A History of the Organ in Estonia

Alexander Fiseisky

Alexander Fiseisky, born in Moscow, is one of the most famous and influential organists in Russia. He graduated with distinction from the Moscow Conservatoire as pianist and organist. He is an organ soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society, head of the organ class at the Russian Gnessins’ Academy of Music in Moscow, and president of the Vladimir Odoyevsky Organ Center. He organized and served as artistic director for organ festivals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Tallinn, among others. In 1997 he was honored by President Yeltsin with the title ‘Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation’. Fiseisky has given concerts in more than 30 countries. In the Bach Anniversary Year of 2000 he played J. S. Bach’s entire organ works, twice in the context of EXPO 2000 in Hannover, and once in a single day in Düsseldorf as a Bach Marathon. As a result of that event, in 2002, in Moscow, an entry was put in the book Records of the Planet Earth. Sought after as a juror in international competitions both at home and abroad (Calgary, St. Albans, Kaliningrad), he has directed seminars and masterclasses in Europe (Vienna, Hamburg, Hanover, Warsaw, London) and the USA. He is the dedicatee of numerous compositions, including works by Mikhail Kollontai, Vladimir Ryabov, Milena Aroutyunova, and Walther Erbacher. A musicologist, he has edited anthologies of organ music of Russia and of the Baltics (Bärenreiter-Verlag). He has many recordings to his credit, including the complete organ works of J. S. Bach.

Historical sketch
While the history of the organ in the territories of modern Latvia stretches back to the Middle Ages, Latvian organ music itself (as well as classical Latvian music in general) emerged only in the last quarter of the 19th century. This anomaly arose from the history of the country, which was almost always under foreign rule and, accordingly, influenced by different cultural traditions.
Since the ninth century, those who lived in the territories of modern Latvia were often attacked by Scandinavians, and later by Germans, who wished to control and use the old Viking trade routes. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church had missionary designs on the indigenous peoples—the Kurs (or Curonians), the Zemgals, the Latgals, the Selonians, and the Livs (or Livonians)—who were still pagan. From 1164 onwards these objectives attracted a succession of representatives of different groups of German society: soldiers, merchants, and missionaries. Overcoming resistance of the local peoples, German crusaders in 1201 established Riga as the residence of an archbishop, the whole region being occupied by them by the end of the 13th century. From that time until the early 20th century, Latvia was under foreign rule: German (1290– 1581), Polish (1581–1621), Swedish (1621–1710), and Russian (1710–1917). In Latvian cultural life, developing under the ruling nations, the dominant influence was German. The Baltic German elite, although never amounting to more than about ten per cent of the population, maintained its privileged position in Latvian society, even when the Baltic territories were controlled by Poland, Sweden, or Russia.

Organs in Latvia in the 13th–16th centuries
Historical sources record that in the winter of 1205–1206 a liturgical drama (ludus prophetarum) was performed in Riga. From 1216 there existed a musical guild in the Livonian Order and from 1240 a “Domkapelle” also. The guilds took part in festivities, ceremonies, and processions, in which it is highly likely that portatives were used. However, the first documented reference to organs in the Baltics dates from 1329: in the small towns of Paistu (Paisten) and Helme (Helmet) (northern Livonia, now Estonia), the organs were destroyed by enemy action.
The 14th–15th centuries were characterized by a permanent struggle between the Livonian Order and the Archbishop of Riga for political domination. The documents of this time describe organs, mostly in the large churches of Riga. The church of St. Peter in Riga was known to provide musical instruction in the 14th century, in which perhaps positive organs were used, while the church of St. Catherine was known to have an organ in 1392. The best performers (trombonists, cornettists, trumpeters, drummers) received the title of Town Waits. These posts were given only to Germans.
According to Magister Brotze1 there was in the chancel of the church of St. Johannis in Cesis (Wenden) the tombstone of a councilor, Symon Schotdorn, and his wife Gerdrut, from the year 1441; it indicates that they were the donors of the church’s first Praising Sounds. As Paul Campe correctly noted, “it is uncertain whether, under the Praising Sounds, the carving on the tombstone was meant to indicate a particular musical instrument or a special kind of church music.”2
At the beginning of the 16th century, immediately after the “Augsburger Reichstag” (the Confessio Augustana of 1530), the Protestant liturgy was established in the Baltic territories. The first churches to be converted to Protestantism (already in 1522) were those of St. Jakobi and St. Peter in Riga. The latter received in 1520 a new organ built by Balthasar Zcineken, the first organ builder in Latvia known by name.3 This organ replaced the older one, which had existed since 1465.
In 1530 Nicolaus Ramm made the first translation of a liturgical text into Latvian, No szirdes dubben buus töw titczet (The Ten Commandments).
The music for the majestic and dignified services in the churches of Riga was provided by choir, solo singers, and organ. Documents from the Inneres Rigaer Ratsarchiv mention an organist, Lasserus, who received several payments for playing in the services in 1542 and 1543. One of them reads: “Dito noch anno 43 denn andern Mydewecke [Mittwoch] Inne [in] der Faste[nzeit] für den Laßerus demme [dem] organisten—20 Mark” (“The same again in ’43 on the other Wednesday in Lent for Lasserus, the organist—20 marks”).4
In the second half of the 16th century church services followed both the traditional German and the local order. By the end of the century the first printed compositions—masses, motets, spiritual songs (including Missa Rigensis)—by the Riga cantor Paul (Paulus) Bucaenus (?–1586) had been published (Sacrae cantiones, Riga, 1583).
Soon they were followed by the first collection of music with Latvian texts, Undeudsche Psalmen und geistliche Lieder oder Gesenge welche in den Kirchen des Fürstenthums Churland und Semigallen in Lieflande gesungen werden (Königsberg, 1587), based on Die Korte Ordeninge des Kerkendienstes der Cöfflichen Stadt Riga (Lübeck, 1530).
After the great fire of 1547 that destroyed the organ in Riga Cathedral, a new instrument was built there (1594–1601, III/P/42), which cost 5,685 thalers and 3 marks. This instrument was built by Jacob Rab(e) (d. 1609), an organbuilder from Lübeck who established his workshop there in 1598.
In the Duchy of Courland there existed organs before 1600 in the following churches: Holy Trinity in Jelgava (Mitau), 1586; St. Catharine in Kuldiga (Goldingen), 1593; the Church of the Holy Spirit in Bauska (Bauske), 1595.
From the middle of the 16th century, the Baltic territories became a subject of contention between Lithuania and Russia. In the year 1558 the army of the Russian Tsar Ivan “The Terrible” reached Riga. The army of Lithuania, together with that of Poland, went to war against Russia. As a result of the Livonian War (1558–1583), the Russians left the Baltics, and Latvia was divided and brought under Swedish and Polish-Lithuanian rule.

Cultural, religious, and musical life in the 17th and 18th centuries
If during this period cultural activity in Latvia continued to be mostly a product of the German-speaking elite, the Latvian peasantry had a vibrant oral folk tradition in their own language. As early as the 16th century, when Baltic German clergy supplied religious writings in Latvian to the peasantry, these two cultural lines began to converge, aided by Ernst Glück’s publication in 1694 of his Latvian translation of the Bible.
Seventeenth-century sources describe organs in Durbe (Durben), Valmiera (Wolmar), Cesis (Wenden), Edole (Edwahlen), Piltene (Pilten), Ventspils (Windau), and other places. Most at that period were positive organs. Master Moritz (Mauritius) Wendt, who lived in Riga from 1608 to 1633, made a positive organ for Grobina (Grobin). He also received some orders from Königsberg (1622) and Danzig (1623).5 In 1609 he was given the task of renovating the organ in the church of Kuldiga, but, as by 1611 he had failed to fulfill this commission, another organbuilder was engaged: Johannes Pauli (Paulus),6 who worked in Riga in 1611–1614, in 1630–1633 (when he built the new organ in the church of St. Johann), and in 1642. In January 1642, Jakob Wendt, the son of Moritz Wendt, finished a new organ in Jelgava.7
The collaboration of important cities in the Baltic area can also be traced in the activities of such organbuilders as Christopher Meinecke (Christoff Mencke) from Lübeck (who worked in Riga in 1674–1675), Martin Siewert (Sievert) from Danzig (in Riga 1676–1687), Gabriel Branditius (Brenditius) from Köslin in Pommern (in Durben and Riga 1674–1698), and Bartholomäus Schumann from Königsberg (in Riga 1695–1705).8
During the reign of Duke Jacob (1642–1682), and especially that of his son Duke Friedrich Casimir (1682–1698), Jelgava became the cultural center of Courland. The court orchestra and the court wind instruments, which normally included 12 trumpets with drums, were used on many occasions.
It can clearly be seen from the contract between Duke Friedrich Casimir and his “Musikdirektor” Maximilian Dietrich Freisslich how important the position of director of music had become and how many obligations had to be fulfilled:

We, Friedrich Casimir, by the Grace of God, Duke of Liefland in Courland and Semgallen, document and acknowledge by this our sealed open letter that we have appointed and confirmed our dear faithful Maximilian Dietrich Freisslich to be our director of vocal music in our church and organist, and we do so herewith and with all our might, in the expectation that he should be first of all loyal, gracious, and attentive, giving warning of avoiding our most terrible anger, but should promote, preserve and aid our best purposes, and then should also present music in our church when there should be made music and singing, and when banquets are held, he, being also experienced in composition, should have care of the pieces heard and should compose, and should inspire the vocalists to practice much, so that each of them will be able to perform his part properly, should play the organ when the parish enters the church and when they leave, but also for concerts and singing, and at banquets and for singing should play the harpsichord, and should allow himself to be a willing and unwearied, faithful, and diligent musician and servant. For such service we promise and order that he should receive for all together as a fee and board per year one hundred and fifty Rthl (Reichsthaler) Albertus, which should be given to him each time from Our Chamber.

Certificated by Our Signature in Our Own Hand and stamped with Our Princely Seal. Dated at Mitau, the 18. Augusti Anno 1694.9

The first hymnbooks in the Latvian language had already appeared in 1587 and 1615. During the 17th century the tradition of simple liturgical music steadily developed. The congregation sang in unison, accompanied by the organ. As a result of this, remarkable collections of music appeared in Riga in 1686, composed by Gustav von Mengden (1625 or 1627–1688), who was born in Riga (or in Sunzel Castle) and later became a district official.
These were two collections of liturgical songs, published by Georg Matthias Nöller (Riga, 1686), for soprano and basso continuo on Mengden’s own texts, Sonntages Gedanken eines Christen, So sich an Gott Ver-Miethet and Der Verfolgte, Errettete und Lobsingende David—outstanding monuments to German-Baltic Protestant church music.
Another talented musician of the next generation was Johann Valentin Meder (1649–1719), born in Wasungen on the Werra. From the catalogue of his sacred works made by his son Erhard Nikolaus, a notary in Riga, in the year of his father’s death, he was an extraordinarily prolific composer. This catalogue lists about 130 compositions, including 12 Masses, four Passions, five Magnificats, and many concertato motets. Apart from this, his secular music comprises a “Singspiel” (Die beständige Argenia), two operas, and one opera-ballet, plus vocal and instrumental chamber music. He was esteemed by Mattheson, Buxtehude, and others. From 1701 to 1719 he was cantor and organist at Riga Cathedral, where under his direction his St. Luke and St. Matthew Passions were first performed.
At the beginning of the 18th century a new style in art, Courland baroque, appeared in the cultural life of Latvia, first in evidence in Courland, which maintained close contacts with Germany, Holland, and Poland. An important role in establishing this new style was played by the workshop of the Sefrenss family. Nikolass Sefrenss “the younger” (1662–1710) finished in 1697 the altar of the church of St. Anna in Liepaja (Libau).

Cornelius Rhaneus
One of the next commissions that came to his workshop was the organ case in the church of Ugale (Ugahlen). The case was built by his future son-in-law Michael Marquardt, who worked in the Sefrenss workshop as a woodcarver. The instrument itself (1697–1701, II/P/28, featuring a Rückpositiv), the oldest organ in the Baltics still preserved in its original form, was built by Cornelius Rhaneus (1671–1719) from Kuldiga—the most famous Latvian organbuilder of his time.

Ugale (Ugahlen)
Cornelius Rhaneus, 1697–1701

Hauptwerk (CDE–c3)
16' Bordun
8' Principal
8' Hollflöt
8' Quintade
4' Octava
4' Rohrflöt
3' Raußquint
2' Superoctava
2' Waldflöt
13⁄5' Sexta
Mixtur 3 fach
8' Zincke

Rückpositiv (CDE–c3)
8' Flötte
4' Principal
4' Blockflött
4' Salicional
2' Gemshorn
2' Offenflött
1' Sedecima
8' Schalmeij

Pedal (CDE–e1)
16' Subbass
8' Gedactbass
8' Viola di Gamba
4' Octave
3' Quinte
2' Octave
16' Posaune
8' Trompete

Manual coupler
Pedal coupler
Cimbelstern
Pedal for Flying Bird and Angel (makes the wooden ornamental angel on the Rückpositiv conduct and the bird above the organ appear to fly)

Rhaneus also built organs for the castle chapel in Jelgava, 1695–1697; a church in Lestene, 1707–1708, 33 stops with a Rückpositiv (the case of this organ, which was finished in 1707, as well as the decoration of the church, was built in 1704–1709 by Nikolass Sefrenss with assistants); and the church of St. Catharine in Kuldiga, 1712–1715.

18th-century organbuilders
At the beginning of the 18th century Swedish and Polish-Lithuanian rule came to an end in Latvia. Swedish political domination of the Baltic world was challenged when Russia under Tsar Peter the Great deprived Sweden of her Livonian territories in the Great Northern War (1700–1721). The rest of the Baltic coastal region came under Russian jurisdiction when Catherine the Great purchased the Duchy of Courland from the ducal family in 1795. By the end of the 18th century all Latvian speakers had become subjects of the Russian Empire.
At that time, after Riga, Kuldiga became the second center for organ building in Latvia. The following organbuilders worked there: Mal. H. Erasmus, 1694–1744; Albrecht Jordan (b. 1689), 1746–1772; and Paul Frölich (1720–1775) from Frauenburg (East Prussia), 1758–1775.
Gabriel Julius Mosengel (Moosengel), the son of the famous organbuilder Johann Josua Mosengel (1663–1731) from Königsberg, also worked there from 1719 to 1730. In 1786 the church of Edole received a richly decorated organ by Christoph Wilhelm Braweleit (Braveleit) (1752–1796) from Labiau (East Prussia)—a pupil of Adam Gottlob Casparini (1715–1788).
The organbuilder Johann Heinrich Joachim (1696–1762) from Schafstädt (Thuringia), who settled in Jelgava, became well known in the first half of the 18th century. He renovated the organ in Sabile (1752) and built new instruments in the church of St. Gertrude in Riga (1753) and in the church of St. Anna in Jelgava (1755). Apart from his activities in Latvia, at the recommendation of the Duke of Courland, Ernst Johann Biron (1690–1772), he built an organ in the Lutheran Church of SS. Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg (1737). His most important work was the organ in the church of the Holy Trinity in Liepaja (1758, 36 stops), which he was not able to finish because of increasing deafness from 1753.
Gottfried Clossen (Kloss, Klossen, Kloos, d. 1740), an organbuilder from Danzig, built an organ in the church of St. Peter in Riga (1728–1731, 1734, III/P/43) and repaired the organ of the cathedral in that city (1738).10
The rich appearance of organs in Latvia at that time often featured in contemporary reports. In the “Church register” of Rujiena (Rujen), for example, we find a wonderful allegorical description from the middle of the 18th century of the organ case, given by pastor Matthias Philipp Vorhuf (d. 1761):

On the Positive, which is placed in the gallery, you will find various pictures, figures, and inscriptions neatly carved in wood. At its highest point there is a sphere with two wings topped by the statue of Saturn who has an hourglass on his head and a scythe in his right hand, and an angel on each side. On the left where the ten stops may be drawn, Potiphar’s wife can be seen sitting on her bed trying to prevent Joseph in his attempt to escape. The inscription here reads FUGA AMBRIS. To the left near the bellows are the words POTPHE RAHI PRAESDES ONIORUM UXOR.
At the back, on the right, above the positive, there is a panel with various allegorical representations, e.g., a two-winged hourglass set on a skull decorated with a laurel wreath. Close to the ears one can see a tube emitting smoke and steam. The skull itself is placed on an anvil to the right of which lie the wheel of a gun mount, a mirror, a burning glass. On a pedestal we see two masks with a snake coiling itself round them, a hemisphere with four stars and the last quarter of the moon together with another mask. To the left of the anvil there are a helmet, a sheathed rapier, a retort with a glass to collect the liquid, and underneath the flask we see two books. Right above the hourglass the Latin text reads EXITUS ACTA PROBAT and at its foot:
QUID TERRA CINISQUE SUPERBIS
HORA FUGIT MA RECESAET HONOS
MORS IMMINET ATRA
In the four corners of the panel on which all this is shown are four small genii holding leafed branches. At the top of the Positive lies a MULIER UMBILICO TENUS DENUDATA MUNPO; behind this ‘woman’ lies a man at her head and two others at her feet. One of them seems to be tearing at his hair while screaming loudly, whereas the other one is holding a flask in each hand.11

The most famous organbuilder in the Baltics in the 18th century was Heinrich Andreas Contius (1708–1792) from Halle/Saale, to whom J. S. Bach gave a laudatory mention in 1748.12 Besides renovating smaller instruments, he constructed an organ in the church of St. Jakobi in Riga (1760/61, II/P/25; the case is preserved).
At the suggestion of the organist of Riga Cathedral, Johann Kristian Zimmermann, he enlarged the organ there in 1773–1776 by adding two stops to it: a Fagott 8' in the Oberwerk and an Untersatz 32' in the Pedal. He also extended the right and left hand cases, constructed new bellows, and renovated the Positive organ in the cathedral school.
In the instruments of Contius, features of a new style are noticeable—a Rückpositiv was not used, and the decoration became more restrained.
In 1773–1779 he worked in the Holy Trinity church in Liepaja, where he constructed within the existing case a new instrument (II/P/38). Here he began working with his son-in-law Johann Andreas Stein (1752–1821), who came from a family of organbuilders from Augsburg. On the occasion of constructing the organ in the church of St. Simonis in Valmiera (1779–1780), they founded a workshop there from which the organ for the Reformed Church in Riga (II/P/14) came in 1783. Stein also built new organs in the churches of St. Johann in Cesis (1786-1787) and Evele (Wohlfahrt, 1788). At the end of the century he established his own workshop in Pärnu in Estonia.
Around 1800 domestic organbuilders began to appear. At first they were self-taught, mainly constructing positives for private residences and schools. Later some attained regional importance.
Born about 1743, Theodor Tiedemann worked from 1778 to 1806 in Riga; from 1807 to 1835 his son Johann Theodor Tiedemann was active in Courland, and later in Lithuania.

Organ music in the 18th century
During the 18th century the organ became increasingly popular. The standard of playing also improved. An important role in this process was played by the German composer Johann Gottfried Müthel (1728– 1788), who was invited to Riga by the Russian Privy Councilor Otto Hermann von Vietinghoff (1722–1792). Vietinghoff, a great lover of music and theatre, who had his own private orchestra of 24 musicians, gradually established between 1768 and 1782 the City Theatre of Riga, which became the center of cultural life in that city.
Johann Gottfried Müthel was born into a family of musicians. He received his first music instructions from his father, organist of St. Nicolai in Mölln. Later he studied with Paul Kuntzen, organist at the church of St. Mary in Lübeck, and in 1747 he was appointed chamber musician and organist at the court of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In 1750 he visited J. S. Bach, lived in his house in Leipzig, and received some lessons from him. After Bach’s death, Müthel continued his studies with Bach’s son-in-law, Johann Christoph Altnickol, in Naumburg. Later he visited Johann Adolph Hasse and Johann Baptist Georg Neruda in Dresden, Carl Philipp Emmanuel Bach in Potsdam, and Georg Philipp Telemann in Hamburg. In 1753 he settled in Riga and there directed the Kapelle of Otto Hermann von Vietinghoff. From 1755 he worked as the assistant organist at Riga Cathedral, and in 1767 he was given the post of principal organist in the church of St. Peter, which he held until his death. His output includes works for organ and harpsichord, chamber music, and vocal compositions. He was one of the first to compose for fortepiano: Duetto für zwey Claviere, zwey Fortepiano oder zwey Flügel (Riga, 1771).
Musical life in Latvia became very active, especially after the Riga Music Society was founded in 1760. Performances were given by local musicians, as well as by guest troupes and recitalists. The music of Haydn, Mozart, Cherubini, Grétry, Paisiello, Salieri, and others was regularly performed.
Among foreign recitalists, Abbé Georg Josef Vogler should be mentioned, as he is known to have given organ recitals in Riga and Liepaja in 1788. In Riga he performed with great success in the building of the Brotherhood of Black Chieftains (Bruderschaft der Schwarzhäupter) on his own instrument the Orchestrion, which he had brought with him. The popular Johann Adam Hiller (1728–1804), the founder of Singspiel, lived in Jelgava from 1782 to 1785.
At the turn of the century the most important figures in church music in Latvia were Julius August Fehre (1745–1812), August Jenisch (1766– 1811), and above all Georg Michael Telemann (1748–1831), a grandson of Georg Philipp Telemann.
In 1773 Georg Michael Telemann was invited to become the cantor and Musikdirektor at the churches of St. Petri and St. Jakob, and the cantor at the cathedral in Riga. In addition, in 1813 he was given the post of the organist of the cathedral. He held all those posts until 1828. From 1773 until 1801 he also served as a teacher in the cathedral school in Riga. In 1785 he published Beitrag zur Kirchenmusik, bestehend in einer Anzahl geistlicher Chöre, wie auch für die Orgel eingerichteter Choräle und Fugen (A Contribution to Church Music, Consisting of a Number of Spiritual Choral Works as well as Chorales and Fugues Arranged for the Organ) (Königsberg). Another important publication was the chorale Auferstehn (Riga, 1809) on the text written by Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock (1724–1803). In 1812 he published in Riga (or Mitau) a collection of chorale melodies (Sammlung alter und neuer Choral-Melodien).

Latvia in the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century
The 19th century brought momentous changes to Latvia. At the instigation of Emperor Alexander I, during 1816–1819 the Baltic barons freed their serfs. As a result, between 1860 and 1890 many peasants finally possessed the farms on which their families had worked for generations. Those of them who remained landless moved to the cities, which put a certain political pressure on the German burghers there. Latvian nationalist activists, particularly in Riga, grew in number, with their leaders coming from the ranks of young university-educated Latvians.
In 1886 they founded the Riga Latvian Association and hoped that their campaign against German Baltic control would gain support from the Russian government. As their hopes failed to be realized, political rhetoric in Riga during the Russian Revolution of 1905 included calls for an independent Latvian state. However, it took the collapse of the Russian Empire to create the conditions for the emergence of an independent Latvia, eventually proclaimed on the 18th of November 1918.
Against this background the intensity of musical life during the 19th century gradually increased. Many compositions from the central repertoire of European music were performed in Latvia, among them Haydn’s The Seasons (1802), The Creation (1803), The Seven Words on the Cross (1804), and Mozart’s Requiem (1811).
Famous recitalists performed in the country, primarily in such centers as Riga and Jelgava: John Field, Anton and Nikolai Rubinstein, Sigismund Thalberg, Clara Schumann, and others. The visits of Franz Liszt (1842), Hector Berlioz (1847), and especially Richard Wagner’s activities during his stay in Riga and Jelgava (from August 1837 to July 1839), were of enormous value in establishing a national school of Latvian music.
An important figure in improving the art of choral singing in the country was Heinrich Dorn (1800 or 1804–1892), who arrived in Riga from Hamburg in 1832 and in 1836 established the Düna Musikfest. His activities were continued through the Latvian musicians Janis Cimse (Zimse, 1814–1881) and Janis Betins (Behting, 1830–1912), who devoted themselves to the development of musical education in Latvia, and through Karlis Baumanis (1835–1905), one of the first Latvian composers to have a higher formal education, whose Dievs, sveti Latviju (God bless Latvia), written in 1873, became the Latvian national anthem after the declaration of independence in 1918.
After the establishment of the Russian Theatre in Riga in 1883 (known from 1902 as the Russian Opera), the influence of Russian culture in Latvia became stronger. Although the First Music Institute had existed in Riga from 1864 and despite the Riga Latvian Society having established the Music Commission (Muzikas Komisija) in 1888, most of the professional Latvian musicians continued to receive their instruction at the conservatoires of St. Petersburg and Moscow. So it was also for the founders of Latvian classical music, Jazeps Vitols (1863–1948) and Andrejs Jurjans (1856–1922), who were the pupils of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire.
Musical education also continued through the participation of the population in church services. During the 19th century evangelical hymnbooks were published to meet the needs of the Baltic Lutheran parishes.
In 1839 the Evangelical Chorale Book Appropriate to German, Latvian, and Estonian Hymnbooks in the Russian Baltic Provinces (Evangelisches Choralbuch zunächst in Bezug auf die deutschen, lettischen und estnischen Gesangbücher der russischen Ostsee-Provinzen) was published in Leipzig by Johann Leberecht Ehregott Punschel (1778–1849)—a Latvian Lutheran pastor of German extraction. It included 363 chorales. Its second, enlarged edition was issued in 1844. By the end of the century two other collections of chorales had appeared, one by Wilhelm Bergner (the younger) (1883, Riga, 171 chorales), and the other by Rudolf Postel (1820–1889) (1884, Jelgava, 235 chorales).
At the turn of the century a new generation of Latvian composers entered upon the scene: Emils Darzins (1875– 1910), Emilis Melngailis (1874–1954), Alfreds Kalnins (1879–1951), Janis Zalitis (1884–1943), and brothers Jazeps Medins (1877–1947), Jekabs Medins (1885–1971), and Janis Medins (1890–1966).

19th-century organbuilders
From the middle of the 19th century up to the First World War, the art of organ building in Latvia reached its zenith. A large number of positive organs, very often built by self-taught peasants, appeared in the country districts. Besides positive organs, which continued to be the type of instrument most in demand, many new church organs also appeared. For example, Johann Christoph Christien—who worked from 1810 to 1839—is known to have already built 37 new organs in Katlakalns (Katlekaln) near Riga before 1831.
From the 1840s, in addition to Riga, Liepaja also developed as a center of organ building, the most famous builder in Riga being August Martin, and in Liepaja Karl Herrmann.
Karl Herrmann (1807–1868) moved to Liepaja from St. Petersburg, where he had worked as an organist. In 1830–1835 he constructed instruments in Kandava (Kandau), in 1836–1843 in Dobele, and in 1844–1868 in Liepaja. Altogether he produced about 80 church organs and more than 50 positive organs, of much variety in both construction and sound.
His son and successor Karl Alexander (1847–1928), after installing an instrument in the church of Jesus in St. Petersburg in 1877, stayed in that city from 1878 until 1893. Father and son enlarged the organ in the church of the Holy Trinity in Liepaja to 77 stops on four manuals and pedals during the period 1844 to 1874, while the nephew of Karl Herrmann, Karl J. Herrmann, worked in Jelgava from 1863 to 1883.
August Martin (1808–1892) from Dachwig (Thuringia) worked in Riga from 1837. He is known to have built about 67 church and 19 school organs in the Baltics, Russia, and Poland during 1840–1885. His largest instrument, originally built for the Old Church of St. Gertrude in Riga (1867–1876, III/P/31), was removed in 1906 to the New Church of St. Gertrude in that city. His son Emil Martin (1848–1922), who worked for four years under Friedrich Ladegast, installed the instrument in the Catholic church of St. Jacob in Riga (1913, II/P/35, Opus 322). Friedrich Weissenborn from Thuringia, who lived in Riga, Krustpils, and Jekabpils (Jakobstadt), produced 85 organs in Latvia and Lithuania during the period 1865–1894.
From the middle of the 19th century the large firms in Germany dominated Latvia: Friedrich Ladegast (five organs, the most sizeable being that in the church of St. Simonis in Valmiera, 1885–1886, III/P/33); Barnim Grüneberg from Stettin (Liepaja, Holy Trinity Church, 1884–1885, IV/P/130, to this day the largest tracker action organ in the world); Georg Friedrich Steinmeyer & Co. (Jaunpiebalga, 1914, Opus 1200, II/P/24); Wilhelm Sauer (1882–1906, ten organs, including the Old Church of St. Gertrude, Riga, 1906, III/P/45); Eberhard Friedrich Walcker & Cie. (1882–1913 and 1937, 25 organs altogether, including Riga Cathedral, 1882–1883, Opus 413, IV/P/124).

The Bergners of Riga
The primary representatives of the German musical tradition in Latvia were Wilhelm Bergner (the elder) (1802–1883) and Wilhelm Bergner (the younger) (1837–1907). The father worked actively in a number of spheres. In 1836–1882, as organist in the church of St. Peter in Riga, he organized many cultural events, including performances of oratorios and organ concerts. Apart from many other activities he became the director of the Riga Music Society and the founder of the Children’s Singing School in that city. He composed much, but not many of his compositions were published or performed. His most popular collections of music were Choralbuch (Riga, 1850), which was reprinted many times, and Preludes for the Most Frequently Used Church Melodies of the Evangelical Church (Vorspiele zu den gebräuchlichsten Kernmelodien der evangelischen Kirche) (Riga, 1861).
His son, also a tireless promoter of music in Riga, established the Riga Bach Society in 1865 and the Cathedral Choir in 1878. From 1868 until 1906 he held the position of organist at Riga Cathedral, and, among his many activities, his organ performances with the Helsingfors Symphony Orchestra under Georg Schnéevoigt should be noted. He also was responsible for the first performance in Riga of Anton Rubinstein’s religious opera Moses (1892), which took place under his direction in the City Theatre in February 1894. Altogether there were four performances, which were enormously successful. After the third performance Bergner received a telegram from Rubinstein: “Many thanks to all the participants for everything, especially to you. So disappointed not to have been present.”13
Bergner’s role in the history of the cathedral organ was also enormous. As a result of his activities, on September 14, 1882, the administration of Riga Cathedral finally accepted his proposal for yet again enlarging the cathedral organ, by adding 18 more stops to its then total of 102. It was confirmed that this commission should be given to the organ company Eberhard Friedrich Walcker & Cie., the contract with which was already signed on November 16, 1881. Karl Walcker suggested adding yet four stops more, and his proposal was finally incorporated. The instrument of 124 stops was finished in 1883, and at that time was the largest organ in the world. It was supplied with two consoles; the main one, from which the whole of the pipework could be played, was erected in the upper balcony; the second, from which 17 manual stops and eight pedal stops in the Swell box could be played, was erected on the lower balcony.

Riga, The Cathedral of St. Mary
Eberhard Friedrich Walcker & Cie, Opus 413, IV/P/124, 1882–83, Ludwigsburg (Germany)

Restoration: VEB Eule Orgelbau, Bautzen, 1961–62; D. A. Flentrop, Zaandam, 1982–84

I Manual: Hauptwerk (C–f3)
16' Principal
16' Flauto major
16' Viola di Gamba
8' Octav
8' Hohlflöte
8' Viola di Gamba
8' Doppelfloete
8' Gemshorn
8' Quintatön
8' Bourdon
8' Dulcian
51⁄3' Quinte
4' Octav
4' Gemshorn
4' Gamba
4' Hohlflöte
4' Rohrflöte
31⁄5' Terz
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Octav
1' Superoctav
51⁄3' Sexquialtera 2 fach
11⁄3' Scharff 4 fach
8' Cornett 5 fach (c–f3)
4' Mixtur 6 fach
16' Contrafagott
8' Tuba mirabilis
8' Trompete harmonique
8' Coranglais
8' Euphon
4' Clairon
2' Cornettino

II Manual: Brustwerk (C–f3)
16' Geigenprincipal
16' Bourdon
8' Principal
8' Fugara
8' Spitzflöte
8' Rohrflöte
8' Concertfloete
8' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Viola di Alta
8' Dolce
4' Principal
4' Fugara
4' Salicet
4' Flauto dolce
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Superoctav
2' Waldflöte
13⁄5' Terz
22⁄3' Sexquialtera 2 fach
22⁄3' Mixtur 5 fach
8' Cornett 5 fach (g–f3)
16' Aeolodicon
8' Ophycleide
8' Fagott & Oboë
4' Oboë

III Manual: Oberwerk (C–f3)
16' Salicional
16' Lieblich Gedeckt
8' Geigenprincipal
8' Viola d’amour
8' Wienerfloete
8' Gedeckt
8' Salicional
8' & 4' Bifra
8' Harmonika
8' Bourdon d’echo
4' Traversfloete
4' Dolce
4' Geigenprincipal
4' Spitzfloete
2' Piccolo
22⁄3' Mixtur 4 fach
8' Vox humana
8' Basson
8' Clarinette

IV Manual: Schwellwerk (C–f3)
16' Quintatön
8' Floeten Principal
8' Unda maris
8' & 2' Piffaro
8' Melodica
8' Flûte d’amour traversière
8' Bourdon doux
8' Aeoline
8' Voix celeste
8' Viola Tremolo
4' Floeten Principal
4' Gedecktfloete
4' Vox angelica
2' Salicet
22⁄3' Harmonia aetheria 3 fach
8' Trompete
8' Phÿsharmonika

Hauptpedal (C–d3)
32' Principalbaß
16' Octavbaß
16' Violonbaß
16' Contra Violonbaß
16' Subbaß
16' Floetenbaß
16' Gedecktbaß
102⁄3' Quintbaß
8' Octavbaß
8' Hohlflötenbaß
8' Gedecktbaß
8' Violoncello
62⁄5' Terzbaß
4' Octavbaß
4' Hohlflöte
2' Octav
102⁄3' Sexquialtera 2 fach
51⁄3' Mixtur 5 fach
32' Grand Bourdon 5 fach
32' Bombardon
16' Posaunenbaß
8' Trompete
4' Cornobaßo

Pianopedal (C–d3)
(in Swell box of IV Manual, except Bassethorn, Serpent)
16' Violon
16' Bourdon
8' Dolceflöte
8' Violon
4' Viola
2' Flautino
16' Serpent
8' Bassethorn

IV,III,II/I, II/I, I/P, “Noli me tangere” (P/I)
III/II, III/I, III/P, II/P
IV/II, IV/I, IV/P, I,II,III,IV/P

Auxiliary stops:
Tremolo for Vox humana 8' and Bourdon d’echo 8' (III)
Tremolo Oboë 8' = Fagott & Oboë 8' with Tremolo (II)

Temporary lock of the crescendo roller
Automatic drive for the crescendo roller: “Conductor”
Hand operated crescendo and decrescendo
Crescendo indicator dial: 0–124

I. Cancel tablet for Manual I
II. Cancel tablet for Manual II
III. Cancel tablet for Manual III
IV. Cancel tablet for Manual IV
V. Main Pedal Cancel
VI. Enclosed Pedal Cancel
VII. Manuals I, II, III General Cancel
Cancel tablet Omnia Copula

Second Console (on the lower balcony):
Manual (C–f3); Pedal (C–d1)
Manual = Manual IV of the Main Organ
Pedal = Enclosed Pedal of the Main Organ (except Bassethorn, Serpent)
Cop.: Manual to Pedal Coupler

All pipes in the organ case are decorative
Tracker action (with Barker levers)

The inaugural concert with Wilhelm Bergner, Rudolf Postel, and the head of the organ class of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, Lui (Ludwig) Homilius, took place on January 19 (in the old calendar), 1884. Besides other works, the first performance of Franz Liszt’s Nun danket alle Gott (which was dedicated to the new organ of Riga Cathedral) was given.
During the following years the Walcker organ was used a great deal for recitals in Riga. Most of the guest recitalists were German organists. Among them were the blind organist M. Nathan from Hamburg, Hugo Trötschel from Weimar, and Karl August Fischer (1828–1892), the “Saxon King of the Organ” who performed on the new Walcker organ and gave an excellent report of the instrument in the German press.14

Beyond Riga
The second important center of the organ world in Latvia continued to be Jelgava. There were both German and Latvian churches there. In the German Church of the Holy Trinity the instrument (II/P/26) by Johann Friedrich Schulze (1793–1858) of Paulinzella was in use from 1850. Rudolf Postel was its organist, and also the conductor of the choir and orchestra of the Jelgava German Music Society. His concert repertoire included the music of Johannes Brahms and Niels Wilhelm Gade. Among his pupils in Jelgava were Ludvigs Betins and Jazeps Vitols.
The Latvian congregation in Jelgava worshipped in the church of St. Anna, where Atis Kaulins (1867–1944) was organist.
The most famous Latvian organbuilder over the end of the century was Martins Kreslins (Martin Kresling, d. 1911) from Jekabpils, who built about 130–140 organs and harmoniums. Some of his instruments still exist today; for example, in Bauska (1891, III/P/36), in Araisi (1904, II/P/15), in the church of Usma (1879, II/6) (the church was transferred to the holdings of the Ethnographical Museum in 1936). Another creative figure both as organist and builder, Janis Betins, undertook many experiments in the art of organ building.

19th- and 20th-century Latvian organists
In the organ classes of Russian conservatoires most of the students were representatives of the Lutheran confession. Johannes Kappel, Miina Härma, and Konstantin Türnpu from Estonia, Ludvigs Betins, Andrejs Jurjans, Alfreds Kalnins, Emils Darzins, Atis Kaulins from Latvia were students of Lui Homilius (1845–1908) at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. Jacques Handschin (1886–1955) was a teacher of Janis Zalitis, Teodors Reiters, Adolfs Abele, Eduards Kalnins, Teodors Kalnins, Rudolfs Vanags, Voldemars Liepins, Janis Turss.
Many Latvian organists achieved a high standard as recitalists, and from the 1880s regularly performed in the Baltics, St. Petersburg, Moscow, and the Russian provinces, as Lutheran churches all over the Russian Empire had been increasingly used for concert purposes from the second half of the 19th century. Among them were: Oskars Sepskis (1850–1914), who also studied in Berlin and Dresden, and for the last 20 years of his life worked as the organist of the Old Church of St. Gertrude in Riga; Adams Ore; Ludvigs Betins; and Janis Sermukslis (1855–1913), who also studied in St. Petersburg. From the 1890s they were joined by Atis Kaulins, Pauls Jozuus, and Alfreds Kalnins.
Alfreds Kalnins lived in Liepaja from 1911 to 1915 and from 1918 to 1919. He was organist in the church of St. Anna and a conductor of the choir, which he himself organized. As a result of his activities, the new organ by Eberhard Friedrich Walcker was erected there (1913, Opus 1763, IV/P/56). The inaugural concert, the program of which included the premiere of Kalnins’s cantata Muzikai (To Music) for soloists, choir, and organ, took place on December 22, 1913.
The gifted virtuoso Nikolajs Vanadzins, who studied under Handschin from 1913 until 1917, played recitals in St. Petersburg during 1921–1922. His concert repertoire included major works by Bach, Reger, Widor, Glazunov, Lyapunov, and others. After Handschin’s emigration in 1920, he worked as the head of the organ class of the conservatoire until 1923.
For several years, from 1890 to 1900 and from 1910 to 1913 Ludvigs Betins (1856–1930) also held the post of the head of the organ class at the Moscow Conservatoire. It was on December 23, 1891, that the leading professors of the conservatoire met together in order to decide on the syllabus for the organ class. Together with Sergey Taneyev, Anton Arensky, and others, Ludvigs Betins was present at that meeting.15
Foremost among other organ students at the Moscow Conservatoire were such Latvians as Ernests Vigners (1850–1933), Marija Gubene (1872– 1947), and Elizabete Olga Francmane (1882–1967). The latter after Boris Sabaneyev’s death in 1918 for some time held the post of the head of the organ class there.16 From 1920 until her death she taught music theory at the Latvian Conservatoire.17
According to press reports,18 valuable organ compositions were written by Ludvigs Betins and Oskars Sepskis, who were also famous for their organ improvisations. Unfortunately, their organ music is lost, but one of the first Latvian organ compositions to survive was Vater unser (1875) for choir and organ by Karlis Baumanis.
The composer and organist Andrejs Jurjans lived in Khar’kov from 1882 to 1920 and was the first Latvian musician to collect and research Latvian folk music. Under the title Tautas muzikas materiali he published some 2,700 melodies that he had collected. He worked in Khar’kov in a music school and as the organist of a Latvian church, but he also took part in the concerts of the German congregation. As a composer, Jurjans composed the first symphonic works, the first cantatas, and the first instrumental concertos.
Around the turn of the 20th century, the first works for organ solo were written by such Latvian composers as Adams Ore, Nikolajs Alunans, Jazeps Vitols, Alfreds Kalnins, and others: concert pieces, chorale preludes for liturgical purposes, and miniatures for positive or harmonium. The organ was also often used as an accompanimental instrument or in ensemble, for example in Sapnojums (Dream) by Jazeps Medins for soprano, cello, harp, and organ (1901).
Adams Ore (1855–1927) received his first instruction in music from his sister and from August Pabst in Riga. He continued his studies in Stuttgart with Immanuel Faisst (organ and composition), and in Berlin with Theodor Kullak (piano). In 1882–1883 he visited Rome and Naples. In 1886 he began piano and organ concert tours in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Holland, Russia, and Finland. Soon he established his reputation as an international organ virtuoso, and critics reported upon his excellent pedal technique. He also played in Latvia, although quite seldom. Adams Ore never worked as a church musician, and most of his life was spent abroad, but he never lost his inner connection with his motherland. He became the first Latvian composer to have his organ music published. His organ compositions derive from the Romantic tradition of the 19th century.
His Andante Cantabile in F major, op. 15 (composed in the middle of the 1880s; Berlin, Simon, 1912), and written in two versions—for organ, and for harmonium—mirrors stylistically the liturgical organ music of the end of the century. His Pastorale Klusa nakts (Stille Nacht), op. 75 (Leipzig, Merseburger), follows the tradition of the lyrical romantic poem. Finally, his large-scale compositions, such as the Fantasia O sanctissima!, op. 25 (Leipzig, Merseburger), Concert Piece in D minor, op. 36, no. 1 (Baerenreiter 8421), or Choralfantasie Gaidi, mana dvesle! (Harre, meine Seele!), op. 76 (Leipzig, Merseburger), were written for a large Romantic instrument and require a skilful performer; they are characterized by touches of brilliance, pathos, and virtuosity.
Composer and conductor Nikolajs Alunans was born in Mazsesava in 1859, and his first organ lessons were from Rudolf Postel, organist of the Holy Trinity church in Jelgava. From 1882 to 1888 he studied composition with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov and conducting with Anton Rubinstein at the Conservatoire in St. Petersburg. From 1893 until his death in 1919 he lived in Riga, where he gave lessons in music theory and piano, worked as a conductor at the Latvian Theatre (1898–1901), as music director of the New Latvian Theatre (1902–1905), and as the conductor of the first Latvian orchestra Eifonija (1907–1914). Besides this, from 1892 he wrote musical criticism for various newspapers. Alunans wrote a number of compositions for orchestra, choir, ensembles, and solo instruments, his only piece for the organ being Paraphrase on Robert Radecke’s Song ‘Aus der Jugendzeit’ (1908) (Baerenreiter 8421). He is also known as the author of a number of publications on different aspects of music theory.
The founder of classical Latvian music, Jazeps Vitols, after finishing his studies at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire (1886) was invited to teach there. In 1908 he became the head of the composition class of the conservatoire (a post he held until 1918), where among his students were Sergei Prokofiev, Nikolai Myaskovsky, and Igor Stravinsky; among his friends in St. Petersburg were Alexander Glazunov and Anatoly Lyadov. From 1897 to 1914 he was music critic for the German language St. Petersburger Zeitung and from 1918 to 1919 director of the Latvian Opera. In 1924 Jazeps Vitols published in Riga his collection of chorales Meldiju gramata, which included the harmonization of 143 church melodies. Among the large number of his compositions there are only two pieces for organ solo, Pastorale (1914) (Baerenreiter 8421), and Fugue (1937) (Baerenreiter 8421).

Latvia in the first period of independence (from 1918 to 1940)
Between the two World Wars, Latvian cultural life flourished. Poets such as Janis Rainis (1865–1929) and Aspazija (Elza Rozenberga) (1868–1943) achieved the height of their popularity. On January 11, 1920, the Latvian Conservatoire was established in Riga. According to the Decree of August 20, 1919, of the Latvian Government, Jazeps Vitols became the rector of the conservatoire. He held this post from 1919 to 1935 and from 1937 to 1944. Pauls Jozuus (1873–1937) became the head of the organ class of the conservatoire and was in charge of it from 1920 until his death.
Soon after that, People’s Conservatoires were established in Jelgava (1921), Daugavpils (Dünaburg, 1924), and Riga (1929). The Opera Theatre (known from 1919 as The National Opera) introduced Latvian operas as well as those of Wagner and Russian composers. Music programs with the Radio Symphony Orchestra were broadcast after its establishment in 1924.
The most famous organ recitalists of that period were Adams Ore, Adolfs Abele, Alfreds Kalnins, and Harald Creutzburg (1875–1946)—the successor of Wilhelm Bergner at Riga Cathedral (until 1933)—who also worked as the conductor of the choir of the Riga Bach Society.
At that time Latvian organ builders, as well as Herbert Kolbe (b. 1887) from Germany, built mostly small instruments. In addition to them there was August Terkmann from Estonia, who built an organ (II/P/16) for the Lutheran church of St. Anna in Kuldiga in 1927, and Waclaw Biernacki from Poland for Liksna (II/P/27+1 borrowed stop) in 1931. The latter organ was considered to be one of the best instruments in Lattgalen.
The last organ of Eberhard Friedrich Walcker & Cie. in Latvia was erected in the concert hall of Riga University in 1937 (Opus 2544, III/P/59+11 borrowed stops).
Among the most significant organ compositions at that time are: Introduction and Allegro (1928), Klosteridylle (Monastery Idyll) (1928), Skerzo (1928), Procession (1937), Variations on a Theme of Janis Kalnins (1938), and Agitato (1938) (Baerenreiter 8421) by Alfreds Kalnins (1879–1951).
Kalnins received his music instructions at the Music School (Schule der Tonkunst) in Riga and from 1897 to 1901 at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, where his teachers were Anatoly Lyadov (composition) and Lui Homilius (organ). As a church musician he worked in St. Petersburg (1900–1901), between 1903–1911 and 1915–1918 in Estonia (Pärnu, Tartu), in 1911–1915 and in 1918–1919 in Liepaja, and in 1920–1923 in the church of St. Jakob in Riga, where he became famous for his brilliant and thoughtful improvisations. In 1927–1933 he lived in the USA, working there as a choir conductor and organist. From 1933 he became the organist of Riga Cathedral and held that position until 1946. From 1944 to 1948 he was the rector of the Latvian Conservatoire. While Kalnins’s output includes two operas (his Banuta, 1920, in which he used the national idiom, became the first Latvian opera), a ballet Staburags (1943), many choral compositions, instrumental works, songs, and piano pieces, his organ works are of particular value. His knowledge of the organ and his experience in organ performance helped him to create fine music for his favorite instrument.
Jazeps Medins (1877–1947) graduated in 1896 from the Siegert Musical Institute in Riga as a cellist, pianist, and violinist, and became first a teacher and then, from 1901 to 1910, the director of that institution. He composed his first symphony in Baku (Azerbaijan), where he worked as the conductor of the Opera Theatre (1916-1922). From 1922 to 1925 he held the same position at the Latvian Opera Theatre in Riga. In the 1930s he wrote a number of compositions for orchestra, instrumental pieces, and vocal music. His only known organ pieces, Three Preludes: F-sharp minor (Baerenreiter 8421), G minor, and C major, were also written during this period (1939). From 1945 until his death he taught the piano at the Latvian Conservatoire.
Other important organ works created in Latvia during the first period of independence are Fantasy on the Latvian folk song ‘Arajini, ecetaji’ (1932) by Jekabs Graubins, Prelude in E major (1939) by Arvids Zilinskis, Gebet (Prayer) (1938) by Peteris Barisons, Pastorale in A-flat major (from the First Suite in E-flat major, 1937) by Peteris Zolts, and Meditation (1934) by Lucija Garuta.
As a result of the double occupation of the country by Germany and the Soviet Union during the Second World War, many musicians emigrated, among them Jazeps Vitols, Janis Medins, Janis Kalnins, and Wolfgang Darzins.

From 1940 until the end of the 20th century
With the establishment of “The Union of Latvian Composers” in 1944, the creative work of composers in Latvia received official support from the government. Many valuable compositions were written soon after the end of the war, among which we should mention the Fifth (1945) and Sixth (1949) Symphonies of Janis Jvanovs (1909–1983), the Piano Concerto (1951) of Lucija Garuta, and Partita in Baroque Style (1963) of Margeris Zarins.
Between 1940 and 1991, just as in the other territories of the former Soviet Union, many organs (approximately 80) were destroyed. Nevertheless, the Wilhelm Sauer organ (II/P/17) was installed in the Latvian Conservatoire in 1973, and Eberhard Friedrich Walcker & Cie’s organ in Riga Cathedral was restored twice, first by Hermann Eule (Bautzen) (1961–1962) and then by D. A. Flentrop (1982–1984). This organ had an enormous role in the cultural life of the USSR, being a kind of flagship in the organ landscape of the whole country.
More than one generation of Soviet composers was awakened to writing for the organ by its exquisite sound. Latvian composers also produced a number of valuable organ compositions. Some interesting organ works were written by Jekabs Medins (1885–1971), Indulis Kalnins (1918–1986), Romualds Jermaks (b. 1931), Pauls Dambis (b. 1936), Peteris Vasks (b. 1946), Imants Zemzaris (b. 1951), Ligita Sneibe (Araja, b. 1962), and others.
The most renowned Latvian composer nowadays is Peteris Vasks. After graduating from the Lithuanian State Conservatoire in Vilnius (Lithuania) in double bass (1970), Vasks continued his musical studies in the composition class of Valentin Utkin at the Latvian Conservatoire in Riga (1974–1978). During the 1990s his music gained wide popularity, being performed and recorded by orchestras, soloists, and ensembles in Europe, the USA, and Canada.
Vasks has been awarded several international prizes, including the Herder Prize (in Vienna, 1996) and the Baltic Assembly Prize (1996). His compositions include a number of symphonic scores, chamber music, and works for choir. Besides ‘Cantus ad pacem’, concerto per organo solo (1984) (Baerenreiter 8421), he has created two more works for organ solo: Musica seria per organo solo (1988) and Te Deum pro organo (1991). The composer’s own words, “The organ seemed to me the most suitable instrument with which to communicate the main problem of humankind—that of life and annihilation,” probably can well explain his deep interest in this instrument.
One of the most talented Latvian musicians of his generation, Aivars Kalejs was born in Riga in 1951. He studied at the Latvian Conservatoire in Riga (1969–1977), from which he graduated in 1974 as a composer (class of Professor Adolfs Skulte) and in 1977 as an organist (class of Professor Nikolajs Vanadzins). During the succeeding years his international reputation as a recitalist, composer, and musicologist steadily continued to grow.
At present Aivars Kalejs holds the posts of organist at both the New Church of St. Gertrude and Riga Cathedral, participates in major international organ festivals, continues his researches in the field of the organ history of Latvia, and works intensively as a composer. Although his works include compositions for orchestra, choir, and different instruments, organ music occupies the central place among them. Many of his colorful and brilliant organ pieces have already been performed, recorded, and published, among them: Per aspera ad astra (Baerenreiter 8421).
The organist of the church of St. Paul in Riga, Atis Stepins, belongs among the most gifted Latvian musicians of the younger generation. Born in Liepaja in 1958, he graduated from the Latvian Conservatoire as a pianist (1977–1982, in the class of Professor Konstantin Blumenthal) and organist (1977–1982, in the class of Larisa Bulava and Dozent Peteris Sipolnieks) and as a composer (1983–1987, in the class of Professor Adolfs Skulte).
His reputation as a concert organist was established after he won Second Prize in the Vincenzo Petrali organ competition in Ragusa, Italy in 1990. Besides his activities as a recitalist he works as the dozent of the organ class at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music.
Stepins is the composer of a string quartet, piano pieces (among them Twenty Four Inventions), and chamber music: Variations for Violin and Organ (1988); Trio for Alto Saxophone, Percussion, and Organ (1997). Apart from the Variations on the Christmas Carol ‘Alle Jahre wieder’ by Johann Christian Heinrich Rinck (Baerenreiter 8421), his other pieces for organ are: Fantasia in A major (1984), Three Little Preludes and Fugues (1985), and Symphonic Poem for Two Organists (1986).
The organ class of the Latvian Conservatoire (known from 1990 as the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music) was directed by Nikolajs Vanadzins from 1938 to 1978, and many graduates from it became known as concert organists: Peteris Sipolnieks (1913–1984), Olgerts Cintins (1935–1992), Jevgenija Lisicina, Professor Talivaldis Deksnis (currently head of the organ class of the academy), Larisa Bulava, Vita Kalnciema, and others.
Finally, as a fitting tribute to the long developmental path of the organ and its music in Latvia, the Latvian Association of Organists and Organ Builders was established in Riga in March 1998.

Joel H. Kuznik

Joel Kuznik has served as a college organist and professor, a church musician, a pastor, and as a business executive on Fifth Avenue, Wall Street, and at MetLife. After several years of retirement from business, he revived writing for professional journals, something he had done since his college days. After attending the Bachfest 2003 in Leipzig, he again began writing articles and reviews. With over 60 pieces in print ranging from reviews of concerts and festivals, travelogues, books on church music, concert hall organs, CDs and DVDs, he was recognized and named to the Music Critics Association of North America (MCANA) in May 2005. He is also a member of the American Bach Society and serves on the board of the Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity in New York City, where he has lived for 32 years. His organ teachers were Austin C. Lovelace, Frederick Swann, Ronald Arnatt, David Craighead, Jean Langlais, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier, and Anton Heiller. As a member of the AGO, he has served as dean of the Ft. Wayne chapter, on the executive board of the New York City chapter, and on the national financial board. He holds a BA summa cum laude from Concordia Sr. College (formerly at Ft. Wayne), a Min.Div and STM from Concordia Seminary, St. Louis, and an MM from the Eastman School of Music.

Mention Saxony to most organists, and they immediately think of the 18th century, Gottfried Silbermann and his catalogue of 31 extraordinary instruments, which are still being played.1 An amazing testimony! But today one hears more and more of Kristian Wegscheider, widely admired for his dynamic restorations of Silbermann organs as well as those of Hildebrandt, Schnitger and Ladegast—and whose reputation as a builder is so respected that he was considered for the new organs at St. Thomas, Leipzig and the Frauenkirche in Dresden.
Steven Dieck, president of C. B. Fisk, Inc., credits Wegscheider with being “very helpful in discovering the ‘secrets’ of Gottfried Silbermann and continues to be, not only for us, but also for any other organbuilder. There is no disputing that Kristian and his shop are the experts on the work of Gottfried Silbermann.”
Stefan Engels of Leipzig’s University of Music & Theatre notes that “Kristian Wegscheider is one of the leading organ builders of our time when it comes to the restoration of historic instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries. His knowledge of style, his talent for research, and his ability to relate to the distinct sounds of old organs is unique. It is a joy to experience this artist and his superb work.”
And, as Steve Dieck points out, Wegscheider has an international involvement and impact. “Once East Germany opened itself to the rest of the world, Kristian’s company became a member of the International Society of Organbuilders. Shortly after that, he helped to organize one of the ISO’s biennial congresses held in Dresden. He is currently second vice president of the ISO and again helped to organize the congress in September 2008, which began in Gdansk, Poland and worked its way by train and boat to Stralsund, Germany, where members of ISO visited significant organs.”2
“He continues to share his vast knowledge of the works of Gottfried Silbermann with his many organbuilding colleagues around the world. He has visited the U.S. many times, and was invited to collaborate with Fritz Noack in making a ‘Hildebrandt’ style organ for Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, Texas.”
And those who have been fortunate to hear Wegscheider’s restorations or new instruments would add, “This is a builder about whom Americans need to know more.”

Background
Kristian Wegscheider was born in 1954 in Ahrenshoop, a small resort town on the Baltic Coast of Northern Germany. After stints in the army and a year with a furniture-maker, he began his apprenticeship with the esteemed Jehmlich Dresden organbuilding firm, which dates back to 1808 and is associated with the restorations of the magnificent Silbermann cathedral organs in Dresden and Freiberg.
Kristian immediately took an immense interest in historic organs and worked on restorations in Berlin and Leipzig. He became head of Jehmlich’s restoration department and supervised restorations of the 1714 Silbermann in Freiberg’s Cathedral and the 1868 Lütkemüller organ at the Güstrower Cathedral.

Orgelwerkstatt Wegscheider Dresden
As Wegscheider writes for his firm’s website,3 the creation of his organ workshop in Dresden in 1989 coincided with the fall of the Wall and became possible with the parallel vehement political and social changes. These were indeed complicated times in the GDR, and the emergence of a new private company was no simple venture.
At the time it was not unusual in the GDR for restorations and even the repair of organs to be delayed up to 20 years. In 1987, that gave Wegscheider an idea, often treated perfunctorily and bureaucratically, to create his own workshop specializing in restorations and repair. He overcame numerous hurdles—among other things, getting a trade license and acquiring the space for engaging in a trade, and one couldn’t get one without the other.
In order to bridge the gap, Wegscheider worked for almost a year in the restoration workshop of the Museum of Musical Instruments at the University of Leipzig. With the assistance of friends and with some luck, however, the initial problems were overcome. That was all quickly forgotten, once work began in the spring of 1989 with the reconditioning of an old carpenter’s shop in Dresden’s Neustadt (“new city”).4 His first two coworkers were the organ builder and pipemaker Hartmut Schütz, who had also trained with Jehmlich, and his long-time friend and a carpenter, Matthias Weisbach. Requirements were completed in December of 1990, and Wegscheider was able to receive his certification as a master craftsman (“Meisterbrief”).
The workshop officially began operating June 1, 1989, and in September there was a big celebration with friends and colleagues. For this historic event, a narrow-gauge steam train was rented, and the area in front of the shop was transformed into an open-air theatre. When the borders opened that fall, a group of five made a week-long “discovery journey” into the “West” finally to hear and investigate for themselves organs they had often read and heard about, an adventure that just weeks before had seemed impossible.
During this week, the team was able to examine the old instruments of East Frisia (Ostfriesland, a costal region along the North Sea bordering the Netherlands to the west),5 which for them was like an “organbuilder’s paradise.” There they also inspected the shop of the famous Jürgen Ahrend, contacted the North German Organ Academy, and had discussions with organ experts, musicologists and organists. This all became invaluable in forming their own firm and served as the basis for artistic work. Additional “educational journeys” became a regular experience and took them to South Germany, Switzerland, Italy, and France. How exhilarating this must have been—the new freedom to explore and discover!

Wegscheider: first projects
The first project was a new instrument for the Allstedt Castle Chapel in Mansfeld. The small organ was to complement the Baroque room and conform to old established models of classical organbuilding. The shop was to do something that had never been done in East Germany before—to make an instrument completely from wood, tin, lead, leather and brass without using plywood, aluminum, nitrate lacquer, plastic and prefabricated mechanisms.
Also, this instrument would reflect Wegscheider’s long-held interest in providing two temperaments that can be played interchangeably: meantone for Renaissance music and well-tempered for Baroque. The idea originated in Charles Fisk’s dual-temperament organ at California’s Stanford University (1984),6 but this was to be the first such instrument in Europe, with Wegscheider working to improve the result both technically and musically.7
This new organ for Allstedt was followed by a number of restorations in the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Saxony-Anhalt, Brandenburg and Thuringia, while at the same there developed partnership work in Saxony. Much of the work, now with seven co-workers, involved restoring damaged organs, some long unplayable due to water damage or wood worms. Other builders had refused to work on them or recommended replacements, but to Wegscheider these instruments were too valuable to be discarded. Congregations, in turn, were grateful for the efforts of their municipalities to preserve these organs.
Expansion
By 1993 it was clear that the company needed new, larger facilities. The company had expanded to ten employees, with only 400 square meters of workspace and with insufficient height to assemble instruments. Finally a carpenter’s workshop was found in Dresden–Hellerau in the old village center of Rähnitz. During the move, the firm continued to work on a restoration of the Silbermann for the Bremen Cathedral (I/8, 1734)8 and an identical copy of it for the Silbermann Museum in Frauenstein, so that the dedication of the new workshop in July 1994 could take place in a concert using both organs with the Dresden Baroque Orchestra.
After all this excitement, work continued routinely, but always with interesting projects. One was the extensive renovation of the Schulze organ, with the reconstruction of a 32′ Posaune in Markneukirchen, a town in Saxony known as a center for making musical instruments as well as its Museum of Musical Instruments. Another instance was building a new 20-rank organ inside an historic case in Steinwedel near Hannover, which demonstrated what a builder like Wegscheider with experience in historical models could do.

Langhennersdorf, Nikolaikirche
But the high point of this period was completing the renovation of the organ at St. Nicholas Church in Langhennersdorf, a beautiful village near Freiberg. This Opus 1 by Silbermann’s apprentice Zacharias Hildebrandt (1722) as his Meisterstück (masterpiece) was built to certify him as an organbuilder. It is a revelation to hear—exciting, vibrant, present, colorful, and commanding.
But all this came after some blood, sweat and tears. Begun in 1989–90 during the turbulent reunification of Germany, this was Wegscheider’s first big contract and was threatened by obstacles beyond his control. However, he remained determined and continued working piece by piece as the church, which was committed to the challenge, raised funds. What exuberance there must have been at rededication on Reformation Day, 1996!

Langhennersdorf Nikolaikirche9
1722 Zacharias Hildebrandt (II+P/21)
1989–1996 Kristian Wegscheider

Hauptwerk
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Quintadena
4′ Praestant
4′ Spitzflöte
3′ Quinta
2′ Octava
III Mixtur
II Cymbeln
III Cornett (from c1)

Oberwerk
8′ Gedackt
4′ Rohrflöte
3′ Nasat
2′ Principal
2′ Waldflöte
1′ Sifflöte
11⁄3′ Quinte
II Cymbeln

Pedal
16′ Sub-Baß
16′ Posanenbaß
8′ Trompete

Tremulant
Shove coupler II/I
Pedal coupler I/P
Manual compass C, D–c3
Pedal compass C, D–c1

Choir pitch: a = 468 Hz
Modified meantone

Dresden-Loschwitz church
The lessons learned in Langhennersdorf would prove helpful in designing the 1997 organ for a church in the outlying regions of Dresden-Loschwitz. The organ was conceived as a large one-manual and pedal instrument that would combine the typical stops of Silbermann with other 18th-century Saxon builders in one division, but some stops are also playable on a second manual. The building, virtually destroyed in the 1945 Blitz by an errant bomb, has been restored with spectacular but simple beauty. The church—with its historic altar rescued and restored from the Sophienkirche, where Bach played two recitals (1825 and 1731), and where his son Wilhelm Friedemann was organist (1733–1746)—has its organ sitting center stage in the second gallery.
The impact of this small instrument is remarkable and a joy to hear. Just a day after playing and listening to the impressive Silbermann-Hildebrandt (III/47, 1755) at Dresden’s Hofkirche and the imposing new Kern at the Frauenkirche (IV/67, 2006), the sound of this little organ in the suburb of Dresden-Loschwitz moved 45 American organists last September to spontaneous smiles of delight and satisfaction. The stunning immediacy of the sound combined with the brilliance of the ensemble and the colors of individual stops was a joy to hear.
And then listening to Wegscheider himself—on how Silbermann swept into this part of Germany with the fresh bold sounds of France and dominated organbuilding, on the speech and design of his pipework, and clarifying differences of temperament in the area—was an informative revelation. The man has a large presence, an expansive expression of speech, and in his eyes the gleam of an inspired creator, all reflected in his restorations and new designs.

Dresden-Loschwitz:
Loschwitz Church10
1997 Wegscheider II+P/20

Manual I
16′ Bordun
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Flauto traverso
8′ Viola di Gamba
4′ Octave
4′ Rohrflöte
4′ Flauto amabile
3′ Nasat
2′ Octave
2′ Flöte
13⁄5′ Tertia
1′ Flageolet
III Cornett (from g)
III Mixtur

Manual II (stops from I)
16′ Bordun
8′ Gedackt
8′ Flauto traverso
8′ Viola di Gamba
4′ Rohrflöte
4′ Flauto amabile
3′ Nasat
2′ Flöte
13⁄5′ Tertia

Pedal
16′ Bordun
8′ Octavbaß
8′ Violonbaß
4′ Octavbaß
16′ Posaune

Tremulant
Manual shove coupler
Pedal couplers I/P, II/P

Manual compass C–e3
Pedal compass C–e
Pitch: a = 440 Hz
Tuning: modified Valotti
Wind pressure: 70 mm

Houston, Christ the King Lutheran Church
Wegscheider has been involved in several “Bach organs.” The first was in collaboration with the Noack Organ Company at Christ Lutheran Church in Houston, where he served as co-designer.

Christ the King Lutheran Church, Houston
Builder: Noack Organ Company, 1995
Co-designer: Kristian Wegscheider II+P/30

Hauptwerk
16′ Bordun
8′ Principal
8′ Viola di Gamba
8′ Rohrflöte
4′ Octava
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quinta
2′ Octava
III Mixtur
II Cimbel
IIII Cornet
8′ Trompete
8′ Vox Humana

Oberwerk
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Principal
4′ Rohrflöte
22⁄3′ Nasat
2′ Octava
2′ Waldflöte
13⁄5′ Terz
11⁄3′ Quinta
1′ Sifflet
8′ Krummhorn

Pedal
16′ Principal Bass
16′ Subbass
8′ Octaven Bass
4′ Octava
16′ Posaunen
8′ Trompete

The organ at Christ the King Church follows the example of Hildebrandt, thus adding a Bach organ of a new dimension on the North American continent.
Fritz Noack and the Noack Organ Company were selected to design and build the organ. Noack is an American builder born and trained in Germany and uniquely situated to bridge the Saxon past and the Texan present. Kristian Wegscheider of Dresden, restorer of important Silbermann organs, accepted appointment as a design consultant; Reinhard Schaebitz of Dresden, voicer in the restorations, assisted in the voicing; and most of the metal pipes were built near Dresden in the workshop of Günter Lau. The result is a wonderful instrument which not surprisingly, but quite remarkably, evokes the look, feel, and sound of an 18th-century Saxon organ. One can imagine Bach’s walking in, sitting down without missing a beat and, as was his custom, pulling all of the stops to see whether or not the instrument has “good lungs.”
This Bach Organ possesses attributes commonly found in organs built today in historical style—tracker action; mechanical stop action; keys suspended below the pipe chests; a flexible wind supply provided by bellows; flat rather than radiating pedalboard; narrower, shorter manual keys; no pistons or combinations; and tuning in a historic temperament. The Saxon style imposes a series of additional design characteristics. The entire organ is housed in one case, rather than in compartments for each division according to the Werkprinzip; the case design and beautifully executed carvings employ 18th-century Saxon conventions; and the case is built of pine and painted (blue-green, red, and gold leaf). The Oberwerk to Hauptwerk coupler is activated by shoving the Oberwerk manual forward, and the Oberwerk does not couple to the Pedal. The pipe scalings are taken from Hildebrandt’s, and the principal pipes have a high tin content rather than lead.11

Stuttgart, Musikhochschule
Another “Bach organ” was built by Wegscheider for the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, which has a large collection of historic prototypes. One can see an overview at <http://www.mh-stuttgart.de/studium/orgel/ueberblick/&gt;.

Stuttgart: State University of Music and Performing Arts
2006 Wegscheider
II+P/21

Hauptwerk
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Viola di Gamba
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octave
3′ Quinte
2′ Octave
2′ Terz (from 2′) [listed as 2′ but actually 13⁄5′]
III Mixtur
8′ Trompete

Positiv
8′ Gedackt
4′ Spitzflöte
4′ Flauto dolce
2′ Gemshorn
II Cymbal
8′ Vox Humana

Pedal
16′ Subbass
8′ Principalbass
4′ Octave
16′ Posaunebass
8′ Trompettenbass
Manual compass: C, D–d3
Pedal compass: C, D–f
Pitch: a1 = 466 Hz
Tuning: Modified Pythagorean

In the winter 2005–06 issue of Spektrum, Prof. Jürgen Essl writes:

In the fall of 2006 organ music of Bach will ring out. Then the long-anticipated “Bach organ” will supplement the university’s instrument collection. The Dresden organ builder, Kristian Wegscheider, received the commission to build an organ of 21 stops on two manuals and pedal according to 18th-century Thuringian and Saxon models. It is intended to be the ideal instrument for presenting Bach’s organ music with its choice of stops, its style of construction, its keyboard range, its speech and intonation.
Kristian Wegscheider is an undisputed expert in this area, and it would be hard to find a more first-class organ. Naturally there is no absolute “Bach Organ.” Johann Sebastian Bach, as is well known, played on many organs and was frequently active as consultant and examiner. The composition of the organ is therefore also no copy of an existing historical instrument, but an approximation of the Bach sound world in a variety of ways. The new organ is based on Bach’s expert opinion of existing instruments of similar 18th-century size, e.g., (Gottfried) Silbermann and Trost, on the compositional characteristics of his organ music, the restoration experience of the organbuilder and last but not least on the size of the room.12

Essl added in an e-mail to the author, “Indeed there were a large number of special problems for which Kristian had a good solution and fought hard to get the right results.”

Freiberg, Petrikirche
Another recent collaboration, this time with Jehmlich, was the restoration of Silbermann’s largest two-manual organ, at the Petrikirche in Freiberg, completed and rededicated in July 2007.13 It is an instrument with pizazz, brilliance, and clarity, while individual stops retain character and color. It also happens that the best CD that effectively reflects Wegscheider’s work is a recent release of a recording at the Petrikirche on the Syrius label, Johann Sebastian Bach, Vol. 4, with works from the early Weimar period played with verve, imagination, and excitement by Helga Schauerte (Syrius 141433, €22.00; <[email protected]>; the Organ Historical Society carries other recordings by Schauerte).

Freiberg: Petrikirche
1735 Silbermann
1959, 1993/94 Jehmlich Brothers
2006–07 Wegscheider, together with Jehmlich Orgelbau
II+P/32

Hauptwerk
16′ Principal
8′ Octav Principal
8′ Viol di Gamba
8′ Rohr-Flöte
4′ Octava
4′ Spitz-Flöte
3′ Qvinta
2′ Octava
2′ Tertia (from 2′) [listed as 2′ but actually 13⁄5′]
IV Cornet (from c1)
IV Mixtur
III Cymbel
8′ Trompette
16′ Fachott

Oberwerk
16′ Qvinta dena
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackts
8′ Qvinta dena
4′ Octava
4′ Rohr-Flöte
3′ Nassat
2′ Octava
11⁄3′ Qvinta
1′ Sufflöt
Sechst Qvint Altra (4⁄5′, 13⁄5′ from c1)
III Mixtur
8′ Vox humana

Pedal
32′ Groß-Untersatz
16′ Principal Bass
8′ Octaven Bass
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompete
Tremulant
Manual compass: C, D–c3
Pedal compass: C, D–c1
Manual coupler II/I
Pedal coupler P/I
Tuning: 462.5 Hz
Temperament: Neidhardt II
(for a small city), 1732

In summary, restorations include organs by:
Gottfried Silbermann
Niederschöna, 1715/1993, I/14
Bremen Cathedral, 1734/1994, I/8
Jacobikirche, Freiberg, 1717/1995/2006, II/20
Reinhardtsgrimma, 1731/1997, II/20
Tiefenau, 1725/1997, I/9
Dresden Cathedral, 1755/2002, III/47, jointly with Jehmlich Orgelbau
Petrikirche, Freiberg, 1735/2007, II/32, jointly with Jehmlich Orgelbau

Zacharias Hildebrandt
Langhennersdorf, 1722/1996, II/21

Friedrich Ladegast
Biederitz, 1868/1997, II/12
Hohenmölsen, 1851/1998, II/24
Merseburg Cathedral, 1855/1866/2003, IV, 84, joint with Eule/Bautzen and Scheffler, Frankfurt/Oder
Pomssen Wehrkirche, 1671/2000/2007, 1/13

Wegscheider’s firm has built to date thirty new organs including:
Silbermann Museum, Frauenstein, copy of Bremen positive, 1994, I/8
Güstrow Cathedral, 1996, I/15 registers with bass drums, bells, cymbelstern, 2 cuckoos, drum, nightingale
Dresden–Loschwitz, 1996, II/20
Bremen Cathedral, 2002, I/8
Cologne–Michaelshoven, 2003, II/ 28 (in the style of Silbermann/Hildebrandt)
Stuttgart, Musikhochschule, 2006/2007, II/21, Bach Organ
Sacrow-Potsdam, Heilandskirche, 2008/ 2009, II/17 registers
Current work includes:
Fritzsche-Treutmann-Organ in Harbke (restoration in cooperation with Dutschke-Orgelbau), completed 12/07 and dedicated 5/08
Altarpositiv, Kreuzkirche in Dresden, dedicated 5/08
Stellwagen Organ in Stralsund St. Marien (1659).

 

Canadian Organ Duettists Sylvie Poirier and Philip Crozier on tour in summer 2003

Philip Crozier

Philip Crozier was born in Preston, England, and was a boy chorister in Blackburn and Carlisle Cathedral Choirs. In 1979 he graduated from Cardiff University, and was awarded the Glynne Jones Prize for Organ in two consecutive years. Between 1978 and 1980 he studied in Paris with André Marchal.

For the past several years my wife Sylvie Poirier and I have had the pleasure of traveling extensively giving concerts of organ duets. In the course of numerous concert tours we have amassed a considerable number of very happy memories, sprinkled with some less delightful tales.

It may be worthwhile at this point explaining how all this began. Sylvie and I first met in 1982 as candidates in the Chartres International Organ Competition and at the time lived on opposite sides of the Atlantic. Sylvie was born and living in Montréal, while I am from England. One thing led to another, culminating in my immigration to Canada and our marriage in 1984. The result was that we pooled together our respective collections of organ music and recordings, learning a lot from each other in the process. Our duet playing began later that decade when we decided to try out some organ duets we had bought--enough to make a complete program in two halves which then became the subject of a broadcast on Radio-Canada in May 1990--our debut concert as duettists. That one event was so well received that we were urged and encouraged by several kind folk to continue and do more, so we were stimulated to expand beyond this one concert and examine the available repertory, increase it by commissions and promulgate it by performances and recordings. In 1991 we played in Germany for the first time as duettists, our international debut as such, and it has since grown and grown. We have now commissioned and premiered seven organ duets by composers from Canada, Germany, France and Britain, and released three CDs of organ duets.

From the outset we have preferred to concentrate on original organ duets (the Mozart and Beethoven works excepting, which we consider valid as organ duets) because we are always fascinated by how and why a particular composer would have conceived an organ duet and how he handled this form of  music making, rather than someone taking an existing framework and adapting it for two players. It is also very exciting to unearth original works that have long been out of print, but there is still a lot we are looking for.

Planning a tour

It has become an annual event for us to travel to Europe during the summer when I have vacation time from St. James United Church and Temple Emanu-El-Beth Sholom in Montréal. Undertaking a concert tour that lasts around forty days presents a number of challenges. A good part of the success or otherwise is a direct result of what happens in the weeks before the plane is boarded, so a significant amount of preparation is obviously necessary; there are so many diverse  eventualities to cover. Planning the actual traveling requires some time consulting train schedules and maps. Occasionally we have had to postpone concerts to subsequent years because of the impossibility of reaching a destination in time.

The choice of repertory for the individual concerts is always carefully  planned to include a good representation of standard duet works which are quite often hardly known at all, taking into account the suitability of the instrument to the music and the availability of playing aids (because we do our own registration unaided, pistons or not, with rare exceptions). Our programs are submitted well in advance, always to include Canadian content, and fulfilling requests that are asked of us, when possible. We also like to include some of our own commissioned works. Organ duettists are relatively rare, and the repertory is not enormous, so concert organizers often prefer to hear duet works that the audience and organists alike are happy to discover or rediscover.

2003 Tour: “Cancelling summer”

The planned tour for summer 2003 was all working out well when I received an e-mail in January  from  David Rogers of Doncaster, England, a long-time friend who in addition to being a fine musician, improviser and recitalist (albeit a reluctant one), is a recording specialist with a huge knowledge of repertory and recording technique. He had made the acquaintance of one individual named Nick, an organ enthusiast who does not play and is not a recording technician, but whose plan was to start a record company devoted to organ music, to be recorded and edited by David. At Nick’s request David asked if I could record the Reubke Sonata on the 94th Psalm--a piece I had never played, but have known well since childhood as a listener, initially through an old LP of the never to be forgotten magisterial reading of Brian Runnett. David had made Nick familiar with my organ playing through private recordings of concerts I had given some twenty years ago. So I eagerly began learning this wonderful work and completed the task in due course.

Sylvie and I also greatly admire the organ works of Petr Eben whom we met in Prague in 1995 and 2000, and it was also suggested we record some of his works with the upcoming 75th birthday of the composer in mind. In 1993 we had broadcast Job and Faust on Radio-Canada (performances that Petr Eben himself was delighted with), but this music remains quite unknown in Canada. Consequently we invested much time, energy and enthusiasm into this new project where we had been assured all funding was in place, greatly encouraged by this unexpected recording opportunity. The organ of Fulda Cathedral in Germany seemed entirely suitable to the repertory in our opinion, and its availability was negotiated and booked. After all the required arrangements had been made with the cathedral, the repertory approaching where we wanted it to be for the recording (it is vital not to “peak” too soon) and a crescendo of excitement building day by day, Nick suddenly sent us an e-mail five weeks before our departure, citing a family problem and ending “my business will have to be sidelined temporarily, so, as they say in the satirical press, Summer is cancelled.”

Shocked and dismayed, we respectfully requested that the recordings could still proceed in his absence with David alone (Nick had insisted on being present at all recording sessions), since these had now become mitigating circumstances and by this stage the planning and preparation for the recording was so far advanced. This was refused outright so we were in a terrible dilemma: do we cancel and possibly jeopardize everything later, or wait, hoping the issue can be resolved, or do we continue alone? The impasse with Nick was not advancing anywhere and we began doubting the sincerity and goodwill of what had been achieved thus far in the project we had embarked upon.

A swift decision had to be made--every day counted with our departure for Europe approaching rapidly. It became more and more apparent that we were going to have to go it alone if these recordings were to be realized. Those final five weeks were spent frantically trying to salvage the situation, soliciting donations from friends and organizations so we could begin the actual  recording. This took up so much of our time that hardly any organ practice was done in those five weeks--not the best situation to be in before a tour of twelve concerts and a recording project! With much regret I decided to abandon the Reubke--this after all was to have been only half of one CD, the other half being taken up with the Piano Sonata by a pianist of repute. There was precious little time remaining before our departure and this had to be principally devoted to the Eben pieces which demand so much concentrated work, in spite of the monumental distractions preying on our minds constantly.

Limburg

It was relaxing in a strange way to be on the plane flying to Europe on the evening of July 16 after the turmoil of the preceding five weeks; we had done all we could, securing enough funding to cover the production of two compact discs. Arriving at Charles de Gaulle airport, Paris, it was clear that our flight connection to Frankfurt was beyond reach. Six hours later, with a good meal along the way, we were airborne again. We were met at Frankfurt by Markus Eichenlaub, organist of Limburg Cathedral where we were to play the first concert. After the hour drive to Limburg and settling in to the Priester Seminar, our home for the next three nights, we were taken to the cathedral by Mr. Eichenlaub. A pleasant fifteen-minute walk from our residence, the thirteenth-century cathedral has a commanding presence over the surroundings, perched on a hill overlooking the River Lahn.

The organ by Hans-Gerd Klais (1978) is a large four-manual with eight combinations, spread across the west gallery and will likely be restored in a year or so. Mr. Eichenlaub suggested we hear it from downstairs as he demonstrated its many colors, and it was of great value to hear it played beforehand. He is a very gifted improviser, and it felt somewhat surreal with the fatigue of the journey starting to bite hard as we wandered  around this magnificently beautiful building, with the evening sunshine streaming through the windows.

Then we were left to explore it for ourselves and begin registering the program which included Two Pieces for Organ Duet by Ronald Arnatt, a first for us. It proved to be quite a challenge to make this particular piece work on that organ; the second movement is aptly named “Octopus Music.” There was a video hook up for the concert itself (which was very well attended). We needed to change the pistons as we progressed since we had also chosen this as the venue to give the German première of our most recent commissioned duet, the 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains by French organist Jean-Luc Perrot. Following the concert we went to an excellent Spanish restaurant with our hosts and some of their friends.

During our time in Limburg we also enjoyed a barbeque on the lawn with the organist and his wife and son. We were the only visiting residents in the seminary, home to just a few nuns, in a spacious new building, so were alone and basically had the whole place to ourselves, with easy access to the small two-manual tracker organ in the chapel. Finally we were able to really concentrate on practice, instead of answering the telephone, meeting people to explain and discuss the aforementioned imminent recording project, and sending multiple e-mails and letters. Just being at the organ and making music was very therapeutic--how we wished life could always be like that!

Fulda (First visit)

Leaving Limburg on Sunday July 20, we took the train to Fulda and were greeted that afternoon by Domorganist Hans-Jürgen Kaiser and taken to the Priester Seminar where we had individual rooms with a shower. It was relatively spartan accommodation, home to several priests in training from all over the world, including French-speaking from Africa, but quiet and comfortable, and situated just behind the cathedral. There was also a rail timetable thoughtfully posted on the notice board. Our good friend David Pearson in Kiel had supplied us with various train times for our travels; he acts as our agent in Germany and was a key player in all the Fulda arrangements.

The cathedral was built in the new Baroque manner (1704-1712) to the design of the architect Johann Dientzenhofer and is an outstanding work of art. Inspired by the Roman Baroque style, it reuses the architectural core of the ancient Abbot Ratgar’s Basilica (9th century). In keeping with the splendor of the building in which it is housed, the organ is truly magnificent. The glorious case dates from the time of the cathedral’s construction, and today the organ consists of 72 speaking stops, including some 24 from the large Sauer organ of 1876/77 which was rebuilt and enlarged by Christoph Glatter-Götz of Rieger-Orgelbau and completed in 1996. The specification can be found on the company’s website <www.riegerorgelbau.com/db/pdf/Fulda.pdf&gt;. The four-manual console is well equipped with a multiple memory system (32x12 generals), two-way sequencer and additional electric action for some of the couplers. What a great thrill it is to play this wonderful instrument, and Mr. Kaiser was most helpful during our time in Fulda. We were allowed access to the organ in the evenings and partly during the lunch hours when we could play quietly.

David Rogers arrived the day after with his very specialized and compact recording equipment. At last the much anticipated recording project of organ works by Petr Eben was about to begin. Over several nights spread over one and a half weeks, Sylvie recorded Job (a narrator in Montréal has recorded the French text of the Biblical readings to go between the movements), and I did Faust, A Festive Voluntary and A Small Chorale Partita. There were a few unexpected interruptions--on one evening a private guided tour, and on another evening a trainee priest began practicing the organ in the chapel behind the high altar. Because it is also a monastery and a major learning place, from time to time there were some extraneous noises that had a tendency to arrive just as the last chord was dying away! Despite this, there was hardly any traffic noise because the cathedral is perfectly situated away from roads. We had been lent a set of keys, and on one evening had considerable trouble locking the cathedral door. Something was wrong with the lock and it was fixed the next day.

Rheda-Wiedenbrück

We interrupted our time in Fulda later that week and rented a car driven by David Rogers to go to Rheda-Wiedenbrück, our next port of call. As we went to collect it we noticed a German newspaper photograph with major headlines from Iraq and two familiar faces front and center. One fact about concert touring is that we tend not to follow the news, and in Fulda we had neither radio nor television. On the journey, in which we ran into some very heavy rain, we picked up news on the car radio. The hotel in Rheda-Wiedenbrück was the first time we had seen a television screen since leaving Montréal, and the demise of these two individuals was the big news of the week, along with gruesome photos.

Upon arrival we were met by a lady at the hotel who gave us the church keys; we deposited our cases and went to eat. We were ravenous and found a pizzeria close to the church and went in about 7 pm, fully expecting to be out by 8:30 pm--the organ was available all evening. In the end it took nearly forty-five minutes after placing the order before the soup was served and nearly an hour after that for the pizza, which was very ordinary. It was approaching 10 pm before we left the restaurant, irritated by the apparent indifference of the patron, and not in the mood to have a good practice. It was almost dark by this time and we fumbled around in the gloom trying to find switches and keyholes. We registered the program, grateful for the playing aids, and returned to the hotel.

The next day, Friday July 25, David Pearson arrived for a surprise visit in time for the concert at St. Clemens Kirche, where the three-manual organ is by Fischer & Krämer (1984), details of which can be found at <www.fischer-kraemer.de/rheda.htm&gt;. It was our third concert in this church where a few years ago we first met Ralf Bölting, composer of several organ duets. Our program included one work we commissioned from him in 2000, the Toccata on “Vom Himmel hoch” (the third movement of the Triptych on German Christmas Carols), but unfortunately he could not attend the concert. We have several good original Christmas duets in our repertory, but are frequently asked not to play them during the summer, so we were happy to be able to include it.

Zwillbrock

On Saturday the four of us filled the rented car and headed to Borken to stay with our good friend Kurt-Ludwig Forg, director of the music school there, a recitalist and author of numerous articles and a frequent visitor to North America. We left David Pearson in Münster so he could take the train north to Kiel because of services the next day.

On Sunday afternoon July 27, we played a concert to a capacity audience at the Barockkirche St. Franziskus in Zwillbrock, a delightful small village on the Dutch border. The website (in German) <www.zwillbrock.de/barockkirche/&gt; contains information about the historic two-manual organ and an interior photograph of this beautiful baroque building. It is possible to perform a complete concert of original organ duets on a small instrument and gain very satisfactory results, and this particular one served the repertory really well. The program included Fugue à six parties et deux sujets à 4 mains by Clément Loret and Petite Suite by Canadian organist and composer Denis Bédard, and many of our CDs were sold afterwards. We have given concerts on organs of all sizes and found repertory that is suitable in each case.  That is the challenge for the performer--to construct an interesting program on the organ that is available. We aim to exploit the resources of repertory and instrument as much as possible. It is amazing what some of these smaller instruments can do.

Fulda (Second visit)

Then it was back to Fulda to begin the second week of recording sessions, having fulfilled our concert duties for the time being, and avoiding the heavy service schedule in the cathedral over the weekend. Because we had the car we took a pleasant day off and made a pilgrimage to Eisenach which is not far away in former East Germany. The border is no longer apparent, but passing through the flowing landscapes of Thuringia familiar to Bach and entering the town of Eisenach, there is much evidence of reconstruction. We parked the car close to the Georgenkirche where Bach was baptized. It was also the scene of major protests in 1989, as documented in several photographs in the church aisles depicting all three galleries filled with the townsfolk as the Communist era was nearing its final sunset there. The Bachhaus, Bach’s birthplace, was the first museum to be dedicated to Johann Sebastian Bach and is well worth a visit. Established in 1906 through the Neue Bachgesellschaft, its collection includes archives, household items and other treasures from the time of Bach, in addition to a valuable assortment of musical instruments. The visit includes a live demonstration of these historical  instruments. In the souvenir shop we purchased several recordings, a poster of the Bach Family Tree, and a tie and umbrella of Bach’s handwriting. Meanwhile a baseball cap (which at one time I would never have imagined wearing) provided invaluable protection against the burning sun.

During that last week in Fulda we also visited the Michaelskirche adjacent to the cathedral; it is one of the most notable medieval sacred buildings in Germany--its crypt dates from Carolingian times originating between 819 and 822 as the burial chapel in the former Benedictine monks’ cemetery on the same site. Daily at 6 pm the bells peal forth from both the cathedral tower and  the Michaelskirche. What a glorious sound this is, which David Rogers captured on tape. We have decided to add it to the end of Sylvie’s CD.

For the recording sessions we stayed in the cathedral until around midnight every night, finishing the proceedings in the congenial surroundings of a neighboring hostelry where we mulled everything over before turning in for the night. Finally we accomplished what we set out to achieve, two compact discs of works by Petr Eben. One night we were treated to a spectacular thunderstorm and on another night, returning to the seminary at about 1:45 am, we could hear the organ in the cathedral and quietly went to investigate. The great instrument on the west gallery was being played, along with the one at the other extremity of the building in the chapel behind the high altar. A work for two organs--both organists were remarkably together, but we never found out who they were.

Itzehoe

On Friday August 1, we went our separate ways; David Rogers headed back to England and we travelled north to Kiel to stay with David Pearson, with whom we took the train to Itzehoe on Saturday where we found the four-manual 1905 Sauer to be quite disappointing, despite a relatively comprehensive specification, far from what the stoplist had promised by way of sound selection. The program included the very first organ duet by a Canadian composer, Duet for Organ by Frederick R.C. Clarke dating from 1954. This concert attracted the lowest audience of the tour with about twenty-five in attendance. However we played an encore on the other instrument that shares the gallery, some four stops that contain original Arp Schnitger pipes from 1716-1719.

Estonia

Our first visit to Estonia began on Monday August 4, when we took the airport bus from Kiel to Hamburg and boarded the Estonian Air flight to Tallinn where we were to give three concerts in the Tallinn XVII International Organ Festival, the first Canadian organists and duettists to be invited to perform in this prestigious festival which came into being in 1987. As such we were the grateful recipients of a grant from the Canada Council for the Arts under their International Performance Assistance in Music (Pilot Project). Our programs acknowledged that support.

The meal on the plane was surprisingly good, and upon arrival we were met by Eva-Maria Asari from the Canadian embassy and Tiiu Valper, assistant to Festival Artistic Director Andres Uibo, and driven to the hotel in old Tallinn where all the performers are lodged, aptly named “Old Town Maestro’s.” This was the beginning of a lovely week which included a guided tour of the Canadian embassy with its magnificent view over a part of the city walls, and the harbor. We received an invitation for lunch a few days later with the Canadian Ambassador, His Excellency Mr. Robert Andrigo, and his wife, along with other representatives from the embassy and the festival. It was of course an honor and pleasure to be guests of the ambassador and his staff and to discuss our career and performance plans. My mother arrived in Tallinn also, staying in another hotel outside the old town. This was the only time on the tour we could meet up because once again a trip to my native England was not possible this year.

The festival itself featured artists from several countries and each generally performed in three different venues, not just in Tallinn but in other towns as well, and attended each others’ concerts when possible. On the  first evening we attended an excellent organ recital by Andras Viragh from Hungary in the cathedral (Tallinna toomkirik) where there is a large three-manual Sauer (1913). This church also has one of the largest collections in all of Europe of coat-of-arms epitaphs of well-to-do families dating from the medieval era. Later in the week Andres Uibo gave a splendid concert at the Niguliste muuseum-kontserdisaal (Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall) which included a fine Fuge in D minor by Rudolf Tobias (1873-1918) whose picture appears on the 50 Krooni note alongside an organ, the only banknote in the world that has an organ on it (also available on a souvenir fridge magnet).

On August 9 we attended a most satisfying program entitled “Dance and Mass.” The dance was in the first half, the dancers being the Vilnius Camargo Troupe, and the Estonian Baroque Soloists playing Lully, Campra, Bach, Vivaldi and others from the period, all choreographed. “A Mass for Sunday Misericordia Domini” was the title of the second half consisting of Gregorian chant and North German baroque organ music. Peter van Dijk from Holland performed Scheidemann, Hasse, Praetorius, extracts from the Tablature of Martinus Leopolita (ca. 1580), Sweelinck, Karges and Buxtehude. The choral Mass sections were sung by the ensemble Vox Clamantis, which comprises a diversity of musicians, singers, composers, instrumentalists and conductors who all have a common interest in Gregorian chant, under the direction of Jaan-Eik Tulve. The musical forces were a finely balanced complement all the way through the concert.

Our first recital was on Tuesday August 5 in the impressive Pärnu Concert Hall which is less than one year old and fully equipped. Pärnu is a very popular holiday resort in Estonia, particularly favored by politicians. The organ builder Martin ter Haseborg was present when we arrived and was available should there be problems with the instrument. There remained a few pipes that still needed to be connected and some finishing touches to the instrument here and there, but this did not affect our program during which we gave the Estonian premières of three of our commissioned works: Sinfonietta by Denis Bédard; Dance Suite for Organ Duet by South-African born Canadian organist and composer Jacobus Kloppers; and the aforementioned 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains by Jean-Luc Perrot. The specification of the three-manual organ along with photographs can be found at <www.concert.ee/eesti/parnu/orel/index.php&gt;.

The second concert was originally scheduled to be in Viljandi on a two-manual instrument but in due course this was changed to Räpina Church on Thursday August 7. Räpina is a somewhat bare place near the Russian border not far from Lake Peipsi, the fifth largest lake in Europe. The priest welcomed us, along with the local organ maintenance technician. Before the concert the priest and his wife invited us to their home for some refreshments. The audience was spread around the church and on the gallery, and the organ was in many ways the most satisfying instrument we played in Estonia. The program included  the Sonata in G minor (op. 50) by Leberecht Baumert, a fine duet that has only recently become generally available, and the Estonian première of the Petite Suite of Denis Bédard. The concert closed with some prayers led by the priest. There was  not a great deal of time to rehearse, as in Pärnu, and we collected a poster bearing a variant of my name-- Sphilip Crozier. The return journey was beautified with a fabulous sunset,  around 11 pm in early August.

I should mention that we had a preview of Estonia three years ago when Karl Raudsepp, a Montréal-based organbuilder, gave a very captivating talk and video presentation to the Montréal Centre of the RCCO on Balticum 2000, the ISO Congress of that year that visited Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Karl is the only member of his family not to have been born in Estonia, and he has been preparing an inventory of Estonian organs. I am grateful to him for the following information:

The organ in Räpina Church is a fairly large two-manual instrument, built by August Terkmann in 1934. It also incorporates some stops from the 1857 organ originally built by the Tartu organbuilder, August Kessler. The new stoplist was worked out in conjunction with the well-known Estonian composer and organ teacher, August Topman. It was the last instrument built by Terkmann. Among his employees at the time were the brothers Oskar and Voldemar Gutmann as well as Otto and Alfred Gutdorf.

The stoplist is as follows:

Manual I

16’             Bourdon

8’                  Principal

8’                  Gamba

8’                  Flauto amabile

8’                  Doppelgedackt

8’                  Gemshorn

8’                  Salicional

4’                  Oktav

4’                  Hohlflöte

22/3’        Quinte

2’                  Oktav

                        Cornett III-V

                        Cymbel III-IV

                        Subkoppel II-I

                        Superkoppel II-I

                        Superkoppel I

Manual II (under expression)

16’             Gedackt

8’                  Geigenprincipal

8’                  Quintaton

8’                  Flöte

8’                  Lieblichgedackt

8’                  Viola

8’                  Vox celeste

4’                  Principal

4’                  Rohrflöte

2’                  Koppelflöte

                        Mixtur III-V

8’                  Trompete

                        Subkoppel II

                        Superkoppel II

                        Glocken

                        Tremolo

Pedal

16’             Principalbass

16’             Subbass

16’             Gedacktbass

8’                  Oktavbass

8’                  Cello

102/3’   Quinte

16’             Posaune

                        I-P

                        II-P

                        Superkoppel II-P

The Echo organ, planned for installation in the gallery behind the altar, and playable from Manual II, was never built due to the lack of funds. It would have comprised the following stops:

Echo

8’                  Fernflöte

8’                  Undamaris

4’                  Gemshorn

Karl also added in a further e-mail to me that August Terkmann is credited with introducing many new technical innovations into organ building in Estonia, including the use of electricity. His instruments are renowned for their gentle voicing and singing quality. Räpina’s organ stands out as a remarkable example of his work.

Our third concert was at the Niguliste Museum-Concert Hall on Sunday August 10. Details and photographs of this former church can be found at <www.ekm.ee/english/niguliste/&gt;. The organ was built in 1981 by the Rieger-Kloss company and has 4 manuals and pedal, 63 registers, and 4711 pipes. The  program included two movements from one of our commissioned duets, Suite de noëls by Canadian organist and composer Gilles Rioux, as well as the Bombardo-Carillon by Charles Henri Valentin Alkan for pedals alone, and ending with the Toccata Française (sur le nom de H.E.L.M.U.T.) by Ralf Bölting which is a real showcase work. The concert was attended by the ambassador and the full staff of the Office of the Canadian Embassy and broadcast live on Estonian Classical Radio. Before this concert I recorded an interview for the same program that was aired during the interval.

At the conclusion of the concert there was a fine reception hosted by the festival which is run by the State Concert Institute Eesti Kontsert and in our experience is extremely well organized. Ground transportation in the form of comfortable mini buses belonging to Eesti Kontsert was provided from the airport and back, and for the two-hour drive to Pärnu and three-hour ride to Räpina. In each of these venues outside Tallinn we received the same courtesy and warm welcome extended to us in Tallinn. The driver himself, an employee of Eesti Kontsert, was responsible for the distribution of programs in Räpina where everything ran smoothly. We had the chance to explore a bit during some of the free time that week. It was most interesting to go into a supermarket, something that always fascinates me in different countries, and it was very well stocked with all the usual household necessities. Milk products were in abundance, so they have their act together on that one. Just a visit to a supermarket can give a snapshot of the location--and if this was anything to go by, Estonia is on the right path.

Garding

The week passed very quickly in Estonia, before we returned to Kiel on Monday August 11, for the next venue a couple of days later in Garding, some two hours by train. It is a beautiful small town, and the delightful ancient St. Christianskirche was completely full for the concert which we opened with the Duet for Organ by Samuel Wesley. The organ was built in 1974 by the Schuke company of Berlin. The organ case of the Hauptwerk dates back to 1512, and as such is the oldest unchanged organ case in North Germany. The casework for the Rückpositiv was completed in 1680. The specification is below:

Hauptwerk (C-f3)

8’                  Regal

8’                  Prinzipal

8’                  Rohrflöte

4’                  Oktave

2’                  Oktave

                        Mixtur IV-V

8’                  Trompete

Rückpositiv (C-f3)

8’                  Gedackt

4’                  Rohrflöte

4’                  Prinzipal

2’                  Gemshorn

11/3’        Quinte

                        Sesquialter II (from c0)

                        Scharff III-IV

Pedal (C-f1)

16’             Subbaß

8’                  Prinzipal

4’                  Choralbaß

                        Hintersatz IV

16’             Fagott

Saarbrücken

After a couple of days rest in Kiel we headed south to Saarbrücken on Friday August 15 to play at the Basilika St. Johannis. We met our host Bernhard Leonardy, organist of the basilica, later in the evening, and visited the town in his open top sports car. This was a first for us too, exhilarating to experience the fresh midnight air like this. We had only one hour on the organ before the 11:30 am recital the next day, but fortunately the five-manual Hugo Mayer from Saarland organ has a multiple memory system. Further information about the church and a specification of the organ with photographs of the console can be found at <www.basilika-sb.de/&gt;.

Wiesbaden

After the concert we ate at a small snack bar near the station because we had our luggage with us and needed to be at the station for the train that gave us good connections to Wiesbaden. Travel from Saarbrücken to Wiesbaden was plagued with rail problems, beginning with the non-arrival of the ICE that was running one hour late, forcing us to take a taxi from Mainz to Wiesbaden. Gabriel Dessauer, organist of  St. Bonifatius, had left instructions for us to be at the church to collect various keys after the Saturday evening Mass. He was away and was only returning in time for our concert on Sunday afternoon. Over the years we have developed a technique for working rapidly on a new instrument--we prepare for the eventuality that there is often a short amount of practice time on the instrument due to circumstances beyond our control--but we do find it is invaluable to gain access to the organ the day before the concert. On this occasion we almost missed an evening on the three-manual Mayer organ which has 640 pistons allowing for instant comparison of various registration options and is “user-friendly.” Information about the church and organ and music are on the church website <www.st-bonifatius-wiesbaden.de/&gt; and there is an English section too.

Gabriel Dessauer arrived the day of the concert to greet us. Our visit coincided with an annual Fest going on in the town, with a huge selection of wines, beers and food on stands in the main town square. It was so good to be part of this great celebration but a huge downpour of rain, essential though with the heat wave going on at the time, watered it down somewhat. The church with its vibrant acoustics was akin to a sauna bath.

Heiligenhafen

Following Wiesbaden we returned north to Kiel, breaking the journey for a second visit to Borken to see Kurt-Ludwig Forg for a couple of days. Such free days are much appreciated in a concert tour. The last concert in Germany was on Thursday August 21 at the Stadtkirche in the coastal town of Heilgenhafen which boasts much tourism and fish restaurants, but lacks reasonable public transportation, not being served by a railway, and a bus service that finishes before the end of the concert. David Pearson came with us for the day trip and we were well received by the organist Dörte Czernitzski. The concert was very well attended; one special characteristic was that the organ bench was polished to perfection, enabling us to slide forward straight into the pedalboard with effortless ease. So we had to be vigilant all the time! 

Paris

The next day we had an early start for the long train journey to Frankfurt airport from where we had an evening flight to Paris. Late trains and missed connections had become quite rife on this trip (not typical of Germany, I might add), so we decided it was better to be safe than sorry. In Paris we were met by Sylvie’s brother who has lived in France for more than thirty years. On Saturday afternoon we went to rehearse at La Madeleine to find that there were two weddings so we had to return in the evening.

General Kalck, who is in charge of concert organization, proudly demonstrated the organ to us. As he was explaining the various registers and their history, I was observing and memorizing their location. One interesting fact about this organ is its shortage of 8’ diapason stops. There is a wide plethora of sound at 8’ pitch, but only one Montre 8’ on the Grand Orgue and Positif respectively, and not on the other two manuals. The absence of more principal sound at 8’ pitch is not so noticeable. A multi-memory system accelerates matters much faster in the relatively short practice time available. He left us to it, giving us precise instructions and exact telephone numbers to call when we had finished so we could be let out of the building. Reassuringly, they matched those posted on the organ console, so we enjoyed exploring the delights of this wonderful monument of French organ building, with its grandstand view down into the nave (not so easy if one is afraid of heights).

La Madeleine has had a long succession of distinguished organists including  Camille Saint-Saëns (1857-1877), Théodore Dubois (1877-1896), Gabriel Fauré (1896-1905) and Jeanne Demessieux (1962-1968). After about three hours we had done all the necessary work and then telephoned but could not obtain a free line. Half an hour later, with no joy whatsoever, it seemed we were doomed to spend the night in the Madeleine. Sylvie stayed upstairs, trying the telephone again and again, while I went hunting for exit points and other telephones. Thus I discovered just about every door in the building, various tunnels, spiral staircases and iron grills. Tourists do not usually have the freedom and privilege of such explorations; what a wonderful place it is! In the sacristy I found another telephone in the dark but  still could not get a line, then a portable one that I took back into the church so I could see better. Between us we tried everything but nothing worked. I continued walking around, sincerely hoping I would trigger an alarm somewhere, but after about forty-five long minutes a voice shouted from high up over the high altar to enquire if we had terminated for the night because the organ was no longer being played. It was a janitor and we informed him that obtaining a telephone line was impossible. After checking the telephones and finding them to be in order he let us out. It was a relief to be outside on the street. The next day General Kalck greeted us with a question “what happened last night?” Then he added “did you add a zero to the number?” That was the key to the problem.

The concert was attended by over 500 people, many of them Parisians returning to the city after their traditional month away. Jean-Luc Perrot and his wife also came to hear the performance of his 2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains which in fact was its première in France. François-Henri Houbart, organist of La Madeleine since 1979, was away for that weekend, performing a concert elsewhere so we did not have the opportunity to meet him.

The next day we flew back to Montréal, arriving home tired but fulfilled. Before the trip we purchased some good disposable cameras so we could have a record of everything because our own camera had recently become non-functional. We took numerous photographs including all the organs and their consoles and most of the people mentioned in this article, and eagerly awaited their development. When I went to collect them they were unrecognizable! The photographs had been mixed up with another customer when they were forwarded to a central processing plant and were never traced. The photos here are by David Rogers.

List of repertory performed on this tour (all organ duets)

*Sinfonietta, Denis Bédard (1950-)

Petite Suite, Bédard

Two Pieces for Organ Duet (1989), Ronald Arnatt (1930-): “Sarabande with Variations,” “Octopus Music”

Fantasie in f-Moll, KV 608, W. A. Mozart (1756-1791)

Fantasie in f-Moll, KV 594, Mozart

Fuge in g-Moll, KV 401, Mozart

*Dance Suite for Organ Duet, Jacobus Kloppers (1937-)

Fugue in D major, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847)

Adagio, WoO 33/1, Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

*2me Suite pour orgue à quatre mains, Jean-Luc Perrot (1959-)

Sonate g-Moll, op. 50, Leberecht Baumert (1833-1904)

Duet for Organ, Frederick R. C. Clarke (1931-)

*Toccata on “Vom Himmel hoch,” Ralf Bölting (1953-)

Toccata Française (sur le nom de H.E.L.M.U.T.), Bölting

Duet for Organ, Samuel Wesley (1766-1837)

Vier variierte Choräle für die Orgel zu vier Händen, op. 19, Christian Gottlob Höpner (1799-1859)

Fugue à six parties et deux sujets à 4 mains, Clément Loret (1833-1909)

Sonate in d-moll, op. 30, Gustav Merkel (1827-1885)

Präludium und Fuge in B-dur, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736-1809)

Praeludium und Fuge in C-dur, Albrechtsberger

Introduction und Fuge in d-Moll, op. 62, Franz Lachner (1803-1890)

Fugue in e-Moll, op. posth. 152, Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

*Suite de noëls (extracts), Gilles Rioux (1965-): “L’Attente” (Venez divin Messie), “La joie” (Il est né le divin Enfant)

Bombardo-Carillon, Charles Henri Valentin Alkan (1813-1888)

* Organ duets commissioned and premièred by Sylvie Poirier and Philip Crozier

Michael Gailit

Michael Gailit received his musical and academic training at the University of Music in Vienna, Austria, studying piano with Hilde Langer-Rühl and Alexander Jenner, and organ with Herbert Tachezi. At age 20 he received his performance degree in organ, and took first prize in the competition “Jugend musiziert.” He subsequently earned degrees in piano and organ pedagogy. From 1993–2008 Michael Gailit was organist at St. Augustine‘s Church, which has the largest music program in Vienna, including recitals and orchestra concerts throughout the year. In 1995, Gailit was asked to take over an organ performance class at the Vienna Conservatory of Music. There he initiated a series of seminars and workshops on performance practices in organ music of all periods. Gailit has been a member of the piano faculty of the University of Music in Vienna since 1980. He has given courses, masterclasses and lectures in Europe and North America, and has performed in Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, United Kingdom, Slovenia, Slovakia, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, Finland, Estonia, Canada, Russia, and Mexico. Since 1984, he regularly has toured the United States giving recitals and masterclasses. In a series of six recitals in Vienna, Gailit played the six Mendelssohn Sonatas, the six Bach Trio Sonatas, and the six Vierne Symphonies within three weeks. Gailit has released seven solo CDs, among them piano and organ music of W. A. Mozart (the first interpretation of the organ pieces after the original open scores) and selections of rarely played French romantic organ music. In addition to several articles in music magazines, he has published the first comprehensive book on the Liszt pupil Reubke (Julius Reubke—Life And Works) in 1995.

Prologue
For some, musicology can offer captivating moments. What has happened at a certain place during a certain time? Changes in organs remind us sometimes of CSI. Who really knew what was going on? The pastor might be not the best guess, and the lead has intelligent ways to tell everybody how to look at things—2556 pipes in an organ it’s not worth it, with 1001 pipes you get even more!

Wagner and St. Mary
Let us imagine a visit to St. Mary’s Church in Berlin at the beginning of the 19th century. Our reason is the celebration last year of the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847). During the period 1820–21, the ingenious multi-talent received organ lessons at St. Mary’s and composed his first organ pieces. Mendelssohn’s organ teacher August Wilhelm Bach (1796–1869)—not related to the Thuringian family of musicians—had at his post in St. Mary’s an organ by Joachim Wagner at his disposal. The instrument, Wagner’s first masterpiece from 1719–23, established his fame as the “Berlin Silbermann.” As Uwe Pape has pointed out,1 there are resemblances in the original stoplist of St. Mary’s Wagner organ to the first masterpiece of the famous Saxon organ builder Gottfried Silbermann at the Freiberg cathedral from 1714:

St. Mary’s Church, Berlin

Hauptmanual
(I; CD–c3; 12 stops)
16′ Bordun
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöt
8′ Viole di Gamba
4′ Octav
4′ Spitzflöt
3′ Quinta
2′ Octav
[8′] Cornet V (c1–c3)
11⁄2′ Scharf V
1′ Cimbel [III]
8′ Trompet

Oberwerk (II; CD–c3; 11 stops)
16′ Quintadena
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
4′ Octav
4′ Fugara
3′ Nassat
2′ Octav
2′ Tertie
1′ Siefflöt
11⁄2′ Mixtur IV
8′ Vox humana

Hinterwerk (III; CD–c3; 9 stops)
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintadena
4′ Octav
4′ Rohrflöt
2′ Octav
2′ Waldflöt
11⁄2′ Quinta
1′ Cimbel
[8′] Echo V [c1–c3]

Pedal (CD–d1; 8 stops)
16′ Principal-Baß
16′ Violon
8′ Gembßhorn
6′ Quinta
4′ Octav
2′ Mixtur VI
16′ Posaune
8′ Trompet

Accessories
2 tremulants
Zimbelstern
4 ventil stops (one for each division)
2 manual couplers
1 pedal coupler

Freiberg Cathedral

Hauptwerk (I; CD–c3; 13 stops)
16′ Bourdon
8′ Principal
8′ Rohrflöte
8′ Viola da Gamba
4′ Octava
3′ Quinta
2′ Super-Octava
13⁄5′ Tertia
8′ Cornet V (c1–c3)
2′ Mixtur IV
11⁄3′ Cimbeln III
8′ Trompete
4′ Clarin

Oberwerk (II; CD–c3; 13 stops)
16′ Quintaden
8′ Principal
8′ Gedackt
8′ Quintaden
4′ Octava
4′ Spitzflöte
2′ Super-Octava
1′ Flaschflöt
11⁄3′ Mixtur III
1′ Cimbeln II
8′ Krummhorn
8′ Vox humana
8′ Echo V (c1–c3)

Brustwerk (III; CD–c3; 9 stops)
8′ Gedackt
4′ Principal
4′ Rohrflöte
3′ Nasat
2′ Octava
13⁄5′ Tertia
11⁄2′ Quinta
1′ Sifflöt
1′ Mixtur III

Pedal (CD–c1; 10 stops)
32′ Untersatz
16′ PrincipalBaß
16′ OctavBaß
16′ SubBaß
8′ OctavBaß
4′ OctavBaß
22⁄3′ Pedalmixtur VI
16′ PosaunenBaß
8′ TrompetenBaß
4′ ClarinBaß

Accessories
2 tremulants
2 ventil stops (HW/BW, OW)
2 manual couplers (OW/HW, BW/HW)
1 pedal coupler (HW/P)

Simply Vogler
When A. W. Bach was appointed to St. Mary’s, the organ was no longer in its original state. The history also of this organ was influenced by a man whose name has survived today mainly in treatises on organ building. The priest Georg Joseph Vogler (1749–1814), often addressed as “Abbé Vogler,”2 shouted at his contemporaries:
Wake up, you parrots, you philistines of Liliput, from your lethargic slumber!
Listen (to the music)! Look (at scores)! Feel (the effects)! And think!3
Vogler sought to make the organ a more vivid instrument, both by performance style and through certain construction components. The sound was to be based on lower registers, which he achieved through the acoustic phenomenon of combination tones. The Italian violinist Giuseppe Tartini, when developing the double-stop technique, had found that if a consonant interval were played as purely as possible, a third, lower tone could be heard as a result of the addition of the vibrations. Describing the effect in his Trattato di musica secondo la vera scienza dell’armonia of 1754, Tartini was regarded as the discoverer of the combination tones, which were later even named Tartini tones. The German organist Andreas Sorge (1703–1778), however, had already described the effect in his treatise Vorgemach der musik-alischen Komposition of 1745. He had noticed that when a fifth is played on a flute stop, the note of the lower octave can be heard.
Vogler used this phenomenon to build a low-pitch stop from two ranks of smaller pipes in the octave and the fifth. His Simplifikationssystem comprised also the removal of mutation stops and mixtures. He achieved dynamic flexibility through the use of free reeds, which could respond to variable wind pressure without change of pitch, and through swell boxes that enclosed not only one division, but the entire organ. The first musical instrument with free reeds seems to be the Cheng, a Chinese pumpkin instrument equipped with a mouthpiece and bamboo tubes containing thin metal plates. This technical idea developed eventually into an organ pipe rank shortly before 1800, with the exotic attempt to build a speaking machine. The Cheng is also regarded as the common ancestor of the other free reed instruments, such as the accordion or the harmonium.4
No matter where, in the Swedish capital Stockholm or the Austrian capital Vienna, Vogler convinced authorities to improve the organs in their churches. In the Prussian capital, Berlin, he arranged the conversion of the Wagner organ at St. Mary’s in 1800–01, carried out by local organ builder Johann Friedrich Falckenhagen (1752–1823). The 40 stops were reduced to 26, and reports tell that from 2556 pipes only 1001 remained in the organ.5 On November 28, 1801, at 5 pm, Vogler presented the converted organ to an obviously enthusiastic, but not completely converted, crowd in an inauguration recital with a memorable program:

1st Part
1. Prelude and fugue with full organ, using 3 octave stops, 3 fifths, 2 thirds and 4 reeds, with a total of only 498 pipes
2. Terrace song of the Africans stamping limestone, to surface their terraces, always one choir resting and singing, the other one stamping
3. Double concerto of a flute and a basson, with clear distinction of four manuals:
I. [manual] for the flute
II. [manual] for the bassoon
III. [manual] for the full orchestra
IV. [manual] for the gentle instrumental accompaniment
Allegro. Andante. Rondo.

2nd Part
4. The Mahomedanian [sic] Creed: There is only one God and Mahomed is his prophet, which is sung during funerals alternately with 2 choirs in the front and in the back of the corpse, performed with an Adagio
5. The boat ride on the Rhine, interrupted by a thunder storm
6. The Chorale: O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden, with a Basso continuo, in contrapuntal and canonic manner
NB. The terrace song, the Mahomedanian song, and the boat ride have been specially requested by music lovers.6

In an extended review, the Leipziger Allgemeine Zeitung preserved the terrace song theme for posterity (Example 1). As seriously as possible, the author makes fun of the limestone stamping choirs, wondering if they are familiar with the European canon form (Example 2).
The pastor of the church later complained that Vogler had taken out the best pipes, selling them to St. Hedwig’s Church and the Catholics, and replacing them with pipes of lesser quality.7 Other sources claim that Vogler used the now superfluous pipes in a new organ at St. Hedwig’s. We can even read that he received money from the king to build the organ at St. Hedwig’s, that he completed it at his own expense, or even donated the whole instrument.8 Time for CSI.

Questions and questioning
First: Are the numbers 2556 and 1001 correct? Did the original Wagner organ have 2556 pipes, and did only 1001 really remain in the instrument? Provided that in the Hinterwerk the Cimbel consisted of three ranks and the Echo Cornet had the same compass as the Hauptwerk Cornet, the total number of 2556 Wagner pipes appears correct (Table 1).
The more difficult task is to find out what happened in the course of the conversion. (An “after” stoplist is shown in Table 13.) After all these pipe relocations, would we get a total of 1001 remaining pipes? At first, the report tells us which ranks stayed, which were removed, and which were partly or wholly relocated. For a whole new rank or stop in another pitch, Vogler needed to take out pipes from two ranks, one rank providing the majority of pipes for the upper octaves, and another rank at least for the lowest octave. The conversions can be described as follows. Sometimes there is more than one solution—in this case, only one is given.

Conversion 1
To achieve a 32′ sound, Vogler created a new Groß-Nasat 102⁄3′ on the Hauptwerk. He took the bottom octave from the Pedal Quinte 51⁄3′ and had it stopped to transpose the pitch an octave lower. The Hauptwerk Gamba 8′ supplied the rest of the rank. Since the lowest octave was taken from the same range, the missing C# did not cause a problem (Table 2).

Conversion 2
For a new discant stop, it was sufficient to take the corresponding section from one old stop. In this manner, part of the Spitzflöte 4′ became a new Terzflöte 31⁄5′ to support the 16′ sound at the Hauptwerk (Table 3).

Conversion 3
To ascertain the number of both remaining and removed pipes, one must keep in mind that the key for C-sharp did not exist. If a section of a rank were relocated to the bottom octave, then the pipe that would take the place of the bottom C-sharp must be included in the number of removed pipes. When creating the Klein-Nasat 51⁄3′ for the support of the 16′ sound of the Hauptwerk, the bottom G-sharp from the Gedackt 8′ of the Oberwerk was superfluous. Vogler took the rest of the rank from the Hinterwerk Oktav 2′ (Table 4).

Conversion 4
Except for the bottom octave, the Oberwerk Nasat 22⁄3′ provided the pipes for the new Hinterwerk Terz 31⁄5′. The bottom octave came from the Rohrflöte of the Hauptwerk; the pipe for the note f° became superfluous due to the non-existing key for the bottom C-sharp (Table 5).

Conversion 5
According to David and his sources, the new Vox humana 16′ started at tenor C. It is more plausible that it had the compass c1–c3. First, in order to meet 1001 as the total number of used pipes, all five discant stops could have comprised only two octaves or 25 keys each. Second, to change the Vox humana 8′ to a 16-foot stop, Vogler would have had the problem of a gap in the tenor octave caused by the missing C-sharp (Table 6).

Conversion 6
The conversion of the Hauptwerk Quintade 8′ to the Pedal Quintatön 4′ caused one superfluous pipe because of the missing C-sharp key (Table 7).

Conversion 7
There are a limited number of possiblities of how Vogler could have changed the Echo cornet of the Hinterwerk into the two pedal stops Nachthorn 2′ and Blockflöte 1′. This given solution takes the pipes only from the octave ranks. The actual conversion depended on the scaling of the rank (Table 8).

Conversion 8
To convert the Pedal Trompete 8′ into a Dulcian 32′ for the Hinterwerk, Vogler probably did not build a new pipe for the missing C-sharp. He could have shifted all pipes above C and tuned them a half tone lower. This is supported by the given number of pipes, otherwise there would be a difference of one pipe in the total numbers before and after the conversion (Table 9).

Conversion 9
While David names precisely from his sources the stops that were used in the other conversions, the creation of the Oberwerk Quinte 22⁄3′ is described only as “taken from the Hinterwerk.” This is logical because not one single stop remained in the Hinterwerk to put together a complete discant stop. Fitting to the Octave 4′, Vogler could have used the rest of the Octave 2′ (Table 10).

Conversion completed
An overview of all conversions shows the complete deforestation (Table 11). Diagonal arrows indicate direct relocation, straight and edged lines stand for relocations where pipes were taken from more than one stop. 535 pipes evaded relocation (white bars), 466 pipes changed into another division (grey bars); therefore a total number of 1001 pipes remained. Ranks and those parts that were not used anymore appear as free space.

Stories and Tellers
The overview (Table 12) shows the stops that were partially used or completely unused. The question of their whereabouts will probably never be settled. The Catholic priest Vogler donated, according to David, the pipes to the Catholic Church St. Hedwig. The Catholics were a minority, and their church was in need of spiritual and financial support. Consecrated in 1773, the edifice was completed only in 1887. Today having the status of a cathedral, St. Hedwig was the only Catholic church in Berlin until 1844.
Sieling has pointed out that a preacher named Rütschel complained that Vogler had cheated St. Mary’s out of the beautiful organ, taking out the best pipes, selling them to St. Hedwig, and replacing them with pipes of lesser quality.9 The priest was Dr. Georg Carl Benjamin Ritschl (1783–1858), who held the position of a preacher at St. Mary’s at that time.10 Ritschl poured his heart out to Julius Beer, the nephew of the famous opera composer Giacomo Meyerbeer. Beer in turn told the story to his uncle in a letter as a warning against Vogler. Ritschl had noticed the difference in sound, but not known what had actually happened. As shown above, Vogler either removed pipes or kept pipes in the instrument.
In 1888, Karl Emil von Schafhäutl, an engineer by profession and organ expert by avocation, tells again something different.11 Vogler reportedly used the superfluous pipes to erect a new organ in St. Hedwig, completing the instrument at his own expense. Schafhäutl, a declared supporter of Vogler and his ideas, obviously exaggerated in his account in order to combat the rumor that Vogler, according to Schafhäutl being the envy of many, had been accused of stealing the removed pipes.
Another source also mentions that the organ at St. Hedwig’s had been enlarged and rebuilt at the expense of the renowned Abbé Vogler.12 On the contrary, A. W. Bach, organist at St. Mary’s, opined that Vogler had, through his machinations, built several organs, among them the instrument of St. Hedwig, at the expense of no less than the Prussian king himself.13 Pape mentions that St. Hedwig, formerly equipped with an organ of only 10 stops, got a new instrument in 1801.14 In this year, the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung reports that the Prussian king had commissioned Vogler to built a new organ in Neu-Ruppin (probably providing the mentioned 20,000 Prussian Taler for this purpose), while Vogler had been successful in establishing a budget for a new organ at St. Hedwig’s through the support of the Berlin people, acquiring 1600 pipes from the organ at St. Mary’s.15

Restoration
Usually a reliable source in his reports about organs, Schafhäutl tends to deviate from the facts as far as Vogler and his significance is concerned. The instrument at St. Mary’s did not remain as an example of Vogler’s ideas without major changes until 1888, as Schafhäutl wants us to believe. The insufficient condition of the instrument was constantly an issue and an example of Vogler’s questionable activities. Already before 1830, a rebuild was carried through by the Berlin organ building company Buchholz. While David gives April 18, 1829 as the date of the contract and quotes Carl August Buchholz (1796–1884) as contract partner,16 Sieling has pointed out that the Prussian organ expert A. W. Bach mentioned Johann Simon Buchholz as party to the contract who, however, died in February 24, 1825.17 Thus, the rebuild could have been taken place even earlier. Pape has been successful in discovering hints to three receipts in files of the Berlin municipal office. According to notifications on overdue fees, the organ builder Johann Simon Buchholz received three major payments in 1814 and 1815. Pape assumes that the organ had already been restored almost back to its original state when, in 1829, Carl August Buchholz carried out some work, not only cleaning and repair, but also changing some stops.18
Following is a comparison of the stoplists of the Wagner organ, the Vogler organ, and the state of the instrument after the work of the Buchholz company.19 Asterisks mark those restored stops that are said to have been given to St. Hedwig. The spelling of the stops is according to Seidel, who quotes A. W. Bach himself as his source (Table 13).
There were a few changes by Buchholz compared to the original Wagner organ. The rebuild must have been larger in the Unterwerk and Pedal due to space requirements of the lower stops.

Hauptmanual
All stops remained or were installed according to the original stoplist

Oberwerk
Mixtur IV — split in bass and discant, omitting the Terz
Vox humana 8′ — Fagott-Hautbois, split in bass and discant

Unterwerk
Waldflöte 2′ — Gemshorn 8′
Quinte 11⁄3′ — Salizional 8′
Cimbel 1′ — Liebliche Flöte 4′
Echo 5r. — Nassard 22⁄3′

Pedal
Mixtur VI — Subbaß 16′
Quinta 6′ — Groß-Nassard 102⁄3′
Baßflöte 8’ (from Vogler’s
Hauptmanual?)
Trompete 8′ — Posaune 32′

What actually happened in the course of the conversion and restoration will probably never be discovered due to the sparse and divergent evidence in the sources. At any rate, the pipes and ranks at St. Mary’s that became superfluous fall into two groups. As listed above, there were the remains of the ranks from which Vogler created new stops, and then there were 12 completely unused stops. Even a thirteenth stop could be added: If conversion 7 had been carried through as assumed, a discant Sesquialtera II would have remained from the Echo cornet on the Hinterwerk. Except for the Pedal Mixture, the stoplist of the restored organ shows again all these stops taken out by Vogler. It could be correct that those ranks were moved back to St. Mary. Why, however, should they have come back when they had been sold or donated in order to serve in a new organ at St. Hedwig?
The identical names of the restored stops do not necessarily mean that original Wagner pipes took their accustomed place. After further rebuilds in 1892/93 and during the 20th century, it had to be realized during the organ restoration in 2001 that there was not one stop that consisted only of Wagner pipes. The company Daniel Kern Manufactures d’Orgues finally built a new instrument into the renovated organ case with the incorporation of all Wagner pipes according to their scaling.20 On the one hand, pipes might have come back from St. Hedwig’s. Today we find in some of the completely removed or dismantled stops historical Wagner pipes:
Hauptwerk: Rohrflöte 8′, Cornet V, Scharf V, Cimbel III
Oberwerk: Octav 2′
Hinterwerk: Quintadena 8′, Octav 4′, Echo V
Pedal: Octav 4′, Mixtur VI

On the other hand, pipes might have never come back from St. Hedwig’s. The total number of Wagner pipes today is 823, that is, 178 pipes less than the 1001-pipe organ after Vogler’s simplification. Maybe the truth is somewhere in the middle. Among the removed pipes there was certainly a surplus of high-pitch ranks, and probably not all of them were used at St. Hedwig’s. The Hauptwerk Scharf seems to be a candidate for this possibility. All its 240 pipes were given away; today it contains 149 (~62%) old pipes.

Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809–1847) composed all of his early works between 1820 and 1823, during the tenure of his organ teacher A. W. Bach at the Vogler organ of St. Mary’s. In Bach’s organ works we find dynamic markings for both a swell and a stop crescendo as special effects. A stop crescendo is described for the first time 1798 in the organ method of Justin Heinrich Knecht (1752–1817). Swell devices for dynamic flexibility were new in Germany and an issue in music and instrument periodicals. In February 1799 of the first volume of the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung, an article explains Vogler’s Simplifikationssystem and the various existing swell systems. Besides those working with shutters in the front and on the roof of the swell box, the wind swell and the progression swell are explained, the former working with variable wind pressure, the latter meaning a stop crescendo device. Other articles followed in 1821 and 1823, for example Ueber die Crescendo- und Diminuendo-Züge in Orgeln by the music director and organ expert Friedrich Wilke. Readers were informed about the invention of the dynamically flexible free reeds, which remain stable in pitch despite changing wind pressure.21
In all of Mendelssohn’s organ works the designation crescendo appears only once22—at the beginning of his first completed organ work, the Prelude in D Minor. Was the opening inspired by Vogler’s swell in the organ of St. Mary’s? First bars played on the Hinterwerk, opening the swell during the crescendo, manual change at the mezzoforte (apart from other possibilities with a registrant)? Rich foundational sound, which would have pleased Vogler, was achieved by doubling the chords (Example 3).

Coda
Whoever gets hold of Vogler should cross-examine him asking a few awkward questions. Did the Catholic priest launch the simplification of the Wagner organ at St. Mary’s Lutheran in order to harvest pipes for a new Catholic organ? If the pipes were sold, who received the money? Why did the Catholics pay money for the pipes when others considered Vogler as their donor? And why was he considered as a donor when the pipes belonged to St. Mary’s? Maybe we can negotiate getting at least names from him. Did the Lutherans know in advance that 60% of their organ pipes would go to the Catholics? Quite some questions, but musically not relevant. So we leave possible answers to others and return to the inspiring music scores of Mendelssohn.

Joel H. Kuznik

For over two centuries, St. Catherine’s, one of the five principal churches of Hamburg built in 1250, had an organ historically associated with Scheidemann, Reincken and J. S. Bach. Until its destruction in 1943 during World War II, it was among the foremost instruments in northern Europe. Christoph Wolff in his Bach biography states, “The organ of St. Catherine’s was the most famous and most beautiful large instrument in north Germany.”1 Now, more than 60 years later, it is about to be reconstructed with some of the original surviving pipework dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

St. Catherine’s distinctive organ played a significant role in Johann Sebastian Bach’s life. He probably became acquainted with the organ and its legendary organist-composer, Johann Adam Reincken (1623-1722), for the first time in 1701 during a visit to Hamburg. From Easter 1700 to 1702 Bach attended St. Michael’s School in nearby Lüneburg, and it was probably Georg Böhm, organist at St. Nicholas in Lüneberg, who introduced Bach to Reincken. Reincken was an engaging personality known as an avid collector of manuscripts, and apparently there was an immediate chemistry that brought him and Bach together a number of times. It is through Reincken that Johann Sebastian also probably became acquainted with Buxtehude.

Reincken’s most famous work for organ, “the enormous Fantasia on An Wasserflüssen Babylon, provides a compendium of most of the styles, techniques, and figurations available to a German composer of the mid to late 17th century.”2 Both Bach’s arrangements of Reincken’s works, as well as his own compositions during this period, demonstrate the degree of influence that the Hamburg master organist had upon Bach as a young composer.

In 1720 Bach visited Hamburg again, this time to explore professional opportunities, including the position as organist of St. Jacob and the music directorship of the five principal churches. During his stay Bach gave a highly celebrated organ concert at St. Catherine’s, which was “prearranged, advertised, and apparently attended by such prominent people as Erdmann Neumeister, the cantata librettist and senior minister at St. Jacobi, and Johann Mattheson, music director of the Hamburg Cathedral,”3 as the Obituary4 describes in detail:

During this time, about the year 1722 [sic], he made a journey to Hamburg and was heard for more than two hours on the fine organ of St. Catherine’s before the Magistrate and many other distinguished persons of the city, to their general astonishment. The aged organist of this church, Johann Adam Reincken, who at that time was nearly a hundred years old, listened to him with particular pleasure. Bach, at the request of those present, performed extempore the chorale “An Wasserflüssen Babylon” at great length (for almost half an hour) and in different ways, just as the better organists of Hamburg in the past used to do at the Saturday vespers. 

Particularly on this, Reincken made Bach the following compliment: “I thought that this art was dead, but I see that in you it still lives.” This verdict of Reincken’s was the more unexpected since he himself had set the same chorale, many years before, in the manner described above.5 Our Bach knew this and was also aware that he (Reincken) had always been somewhat envious of him.

Bach’s early biographers linked this occasion to the composition of the Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542, because of its recognizable association with a Dutch folk song as one of its themes and therefore an allusion to Reincken’s Dutch heritage. Indeed particularly in Hamburg this piece became quite famous and now is revered as one of Bach’s greatest compositions for organ.

While St. Catherine’s organ is important today for our understanding of Johann Sebastian Bach’s music because of his contact with Reincken, it is even more significant that Bach’s admiration of this instrument was unusually well documented. One example appears in Adlung’s Musica Mechanica Organoedi of 1768, in which Bach’s student, Agricola, writes:

In many old organs in Germany, for example in that of St. Catherine’s in Hamburg, among others, but also in many new fine organs in France, the number of reed stops (Rohrwerke) is quite large. The greatest organ expert and performer in Germany and perhaps in Europe, the late Kapellmeister Bach, was a great admirer of such organs: if anyone knew what and how to play upon them, it was he.

The organ of St. Catherine’s Church in Hamburg contains no less than 16 reed stops. J. S. Bach, the late Kapellmeister of Leipzig, having once played for two straight hours on what he called a magnificent work of art, could not find high enough praise for its beauty and variety of sonority. It is also well known that the famous former organist at this church, Mr. Johann Adam Reincken, always personally maintained it in perfect tune. In the great organs in France there are also many reed stops.

The late Kapellmeister Bach of Leipzig reported that the response on the 32-foot Principal and the Posaune pedal stop was uniformly good and quite audible down to the lowest C. He also said that this principal was the only one of its size he had ever heard of such a high quality.

The significance of these comments by Bach should not be underestimated. Frankly, Bach never made comparable detailed statements about any other instrument he admired, and therefore it is reasonable to conclude that this organ at St. Catherine’s, which Bach had known since his mid-teens, played a major influence in forming his own ideas of sonority. Examples of Bach’s registrations repeatedly refer to the stoplist of the St. Catherine’s organ, and its abundance of the 32’, 16’ and 8’ pitches was without a doubt instrumental in forming his conception of “gravitas” (in the sense of solemnity).

The instrument’s significance in music history, however, is based not only on Bach’s high opinion of it. Above all, Heinrich Scheidemann, Reincken’s teacher and predecessor as organist at St. Catherine’s, is now recognized as having played a key role in the development of North German organ style. He studied with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck from 1611 to 1614, with his expenses paid for by St. Catherine’s, and drew on his teacher’s formal vocabulary, developing an artistic style so distinctive that it formed the groundwork for the school that musicologists now identify as the “North German Baroque Organ” style, which is inextricably connected to the outstanding instruments of this period. Scheidemann succeeded his father David as organist at St. Catherine’s and served the church from 1629 until his death in 1663.

The great master organbuilders of this era, such as Hans Scherer the Elder, Gottfried Fritzsche and Friedrich Stellwagen (who also renovated St. Mary’s in Lübeck),6 all played a prominent part in the history of the St. Catherine’s organ. Across the span of generations, each master made his contributions to the special character of this instrument. Unlike the organs of Arp Schnitger (1648-1719), which were built with completely new pipework, the core ensemble of the St. Catherine’s organ underwent ongoing renovation and expansion, while retaining the best contributions of the past and yet always forming a compelling unified instrument.

Clearly the loss of this legacy instrument in World War II was a tragedy of historical and international significance. Shortly after the war experts began to contemplate its reconstruction, well aware of the priceless treasure entrusted to their care. In fact, there were efforts to store the pipework and to document the organ before its loss, and immediately after the organ’s destruction work began to preserve its memory with drawings and by collecting surviving documents. Although the loss occurred early in the war, the removal of the pipes to a safe storage site was only partial. However, fortunately there are 520 of the original pipes--including some of the old reeds, from about 20 stops that survived the inferno--that will form the basis of realizing a reconstruction. In addition, there are numerous photographs, detailed illustrations with the exact dimensions of the façade pipes, sketches of the console dimensions and the windchest system, as well as Mattheson’s stoplist from 1720. The documentation of the pipework should be completed this June.

Combining this information with more recent knowledge gained about historic organ construction, there is a reliable basis for an accurate reconstruction of the original organ, for which the Flentrop company is currently formulating plans. The project is a joint effort by the parish of St. Catherine’s and the Hamburg School of Music and Theatre.

To generate the necessary 2,000,000 euros (approx. $2.6 million U.S.) for the reconstruction, a foundation has been created, featuring such prominent board members as the former Hamburg Mayor Klaus von Dohnanyi (brother of the conductor Christoph von Dohnanyi), Michael Otto, Christoph Wolff, Bernard Foccroulle and Ton Koopman. Corporate sponsors such as Der Spiegel magazine, Commerzbank, the Zeit Foundation and the North German Broadcasting Company are also supporting the project. It also benefits from close contacts with highly recognized experts and organists, including Harald Vogel, Edgar Krapp, Wolfgang Zerer and Pieter van Dijk.

The Johann Sebastian Foundation (Stiftung Johann Sebastian) has a strong fundraising program in place. One can “Adopt a Pipe” for 1,000 euros ($1,300, see next paragraph), while those giving 10,000 euros ($13,000) or more will be mentioned by name on a bronze plaque in the narthex of the church. Smaller donations will also contribute significantly to financing this project. Further activities will include gala and benefit concerts, excursions and organ pipe sales, as well as merchandising of CDs, watches, etc.

Many hours of work are required from the initial inspection of each pipe to its final reintegration into the new organ. To make this possible, the Johann Sebastian Foundation is offering each of the 520 historic pipes in an “Adopt a Pipe” plan. By pledging 1,000 euros an individual assumes financial responsibility for one organ pipe up to 400 years old. Each donor can register to choose his or her pipe/pipes on a first-come, first-serve basis--and will receive a chart with the pipe’s dimensions, pitch, register, age and builder’s name. The donor will have the opportunity to exercise an option to be registered, and as such will receive an adoption certificate with his or her name.

The foundation is a charitable organization, and receipts will be sent automatically. U.S. citizens should note that according to the IRS code donations to foreign charities are not tax-deductible. For further details, go to <www.stiftung-johann-sebastian.de&gt; “An Organ for Bach in St. Catherine,” which provides complete information in both German and English.

Stiftung Johann Sebastian

c/o Andreas Fischer

Katharinenkirchhof 1

20457 Hamburg, Germany

Tel.: +49 (0)40 32 61 86

Fax: +49 (0)40 30 37 47 59

E-mail:

<[email protected]>

Wire transfers: bank account number 6174718

Commerzbank Hamburg, sorting code: 200 400 00

(Please indicate your mailing address in order to receive a receipt by mail.)

Note: this article is a revision and expansion of the English version of the Foundation’s news release.

Hauptwerk [11 stops]

16’          Principal

16’          Quintadena

16’          Bordun

8’             Oktave

8’             Spitzflöte

8’             Flauto traverso

4’             Octave

2’             Oktave

                   Rauschpfeife III

                   Mixtur VI, VII-IX

16’          Trompete

Rückpositiv [13 stops]

8’             Principal

8’             Gedackt

8’             Quintadena

4’             Octave

4’             Kleinhohlflöte

4’             Blockflöte (or 2’)

11/3’      Quintflöte

1’             Sifflöt

                   Scharf  VIII

                   Sesquialtera II

8’             Regal

8’             Baarpfeif

4’             Schalmey

Oberwerk [11 stops]

8’             Prinzipal

8’             Hohlflöte

8’             Viola di gamba*

4’             Flöte

22/3’      Nasat

2’             Waldflöte

2’             Gemshorn

                   Scharf VI

8’             Trompete

8’             Zincke

4’             Trompete

Brustwerk [8 stops]

8’             Principal

8’             Gedackt*

4’             Quintadena

2’             Waldpfeife

                   Scharf III-VII

4’             Octave

16’          Dulcian

8’             Oboe d’amore

Pedal [17 stops]

32’          Principal

16’          Principal

16’          Subbaß

8’             Octave

8’             Gedackt

4’             Octave

4’             Nachthorn

                   Rauschpfeife II

                   Mixtur IV

                   Cimbel III

32’          Groß-Posaune

16’          Posaune

16’          Dulcian

8’             Trompete

8’             Krummhorn

4’             Schalmey

2’             Cornet-Baß

 

Other articles of interest:

Clavierübung III of J. S. Bach: Theology in Notes and Numbers1, Part 1

BWV 1128: A recently discovered Bach organ work

St. Catherine's Church, Hamburg

A Symphonic Organ in the Cradle of the Symphony
The new Rieger Organ in the Golden Hall of the Music Society in Vienna

Introduction
For centuries, Vienna, the capital of Austria, has been regarded by many as Europe’s music capital. It is here that the symphony was developed as a musical form by composers such as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. So pervasive was the symphony in the development of Western art music that it not only dominated creative music-making until well into the 20th century, but also worldwide became the most common adjective describing orchestras and concert halls. It is also used to denote a style of organbuilding that developed towards the end of the 19th century, when organs were often used as substitutes for orchestras, and organ recitals in secular venues usually included orchestral transcriptions. With the fortunes of fashion being cyclical, the merits of symphonic organs were queried in the mid-20th century, often by their detractors. However, in recent years, one has come to realize that their salient qualities can be combined successfully with more traditional organ elements to create instruments of great versatility, warmth and beauty. Such an organ has just been installed in Vienna, the birthplace of the symphony.
Vienna is also the city in which the performance of music was first democratized. In 1812, as a result of cooperation between citizens and the nobility, the Society of the Friends of Music was founded, through which a platform was created for performing concerts by anyone for everyone. Previously, secular concerts of this nature had primarily been restricted to stately homes, so this was the start of Vienna’s world-renowned civic musical life, and of a tradition that continues to flourish.
A major step along this civic cultural road was the building of the Music Society’s concert hall in 1870 on ground that had become available following the demolition of the old city walls. The architect of this building, known locally as the Musikverein, was Theophil Hansen, who also created other impressive civic buildings along the famous Ring Road that replaced the demolished fortifications.
The Musikverein is an imposing building in neoclassical style that houses a number of facilities, amongst which is the Grand Hall that many regard as Europe’s most acoustically perfect concert hall. It is also undoubtedly one of the most beautiful. Its rich decorations and abundant gilding are opulent, yet not overbearing, resulting in the hall being referred to colloquially as the Golden Hall. At the rear of the stage, Hansen designed an organ case that visually forms the hall’s focal point, with a design derived from the form of a Greek temple. Behind this historic façade, a completely new organ has been installed by the leading Austrian organbuilding firm, Rieger Orgelbau (www.rieger-orgelbau.com); the festive inaugural concert took place on March 26, 2011 in the presence of leaders of the Austrian state, church, and civil society. This magnificent instrument complements the fame and beauty of its setting and is a fine addition to the musical infrastructure of a city that is already, world-wide, at the apogee of civic music activity.

Inaugural concert
The inaugural concert was played by the five leading European organists, who, together with two officials of the Music Society, had formed the committee that had awarded the contract to Rieger and overseen the project.
Given the organ’s significant and prominent location, this committee had specified a versatile instrument whose primary focus was for use together with orchestras, both as an instrument within the orchestral ensemble and as orchestral soloist, i.e., a symphonic organ; but also one that would do justice to the ‘classical’ organ literature. For these reasons, the organ was, among other things, to have two consoles—one mobile that could be placed amongst the members of the orchestra, and a second, with tracker action, on the cantilevered balcony above the orchestra.
Following the formalities by the Society’s dignitaries, including a speech by the president of Rieger, Wendelin Eberle, the music-making began. A fanfare by brass players from the Vienna Symphony Orchestra symbolically heralded the King of Instruments into the Golden Hall, there to be enthroned above the stage.
The first recitalist was Peter Planyavsky, former organist of St. Stephan’s Cathedral in Vienna and professor at the Vienna Music University. Planyavsky presented a brilliant improvisation to illustrate a selection of colors from the organ’s vast tonal palette. Being symphonic in character, the organ has a rich variety of possibilities, ranging from the delicately soft to the majestic, and including an array of solo stops—flutes, reeds and mutations.
The second performer was Ludger Lohmann, professor of organ and cathedral organist in Stuttgart, who gave an impressive rendering of J. S. Bach’s Toccata, Adagio and Fugue in C Major, BWV 564, using the attached mechanical-action console. This work demonstrated the beauty of the ‘classical’ diapason choruses that form the foundation of this organ, and combine effortlessly with its symphonic nature. The principal stops of these choruses blend admirably to form one sound and are crowned by glorious mixtures that add brilliance and clarity to the contrapuntal lines of the music without ever becoming overbearing or harsh. The organ’s copious reed stops made it possible for Lohmann to select ones that, in the Germanic tradition, added color while retaining the music’s transparency and lightness of texture. The direct action and responsiveness of the mechanical console allowed the organist to articulate his playing in a way that suited the Baroque style admirably.
Martin Haselböck, internationally known as conductor of performances on original instruments with the Wiener Akademie, recitalist and organ professor, led the audience into the Romantic era with Franz Liszt’s Prelude and Fugue on B.A.C.H. This piece enabled him to demonstrate the organ’s symphonic versatility and ability to swell in sound from the softest whisper to the point where it convincingly fills the hall. Playing from the detached console on stage, Haselböck made the audience forget that a few moments earlier they had been listening to a superb Baroque sound, as they were introduced to rich foundation stops, impressive chorus reeds, and convincing string-toned colors. The full organ’s sound, based on a foundation of 32′ stops, resonated majestically around the hall as the exciting piece came to its conclusion.
The next recitalist, Gillian Weir, the doyenne of English organists, who was honored for her contributions to organ music with the title Dame Commander of the British Empire in 1996, illustrated convincingly how the new organ accommodates challenging 20th-century repertoire by playing Olivier Messiaen’s “Alleluias sereins d’une âme qui désire le ciel” from L’Ascension and “Dieu parmi nous” from La Nativité du Seigneur. Her use, amongst others, of the Swell reeds—with their leaning towards the Gallic tradition—lent authenticity to this challenging music, as did her judicious choice of mutations for solo passages.
Olivier Latry, professor at the Paris Conservatoire and titular organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, played Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly’s Fantasy and Fugue in B Major and the first and last movements of Charles-Marie Widor’s Organ Symphony No. 5 in F Minor. His faultless and seemingly effortless renderings of these demanding works enchanted the audience. The set of variations contained in Widor’s first movement gave the capacity audience of more than 2,000 further insights into the kaleidoscopic tonal variety attainable from the new Rieger organ.
The state-of-the-art technology of the playing aids, available on both consoles, of which more is said below, made it easy to accommodate the diverse needs of the five organists, who followed each other at the consoles in quick succession. The listener was also left with a sense of admiration for the way in which the organ’s stops have been scaled and voiced. The choice of pipe scales has resulted in the sound having sufficient fundamental tone for what is a very large hall, even when filled to capacity, without becoming turgid; care has also been taken to balance the constituent stops of the various choruses to ensure the seamless blending of their individual components. Furthermore, the voicing has resulted in clean, clear speech and a remarkable purity and evenness in tonal quality.

Tonal design
As mentioned above, the tonal design of the new organ is essentially symphonic. This term implies tonal warmth from a wealth of foundation stops, adequate numbers of which are string toned, a diversity of colors, including imitations of orchestral instruments, a wide volume range, and smooth crescendi and diminuendi. However, this style of organbuilding, stemming from the Romantic period, is also associated with less favorable characteristics, viz. tonal qualities that obscure part-playing in contrapuntal music, inadequate primary organ tone, i.e., insufficient stops of principal or diapason tone, insufficient upperwork and lack of brilliance, sluggish speech that impedes articulation, and thus, overall, the inability to do justice to the compositions of seminal organ composers, such as J. S. Bach.
In designing the Musikverein organ, Rieger was careful to capture the merits of the symphonic style while avoiding the excesses that led to the demise of such instruments in the 20th century. Accordingly, as already alluded to, the tonal core of each division of the Musikverein organ is a finely balanced principal chorus crowned with classical mixtures that impart the silvery brilliance required for playing much of the classical literature. In addition, the organ has three 32′ stops, fifteen stops at 16′ pitch and thirty-six 8′ stops, which in total ensure that its tone has the golden warmth and fullness required of a symphonic organ.
There are 21 reed stops of varying colors and strengths, some—in the Solo division—on high wind pressure; sufficient mutation stops; a mounted Cornet on the Hauptwerk, and the stops necessary for creating a Cornet Séparé on each of the Swell and Solo Organs. The 86 speaking stops are divided over four manual divisions and pedal, three of which (Orchesterwerk, Swell, and Solo) are enclosed to give the maximum possible dynamic range.
The imposing Hauptwerk’s comprehensive principal chorus is matched by a battery of trumpet-toned reeds at 16′, 8′ and 4′ pitch, whose characters lean towards the Germanic. In contrast, the chorus reeds of the large Swell Organ are modestly French in nature.
An interesting feature of the organ is the large Orchesterwerk division that was conceived to house stops that would blend exceptionally with actual orchestral instruments. The Orchesterwerk division has its own pedal stops contained within its swell box, based on a 32′ Subbass, to ensure that the dynamics of the pedal and manual sections are precisely aligned with each other. Although from the specification it would appear that no provision has been made for the traditional Positive organ that many would regard as important for playing much of the classical literature, compensation for this is made on the fourth manual: the Solo division contains a bright secondary principal chorus, alongside the expected solo reeds and flutes.

The organ’s layout
The organ is favorably situated directly behind the orchestra, its close proximity ensuring the maximum possible blending of the sound of these two partners. Physically, the base of the organ is at the level of the conductor’s podium, but is concealed by the raked seating of the orchestral musicians, which visually shortens the actual 36-foot height of the instrument. At the ‘basement’ level, two of the organ’s blowers are situated, as also a number of wind reservoirs and trunking. Above this, at the level of the rearmost musicians, one finds the enclosed Orchesterwerk division and its accompanying pedal section—meaning that there is literally no gap between the orchestra and this part of the organ.
The ‘lower story’ of the organ is hidden behind an elegant white screen, decorated with panels containing pairs of griffons, and is framed by six ornate gilded pillars that lead the eye upwards to the organ balcony and ‘upper story’ that they appear to support.
The main Pedal stops are placed at the lower level on either side of the Orchesterwerk division, with the longest pipes at the extreme left and right, rising up into the upper story, e.g., those of the full-length Kontraposaune 32′. In contrast, the open wooden pipes of the Kontrabass 32′ are mounted horizontally against the rear wall of the organ, behind the Orchesterwerk swell box, with the longest being mitered to fit them into the 30-foot width of the organ case.
The gallery that visually separates the lower and upper stories of the organ case provides the space for the mechanical action console. In order that organists using this console should not be isolated from the sound of the stops on the level below them, tonal passages have been constructed to link the two levels, those from the Orchesterwerk swell box appropriately being fitted with swell shutters.
The Hauptwerk is to be found in the central position behind the façade pipes that were grouped by Hansen into three classical sections (which always have been, and remain, silent). The prominent position of the Hauptwerk, raised above the stage, allows this important division to speak directly into the body of the hall, as is fitting for the core of the organ. Behind the Hauptwerk and to either side are the Swell Organ and Solo Organ, each in their respective boxes. These, together with the enclosed Orchesterwerk division, can be controlled from one swell pedal, thus enabling the player easily to make finely nuanced adjustments to the organ’s volume.
At the top of the organ, behind the façade pipes and partially in the space created by the triangular pediment that crowns the organ case, are a third blower and the wind reservoirs for the Hauptwerk, Swell and Solo organs.

Technical information
As already mentioned, the organ has two consoles. The attached console is made of walnut wood, whereas the mobile console has a black lacquered exterior that allows it to harmonize on stage with members of the orchestra. The key action of the attached console is mechanical, while that of the second, mobile console (which can be placed anywhere on the stage) is electric. In both cases, the stop action is electric. The normal couplers on the attached console are mechanical and the mobile console has additional “unison off” and adjustable “divided” pedal options. On the moveable console, the organist can choose between having the Hauptwerk or Orchesterwerk organs playable from the bottom manual. Furthermore, the mobile console is fitted with an electrically operated, adjustable feature that allows organists to save their preferred positions for the organ bench and the pedalboard in relation to the manuals, and to recall these when required, after which the preferred positions are taken up automatically. The use of these features at the inaugural concert, and the resulting speed with which one organist could follow another, proved their value in a concert hall setting.
A final, unique, feature of the electric console is that the pedalboard and bench can be retracted electrically to the point where the console can be pushed on its platform through the narrow stage doors when not required on stage. In all other respects, including the layout, the two consoles are identical.
The Rieger capture system, Rieger Electronic Assistant (REA), is used in the Musikverein organ, fully at both consoles and interchangeably between them. The system makes provision for 20 individual organists, each having up to 1,000 combinations, the possibility of inserting three additional combinations between existing ones, and the ability to archive registrations for 250 pieces, each with up to 250 registration combinations. The system’s features include, among other things, sequencing, sostenuto, copying, and repeat functions; divisional and general cancels; unison-off options; and four individually adjustable crescendi. The Rieger recording and playback functions, tuning system, transposing facility, and MIDI features are also available.
The organ has 6,138 pipes, most of which are on slider windchests that are operated by a tracker system from the mechanical console and by pallet magnets from the mobile console; some of the largest pipes are placed on auxiliary pneumatic chests. Individual wind pressures are used for the different divisions of the organ and all windchests are divided into bass and treble sections, each with their own appropriate wind pressures. The bass sections are supplied with stable wind from bellows, whereas the trebles are fed flexibly from schwimmer reservoirs. Of the pipes referred to above, 639 are made of wood, with the remainder being constructed of various alloys of tin and lead. The largest pipe is more than 32 feet in length and weighs approximately 880 pounds.

Postscript
Vienna is the cradle of the symphony as art form, and the glorious Great Hall of the Musikverein a venue par excellence for symphony concerts. It is therefore entirely appropriate that the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Wien (the Society of Music Friends in Vienna) should have wanted a secular, symphonic organ for their beautiful hall. They specified an instrument that would match the quality of the world-renowned ensembles and artists that perform in their famous venue, a concert hall organ whose primary function is playing with orchestras, but also able to accompany other instruments and choirs, and at times be a recital instrument. Rieger Orgelbau has met these high (and potentially conflicting) expectations by judiciously combining the positive features of symphonic organs from an earlier era with the time honored attributes of classical organ building, thereby masterfully overcoming the shortcomings of instruments from the Romantic period, and creating a prototype for a second generation of symphonic organs.
The Musikverein organ is not a copy of an instrument from any historical school of organbuilding, but an absolutely modern instrument that draws on the rich values of and experience from different organbuilding periods, and simultaneously leads the art of organ building into the future. Its essence is ‘symphonic’—not by being ‘historic’, but through infusing the term with new meaning. Those involved in the project—the Society of Music Friends, the committee of organ experts, Rieger-Orgelbau—are all to be congratulated on creating a new milestone in the history of organ building and setting the highest standards for concert hall instruments of the future.
—Dr. Antony Melck
Professor, University of Pretoria

Photo credit: Wolf-Dieter Grabner/Musikverein

Vienna Musikverein, Golden Hall 2011
Orchesterwerk (expr.) I. C–c4
16′ Liebl. Gedackt
8′ Geigenprincipal
8′ Viola da Gamba
8′ Salicional
8′ Wienerflöte
8′ Blockflöte
8′ Holzgedackt
4′ Octave
4′ Viola
4′ Gedecktflöte
2′ Octave
2′ Mixtur IV
22⁄3′ Harm. aeth. II–V
16′ Fagott
8′ Euphonium
8′ Oboe
8′ Klarinette
Tremulant

Hauptwerk II. C–c4
16′ Principal
16′ Violon
8′ Principal
8′ Flûte Major
8′ Gamba
8′ Gedackt
8′ Gemshorn
4′ Octave
4′ Salicional
4′ Spitzflöte
22⁄3′ Quinte
2′ Superoctave
22⁄3′ Großmixtur IV–VI
11⁄3′ Mixtur IV–V
8′ Cornet V
16′ Trompete
8′ Trompete
4′ Trompete

Swell (expr.) III. C–c4
16′ Salicet
8′ Principalviolon
8′ Gambe
8′ Aeoline
8′ Voix céleste
8′ Flûte harm.
8′ Bourdon
4′ Flûte oct.
4′ Fugara
22⁄3′ Nazard harm.
2′ Octavin
13⁄5′ Tierce harm.
1′ Sifflet
2′ Fourniture V
16′ Basson
8′ Trompette harm.
8′ Hautbois
8′ Clairon harm.
8′ Voix Humaine
Tremulant

Solo (expr.) IV. C–c4
16′ Quintatön
8′ Diapason
8′ Flauto Amabile
8′ Doppelflöte
4′ Prestant
4′ Traversflöte
22⁄3′ Nasard
2′ Flöte
13⁄5′ Terz
11⁄3′ Larigot
11⁄3′ Mixtur IV
8′ Englischhorn
8′ Tromp. Royal
8′ Tuba

Pedal C–g1
32′ Kontrabass
16′ Kontrabass
16′ Violonbass
16′ Salicetbass
8′ Octavbass
8′ Flöte
4′ Flöte
22⁄3′ Rauschpfeife III
32′ Kontraposaune
16′ Posaune
16′ Fagott
8′ Trompete
4′ Clairon

Orchesterpedal (expr.)
32′ Subbass
16′ Subbass
8′ Violon
8′ Gedackt
16′ Bassklarinette

Accessories:
Rieger Combination System
• 20 users, with 1,000 combinations with 3 inserts each
• Archive for 250 tracks with 250 combinations each
4 Crescendi, adjustable
Sostenuto
3 free couplers
Sequencer
Copy functions
Repeat functions
Division off
General off
Unisons off

Consoles:
Main console (mechanical)
Mobile console (electric)

Mechanical couplers:
Ow/Hw 8′, Sw/Hw 8′, So/Hw 8′
Sw/Ow 8′, So/Ow 8′, So/Sw 8′,
Ow/P 8′, Hw/P 8′, Sw/P 8′, So/P 8′

Electric couplers:
Ow/Hw 8′, Sw/Hw 8′, So/Hw 8′, Sw/Ow 8′,
So/Ow 8′, So/Sw 8′, Ow/Ow 16′, Ow/Ow 4′
Sw/Sw 16′, Sw/Sw 4′, So/So 4′
Sw/Hw 16′, Sw/Hw 4′, Ow/Hw 16′, Ow/Hw 4′, Ow/Ped 4′, Sw/Ped 4′

Special features:
Rieger Tuning System
Rieger Replay System
Divided Pedal (electric console)
Manual Change I–II (electric console)
Transposing Manual
MIDI

Wind pressures:
Pedal 100mm
Hauptwerk 85mm bass 105mm treble
Swell 80mm bass 90mm treble
Solo 75mm bass 90mm treble
Orchesterwerk 75mm bass 90mm treble
Orchesterpedal 80mm

Rieger-Orgelbau GmbH
Hofsteigstr.120
A-6858 Schwarzach
Austria
T: 0043 5572 58132-0
F: 0043 5572 58132-6
W: www.rieger-orgelbau.com