it served Bach well, there were some defects--not so
surprising considering the fact that major parts of the instrument were almost
150 years old. Bach, accordingly, began to make imaginative plans for major
improvements and renovations. Bach submitted the plans for this ambitious
project when he was only six months into the job. That they were almost
immediately approved by the powers that be is a testimonial to how proud and
pleased the city and church officials were with their new organist. Bach, of
course, did not remain in Mühlhausen for the completion of the rebuilding
project, but the fact that his plans have survived has been an invaluable
source to scholars. It was a busy and successful year in every way for the
twenty-two-year-old Bach. Inspired by his visit to Buxtehude in Lübeck,
Bach took advantage of the new opportunities for vocal composition and enhanced
his rapidly growing reputation with some spectacular performances of large-scale
cantatas, at least one of which found its way into print. He and his new bride,
Maria Barbara, left Mühlhausen in 1708 very much appreciated and having
made many new friends.

The organ today is a modern instrument by Schuke of three
manuals and 40 stops built according to the original specification, which Bach
drew up for the church council back in 1708. Herr Sterchbarth was on hand to
demonstrate the instrument for us. Those who wished tried it for themselves,
and then it was back to the bus and our "Bach's" lunch, and on to our
next stop, the  "Bach"
organ in the Stadtkirche St. Marien in Bad Berka.

Bach Organ

In 1743, Heinrich Nicolaus Trebs, resident organ builder at
Weimar, built an organ for this church according to a specification created by
his good friend and colleague, Bach. Over the years the instrument has been
altered and rebuilt many times. The present instrument, which retains the
original case, was built in 1991 by Gerhard Böhm of Gotha. The intention
has been to restore the organ, in as much as possible, to its original
condition. The Gothic-style nave, though not large, has double galleries and a
tall, vaulted ceiling. The organ is a modest instrument of two manuals and 28
stops with a sound which I would describe as surprisingly sweet and gentle.
Bernd Müller played an interesting program for us designed, it would seem,
to demonstrate the organ's versatility. We heard music from many different
styles and periods--Gottfried Homilius to Gordon Balch Nevin and everything in
between, concluding with the Bach Toccata in D Minor. There was some open
console time for us, and then it was back to the bus and on to Weimar.

Weimar

Nestled in a scenic river valley, just over the hill from
Buchenwald where we had been only two days before, Weimar is a small, thriving,
industrial city of 60,000 people. Because of its rich intellectual and cultural
history, it possesses n abundance of monuments, museums and libraries and has
become a popular tourist mecca. The artistic and intellectual associations are
mind-boggling: Schütz, J. G. Walther, Cranach the Elder--and the Younger,
Goethe, Schiller, Liszt, Wagner, Nietzsche, Strauss, Brahms and--more
recently--Walter Gropius' Bauhaus movement. And so the list goes on. At one
time it was suggested that Goethe had made Weimar the literary capital of the
world.

But we had come to Weimar to pay homage to Bach. It was here
that Bach spent ten years of his life, fathered three famous sons--among other
offspring--composed thirty church cantatas, and created most of the great organ
works which we cherish. In Bach's day, Weimar had a population of around
5,000--at least a third of whom were in the employ of the ducal court. Of the
original buildings, only the tower and gate remain to remind us of earlier
times. The ducal castles have disappeared, including the chapel in which Bach
once worked. His house no longer stands, but the site--just off the market
place--has been marked by a commemorative tablet. In Weimar, it seems that Bach
has been upstaged by Goethe, whose presence continues to dominate the scene.

We were scheduled for a guided tour of the Liszt House
(every  celebrity except Bach seems
to have a "House" in Weimar). Since the Liszt house could only
accommodate half of us, there was time to stroll about a bit. The day was cold
and damp and dreary, and the city seemed strangely silent and subdued even for
a Sunday. We were not all that far from Erfurt, and perhaps that may have been
the reason. As the afternoon drew to a close, we gathered in the old market
square and split up into smaller groups to find dinner on our own. And then it
was back on the bus and on to Altenburg for the night. By the time we arrived,
it was well after dark, and most of us were more than ready to collect our
luggage and call it a day.

But Fate had other plans in store for our tired and somewhat
bedraggled little group. It would seem that somewhere in the land of
"tourdom," a communication glitch had occurred. Our small hotel had
been anxiously awaiting our arrival for nearly three hours. Extra staff had
been brought in, and an elaborate and sumptuous buffet had been prepared and
beautifully laid out for us. When our genial hosts learned that we had already
eaten in Weimar, the disappointment was quite palpable. We were all tired, and
no one could possibly have been hungry. I freshened up and returned to the
lobby to make a phone call home with absolutely no intention of having a second
supper. But by the time I had finished my call, the magic had begun, and people
were drifting back down and into the dining room. Who could resist?! A
misbegotten dinner was rapidly transforming itself into an impromptu party with
much mingling and good conversation all around. It struck me as being a bit
like the welcome "interval" at a long concert--time to relax, time to
process that which had already transpired, and time to gather a "second
wind" for the remainder of our adventure yet to come. Gemütlichkeit
prevailed, and by the end of the evening, I was already looking forward to
tomorrow.

This article will be continued.

by Richard Peek

A recent trip to Europe afforded my family and me an opportunity to hear, see, and in one instance, play organs ranging from the early Baroque to the present day. The first one we encountered was a one-manual Bazzani organ in the resort community of Cavallino, Italy, dating from 1891. Its builder, Giacomo Bazzani, was the youngest son of Pietro Bazzani, also an organ builder. Pietro learned organ building with the great Venetian organ builder Callido, who learned building organs from Nacchini, so the organ at the Church of Santa Maria Elisabetta represents a tradition dating back to the 17th century.

 

The specification is

Principale 8' Bassi (C - c#) 

Principale 8' Soprani (d - f3) 

Ottava 4' 

Decima Quinta 2' 

Decima Nona 11⁄3' 

Vigesima Seconda 1' 

Vigesima Sesta 2⁄3'

Vigesima Nona 1⁄2' 

Voce Umana 8' 

Viola 4' Soprani 

Flauta 4' Bassi 

Flauta 4' Soprani 

Ottavino 2'

The manual compass is C - f3. The pedal stops are

Tromboncini 4' 

Trombone 8' 

Contrabassi 16' con Ottave (8')

The compass of the pedals is 18 notes starting on low C. In the lower octave of both manual and pedal a short compass is used as follows: bottom white note sounds C; next white note plays F; first black note plays low D; next white note plays G; next black note plays E; next white note plays A; the next back note plays A#, and the next white note plays B. From there the sequence is normal. The pedal board is tilted upward from  front to back at an angle of about 25 degrees.

There are no mechanical aids except for the usual tiratutti, which brings on all the upper ripieno. This is done by means of a hitchdown pedal, so it is possible to draw on the 8' Principale treble and bass with perhaps the Flauta 4' treble and bass or Ottava 4' for a mezzo forte, and then bring on the whole ripieno quickly for a forte.

The church itself is not large, seating perhaps 200, but built with hard reflective surfaces so that the full ripieno with the pedal contrabassi 16' and 8' really fills the space admirably.

I had lots of time with this instrument since I was playing a recital, and of course the classic Italian literature suits it perfectly. The sections from Zipoli's Sonate d'intavolatura came off especially well on this instrument. The manual touch is very sensitive, much like that of a German Brustwerk.

The next organ was in the tiny Austrian village of Reutte, close to the German border, near King Ludwig the Second's castles of Schwangau, Neusch-wanstein and Linderhof. In our case we had planned a trip to Linderhof and then to the Monastery of Ettal just a few miles beyond. Renting a car from our hotel, the charming Hotel Maximillian, we set out for Linderhof, driving along the Plainsee, which was indeed awe-inspiring with its deep emerald color at the base of the German Alps.

We arrived just in time for the 11:00 English tour, which took only a half hour since Linderhof was Ludwig's smallest and most livable castle. In the first room we came to a gilded instrument that we assumed was a piano, but that we were told is a combination harmonium-piano which Ludwig commissioned in the hope that his hero Richard Wagner would visit him and perform his music on it. However, this never happened.

After the tour, those of us strong enough climbed a steep hill to reach the Venus Grotto, which is a representation of the Venusberg scene from Wagner's Tannhäuser. Appropriately, we were treated to a recording of the composer's "Hymn to the Evening Star" from Tannhäuser.

Driving on to the historic monastery of Ettal, we arrived just as a visiting organist was trying out the 1753 organ built by J.G. Hoerthrich with a beautiful  gilt casework by Simon Gartner dating from 1768. The sound of the instrument was indeed impressive as the organist pitted the divisions of the organ against each other with the full principal chorus in the pedal. As we left he or she was playing Mendelssohn's "O for the wings of a dove" on a particularly full and rich 8' flute.

When we returned to the hotel and went to the dining room, I noticed an organ console on the wall to the left of the dining room's front door. Set on top were six principal pipes of tin, with the mouths fairly deeply nicked. There were also several pictures of a man playing this console. After dinner I borrowed paper and pen to copy down the organ's specification. The hotel receptionist asked me if I was interested in organs, and I told her that I was an organist, whereupon she said her father had played this organ for fifty years and those were his pictures on the top of the console. She also said he would be happy to take me by their church. A day later that's exactly what we did.

About 9 pm we drove over to the Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, an imposing 500-year-old edifice that we had passed on the way to Linderhof. It is a Baroque church with excellent acoustics. Herr Koch  told me that since disposing of the 1817 organ, they had signed a contract for a new Vershuren instrument of 31 registers. He said, very proudly, that it was a 4-manual and that there would be six solo stops such as oboe, clarinet, etc. on one of the manuals.

They were using an electronic instrument in the meantime and he invited me to play it. After improvising briefly, I played a memorized piece and then invited him to play. He did so and I had a chance to listen to the ambience of the building. The touch of the Viscount instrument was very hard--so hard that it was difficult to play legato.

Readers may be interested in the specification of the old organ since it sheds light on early 19th-century instruments. The builder was Franz Reinisch of Steinach, Tirol, and it was his opus 158. The Hauptwerk includes

Bourdon 16' 

Prinzipal 8' 

Prinzipalino 8' 

Hohlflöte 8' 

Salizional 8' 

Oktav 4' 

Flöte 4' 

Quint 22⁄3' 

Superoktav 2' 

Mixtur 11⁄3' 

Trompete harmonic 8'

The Schwellwerk:

Geigen-Prinzipal 8' 

Gedeckt 8' 

Quintaton 8' 

Prästant 4' 

Rohrflöte 4' 

Waldflöte 2' 

Cornett 2' 

Zimbel 1'

There was a blank knob on the Schwell and I asked Herr Koch if there was an 8' Oboe on the division  but he said there wasn't. However, between his rudimentary English and my elementary German there was much room for misunderstanding, so we can only surmise what the blank represented. The pedal:

Violonbass 16'

Subbass 16'

Echobass 16'

Oktavbass 8'

Choralbass 4'

Posaune 16'

There are a number of mechanicals as well as a crescendo pedal and a Schwellwerk pedal.

Leaving the colorful Tyrol landscape behind, we boarded the train for historic Nuremberg. There we headed for Pachelbel's church, St. Sebald. Again we were in luck. A student was practicing the large organ, which was placed to one side of the choir facing the altar. In addition to the main organ, there is a one-manual organ on wheels. It can be used anywhere in the large church: as a separate instrument, or connected to the main instrument to act as a rückpositiv. There is also a four-manual console on a cable connected to the main organ. The organ builder is Willi Peter of Cologne.

The organist was practicing the six Schübler Chorales as we were studying the various treasures of this historic edifice, so we had a chance to listen to the solo voices of the instrument. Just as we were about to leave, the organist began a composition wherein a subsidiary division plays imitative counterpoint mf, only to be interrupted at regular intervals by the full ensemble including a 32' reed and a 32' Prinzipal. The effect was electrifying and we sat down until this composition ran its course.

Before we take our leave of this great church we should remember that it house the oldest organ in Germany, the "Traxdorffsche" organ that was placed in a loft at the back of the church until its destruction in the bombing of Nuremberg in 1945.

On this somber note, we walked down to the Old Market to admire the "Schöner Brunner" (beautiful fountain), a 14th-century Gothic fountain which is a symbol of Nuremberg. Close by is the lovely Frauenkirche, a small church erected during the reign of Emperor Karl IV, that served as a court chapel from 1352 until 1361.

Noting that there would be a recital that evening, we resolved to return to hear the 3-manual Klais instrument. Our efforts were well-rewarded. The recitalist was Waclaw Golonka of Prague, winner of a number of organ contests including the Wettbewerb in Pretoria (1998). His program consisted of works by Couperin, Pachelbel, Bach, Segar, and Duruflé. He is an unassuming player, but every challenge was conquered with ease, and the music reached us with no idiosyncrasies to block its beauty. One could only hope that he will play often in the United States.

Our hotel was in the St. Lorenz district, so one morning I wandered into the impressive St. Lorenz Church. Like St. Sebald, this building is a reconstruction following the bombing of World War II, but it is well done and to the casual eye it certainly looks like a Gothic masterpiece.

The organist was practicing Liszt's Prelude and Fugue on BACH while I wandered through the medieval treasures of St. Lorenz. However, in consideration of our ears, he played mf, so I cannot comment on the present organ, but it is undoubtedly significant that the church is in the midst of a drive to raise funds for a new instrument, which is to be built by Klais.

Reluctantly leaving this interesting city, we headed east to another reconstructed city, Dresden. The star of the Dresden organ world is the Silbermann instrument in the Catholic Hofkirche. The organ was unfinished in 1750 when Gottfried Silbermann fell from a scaffold in the church and died shortly thereafter. However, his son Johann Andreas Silbermann and his former journeyman Zacharias Hildebrandt completed it in 1755. During World War II the pipes were removed for safekeeping and after the war the instrument was reconstructed by Messrs. Jehmlich, a Dresden firm.

Today the interior of the church shows no evidence of the damage done by the war and a fine Anton Mengs "Ascension" hangs over the high altar, balancing the restored façade of the organ in the rear gallery.

We were fortunate to be in Dresden on a Saturday when there was an organ vesper service at 4 pm at the Hofkirche. As we entered the large church we were surprised at the large audience. Organ recitals are well attended in Europe!

The attendees at the service were well served. Opening with a toccata by George Muffat, the recitalist, Andreus Meisner of Altenburg, continued with music by Bruhns, Bach and Rheinberger. There was no admission charge but donations were accepted at the door as we left.

The impression which this instrument made was one of brilliance and warmth--plenty of bright mixtures, but also warm and full 8' tone. In studying the specification, we were struck by the  presence of a Schwebung (celeste) on the Hauptwerk. Probably because of the generous supply of 8' stops, the Rheinberger sonata came off remarkably well. The 8' flutes had quite a bit of "chiff."

As we walked back to our hotel, we came upon another important church in the life of Dresden, the Kreuzkirche. Restored after the bombings of the Second World War, the exterior looks fine. The interior, however, has been only roughly plastered over.

In the rear gallery there is a large mechanical action organ by Jehmlich, and there is a small encased organ in the front. The church is the home of the Kreutzchor, a fine men and boys choir, and there is a very busy musical schedule at this church. Some weeks there are two or three musical activities programmed.

Our next stop was another musically active city, Lübeck. One can only be impressed by the imposing Holstentor towers as one enters the old town. With Buxtehude's towering Marienkirche and the equally historic Jacobikirche, Lübeck is a paradise for organists.

We came first to the Jacobikirche. With its two historic organs it is one of Germany's most treasured sites. In the back gallery is a large Arp Schnitger, famous from the many recordings that have been made upon it. We were delighted that an organist was playing this instrument as we soaked up the atmosphere of this edifice. After several Bach works, the player switched to Reger, which worked well on the instrument.

We were sorry not to hear the Stellwagen organ on the side of the church, equally as famous as the rear gallery organ, but we were able to find a recording of Buxtehude's organ music played on both instruments by Armin  Schoof (Motette CD-10831).

The Marienkirche, Buxtehude's church, was almost completely destroyed by an air raid in 1942. Both organs were lost. Rebuilding was begun in 1947 and completed in 1980. The two new organs occupy the same spots in the church as they did in the original church, namely a large mechanical organ in the rear gallery and a smaller one, the "Danse Macabre" organ, on the side of the church above the "Danse Macabre" chapel. The rear gallery instrument is by Kemper & Sohn from Lübeck. The "Danse Macabre" organ is by Wilhelm Fuhrer of Wilhelmshaven and dates from 1986. The large organ in the rear gallery has five manuals with 101 sounding voices.

We did briefly hear the side organ after a noonday service, and purchased two CDs of the organs. Both are played by the organist of the church, Ernst-Erich Stender. The one on the Kemper instrument is "Max Reger, the organworks," Vol. I (Ornament 11447). The second, on the "Danse Macabre" instrument, is "Great Organ Works" by J.S. Bach (Ornament 11445). Herr Stender plays 30 to 40 recitals a year on these two instruments with different programs!

In the "Briefkapelle," the most im-portant of the side chapels, there is an organ which came from East Prussia. Built in 1723, it has been in Lübeck since 1933.

There is another church near the Marienkirche which was also destroyed in 1942 and which has been rebuilt. However, it is no longer used for worship, but for musical programs and art exhibits. At the St. Petrikirche one can climb its towers to get a panoramic view of this ancient free city. There is a small  encased organ in what used to be the sanctuary.

The other large church in downtown Lübeck is the Dom. While not as large as the Marienkirche, it is impressive in its own right. An enlargement of the chancel in the Gothic style in the 14th century transformed this Romanesque church.

A side placement of the large 3-manual Marcussen organ focuses the tone toward the congregation. While we were not able to hear the organ, we found an interesting CD of it played by Hartmut Rohmeyer, entitled "Johann Sebastian Bach--Orgelwerke I, Der Junge Bach" (ambitus amb 97 863).

There are other things to see in Lübeck besides organs and churches, of course, such as the interesting Dutch architecture and the "Buddenbrooks" house associated with Thomas and Heinrich Mann, and we heartily recommend Lübeck as a stop for the discerning tourist. Everything is within walking distance.

 Leaving this picturesque city, we headed for our last stop, Eisenach. Eisenach is, of course, the birthplace of J.S. Bach and we headed straight for the Bachhaus. After an individually guided tour of the house (they give you a sheet in your own language to help), we gathered in a small recital hall to hear some of Bach's music. A young man talked briefly of the significance of Bach's music and then played examples of it, on two small organs dating from Bach's era. The first was a Swiss instrument of three stops dating from 1750, in which the air was pumped by the foot of the performer. The second was a German instrument of four stops dating from 1722. In this instance he called upon a member of the audience to hand pump the bellows. He then played examples of Bach's clavier music upon a clavichord and a harpsichord from the 18th century. Interspersed with the keyboard works were taped examples of Bach's orchestral and choral works. After this, we walked down the street to the Lutherhaus where we listened to examples of Luther's chorales in 16th-century and modern settings, and saw where Luther studied Latin.

A block away we came upon the impressive parish church of St. George where Bach was baptized and where Luther preached in 1521, even though he had been banned from the Holy Roman Empire for his beliefs.

On the left wall a plaque traced the history of the Bach family members who had served as organists of this church. Even though they were not immediate members of Bach's family (they were cousins from the Erfurt branch of the Bach family), it served to remind us of the importance of the Bachs in the sacred and secular music of the 17th and 18th centuries in central Germany.

As we left Eisenach to head for Frankfurt and home, we felt that in this musical pilgrimage we had come a lot closer to the life and times of such giants as Johann Pachelbel, Dietrich Buxtehude and J.S. Bach.                 

 

Richard Peek is a graduate of Michigan State University and the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary. He served Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, as Minister of Music for 47 years and is now Minister of Music Emeritus. He has written articles for The Diapason, The American Organist, The Tracker, and Reformed Liturgy and Music, and has written numerous organ and choral works.

 

Carl Parks

Carl Parks, a freelance writer, is organist-choirmaster of Gloria Dei Lutheran Church in Holmes Beach, Florida, and a past dean of the Sarasota-Manatee Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Photographs are by the author.

Saxony’s Organs and Bachfest Leipzig 2004: A study tour of Bach, Luther & Silbermann

Every organist dreams of playing the Saxony region’s baroque organs that were designed, performed on, and approved by Johann Sebastian Bach. That, combined with the annual Bachfest Leipzig 2004, proved irresistible.

The annual Bach Festival in Leipzig, Germany--with day trips to hear and play over a dozen historic organs, many known to J. S. Bach--provided 27 of us an unforgettable study tour May 12 to 26. The tour included 16 festival concerts, lectures by Bach scholar Dr. Christoph Wolff of Harvard University, guided tours of the cities visited, and the opportunity for masterclasses with Thomaskirche organist Ulrich Böhme. It was Historic Organ Tour 50 led by the University of Michigan’s University Organist Dr. Marilyn Mason.

After a bus tour and night in Berlin, we proceeded on May 14 to Wittenberg. Our walking tour took us through the Luther House, which is the world’s largest museum of Reformation history, and the Schloßkirche, where Martin Luther presented his 95 theses and is now buried. After lunch next door in the Schloßkeller we arrived in Leipzig on time for the festival’s opening concert at the Thomaskirche, where Bach was Kantor for 27 years. Three settings of Psalm 98, by Bach (BWV 225 and 190) and Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (Opus 91) were given a world-class performance by the church’s boys’ choir, soloists, and the Gewandhaus orchestra conducted by Georg Christoph Biller. The Sinfonia in D from the Easter Oratorio (BWV 249) opened the concert.

Leipzig

Our walking tour of Leipzig the next morning showed a city coming to life again since the collapse of the German Democratic Republic (DDR) and the reunification of Germany. Construction is everywhere. Historic buildings are being cleaned and restored, while the big, vacant housing projects and other Stalinist architecture are about to be torn down. One grim building about to be razed sits on the site of the University Church, which the Communists dynamited. The church will be rebuilt with an organ designed but never built by Gottfried Silbermann, the great master of organ building during the baroque era. Unfortunately, unemployment in Leipzig is around 20 percent, while in other eastern cities of the former DDR it is as high as 28 percent.

Leipzig is a city of music. Excellent street musicians play the classics everywhere within the ancient confines of this once-walled burg. Walks to the Bach Museum, Mendelssohn House, Musical Instrument Museum or a concert are always a treat. We often paused to hear a flautist, a xylophonist, even a full brass choir playing Henry Purcell’s Trumpet Tune in D.

Thomaskirche

The first of Saturday’s three festival concerts opened with Ulrich Böhme playing Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue on the Bach Organ in the north gallery of Thomaskirche. This 4-manual, 60-stop organ was built by Woehl in 2000 and replaces an earlier 3-manual instrument built in 1966 by Schuke. It duplicates the organ that Bach knew as a boy in Eisenach. While its location is certainly not what Bach would specify, the large-scale principals and overall tonal design provide the “gravitas” he found so necessary. And the organ sounds well throughout the church despite its location on the side. Jürgen Wolf playing all 30 Goldberg Variations on harpsichord at Nikolaikirche followed. The evening concert in the Gewandhaus featured fortepianos and orchestra in performances of Bach and Mendelssohn works.

Sunday’s services at Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche are like those in Bach’s day and always include the performance of a Bach cantata at the liturgy of the word. The afternoon festival concert, again on the Thomaskirche Bach Organ, was a reconstruction of Mendelssohn’s organ recital of August 6, 1840, performed by Michael Schönheit. His improvisation on the Passion Chorale in the style of Mendelssohn was similar in structure to the Sixth Sonata and brought a standing ovation, a much less common occurrence in Europe than the United States.

Among the many excellent concerts, Matthias Eisenberg’s Ascension Day performance of  Max Reger’s Fantasie and Fugue on B-A-C-H stands out in particular. The entire sell-out crowd remained through a long, standing ovation until he improvised an equally stunning encore on Thomaskirche’s west gallery organ. That instrument was built by Wilhelm Sauer in 1899, who then extended it to 88 stops in 1907. A fund to restore this big tubular pneumatic has so far raised 100,000 of the 300,000 euros being sought.

Nikolaikirche

A similar romantic organ is almost restored in the west gallery of Nikolaikirche, but was not ready for this year’s Bachfest. It was built by Friedrich Ladegast in 1862 and expanded to 84 stops by Sauer from 1902 to 1903. Near the apse, the church also has a 17-stop organ that was built by Eule in 2002 in the style of Italian organs of the baroque era. As Kantor of Thomaskirche, J. S. Bach was also was the city’s civic director of music, giving him duties at Nikolaikirche. Thus, it was here that many of his cantatas and other works were performed for the first time.

Rötha

A bus trip on May 17 took us to Rötha, a city with two Silbermann organs. Dedicated in 1721 by Johann Kuhnau, the Silbermann in St. George church was the model for the Marilyn Mason Organ built by Fisk for the University of Michigan. A smaller Silbermann at St. Mary’s church was dedicated in 1722. Some of our group joined a masterclass with Ulrich Böhme, while others went on to Weimar. The pedalboards on these old Silbermann organs take some getting used. Not only are they flat, but the spacing is different from modern pedalboards. They also lack a low C-sharp and other notes at the top end. As Marilyn Mason explained, heel and toe pedaling worked out for pieces learned on a modern pedalboard must be changed to a technique using mostly the toes.

European acoustics demand slower tempi and proper phrasing to a greater extent then the dry acoustics of most American churches. For speech reinforcement, Germans take an approach that differs from our boom-box public address systems. Stässer loudspeakers, measuring approximately 18 x 21/2 x 21/2 inches, are mounted on each of a church’s columns, with electronic reinforcement delayed to match the time sound takes to travel. This permits clarity of the spoken word without compromising the divine ambiance for which the music was composed.

Gottfried Silbermann

Gottfried Silbermann was born in 1683, the son of a craftsman-woodworker. From 1702 to 1707 he studied organ-building with his elder brother Andreas in Strasbourg and Thiery in Paris. A condition was that Gottfried would not work in his brother’s territory. So in 1710 Gottfried returned to his native Saxony and set up shop centrally in Freiberg. His first commission was for a small, one-manual and pedal, 15-stop organ for his hometown of Frauenstein. So well-received was this first instrument, completed in 1711, that in the same year Freiberg’s Dom St. Marien (Cathedral of St. Mary) invited the young builder, then only 28 years old, to construct a new organ of three manuals and pedal with 44 stops. This was completed in 1714. Thereafter Silbermann built some 45 instruments, 31 of which are still extant. All are located within or very close to the Saxon borders. 

Gottfried Silbermann was given the official title of Court Organbuilder by Frederick I, at that time King of Poland and Duke of Saxony. Similarly, J. S. Bach had the title of Court Composer. The two were great friends, and often discussed the techniques and acoustics of organ building. Silbermann was Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach’s godfather and a regular visitor to the Bach home in Leipzig. The two even worked together on the escapement mechanism for the world’s first fortepianos.

Silbermann believed that an organ should look as beautiful as it sounds, and his organ cases are truly beautiful. Also, in a play on words of his name, this “silver man” was known for the silver sound of his pipes. His organs typically have a Hauptwerk that is scaled for gravitas, a Brustwerk scaled to be delicate, an Oberwerk to be penetrating, and a Pedal scaled for a grandness of sound that produces foundation without necessarily using a lot of pipes. Compared to Arp Schnitger, the organs of Silbermann are more spacious with the pipes less densely arranged. 

Eisleben and Halle

Another bus trip took us to Eisleben. Here we visited the houses where Martin Luther was born and died, and the church where he was baptized. Further on in Halle, we stopped to play two organs in the Marktkirche, where Georg Friedrich Händel was baptized and learned to play the organ. That organ is a one-manual instrument of six stops built in 1664 by Reichel. It has all of its original pipes as well as meantone tuning. At the other end is a much larger organ in a baroque case. It is a three-manual, 40-stop instrument built by Schuke in 1984. Both had recently been restored, following extensive damage to the church from a broken city steam pipe. We then visited the Handel House, which has several chamber organs, and we took turns playing the newly restored organ built by Johann Gottlieb Mauer in 1770.

Altenburg, Störmthal and Pomßen

On May 21 we visited Altenburg. It is here that Heinrich Trost built an organ in the Schloßkirche from 1736 to 1739, the same year Bach played it. Eule restored it in the mid-1970s. After walking up well-worn stone steps in one of the castle’s circular stairwells, we found ourselves in the balcony opposite this magnificent instrument. Demonstrating was Dr. Felix Friedrich, a scholar of Johann Ludwig Krebs. Marilyn Mason, who was familiar with the instrument, pulled stops for those of us who played and offered suggestions. Among the more interesting stops is a viola that speaks with an attack and harmonic development nearly identical to that of a bowed string instrument, making it ideal for trio sonatas. 

Further on in the village church of Störmthal is the only Hildebrandt organ still in its original condition. Zacharias Hildebrandt was a student of Gottfried Silbermann. He built the two-manual instrument that was inspected and approved by his friend J. S. Bach in 1723. Kantor Thomas Orlovski demonstrated the instrument and registered it for those of us who played. 

The afternoon took us to Pomßen’s 750-year-old Wehrkirche. Originally built as a fortress, this Romanesque church is home to the oldest organ in Saxony. The instrument has one manual and pedals that play 12 stops, plus a Cimbelstern and Vogelgesang. Built in 1570, the organ was purchased second-hand to save money, and it was installed in 1690. It has been well maintained since its restoration in 1934 and was a thrill to play. 

Naumburg

Several of us had expressed an interest in playing the newly restored organ in Wenzelkirche, Naumburg, which was not on our tour. It is the largest instrument built by Zacharias Hildebrandt from 1743 to 1746, comprising 53 stops on three manuals and pedals. His old teacher Gottfried Silbermann examined the instrument and approved it, finding it to be as beautiful as his own but much larger. J. S. Bach had assisted with its design; and, when he played it, he found all the qualities he liked: thundering basses, strong mixtures, and beautiful solo stops. We convinced enough in our group to charter a bus and rent the organ the morning of May 22. 

Words can describe neither the baroque splendor nor the divine ambience of the vast St. Wenzel interior. There, Kantor Irene Greulich demonstrated the organ. Frau Greulich is a fine organist who has performed and given masterclasses at the University of Michigan. She and Marilyn Mason have a friendship that began before Germany’s reunification, when the organ had been playable from an electro-pneumatic console of the 1930s in the balcony below. They registered the organ for those of us who played, thus ensuring that nobody touched the original pen and ink inscriptions in the drawknobs.

A walk to the Dom SS. Peter and Paul revealed a handsome new organ under construction in a fenced-in area in the nave. No information was available, but among the pipes to be installed were wooden resonators, presumably for a Posaune. The building is late Romanesque and Gothic from the 13th century.

That evening we attended a very fine concert of The Creation by Joseph Haydn at the Hochschüle for Music and Theater. It was sung by soloists and choir from the school and the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra, Roland Borger conducting. We heard it as Die Schöpfung, Haydn’s own translation from English for German audiences.

The last day of Bachfest included breathtaking performances of the St. Matthew Passion, the Mass in B Minor, and pieces written for organ, four hands, played by Ulrich Böhme and his wife Martina at Thomaskirche. The Matthäus-Passion performance was a reconstruction of that given by Mendelssohn on April 4, 1841. Thus, orchestration made use of instruments that had replaced those of Bach’s time. A continuo organ was played with the orchestra. The chorales, however, made use of the Gewandhaus’ 89-stop instrument built in 1981 by the Schuke-Orgelbau of Potsdam. The festival closing concert of the B-minor Mass was in Thomaskirche, with 85-year-old Eric Ericson conducting.

Freiberg and Frauenstein

After we checked out of our hotel, our bus took us southeast to Freiberg. There, in the Freiberg Dom we played two fine Silbermann organs. The larger was built from 1711 to 1714 and has a particularly remarkable case with ornamentation by Johann Adam Georgi. It has 44 stops across three manuals and pedal. The small organ of 1719 has 14 stops on one manual and pedal. 

We continued to the Silbermann Museum in Frauenstein, located in a medieval castle, and the only organ museum devoted to just one builder. There, Dr. Marilyn Mason played a short recital on the museum’s replica of a Silbermann organ. It is a copy by Wegscheider Organ Builders, Dresden, of an instrument Silbermann built in 1732 for Etzdorf, and is a working model demonstrating the basic principles of Baroque organ construction.

Part of the attraction of a Marilyn Mason tour is her ability to unlock the doors to organ lofts. She was the first woman to have played in Westminster Abbey, Egypt, and many other places around the world. She is also a very helpful coach in unlocking the secrets of performance for a broad array of organ literature. Dr. Mason offered our group many pointers on the performance of baroque music, and personally advised me on ways to practice the difficult passages and tricky rhythms of Jehan Alain’s Trois Danses, which she had worked out for her own brilliant performances.

Dresden

In Dresden, our excellent tour leader, Franz Mittermayr of Matterhorn Travel, treated us with a surprise visit to the Hofkirche (Roman Catholic cathedral). There we played the magnificent three-manual, 47-stop Silbermann of 1755 that had been hidden in the countryside during World War II. This cathedral was destroyed in the allied firebombing, but the organ was back among us in a newly restored building. For that we gave grateful thanks. Unfortunately, another fine Silbermann in the Frauenkirche was destroyed. A 3-million euro restoration of that church is nearing completion using original, numbered stones wherever possible. A new organ will replicate the destroyed Silbermann. 

It has been said that Germany has too many churches. This is because, like elsewhere, church attendance is down. In Germany approximately nine percent of the population is Protestant, while two percent is Roman Catholic. In the former DDR of Eastern Germany under the Communists, religion was discouraged, so attendance fell even further. Maintaining and restoring these ancient churches is beyond the reach of most congregations, so they survive through tourism and entrance fees. Many are considered museums and are given government funding. In Naumburg, for example, the city paid for the restoration of the Hildebrandt organ. On average, a group pays an entrance fee of 150 euros or about $185 U.S. for each church visited. In Leipzig, the group paid entrance fees on top of concert ticket prices. This was all included in the cost of our tour. An organist traveling alone to play benefit recitals will pay rental fees of similar amounts. 

For a first visit to the Saxony region, this tour provided the best way to play these instruments and learn about them. While our personal playing times were seldom more than five minutes each, the cost was spread over the entire group. An organ tour also makes all the preliminary arrangements to open doors that are otherwise locked. The University of Michigan is known for its excellent tours, and this one proved why. Matterhorn Travel provided us with a guide who had extensive knowledge of the area, numerous contacts, and the ability to run things so smoothly that we never encountered delays.

Aldo J. Baggia

Aldo J. Baggia is Chairman of the Department of Modern Languages and Instructor in French, Spanish, German and Italian at Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Iona College and the MA from Middlebury College, and has completed graduate work at Laval University and Duke University. He has pursued postgraduate studies in France, Germany, Austria, and Spain, and has travelled extensively in Europe. He has written numerous opera reviews for Quarterly Opera Review, Opera, Opera News, Orpheus, and Monsalvat.

Our guide book on Saxony in Germany indicated that no. 2 in Kleinbobritzsch was the house where the celebrated organ builder, Gottfried Silbermann, was born. I thought it was interesting that the town was so small that this address was sufficient to find the house, and indeed it is. Kleinbobritzsch, in effect, has one street and is in a line of small villages a few kilometers from Frauenstein where his family moved two years after his birth in 1683. One goes through Niederbobritzsch and Oberbobritzsch and therefore we have a "Lower," "Upper," and "Small" Bobritzsch but no town of Bobritzsch itself. Silbermann left Saxony for a short time to study the trade of organ building with his brother Andreas in Strasbourg and after a few years in France he returned to Saxony in 1710 and built his first organ for the Stadtkirche in Frauenstein in 1711. That organ was destroyed in a city fire in 1728.

It is amazing that, with such little experience, he was given the contract to build the large 3-manual organ for the Cathedral in Freiberg in 1711. He relocated to a house at the current Schloßplatz in Freiberg, which is only twenty kilometers from Frauenstein, and this became his living quarters and workshop until his death in 1753. He remained dedicated to Saxony during his entire life and was quoted at the time of building his first organ for the church in Frauenstein that he was doing it for his "country, the honor of God and the love of the church."

Silbermann was high on my list of interests in planning a trip to Saxony  this past summer. People are acquainted with his organ in the Cathedral of Freiberg (III/45), at least by reputation, but few have had the opportunity to see and hear a number of his other organs in the old province. Political considerations made trips to the former German Democratic Republic difficult, and it has only been in recent years that road conditions have been sufficiently upgraded in order to make travel in the former East Germany bearable. Four years ago I spent two months in Germany as part of a sabbatical year and drove through parts of the provinces of  Sachsen-Anhalt and Thüringen and found the roads to be in a deplorable state. That is no longer the case.

Werner Müller in his book Auf den Spuren von Gottfried Silbermann points out that Silbermann made forty-eight organs and that the last one attributed to him, the large 3-manual in the Katholische Hofkirche in Dresden (the Cathedral), was finished by his associates, one of whom was Zacharias Hildebrandt, who subsequently became quite well known for the organ in the Wenzelkirche in Naumburg (Thüringen).   The Dresdner Hofkirche organ was stored for safe keeping in 1944 and therefore survived the bombing of  the city  in February, 1945.   At the time the case was destroyed, and the present one is a copy of the original. The organ was restored by the Jehmlich Brothers of Dresden and re-dedicated in 1971.

Other Silbermann organs have also been  destroyed by fires, either in the Second World War or in other wars such as the Seven Years War in the eighteenth century. The famous organ in the Frauenkirche in Dresden (III/45) was destroyed in the bombing of 1945 as was the organ of the Sophienkirche (II/31). The large organ of the Johanniskirche in Zittau (III/44) was destroyed in the Seven Years War in 1757

Silbermann had the lofty title of  "Königlich-polnischer und kurfürstlich-sächsischer Hof- und Landorgelbauer," which translates as "Organ builder to the Courts of the King of Poland and the Elector of the State of Saxony." Saxony was his homeland and all of his organs with the exception of those in Burgk, Greiz, Lebusa and Großmehlen,  were built for churches there. Even those four towns were on Saxony's borders. Saxony is primarily Lutheran country and with the exception of the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Dresden, the churches with his organs are generally the Stadtkirche (the city church) or the Dorfkirche (the village church), both of which would be the local Lutheran church of a particular town.   The architecture of all of these churches tends to be similar and the differences that exist in their layout are primarily those of size. There would be a central tower of considerable mass in the larger ones such as the churches in Sayda, Großhartmannsdorf and Oederan and a narrower one as at St. Petri in Rochlitz and all would be topped with some variation of an onion bulb under a cross. The massive Cathedral in Freiberg is basically a gothic construction that has two imposing towers that are squared and shaved at the top. The original Lady Chapel is pure gothic and the nave with its high arches is typical of other churches in Saxony. The south chancel portal is the elaborately sculptured "Goldene Pforte" which is now protected from the elements by a wooden foyer which completely encloses it.  A life-size replica of it can be seen at the Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University. It was moved from the western side of the Cathedral in 1487 and covered during the renovation work of 1827-36. The Annenkirche in Annaberg-Buchholz, St. Aegidien in Oschatz, the Cathedral in Zwickau and the Marienkirche in Pirna have similar interiors insofar as the nave and aisles are concerned. These four churches are among the largest in Saxony and are architectural gems that survived the Second World War, but while they deserve a visit, they were never associated with Silbermann.

Freiberg itself is a treasure chest for anyone interested in Silbermann's organs since four of those extant are located there. Besides the two in the Dom, there are the (II/32) of 1735 in St. Petri and the (II/20) of 1716 in the Jakobikirche, the latter having been transferred to the current church which was built in 1892. In both examples the cases are the original ones and the case of the Jakobikirche carries the State of Arms of Saxony at the top because it was built by the municipal carpenter of Freiberg, Elias Lindner, in 1718. The Petrikirche organ, which also carries the Arms of Saxony, is considered important because it points the way to Silbermann's later ideas on organ building while the Dom organ of 1711, which was his second organ, was the fruit of  his earlier ideas. The Petrikirche organ was built between 1733 and 1735 and achieves a majestic sound that fulfils the desires of the later baroque era. It was his first organ with a 16¢ Principal in the Hauptwerk and is particularly important from that point of view because the organs in the Frauenkirche in Dresden and the Johanniskirche in Zittau, which were both larger and  more developed, have not survived.

Most of Silbermann's organs were one- or two-manual instruments of 12 to 20 stops, and the one-manual organ of 14 stops from St. Johannis in Freiberg was moved to the north chancel of the Dom in 1939 and very recently restored. It was featured in the five concerts that I attended this summer in Freiberg and was a very good example of what one expects from a Silbermann organ, i.e., a clarity of sound, particularly in the flutes, and a variety of color that is very appropriate for expressive music. It also has a power that one would not expect from a one-manual organ. Obviously the superb acoustics of the Dom have a lot to do with the sound that is produced. The west tower organ has a brilliance and clarity that really stand out. The case of the large organ is magnificent by any standards and when Dr. Felix Friedrich from the Altenburger Schloßkirche launched into Bach's famous Toccata and Fugue in D Minor in the concert of August 13th, the sound of the instrument, the beauty of the church, and the piece itself made it a truly magical experience.

I was interested in hearing the organ in more modern music to see what its range would be and how it would sound when compared to much larger symphonic instruments such as those of E.M. Skinner or Henry Willis III.  Some nineteenth- and twentieth-century pieces were programmed and there was no difficulty in producing the necessary sound mass that one would associate with such music. Kent Tritle from St. Ignatius in New York City played George Crumb's Pastoral Drone, Ned Rorem's Views from the Oldest House and Mendelssohn's Sonata in C Minor, op. 65. Dr. Friedrich from Altenburg played Eberhard Böttcher's Choralvorspiel und Fuge über Veni creator spiritus and Friedrich Metzler's 3 Choralvorspiele aus dem Choralkreis. Stephan Leuthold from Dresden, who was the winner of the Gottfried-Silbermann competition in 1997, finished up his concert with Gustav Merkel's Sonata in D, op. 118. In general the other works played by all of these organists were by Bach or his contemporaries.

It so happened that the organ (II/19) in the Dorfkirche in Nassau celebrated its 250th anniversary on August 2nd and there were a number of activities associated with its re-dedication during the course of the ensuing week. The Jehmlich Company of Dresden was hired to do the restoration and Stephan Leuthold was the organist for the final concert of the week on August 9th. He closed his program with Schumann's Fuge Nr. 1 über BACH, op. 60 and Rheinberger's Sonata in A, op. 98. These are pieces that require a flexibility of  registrations and a certain amount of power, and there was no difficulty in the organ's ability to sustain the sounds required. The serious drawback was the lack of good acoustics in the building which had practically no reverberation at all. It is a very small church with a low ceiling and the sound is deadened even though the interior is entirely made of wood. As such, the amplitude and majesty that one hears in the Dom or in the Petrikirche in Freiberg were completely absent. The restoration of this organ was financed by a retired teacher and organ aficionado, Hubert Hofer, who supported the restoration of the Silbermann organs in Frankenstein, Großmehlen, Glauchau and Zöblitz. He was quoted in an article in the Freiberg edition of the Freie Presse as saying: "I have spent my lifetime in a simple and frugal way and have developed my great love for the organ. Gottfried Silbermann's organs are close to my heart because they are, as I would say, unequalled in their sound and manner of construction."

The one two-manual that really stood out in my mind was the organ at Oederan, which is a small town about 14 kilometers west of Freiberg and on the road to Chemnitz. The Stadtkirche is very large and the (II/25) instrument has a very impressive sound of clarity and grandeur. The contract was written in 1724 and the dedication took place on May 25th, 1727. The organ was kept in its original state until the middle of the 19th century by Silbermann's successors. When the church was renovated in 1890-92, a neo-gothic case was built to go with the changes in the interior. At the same time the Jehmlich Company of Dresden did some re-building of the instrument and further work was done in 1968 by the Eule Orgelbau Firma of Bautzen. The Eule Company did a complete restoration of the organ in 1992-93 with the intention of putting it in its original condition, i.e., meeting the technical and acoustical levels that Silbermann had achieved. Although Silbermann's organs are generally associated with Bach, one should note that Silbermann had never followed the customs of other German builders with respect to his stoplist and tuning and his organs represent a combination of German and French principles. Unless the tuning were changed, one would, in theory, play Bach's music "imperfectly" on a Silbermann organ, even though Bach had a great interest in the French school of organ building.

In his book, Organ, Arthur Wills stresses the point that Silbermann's organ at Fraureuth represents a good example of the blending of the German and French elements in organ building.    On the Ars Vivendi label there is a fine recording of Bach's Toccata, Adagio und Fuge C-dur BWV 564 by Johannes-Ernst Köhler on the Fraureuth organ (11/20), which was built between 1739 and 1742. There is a great variety of color, and the tone is absolutely beautiful.

I attended a recital in Oederan on Thursday, July 23rd, and the only disappointment was that there were only four people in the church, including my wife and me.   The organist played some variations by Johann Gottfried Walther and the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Bach and the results were most impressive. The acoustics of the church are outstanding and the depths of expression that one heard were remarkable.     This is an organ that would easily stand side by side with larger instruments for its capacity to inspire, and its sound is truly unique.

About thirty of Silbermann's organs are still extant, and it is extraordinary to consider that these organs are more than 250 years old, even with the understanding that some rebuilding has been done on all of them. Silbermann's influence on other organ builders has continued to the present time, particularly with respect to the manufacturing of the pipes. Friedrich Ladegast had remarked when building the large organ for the Schloßkirche in Wittenberg in 1858 that the pipes should be fashioned "nach Silbermann'schen Methoden," the meaning of which is quite evident.

This was a wonderful discovery and one that is waiting for other friends of the organ.