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University of Michigan Historic Organ Tour 55

Jeffrey K. Chase

Jeffrey K. Chase is a practicing attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a concentration in the area of estate planning. He is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to becoming an attorney, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music literature and a master’s degree in musicology. He has been a published feature writer and music critic for The Michigan Daily and The Detroit Free Press and has also written for High Fidelity, The Diapason and The American Organist.

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Professor Marilyn Mason’s Historic Organ Tour 55 last July featured visits to Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and Prague, all enchanting cultural capitals or significant cities of the former Hapsburg Empire. Participants, greeted by our excellent, handsome and witty guide Almar Otjes, assembled July 11 in Budapest, the city of caves, spas and coffeehouses, for the beginning of a musical and historical adventure replete with congenial camaraderie, noteworthy organs, historic sites, and interesting food and wine.
Budapest is also the home of the Aquincum Organ, the oldest known extant pipe organ in the world, dating from circa 228 A.D. and unearthed only in 1931. Its name derives from the ancient Romans’ designation of its province (now known as Hungary) containing a plethora of thermal baths. This small organ is considered to be the prototype for all European organs. After this singular early appearance, the organ wasn’t to reappear again in Hungarian lands for a millennium and a half—until the final defeat of the Ottoman Turks in 1686—because, under the domination of the Turks, churches were converted to mosques, where organs were forbidden.

Organs in Budapest
Eager to begin our itinerary, we proceeded directly from the airport to the organ at St. Antal, a church built in 1947, with a rather plain interior except for its ceiling of interestingly painted decoration. We were impressed by the good acoustics and clarity of organ sound. This organ, restored in the 1990s, lacks subtlety of sound and is, therefore, especially good for loud and bombastic music.
The largest church building in Budapest (and the second largest in Hungary) is St. Stephen’s Basilica, built between 1857 and 1905. It is named to honor Stephen (c. 975–1038), the first King of Hungary, whose mummified fist is housed in its reliquary. Prior to playing this four-manual Angster/Rieger/Varadi and Son organ, we were introduced to its resident organist István Koloss (among whose teachers was Marcel Dupré), who demonstrated the organ. (It was also there that we were introduced to the young organist Norbert Balog, who assisted us on our visits to the other organs in Hungary on the itinerary.) Of special interest are this organ’s horizontal copper trumpet pipes.
Other organs visited in Budapest were those in the churches of St. Anthony of Padua and of St. Anthony at Bosnyak Square; the four-manual Rieger organ (1902) in St. Peter’s Franciscan Church; the neo-classic Empire-style Great Lutheran Church on Deák Square (the oldest Lutheran church in Budapest), which houses the first mechanical organ in Budapest; and St. Matthias Church, with its four-manual Rieger-Kloss organ.
Of particular interest was the new five-manual mechanical/electric action organ in the Bartók National Concert Hall. This fine organ, inaugurated in 2006, has 92 stops, 470 wooden pipes, 5,028 tin pipes, 1,214 reed pipes, and is one of the largest organs in Europe. A special feature is a sostenuto for all divisions. (See “A Concert Organ for the Béla Bartók Hall in Budapest,” by Burkhard Goethe, The Diapason, October 2008.)
Synagogues are rarely known for their organs because, unlike churches, synagogues rarely house an organ. But the very beautiful Great Synagogue in Budapest (also known as the Dohány Street Synagogue), with the largest seating capacity of any synagogue in Europe (1,492 seats for men and 1,472 seats for women), contains a 1996 Jehmlich of Dresden organ (Op. 1121) with two separate consoles. Both Franz Liszt (a Catholic) and Camille Saint-Saëns (a Jew) performed on the original organ in this synagogue.

Esztergom Basilica
Esztergom is one of the oldest towns in Hungary and was its capital from the 10th century until the mid-13th century. The red marble Basilica of the Blessed Virgin Mary Taken into Heaven and St. Adalbert, built from 1822 to 1869, is the main church of the Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest, the largest church building in Hungary, the third largest in Europe, and the seat of the Roman Catholic Church in Hungary. It is also the tallest building in Hungary, and its altarpiece depicting the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, by Michelangelo Grigoletti, is the largest painting in the world painted on a single piece of canvas.
This basilica’s organ is an 1856 Mooser, currently undergoing renovation and enlargement. It has five manuals and (only) 85 of the planned 146 stops, and contains the largest organ pipes in Hungary (about 35 feet long). If completed as planned, it will be the largest organ in Hungary and the third largest organ in Europe. At the time of its construction in 1856, this organ was the largest in Hungary with 49 stops, 3,530 pipes and three manuals. The present instrument preserves several stops from the organ Liszt had played.
During some free time many attendees visited the house on Csalán Road, on the Buda side of the Danube, which was Béla Bartók’s last residence in Hungary. It is now a museum honoring Bartók’s memory and displaying many of his collections and personal possessions.
Leaving Budapest on the way to Vienna, we visited the attractive Baroque Tihany Abbey and its two-manual organ in a nearly 250-year-old case. This monastery’s deed of foundation is the oldest Hungarian document preserved in its original form. Although mainly written in Latin, it does contain some Hungarian words and expressions and is considered to be the oldest written linguistic record of the Hungarian language. Joined there by Prof. István Ruppert, we journeyed not far from Lake Balaton to a nearby winery owned by Prof. Ruppert’s cousin, where we participated in a wine tasting and lunch. Satiated with good food and drink, we continued on to visit the three-manual organ at Zirc and then the 1989 Aquincum, Ltd., three-manual organ at the Holy Ghost Church in Györ, built during the Communist occupation.

Vienna
The twin-spired Votive Church in Vienna was built near the site of a failed assassination attempt on the life of young Emperor Franz Joseph in 1853. This church was constructed over 23 years (from 1856 to 1879) and, in commemoration and gratitude for the fact that Franz Joseph survived that attempt without even a scratch, his brother Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (who later became Emperor Maximilian of Mexico) dedicated this church, whose name “Votive” means an offering given in thanks for deliverance from a hardship or difficult circumstances, as thanks for the survival of his brother.
The organ in the Votive Church is an 1878 Walcker with three manuals, 61 stops, and 3,762 pipes, mechanical action and cone valve chests. Damage during World War II necessitated restoration, and by 1952 Molzer had, with the exception of the wind supply, restored it to its original condition. Today it is regarded as one of the most distinguished historic landmarks of the art of European organ building. Our attendees had the good fortune of presenting a noontime concert on this organ.
That afternoon we took a side trip to Eisenstadt to visit the Esterhazy Palace, where Haydn had worked and which today houses the acoustically near perfect Haydn Saal; and, just up the street, we visited Haydn’s house, which is now a museum containing Haydn memorabilia.
The next day contained a very full itinerary, with visits to organs in five churches and one concert hall. The first stop was Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral, which houses two organs—a 1991 mechanical key and stop action four-manual Rieger organ, which is one of the largest instruments of its kind in Austria, and a 1960 Michael Kauffmann four-manual, 125-stop electric action organ with more than 9,000 pipes and which was financed by public donations (could this have been done today?!).
The Vienna Konzerthaus was opened in 1913 with a five-manual Rieger organ of 116 stops and electro-pneumatic action, which was restored in 1982. The lavishly decorated St. Charles Church (Karlskirche), begun in 1715 and completed in 1737, was commissioned by the Emperor Charles VI to thank God for answering his prayer to end the 1713 Black Plague. It is a splendid Baroque edifice designed to glorify the power and rights of the Habsburg Empire and contains an 1847 Seyberth organ that was restored by Hradetzky in 1989.
St. Michael’s Church contains a three-manual, 40-stop gilded pipe organ (1714) by Johann David Sieber; the largest Baroque organ in Vienna, it was played by the 17-year-old Haydn in 1749. It was in this church that Mozart’s Requiem was first performed as a memorial to its composer on 10 December 1791. In 1986–87 Jürgen Ahrend undertook a large-scale restoration of this instrument.
The Gustav-Adolph Kirche, named to honor a Swedish general who, in 1643, marched with his army to Vienna in the war of religions (the Thirty Years War), was built about 1835 and, seating 1,500 people with its double balconies (as has the Great Synagogue in Budapest), was the largest non-Catholic church in Austria. When it was built, Protestant churches were not permitted to have an entrance from the street, so the main entrance was off the yard (now it is on the street side). It contains a Carl Hesse two-manual, 32-stop tracker organ from 1848.
The Schottenkirche (The Scots Church) was originally built for the Irish Benedictines. (In the 12th century, when Ireland was known as “New Scotland,” Irish monks were invited to come to Vienna from Regensburg.) Since that time the building has suffered many casualties, and the structure extant today is not the original church on this site, but a Baroque-style edifice built from 1638–1648. The altarpiece in the Lady Chapel contains Vienna’s oldest votive painting of the Virgin. The great Baroque organist Johann Fux worked here about 1690. In this church on June 15, 1809, a memorial service, at which Mozart’s Requiem was performed, was held for Joseph Haydn, who had recently died in Vienna. The Schottenkirche choir organ is a two-manual, 20-rank Mathis instrument from 1994. The main organ is now a three-manual, 49-rank Mathis instrument from 1995.

Salzburg
The next day was our abbey day as we drove from Vienna to the charming town of Salzburg, birth city of Mozart. Our first stop was at the twin-towered Augustinian Abbey of St. Florian, the largest abbey in Upper Austria, where the young Bruckner had been organist, where he had written many of his compositions, and where, at his request, he is buried under the organ he loved so dearly. There are three organs in the abbey. The great organ, an instrument built by the famous Slovenian organ builder Franz Xavier Kristmann in 1771, was one of the most monumental organs in the Central European region and, until 1886, was the largest organ in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At Bruckner’s instigation, in 1873 Matthäus Mauracher, Sr., rebuilt the organ to four manuals and 78 stops. Today, after two subsequent renovations, it has 7,386 pipes. An unusual feature of this instrument is that the reeds are not under expression.
The last abbey visited is the yellow Benedictine Baroque fortress Abbey Melk, constructed in the early 1700s. Of the great organ built by the Viennese builder Gottfried Sonnholz in 1731, only the case remains. In 1929 this organ was subject to “modernization.” In 1970 a new instrument by Gregor Hradetzky of Krems with three manuals, 45 stops, and 3,553 pipes on slider chests was installed in the old case. The organ in the vestry was built in 1986 by the Reil Brothers of the Netherlands and placed in the existing baroque vestry cupboards.
A visit to old Salzburg is like a time warp into history. Nestled picturesquely in the Austrian Alps, Salzburg was a principality under the rule of its Archbishop until joining Austria in 1816. The Kajentanerkirche, constructed between 1685 and 1697 and incorporating an abbey and a hospital, was built for the Cajetan Order, whose purpose was to recall the clergy to an edifying life and the laity to the practice of virtue, and to combat the teachings of Martin Luther. This church contains a one-manual Christoph Egedacher organ from 1672 that was restored by Rieger in 1982.
Salzburg’s Franciscan Church, the “people’s church,” experienced its last major renovation by the noted Salzburg architect Hans von Burghausen at the beginning of the 15th century. It is noted for its magnificent hall choir, which effectively reflects the fusion of light and darkness, one of this church’s special features. The tower houses one of the oldest preserved bells made by the master bell-founder Jörg Gloppischer in 1468. The organ is a three-manual Metzler from 1989.
From there we walked the short distance to the Salzburg Cathedral, where we played the three-manual west gallery 1988 Metzler organ, and also the two-manual Pirchner pillar organ from 1991. That afternoon we took a side trip to the Shrine of Our Lady of Maria Plain, a place of pilgrimage for more than 300 years that is situated on a hilltop with a spectacular view overlooking Salzburg. Originally the home of a 1682 Egedacher instrument in its choir gallery, today it houses a 1955 two-manual organ built by Georg Westenfelder of Luxembourg based on the presumed disposition of the Egedacher organ. The existence of the original Egedacher pipes of the Copel 8′ helped with the reconstruction. The hallmarks of the current organ are its marvelous sound and its sensitive action.

Organs in Prague
Surprisingly, with two exceptions, the organs we experienced in Prague were disappointingly undistinguished. When we arrived at St. Aegidius Church at about 4:20 on a Sunday afternoon, we were informed that our recital was to begin in about 10 minutes, so, with no time to acclimate to the organ, we were “on stage” before the public. The recital went off well. That’s show business!
St. Vitus Cathedral, a huge gothic church, was begun in the Middle Ages, but for various reasons completed only in 1929. Continuously full of tourists and the din of their footsteps and conversation, it is the home of a rather undistinguished Josef Meltzer three-manual organ built in 1929–31. From there we visited organs in St. Stephen’s Church and in St. Nicholas Church, where we played another recital, but this time with the advantage of rehearsal time.
Our Lady of the Snow, founded by Charles IV in 1347, was intended to be the grandest church in Prague, but only the chancel was ever completed. This church played an important role in the history of the Hussites, who were the followers of Jan Hus, a pre-Luther Protestant reformer.
In contrast, it was a real treat to play the Johann Mundt (1632–90) two-manual, 28-stop organ (1671–73) in a former Hussite church that is now called Church of Our Lady Before Tyn. Mundt, originally from Cologne, was one of the many foreigners who made Prague his home and who helped to shape the vibrant cultural life of this distinctive Bohemian metropolis in the north part of the Habsburg Empire. It is reported that when Mundt signed the contract for the construction of the Tyn Church organ, he claimed that this instrument would have no equal in the kingdom. The consensus is that this, the oldest pipe organ in Prague and one of the most representative 17th-century organs in Europe, was the organ jewel on the tour.
St. Ignatius, built from 1665–87, is a typical Baroque Jesuit church. Its stuccowork and statues of Jesuit and Czech saints are intended to awe people with the power of the Jesuit order.
The historic organ in SS. Simon and Judas, formerly a church and now a concert hall, was the last organ visited and the other Prague exception to organ mediocrity. It is reported that both Haydn and Mozart played this instrument. Not relative to organs but noteworthy was a Bentley with a boot on its tire parked outside the building. That was indeed a sight to behold! One would think that anyone who could afford a Bentley could afford to pay a ticket.
Like a meal with great food, with second and third helpings, the visits to the organ buffet in Budapest, Vienna, Salzburg and Prague, and the generosity of the respective resident organists, provided plenty of time to sample and savor the varieties and flavors of the various organs.

 

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The University of Michigan 50th Conference on Organ Music, October 3–6, 2010

Marijim Thoene, Lisa Byers

Marijim Thoene received a D.M.A. in Organ Performance/Church Music from the University of Michigan in 1984. She is an active recitalist and director of music at St. John Lutheran Church in Dundee, Michigan. Her two CDs, Mystics and Spirits and Wind Song are available through Raven Recordings. She is a frequent presenter at medieval conferences on the topic of the image of the pipe organ in medieval manuscripts. Lisa Byers received master’s degrees in music education and organ performance from the University of Michigan, and a J.D. from the University of Toledo, Ohio. She is retired from teaching music in the Jefferson Public Schools in Monroe, Michigan, as well as from her position as organist/choir director at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Tecumseh, Michigan. She currently subs as organist in the Monroe area.

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This year’s gathering marked the fiftieth anniversary of the University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music, directed by its creator, Marilyn Mason. Organists from France, Germany, Poland, and the U.S. performed on the Aeolian-Skinner on the stage of Hill Auditorium. The shimmering golden pipes of this organ made this year’s theme especially appropriate: “Pure Gold: Music of Poland, France and Germany.” The conference was dedicated to the memories of Erven Thoma, a Michigan DMA graduate in church music, and William Steinhoff, Professor Emeritus of English at U-M and husband of Marilyn Mason.

Sunday, October 3
Frédéric Blanc, 43-year-old native of Angoulême, opened the conference with a program of all-French music. He introduced his program by saying that Fauré, Ravel, and Debussy are never far away in nineteenth and twentieth-century French organ music. Their influence was undeniable in the works Blanc performed, a mix of well-known and loved repertoire—Franck, Choral in A Minor and Cantabile; Vierne, Carillon de Westminster and Méditation Improvisée (reconstructed by Duruflé), repertoire that is occasionally heard—Prelude in E-flat Minor (from Suite, op. 5) by Duruflé and Allegro (from Symphony VI) by Widor, and repertoire that is rarely heard—Introduction et Aria by Jean-Jacques Gruenwald, Toccata (from Le Tombeau de Titelouze, on Placare Christe Servulis) by Dupré, and Prelude (from the suite Pélleas et Mélisande) by Debussy, transcribed by Duruflé.
Blanc’s technique is formidable and his choice of registration was both poetic and daring; however, his playing became more impassioned and inspired in his improvisation—a Triptych Symphony based on three submitted themes: Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring, Hail to the Chief, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow. His imagination and creativity were dazzling as he altered rhythms and keys of the submitted themes, seamlessly moved from dark and somber to warm and brilliant colors, from pensive to ebullient moods, and ending with a bombastic pedal toccata. He delighted in making the instrument hum, growl, and break forth in glorious trumpeting.

Monday, October 4
On Monday afternoon Frederic Blanc gave a lecture entitled “A Mind’s Eye.” He spoke informally of how his life as a musician has been shaped and influenced by unique circumstances, his teachers, and his views on improvisation. While he was a student at the Bordeaux Conservatory, Xavier Durasse heard him play and persuaded him to come to Toulouse, where he was then asked to be organist at St. Sernin. There he had all his nights to play the organ, and there he met Jean-Louis Florentz, André Fleury, and Madame Duruflé. When she heard him improvise, she said, “I will take you to Paris and I will make you work very hard.” He told how he was not prepared to play Dupré’s Variations on a Noël, one of the required pieces for the Chartres competition, and she told him he had to be able to play it from memory in fifteen days or she would never see him again. She was delighted when he came back in fifteen days and played it from memory. Blanc said that the most important thing he learned from her was that “each piece has its own way to be played, you must express yourself, your sensitivity must flow through the music.”
Blanc’s candid answers to questions about his own improvisation left me feeling that here is a man whose life is charmed, who is fully conscious of the rare gift he has been given, and is fully committed to nurturing it. When asked who taught him how to improvise, he answered: “I wasn’t. I listened to Madame Duruflé, Pierre Cochereau, Jean Langlais, and to recordings of Tournemire. Nobody can give you the gift. If you are not given the gift you will never be able to improvise a symphony . . . I heard Cochereau at Notre Dame and it was like magic, like being pierced by a sword, raised to heaven. He was at one with the organ.”
When asked about the state of organ building in France today, Blanc lamented that there are no organs in concert halls, and the organist cannot be seen in the lofts in churches. He commented that Cavaillé-Coll was a builder who turned toward the future and restored his own organs for new music, especially those organs in Notre Dame and Sacré Coeur.
Blanc’s final dictum concerning how to play French organ music: “After historicism, it must be the music and what you have inside.”
Charles Echols, Professor Emeritus of St. Cloud State University, lectured on “Observations on American Organ Music 1900–1950,” covering a large variety of topics: the movement of American composers to create “American” music; changes in musical style and organ building between 1930–1950; approaches to researching organ music by American composers; and an introduction to the organ music of René Louis Becker, whose scores have been given to the University of Michigan by his family, who were present at the lecture.
On Monday evening Martin Bambauer, 40-year-old organist and choirmaster at the Konstantin Basilika in Trier, played Dupré’s Poème héroïque, op. 33; Tournemire’s Triple Choral, op. 41; Liszt’s Eglogue (from Années de Pèlerinage), transcribed for organ by Bambauer; Karg-Elert’s Partita Retrospettiva, op. 151; Iain Farrington’s Fiesta!, plus his own improvisation. He played with great precision and refinement. His performance of Tournemire’s Triple Choral, op. 41 was an Ann Arbor premiere. Farrington’s four-movement work, Fiesta!, was a bit of fresh air, conjuring up all sorts of secular venues, from a stripper’s stage to a cocktail lounge.

Tuesday, October 5
On Tuesday, Martin Bambauer began his lecture, “Tournemire’s Triple Choral,” by saying that it was Tournemire’s first major organ work, and he had learned it in a week (!) and played it for the fourth time in public yesterday, and that it was not a very popular piece. Truly, I would have thought he had been playing the piece for years. This early work of Tournemire is introspective and cerebral, and at the same time hints at the other-worldliness that would characterize his later work. Bambauer mentioned that in 1896 the Liber Usualis became Tournemire’s constant companion, and when he became Franck’s successor at the Basilica of St. Clotilde in 1898 he only improvised on chant in the services. He thought sacred music was the only music worthy of the name, and when Langlais questioned him, asking what about the music of Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky, he said it didn’t matter! Bambauer recommended listening to Tournemire’s eight symphonies, among them Search for the Holy Grail and Apocalypse of St. John. Tournemire was drawn to the mysterious and supernatural, apparent not only in his music, but in his biography of Franck in 1931, and the naming of his two cottages “Tristan” and “Isolde”—his Opus 53 bears those names.
Bambauer pointed out that Tournemire was recognized as a great improviser, and Vierne described him as being “impulsive, enthusiastic, erratic, and a born improviser.” Tournemire’s Five Improvisations, recorded in 1930 at St. Clotilde and transcribed by his student, Duruflé, are his most popular works. His L’Orgue Mystique, fifty-one liturgical sets of five pieces each, was composed between 1927–1932 and is the Catholic counterpart to Bach’s Orgelbüchlein. Bambauer explained that the first edition of L’Orgue Mystique was dedicated to César Franck and states in the preface that the performer is free to choose the registration; however, in the second edition Duruflé includes registration and manual changes.
Bambauer’s insightful analysis of Tournemire’s Triple Choral not only focused on his compositional techniques—use of imitation, paraphrase, and inversion—but how and when Tournemire used the same harmonic vocabulary as Franck. Bambauer illustrated the meticulous craftsmanship in this early work of Tournemire based on his newly created chorals entitled “The Father,” “The Son,” and “The Holy Spirit,” and discussed how the prose with which Tournemire prefaced each choral was mirrored in the music. Tournemire’s prose offers a poignant testimony of his profound faith and allows the listener to participate in Tournemire’s personal vision.
Bambauer commented that the highlight of the piece occurs at the end as the three chorals softly merge together. Bambauer treated us to another performance of Tournemire’s Triple Choral and “the knowing made all the difference.”
Tuesday evening James Kibbie, Professor of Organ at U-M, presented a stunning memorized recital. He has a special affinity for the music of Marcel Dupré, Jehan Alain, Dan Locklair, and Jirí Ropek. He played Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in B Major, op. 7, no. 1, with conviction and assurance. The pleasure of hearing Alain’s rarely played Two Preludes was heightened by being able to read the texts that accompany them. Kibbie’s sensitive interpretation made the images of the text take on a life of their own.
Dan Locklair’s Voyage was another kind of tone poem, providing a journey to fantasy lands filled with sounds of the ebb and flow of tides, jazz, bird song, chimes, and billowing waves evoked by hand glissandi. Kibbie managed to weave together these disparate elements into a fabulous and entertaining voyage.
It was a pleasure to hear Kibbie speak of his meeting Jirí Ropek when he won the Prague Organ Competition in 1979 and of his continuing friendship with this celebrated organist/composer who suffered greatly during the Communist oppression. Kibbie related conversations he had had with Ropek that offered insight into his music. Of the three Ropek pieces on the program, Kibbie said that the Toccata and Fugue (dedicated to Kibbie) was the most complex and dissonant, and mirrored in the work is Ropek’s philosophy: “Life is not only one melody, but many and dissonances, but in general I’m quite melodious. No frightening the audience.” To hear this account made Ropek’s Toccata and Fugue, filled with haunting and aggressive motives, a kind of musical autobiography. Kibbie also explained the compositional process of Ropek’s Fantasy on Mozart’s Theme. In 1775 Mozart improvised a work in a monastery, and only the first 57 measures were written down. Ropek was asked to play it and he added a cadenza. He worked on it over the years and finally he attached his own music to Mozart’s original piece. It was one of the last things he wrote before he died and is dedicated to the students of James Kibbie at the University of Michigan. It was published in 2009.
Kibbie mentioned that he had just played Ropek’s Variations on “Victimae Paschali Laudes” in Prague the week before and made a recording for the radio at the Basilica of St. James where Ropek was organist for 35 years. This beautiful work has become a signature piece for Kibbie.

Wednesday, October 6
Five recitals were performed on Wednesday, an intense day of listening.
The first recital of the day was played by Andrew Lang on the Létourneau organ in the School of Public Health. Lang is a student of James Kibbie and commutes from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. His program was well suited for the room and instrument: “The Primitives” and “Those Americans” (from Five Dances for Organ) by Calvin Hampton; Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot, BWV 678, Fughetta super Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot, BWV 679, and Prelude and Fugue in B Minor, BWV 544, by Bach. Lang played with verve and energy; the contrapuntal lines were electric with clarity and precision.
The day’s second recital was played at Hill Auditorium by Józef Kotowicz, who received his doctoral degree in 2001 from the Music Academy in Warsaw. He is active, playing recitals in music festivals throughout Europe, producing a radio program devoted to organs of northeast Poland, recording on the organ in the Cathedral Basilica (Bialystok), and teaching and serving as organist at St. Adalbertus Church. Two of the most interesting pieces of his ambitious program were works by Mieczyslaw Surzynski (1886–1924), Improvisation on the Polish Sacred Song “Swiety Boze,” and Stefan Lindblad (b. 1958), Espanordica. Kotowicz explained to me that “Swiety Boze” is a very popular hymn in Poland and is sung often during funeral services. A translation of the first line reads: “Holy God, Holy [and] Mighty, Holy [and] Immortal, have mercy on us.” The hymn has inspired many composers.
After hearing the performance of Surzynski’s Improvisation, it is easily understood why he is the most revered Polish composer of organ music. The work began with a statement of the hymn, and six dramatic variations followed, with variations one and five being the most riveting. In variation one, thundering chords are played in the manuals while the cantus firmus is heard in the pedals. In variation five, a fiery toccata is in the manuals while the cantus firmus thunders in the pedals.
Kotowicz’s performance of Lindblad’s Espanordica was electrifying. Each of the three movements—Rhapsodia, Nocturno, and Litanies—is built on Spanish dance motifs. Kotowicz told me that Stefan Lindblad lives in Göteborg, Sweden. Lindblad has composed two large works for organ, Hommages and Espanordica, which Kotowicz has performed in Ann Arbor. Both of these pieces have never been printed and he is the only Polish organist who has the scores. He also commented, “It’s interesting that Lindblad is almost completely unknown in Sweden, so I feel like his promoter. I know him personally because I often play in Sweden.”
In honor of Chopin’s 200th birth year, Arthur Greene, Professor of Piano at U-M, performed an all-Chopin recital. It was truly a gift to hear such great artistry.
His program provided a rich and tantalizing view of Chopin’s brilliant oeuvre. Greene drew sounds out of the piano like a magician—singing, soaring, langorous melodies, and thunderous, tumultuous chords. Greene is a master in knowing how to use his body in eliciting such sounds, and in controlling the exact timing of each key and creating suspense through poignant pauses. The audience was captivated by the huge gamut of emotions, from laughter to dark despair, that were portrayed in Greene’s memorized recital. In his hands each piece became a sort of microcosm of its own, glowing with its own unique beauty. His program included three short Mazurkas (op. 67, no. 3; op. 24, no. 3; op. 24, no. 4), the well-known Nocturne in E-flat Major, op. 9, no. 2, Écossaise, op. 72, and four Ballades (op. 23, op. 38, op. 47, and op. 52).
The 4 o’clock recital featured graduate students of James Kibbie and Marilyn Mason. Each performer played with such artistry, conviction, and joy. Their discipline and dedication to their art was obvious. Those performing from Kibbie’s studio included Joseph Balistreri (In Organ, Chordis et Choro by Naji Hakim); Susan De Kam (Partita sopra “Nun freut euch” by Lionel Rogg), and Richard Newman (Final from Symphony No. 5, op. 47, by Louis Vierne). Mason’s students included Timothy Tikker (Pièce Héroïque by César Franck) and Louis Canter (Adagio, Fugue from The 94th Psalm by Julius Reubke).
The final concert of the conference was played by Charles Echols. His entire program was devoted to the music of René Louis Becker (1882–1956). In his notes, Professor Echols described Becker’s career as a musician in the Midwest, and commented that among the many churches Becker served as organist were Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit and St. Alphonsus Church in Dearborn, Michigan. Echols also indicated those pieces that have been published and those that are in manuscript form. Echols’s playing was flawless, and he is to be thanked for advancing this composer’s work, which recalls the music of Mendelssohn.
Professor Marilyn Mason has been responsible for the organ conference at the University of Michigan, a “happening” in Ann Arbor for 50 years. When I asked her what inspired her to begin this incredible conference she told me: “I began the conference for our students; my then manager, Lillian Murtagh, urged me to sponsor Anton Heiller, who had never played in Ann Arbor. Further, I realized since the students could not have a European experience there, we could provide it for them here: especially to hear organists who had not played in Ann Arbor. Some firsts in Ann Arbor were the Duruflés, Mlle Alain, Anton Heiller, and many more. This contact also provided a window of opportunity for the students, many of whom went on to study with the Europeans after having met them here.” This gathering together of world-class performers and teachers continues to nurture and inspire. We are indebted to Marilyn Mason for literally bringing the world to us.

These articles represent the ten sessions that I reviewed (each session is designated by roman numerals I–X).
I. Sunday, October 3, 4 pm, A Grand Night for Singing, Hill Auditorium
This inaugural event was a multi-choir extravaganza led by conductor and artistic director Professor Jerry Blackstone. He was assisted by other U of M faculty conductors, vocalists and instrumentalists. Six U of M student auditioned groups participated, with approximately 650 students. Composers ranged from Monteverdi to Sondheim, fourteen in all, and many various ensembles, representing a variety of musical genres. Each of the sixteen presentations, including choirs, solos, opera, theater, and musicals, was greatly appreciated by the audience, which rendered a standing ovation.

II. Monday, October 4, 10:30 am, dissertation recital by Jason Branham, at Moore Hall, the School of Music, on the Marilyn Mason Organ built by Fisk
Branham’s recital featured Buxtehude’s Praeludium in E Major, BuxWV 141, Bach’s Liebster Jesu, wir sind heir, BWV 731, and Trio Sonata No. 5 in C Major, BWV 529, Clerambault’s Suite du deuxième ton, and Mendelssohn’s Sonata No. 4 in B-flat Major, op. 65. Branham performed with an understanding of musical forms, in a sensitive and confident manner. The variety of works presented allowed him to demonstrate well many registration possibilities of this unique instrument. This performance was acknowledged with great applause.

III. Monday, October 4, 4 pm, dissertation recital by Christopher Reynolds at Hill Auditorium
Cantabile by Franck, Passion, op. 145, No. 4 by Reger, Prelude on Picardy by Near, Meditation on Sacramentum Unitatis by Sowerby, Elegy in B-flat by Thalben-Ball, Praeludium in g, BuxWV 149 by Buxtehude, from Zehn Charakteristische Tonstücke, op. 86, Prologus tragicus by Karg-Elert, and Concert Variations on The Star-Spangled Banner, op. 23 by Buck. Reynolds appropriately approached and performed well the pieces that required a reflective and meditative interpretation. His registrations, musical sensitivity, and facility made his selections interesting for the listeners who aptly responded with approval.

IV. Tuesday, October 5, 9:30 am, Organs of France
IX. Wednesday, October 6, 9:30 am, Organs of Bach Country
X. Wednesday, October 6, 10:30 am, Organs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire

Janice and Bela Feher presented three narrated photographic summaries of the European pipe organs visited and played on University of Michigan Historic Organ Tours, 2005–2009.
Organs of France were viewed via a PowerPoint presentation of pipe organs from various regions of France. The Fehers showed examples of French Baroque, Classic, Romantic, and Symphonic organs, and they highlighted sites and instruments associated with important organists and composers. Instruments included organs built by Dom Bedos, François-Henry, Louis-Alexandre, and Robert Clicquot; Jean-Pierre Cavaillé (grandfather), Dominique (father) and Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (son); and Moucherel. The photographs of the organs were enhanced by illustrations of their settings; highlights of the organs included historical cases, consoles, and principal internal components.
Organs of Bach Country traced the life of Bach, with photographs of the places where he grew up, the churches where he worked, and the organs he designed and played, along with additional photographic documentation of the organs of Andreas and Gottfried Silbermann, and Arp Schnitger.
Organs of the Austro-Hungarian Empire included pipe organs of Hungary (Budapest, Esztergom, Tihany, Zirc), Austria (Vienna, Melk, St. Florian, and Salzburg), and the Czech Republic (Prague). Historic and modern organs were presented from a variety of churches, cathedrals, abbeys, and concert halls. The photographs showed churches and organs associated with Mozart, Bruckner, Haydn, and Liszt. The photographs and information about these organs and their sites will be available in the near future from the University of Michigan Organ Department website.
The photographs described above and information are contained in several books available through <blurb.com>. The Fehers, along with Marilyn Mason, have produced a photo book about historical organs of Germany and Demark related to Bach and Buxtehude, entitled Sacred Spaces of Germany and Denmark. Their second book on the organs of Hungary, Austria, and the Czech Republic is entitled Sacred Spaces of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. They are beginning to work on another book about the organs of France and Northern Spain. All books may be previewed and ordered from <blurb.com>.

V. Tuesday, October 5, 10:30 am, lecture by Christopher Urbiel, “The History of the Frieze Memorial Organ at Hill Auditorium, The University of Michigan”
Urbiel’s interesting history of this grand organ housed in Hill Auditorium began with the early instrument at Festival Hall at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, Farrand & Votey organ, 1876 and 1893. Albert Stanley purchased the instrument for $15,000 during U of M President Angel’s tenure. It was placed in University Hall and named for Professor Frieze, founder of the University Musical Society and Choral Union, in 1894. In 1912 it was moved from University Hall. The organ has been changed, modified, and “rebuilt” through the years: Hutchings (1913), Moore, Palmer Christian, E.M. Skinner (1928), G. Donald Harrison, Noehren/Aeolian-Skinner (1955), Koontz (1980), renovated in 1900s, and rededicated to Frieze in 1994. Urbiel was very detailed and thorough in his presentation on the Hill Organ, a large unique instrument, and the audience showed great appreciation for his informative and delightful lecture and pictures.

VI. Tuesday, October 5, 11:30 am, lecture by Michael Barone, “Louis Vierne (1870–1937): The ‘Other’ Music (songs, piano pieces, chamber and orchestral works).”
Michael Barone presented the audience with a detailed listing (seven pages), containing comments, performers’ names, disc identification, and other information of Vierne’s “other” music as described in his lecture title. He discussed Vierne’s life and provided insight into the interpretation of his music based on the tragedies and pain Vierne suffered in the losses of his brother and son, coupled with the difficulties Vierne endured in his career, health, and home life. Barone provided more than 20 recorded excerpts, with verbal descriptions and information in an entertaining and interesting manner. Near the end of the seven-page compilation, Barone listed a disc summary of Vierne’s non-organ repertoire. The audience appreciated Barone’s thorough work, sense of humor, and sensitive presentation.

VII. Tuesday, October 5, 1:30 pm, lecture/demonstration by Michele Johns, “Organ ‘Plus’”
Dr. Johns began her lecture/demonstration by sharing some down-to-earth tips when deciding to use the organ with other instruments in services and concerts. She discussed conducting from the organ, getting funding, how to pay performers, ways to obtain band and orchestra members, vocalists, planning rehearsals, and rehearsing. Her program featured three pieces written for organ, two trumpets and two trombones, which she conducted from the organ. In celebration of this 50th annual University of Michigan Conference on Organ Music and in honor of the Organ Department, an arrangement of “Angels We Have Heard on High” for congregation, brass quartet, tympani and organ was premiered. This was a welcomed and enjoyed opportunity for the conferees to participate in this rousing and exciting setting written by Scott M. Hyslop. Dr. Johns received thanks for her expertise.

VIII. Tuesday, October 5, 2:30 pm, lecture by Steven Ball, “Music of René Becker”
Dr. Ball gave a brief history of René Becker, son of Edouard, who was an organist at Chartres Cathedral. Born in 1882, Becker and his four siblings trained at Strasbourg’s Conservatory of Music. In 1904, Becker moved from France to St. Louis and taught piano, organ, and composition at the Becker Conservatory of Music, which he formed with his brothers. He later taught at St. Louis University and Kendride Seminary. In 1912, Becker and his wife moved to Belleville, Illinois, where he became organist at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral. It was at this time that son Julius was born, the only living child of René. Julius, a retired banker, presently lives in Birmingham, Michigan.
René Becker became the first organist of the newly built Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit in 1930; an AGO member, he helped to establish the Catholic Organists Guild, and with his son founded the Palestrina Institute. Becker retired in 1952 at the age of 70 from St. Alphonsus Church in Detroit. He left over 160 compositions for organ when he died in 1956. Dr. Ball shared some pictures of René Becker and introduced Becker’s son Julius and his family to the conferees. It was a delight to see Julius Becker (keeper of some of Becker’s compositions) in person. Steven Ball received a four-year grant to record René Becker’s compositions. 

 

On the Road in Bach Country with Michael Barone

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

Mary Ann Dodd

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

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Day 8

Altenburg

Monday morning dawned much sooner than some of us might have
wished. But here we were in Altenburg, seeing it for the first time by daylight.
Located on the Pleisse River in the northeastern corner of Thuringia, Altenburg
is a small, industrial city noted for its production of sewing machines and
playing cards and also for the fact that it fortuitously managed to escape the
Allied bombing in WW II. Its neighbors were not so lucky. But our destination
on this gray and chilly morning was the castle church and its famous
"Bach" organ. The castle dates back to the twelfth century and has
survived at least three fires and at least as many restorations. Today only the
tower and the chapel are open to the public. The original organ, built at the
end of the fifteenth century, had already undergone several renovations when
Gottfried Silbermann's advice was sought in the year 1733. A proposal for a new
instrument by the local Thuringian builder, Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost,
was accepted at that time. Trost, whose organ at Waltershausen we had visited
only a few days before, was a colleague and a good friend of Bach's, and we can
well imagine that Bach might have taken a lively interest in this instrument,
whose disposition does indeed seem to reflect many of Bach's ideas and
preferences regarding organ design. It is interesting to speculate on the fact
that somewhere along the way, two additions were made to the original
specification--a 32' posaune and a glockenspiel! Due to financial and technical
difficulties, the organ was not actually completed until 1739, at which time
Bach performed on the instrument and declared it an unqualified success. Also
of interest is the fact that Johann Ludwig Krebs, perhaps Bach's most famous
pupil, was court organist at Altenburg for a quarter of a century (1756-1780),
and it was for this instrument that his organ works were written. Helmut Werner
of the Eule firm was responsible for the recent restoration (1974-76) of this
important instrument.

The interior of the chapel, with its high, vaulted ceiling,
is breathtaking. The organ (II/39) sits high on the north wall, its shallow
case magnificently ornate with gilt and elaborate carving. The scene is
altogether one of quintessential "Baroquial" splendor. But by now we
had become somewhat inured to the sight of gorgeous castle interiors, and it is
the indescribable sound of this instrument that draws us in and wraps itself
around us. It is penetrating, yet gentle; bold, yet never brash. The plenum has
presence, but is never overpowering. There is gravitas aplenty, and the tierce
rank in the mixtures gives the full organ a reedy flavor. There is a
preponderance of 8' flue stops, and the strings really sound orchestral.
Organist Felix Friederich was on hand to greet us and to demonstrate the
instrument. There was open console time for those who wished to play.

I found myself reluctant to leave. Not only were we leaving Altenburg,
but also Thuringia. For the past three days, though we had traveled to several
cities and visited many organs, we had remained always within a rather
circumscribed area at the heart of Bach country. For me, musically, it had been
a landmark experience. The sights and sounds of Thuringia had altered forever
my perceptions and my understanding of Bach, the man, and his musical legacy.

Saxony

But now it was on to Saxony. Destination: Dresden. We had a
relatively long drive ahead of us--nearly two hours--and with his infallible
sense of timing, Michael seized this opportunity to let us get better
acquainted with our fellow passengers. Our bus was equipped with a good
portable microphone, which Michael and Sonja had been putting to excellent use
along the way. Now each of us was invited, as the spirit moved us, to take over
the microphone and share briefly something about ourselves and what had led us
to this time and place.

Everyone, indeed, had a story, the telling of which space
does not permit. But let me attempt a brief summary. There were perhaps only
six among us who had professional ties to the organ. There were, as one might
expect, a number of retired people. Some were seasoned travelers; others were
neophytes. Professions represented were many and various: organ builder,
physician, librarian, pastor, farmer, securities analyst, commodities trader,
tour guide, lawyer, restaurateur, academic administrator, engineer, computer
experts, and teachers. One among us had a famous name, being none other than
the son of Alexander Schreiner of Mormon Tabernacle renown. We hailed from
every corner of the country, from Alaska to California, to Florida, to Rhode
Island, and everywhere in between. Almost without exception, all were loyal
fans of Michael Barone and Pipedreams. Once begun, this "oral
history" project took on a life of its own and would continue, as
traveling time allowed, for the remainder of our trip.

Meissen

Our first stop along the way was the ancient city of Meissen
where we were scheduled to tour the famous porcelain factory and see and hear
the Meissen/Jehmlich organ, I/4, with pipes of porcelain. Meissen is a
picturesque city on the banks of the Elbe River, whose mix of medieval and
Gothic architecture attests to its more than one thousand years of history.
Since the thirteenth century, porcelain had been produced only in China. But in
1710, as a result of the research instigated by Augustus II, King of Poland and
elector of Saxony, the manufacture of white, European, hard porcelain was begun
in Albrechtsburg Castle, high atop a hill overlooking the town below. Later on,
in the nineteenth century, the operation was moved from the castle to the
Meissen factory, which we would be visiting today. A tour of the facility takes
perhaps an hour and a half, affording the visitor the opportunity to actually
observe the complex process of porcelain making at each step of the way from
the creation of the design to the finished product. The pièce de
résistance is a walk through the many showrooms of priceless pieces on
display. The Meissen factory has been, from the very beginning, a state-owned
business, drawing thousands of visitors annually from all over the world.

In 1730, and again in 1920, unsuccessful attempts had been
made to produce sounding organ pipes of porcelain. Since a porcelain pipe is
not adjustable, the technological problem is to find a way to position the lips
of the pipe accurately so as to enable the wind to set up an appropriate
vibrating air column. In the year 2000, success was finally achieved through
collaboration between Horst Jehmlich of the Jehmlich Orgelbau of Dresden and
Ludwig Zepner, porcelain designer and artistic director of the Meissen factory.
The instrument is undeniably a work of art. The case of the little Positiv is of
pearwood with porcelain door wings designed by the Meissen artist Christoph
Ciesielski. The twenty-two façade pipes are porcelain flutes at 2'pitch.
The organ is opus 1140 of the Jehmlich firm, one of the oldest organbuilding
firms in Germany. All involved in this project are justifiably proud of this
unique connection between porcelain and music.

Coswig

We had one more stop to make before we reached Dresden, and
that was the Alte Kirche in the town of Coswig. The church, whose newly
restored organ may well be the oldest in Saxony, celebrated its 500th
anniversary in 1997. The builder of the organ is not known, and the earliest
documentation is from 1735, the year it came to Coswig. It is thought to be
quite old, probably dating back to the seventeenth century. The organ, of one
manual and ten stops, had become quite dysfunctional by the end of the
nineteenth century. Since there were no funds to replace it with a new
instrument, the church made do with a harmonium. A slowly evolving restoration
project in the '30s was interrupted by the war, at which time all of the metal
pipes were taken. In 1989, at the time of the reunification, Christian
Wegscheider approached the authorities about the possibility of a restoration,
and the work was begun in 1992. Almost all of the pipes are new, and a
zimbelstern has been added. The keyboard has a short octave, and the hand
bellows date from 1531. The pipe shades and their decoration are from the
eighteenth century, and the instrument has been tuned in an early Baroque meantone.
The organ was back in its case in time for the 500th anniversary jubilee in
1997, and has been playable since 1998. It was demonstrated for us on this day
by the music director Volkmar Werner, who played a Pachelbel toccata followed
by sets of variations by Pachelbel and Sweelinck. Herr Werner thoughtfully
provided us with the organ specification as well as the registrations he used
to show off the rather amazing variety of delightful sounds. But I'm getting
ahead of myself.

From the outside, this late-Gothic structure, with its
rather massive tower and gated stone walls, seemed to me more suggestive of a
fortress than a house of worship. It is not a graceful structure, but rather
staunch, and stolid, and firmly rooted, as if serving notice that it has every
intention of standing unaltered for at least another five hundred years. When
one enters the church, it is indeed to step back in time. There is an aura of
decay, and the air itself seems to come from ages past. The walls are full of
cracks and peeling plaster. The ancient stone floor, dark, sturdy wooden pews,
and large multi-paned Gothic windows are neither warm nor welcoming, and are a
far cry from the golden splendor to which we had recently become accustomed.
The room is not large and seats perhaps 100 people. The ceiling is flat and
surprisingly low, and there is a small gallery running along the north and west
side which houses the organ. What seem to light the room from within and bring
it aglow with life and warmth are the extraordinary Gothic-style paintings on
the wooden panels of the ceiling and on the fronts of the gallery rails. They
are painted directly onto the wood and date from 1611. It was a space unlike
anything in my experience--a place of sanctity, diffuse with an eerie loveliness.
That this ancient organ with its mysterious origins should reside here seemed
most apt.

It was something of a jolt to leave this otherworldly place
and find ourselves once again in the real world. As we gathered to re-board our
bus, I was touched to take note of a World War I memorial, which had been
erected on the church grounds. It listed on five separate plaques the names of
the dead for each year from 1914 through 1918. Whether members of this church
or of the entire community, it was not clear, but I was surprised to see that
there were so very many of them.

Loschwitz

Back on the bus, we were rapidly approaching the city of
Dresden. But first we had one more stop to make in the suburb of Loschwitz,
where Michael had arranged for us to visit the Evangelical Church and its new
II/20 organ by Christian Wegscheider, whose restoration of the anonymous
Renaissance organ we had just visited in Coswig. The original organ and the
original church both dated back to the eighteenth century. The organ had been expanded
and altered in typical fashion over the years. And then, in 1945, both church
and organ were destroyed by a firebomb. The reconstruction of the church was
completed in 1994, and a new instrument has been built according to
eighteenth-century practice. Christian Wegscheider has incorporated design
elements, which reflect the work of Silbermann, Hildebrandt and Leibner, the
builder of the original organ. Parking turned out to be a bit problematical,
and we ended up leaving our bus on a residential side street across from a row
of neat and rather uniform houses. The houses were smallish, as were the lots,
and all were impeccably kept. Colorful gardens reflected loving care. This was
working-class suburbia, and one presumed that the owners were likely off in
Dresden earning their livelihood. And we too were on our way to Dresden and our
next adventure.

Dresden

We would spend the next two nights in Dresden, and during
that time we would see quite a bit of the city--some of it on foot, and much of
it by bus as we moved between various locations. Dresden is a manufacturing
city and a cultural center of more than half a million people, comparable
perhaps to Leipzig, though not quite so large. Like Leipzig, it too has a
history of many wars and occupations over the centuries. Long regarded by many
as one of the world's most beautiful cities, it has been an architectural
showplace, much of it the creation of Augustus the Strong, King of Poland, who
ruled in the eighteenth century. It is a city of museums and palaces. Among the
most famous buildings are the Semper Oper and the Zwinger Palace, which houses
a priceless collection of paintings. As hard as it is for us to imagine, nearly
all of this was destroyed in 1945 during one awful night of firebombing during
which as many as 35,000 people were killed. Fortunately, the paintings had been
removed and stored for safekeeping somewhere outside the city. Now, more than
half a century later, the city is still in the process of rebuilding, stone by
stone.

Dresden is also an important inland port on the Elbe River.
Four graceful bridges cross the Elbe, and beautiful old homes line the banks of
this long, narrow river valley with the occasional hilltop palace and/or castle
sitting high above the river on the other side. There is the usual commercial
river traffic, and there are pleasure boats and paddlewheel steamers as well,
filled with tourists and visitors on holiday. Lilacs and rhododendrons were in
bloom, and there were vineyards along the river valley and lovely old half-timbered
houses, which were by now becoming a familiar sight. Always with us were the
contrasts of old and new, as in the occasional sighting of an encroaching
shopping mall or the ubiquitous "Golden Arches." We could not know
that only a few months hence, this beautiful river would be over its banks and
on the rampage, leaving a path of destruction in its wake and the recently
restored historic buildings of the old city partly submerged. Three thousand
people were evacuated. Miraculously, the more than 4,000 paintings were
salvaged by heroic efforts, and the Semper opera's production of Carmen was
staged last fall in the Volkswagen factory. "No more fire--the flood next
time!" This is indeed a remarkably resilient city whose citizens treasure
their cultural heritage and are determined to preserve it.

Kreuzkirche

That evening some of us elected
to attend an organ concert at the Kreuzkirche. This eighteenth-century church
was seriously damaged in World War II and is still rebuilding after 57 years.
There are colorful medieval paintings, and there is a curious mix of old and
new stone work. The church is home to the famous Dresden Kreuzchor and was a
meeting place for freedom demonstrators in the eighties, as was the
Nikolaikirche in Leipzig. The organ is a 1963 Jehmlich (IV/76) with mechanical
action and an enclosed Swell. The specification is typical neo-Baroque
eclectic. The performer was Christian Collum from Cologne, and the performance
was in memory of his father, Herbert Collum, who had been organist at this
church for 47 years (1935-1982). It was the twentieth anniversary of his death,
and the second half of the program was devoted entirely to his compositions.
The program was well attended, and the audience was attentive and enthusiastic.
I enjoyed the evening thoroughly and felt very much at home in my non-tourist
guise.

And then it was back to our
hotel to settle in for the night and to ponder the multitudinous events of an
unbelievably full day.

Day 9

A new day. Tuesday morning, so
it must be Dresden. Dresden is, of course, the capital of Saxony, and Saxony is
Silbermann country. All of my professional life, I had heard about Silbermann
organs and tried to imagine their "silvery" sound. And now, here we
were, about to spend an entire day seeing, hearing, and playing the instruments
of Gottfried Silbermann.

Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753)
was a friend and colleague of Bach's. He had learned the art of woodworking
from his father, and then he had apprenticed as an organ builder with his older
brother Andreas, during which time he had spent two years in France, where he
came under the influence of both French and Italian sounds and ideas. In 1710
he returned to his native Saxony where he set up his shop in Freiberg and built
his very first instrument for his hometown of Frauenstein. He built 45
instruments in all, and 31 organs remain extant today. By 1723, such was his
reputation that he requested and was granted the title "Honorary Court and
State Organ Builder to the King of Poland and Duke of Saxony."

St. Nicholas, Langhennersdorf

On this particular day we were
scheduled to visit at least five Silbermann organs--all in the general vicinity
of Dresden. But first on our schedule was a stop in the village of Langhennersdorf
to visit a 1722 Hildebrandt (II/21) in the parish church of St. Nicholas. Some
of the non-organists in our group had elected to stay behind and do some
sightseeing on their own, so we were a somewhat smaller group than usual. What
a pleasure it was to get off the main highways and escape the ever-encroaching
roadside emblems of modernity in the form of automotive centers and shopping
malls. Instead, winding, narrow roads took us past storybook villages and small
rural farms with only an occasional graceful church spire punctuating the
horizon.

The church of St. Nicholas has
an ancient medieval tower, dating from 1350, which was part of the original
fortification around the town. The more recent adjoining chapel dates from
1530. The present organ was, so to speak, the "graduation project" of
Zacharias Hildebrand at the end of his apprenticeship to Gottfried Silbermann.
The instrument is earlier and much smaller than the Hildebrandt we had heard in
Naumburg on Friday. It was regrettably, but predictably, altered in the early
twentieth century. In 1989, after the reunification, the restoration was begun
by Christian Wegscheider and completed in 1996. The casework is lovely with
gilded pipeshades, and the contrasting panels--behind the case and on either
side of the key desk--are in that same lovely shade of blue we had seen earlier
at Naumburg. Andreas Hain, the parish organist, demonstrated for us with music
of Sweelinck, Scheidt, Bruhns and, predictably, the Bach D-minor Toccata and
Fugue. Perusing the stoplist, one can see that this early instrument is
smaller, more conservative, and lacking in some of the innovative color stops
and the gravitas of the larger, later Hildebrandt. But the glorious sound of
this little organ blows us away, leaving absolutely nothing to be desired. It
is a sound that is, quite literally, incomparable and sufficient unto itself.
How does one describe such a sound? Let me try: rich, intense,vibrant, but
never overbearing. It visibly lifted our spirits--a real ear-opener in every
way. What a way to start our day!

Perhaps this might be a good
place to comment on the relationship between the organs and those among us who
were playing them. For several days now, I had become aware of a subtle yet
unmistakable transformation that was taking place with each individual player.
It was fascinating to observe the mysterious and complex interplay that was
occurring as mind, body and instrument responded to each other, becoming more
and more as one. Many times I had to remind myself that these complex
conglomerations of wood and metal, to which we have given the name organ, are,
nevertheless, inanimate objects. All evidence to the contrary, they do not have
hearts and minds and wills of their own.

St. Petrikirche, Freiberg

And then it was back on the road
and on to Freiberg where we would see, hear and play no less than three
Silbermanns. Freiberg is an old city whose wealth came from its iron and silver
mines. Our first stop was the St. Petrikirche. Situated high on a hilltop, it is
perhaps the oldest and most important of the Freiberg churches, dating back to
the year 1210. It has been altered, damaged and reconstructed many times over
the centuries, and the original organ no longer exists. The present instrument
(II/32) was completed by Silbermann in 1735. It is the largest of Silbermann's
two-manual instruments. Nineteenth-century additions and alterations were
removed in the 1959 restoration. Much to our surprise, our demonstrator turned
out to be none other than Andreas Hain, who had just played for us at
Langhennersdorf. Herr Hain is the cantor at St. Peter's, and in an apparently
not-all-that-unusual arrangement, his services are divided among three
congregations. On this occasion, we heard works by Mendelssohn and Petr Eben.

St. Mary's Cathedral

Next on our agenda was St.
Mary's Cathedral, which houses two Silbermanns--a 1714 (III/44) and a 1719
(I/14). Both instruments were restored by Jehmlich in 1983. Gottfried
Silbermann built only four three-manual organs in his lifetime, and this was
his first. It was demonstrated for us by Jacob Wagler. It was interesting to
note that though the St. Peter's instrument was built twenty years later than
that of St. Mary's, the stoplists were basically identical, and the
sounds--including those of the one-manual organ--were unmistakably Silbermann.
Silbermann was greatly admired and respected in his time, and continues to be
today. His craftsmanship was solid, and he found his own distinctive voice
early on--powerful, colorful and brilliant. I would not have described it as
"silvery." Unfortunately, we were unable to visit the two-manual 1718
Silbermann in the Jacobiekirche because of structural work being done on the
building.

Grosshartmannsdorf and Zethau

And so we left Freiberg and
continued on to Grosshartmannsdorf to see a typical two-manual Silbermann from
1741. And then it was on to the village of Zethau and the recently restored
1788 Oehme organ (II/20) in the Elisabethkirche. This lovely old Baroque
church, built between 1728 and 1736, stands atop a rather steep hill. One must
park below and climb the path leading up to the old tower and gatehouse. The
old gated cemetery is here and--as we have come to expect--is beautifully
landscaped and tended. The interior of the church, with its vaulted ceiling and
double galleries, is at once simple and elegant. The building has been lovingly
restored between the years 1982 to 1983. Adam Gottfried Oehme (1719-1789)
apprenticed under Silbermann and was perhaps his most important student. The
restoration by Christian Wegscheider was completed in 2001.

Parish Church, Nassau

One more Silbermann to go, and
that would be in the parish church at Nassau. In 1745 the congregation decided
to replace their organ from which pipes had been stolen, leaving it in a very
sad state of disrepair. On the basis of his reputation for quality materials
and workmanship, a contract was signed with Gottfried Silbermann for a
"standard" village organ of two manuals and nineteen stops. Not only
were there problems in coming up with the necessary cash, but the Silesian War
was raging, and Prussia had invaded Saxony. Two thousand cavalry troops were
quartered in Nassau during the winter of 1745, and the village suffered all
manner of hardships and deprivation. The details are not precisely clear, but
apparently some financial assistance was forthcoming through the offices of
authorities in Dresden and/or Freiburg. In 1748, the organ was finally
delivered. After the reunification in 1990, the church itself was restored, and
in 1998, the Jehmlich firm of Dresden undertook a complete restoration of the
organ in time for its 250th anniversary in 1998. 

Another beautiful, park-like
setting with lovely tall shade trees. The graveyard and the surrounding grounds
enchant us. The church is impressive both outside and in. A tall tower graces
the steep, slate-tiled roof. Inside, narrow, arched floor-to-ceiling windows
illuminate the interior and its two-tiered galleries. The acoustics are
wonderful--live and very intimate. Before we take our turns at the organ, Herr
Katschke demonstrates for us with works by Zachau, Pachelbel and Krieger.

What a day it has been. We take
our leave reluctantly, our ears filled with Silbermann sounds, and our hearts
filled with the beauty and the peace of these lovely old churches and the
surrounding countryside. It is late afternoon as we settle in for our drive
back to Dresden. Time to reflect on what we have seen and heard as we pass
through evergreen forests punctuated by birch and accompanied by ever-meandering
streams. Far off to our right, in the distance, we could see the Czech Republic
across the border. It was dinner on our own this last night in Dresden, and
some of the hardier souls in our group had made plans. Three of us joined
forces and made our way to an outside table at what appeared to be a popular
restaurant/bar up above the street level. Relaxing over a beer and a simple
meal, my companions and I pretended that, for at least a little while, we were
simply "Dresdenites"--old friends out to enjoy the early evening.

Day 10

Up early. Ah, yes, I
particularly remember the birds of Dresden--no silent spring here! My hotel
room was high and overlooked a commercial, not-all-that-attractive back street
with relatively few trees. I slept with my window open and had wakened each
morning to the cheerful song of birds soaring over and above the traffic noise
below. The birds of Dresden seem to be as resilient and indomitable as their
human counterparts.

Last minute packing. Luggage in
the hall to be collected. Only two more days remain. We would be leaving
Germany today, and tonight we would sleep in Prague. But, as usual, we had some
interesting stops to make along the way.

Lohmen

Destination: Lohmen. We traveled
again along the Elbe to reach this beautiful, rural area of woodland and
meadow, settled by German farmers as early as the thirteenth century. An
earlier church no longer exists. The church that stands today is thought by
many to be the most beautiful in Saxony, and it is not hard to see why. Planning
for this remarkable structure began as early as 1781, and the first stone was
laid in 1786. It is constructed of massive squares of sandstone. With its
sturdy clock tower dominating the landscape, it presents an almost
fortress-like appearance. The overall structure of the building is that of a
symmetrical octagon with two longer opposing sides and three shorter sides on
each end. The interior is breathtaking--all in white and gold, including the
organ, which sits high above the altar. There are three (!) tiers of galleries,
and the multi-paned windows, which rise all the way from floor to ceiling, seem
to bathe this magnificent space with ethereal light. The church seats more than
eight hundred people, and the pews on the first level--also in white--sit on
the original stone floor. They are in three banks, facing the organ and altar
(east) as well as north and south, giving at least a partial effect of
"church-in-the-round."

The organ (II/18) was built in
1789 by Johann Christian Kayser (1750-1813), another student of Silbermann.
Just as we saw in the case of Hildebrandt, the organ looks and sounds very like
the work of the teacher. No surprises here:  lovely, exquisite, individual colors, all of which blend well
together, and big but gentle principals. There are no manual reeds, but the 16'
posaune in the pedal supplies ample gravitas. The acoustics are wonderful--a
felicitous conjunction of surface and space that could not be improved upon. I
can only describe it as "surround-sound," eighteenth-century style.
With eyes closed, my ears hadn't a clue as to where the organ was located.
There was no one to officially greet or play for us (perhaps because it was a
regional holiday), and so we were free to explore the instrument on our own. It
was hard to leave, and one wished for time to explore the old, walled
churchyard with its ancient stones and inscriptions.

Reinhardtsgrimma

But today we did indeed have
many miles to go before we slept, and so it was back on the bus and on to
Reinhardtsgrimma, another small village with a very special organ in the
Evangelical Lutheran Church. The organ, a Silbermann (II/20), was purchased for
the church in 1731 by a wealthy widow of high position. In its white and gold
case, it sits high in a rear balcony. It was recently restored by Christian
Wegscheider. Again, there were no surprises, visually or tonally, and the now
familiar, bright Silbermann sound did not disappoint. Herr Katzschke, whom we
remembered from the parish church in Nassau on the previous day, played Tunder,
Pachelbel and Mendelssohn for us.

Frauenstein

We had one last stop to make
before heading for the Czech border. Destination: Frauenstein, where we would
have time for lunch before visiting the Silbermann Museum. Frauenstein is the hometown
of Gottfried Silbermann, and it was to this place that he returned after his
apprenticeship to establish his own business in 1711. The museum, founded by
the Silbermann scholar Werner Muller, is located in a sixteenth-century castle,
which sits on a hill high above the town. It opened in 1983, just in time to
celebrate the 300th anniversary of Silbermann's birth. The exhibits have been
thoughtfully and attractively arranged, and there is a plethora of material to
be seen in the form of photographs and documents. One of the most popular
exhibits is a "hands on" working model provided by the Jehmlich
company, which demonstrates the inner workings of an organ from bellows, to
stops, to keys, to pipes. The pièce de résistance is the small
1993 organ (I/8) by Wegscheider--an exact replica of the1732 Silbermann, which
now resides in the Cathedral in Bremen. Ordinarily, I enjoy museums, but after
two days of such intense exposure to the real thing, the museum seemed
anti-climactic.

Back on the bus once more, we
settled in for the relatively long drive to Prague. By now, nearly all of us
who wished had taken a turn at the microphone. Another pastime, in which we had
been engaging, also deserves mention here. I'm not quite sure exactly how it
all began, but for several days now, several of us had been indulging in
limerick writing, along with some other equally silly word play. These
contributions were deposited with Michael, who proceeded to serve them up at
what he deemed to be appropriate times. Here, for example, is one of my humble
contributions:              

When a feisty old lady from
Kassel

Tried the organ at Altenburg
Castle,

It is sad to relate

A pipe fell from the Great,

And her fingers are no longer
facile.

A word of caution is due here:
limerick writing is known to be habit forming and may become seriously
addictive.

It was a pleasant bus ride
marked only by what seemed to be an unwarranted and nerve-wracking delay at the
border crossing. The Czech countryside offered a welcome contrast to the
landscape to which we had become accustomed. There was a lot of climbing
through forested, mountainous country, marked occasionally by some rather
spectacular panoramic vistas. When we reached Prague, we would be checking into
two separate hotels because of space limitations, and then we would gather for
a meal that had been arranged at a local restaurant. So we had a good
introduction to Prague from the bus during the rather lengthy process of
dropping people off at two different locations and then picking them up again to
transport them to dinner. Tomorrow--our last day--would e a whole new
adventure, albeit a short one. Since tomorrow belongs to Prague, this seems to
be the time and place to tie up a few loose ends and to give some overall
consideration to the Bach-country experience.

First, the loose ends. I
believe, but am not sure, that the incident which I'm about to describe
happened en route from Freiberg to Grosshartmannsdorf. Sonja Ritter's parents
live in the little village of Brand-Erbisdorf and had been told by Sonja that
our bus would be passing right by their house. There was no time to stop, but
Manuela slowed the bus down just enough to allow time for big smiles and
enthusiastic waving all around. Forever engraved in my memory is the sight of
this merry couple leaning out of their second story window, beaming and waving,
looking for all the world like storybook characters out of a nineteenth-century
children's tale. And speaking of tales, mention needs to be made here of the
storybook charm of the countryside through which we had been traveling the past
few days. The small "storybook" farms are right in the villages, or
perhaps I should say that the villages are really clusters of small farms with
one or two small shops near by. A typical front yard might have flowers, a
vegetable garden, a cow and/or a goat, pig or sheep, and perhaps a few geese,
ducks and chickens. Outside one of the old, stone churches to which we had
climbed, we were greeted by a tethered sheep grazing contentedly on the grass.
One has the impression that nothing has changed all that much over the
centuries. There is a timelessness and an authenticity about these places
unlike anything I have ever experienced. The churches we visited were typically
on hilltops, and when Manuela would park our bus at the side of the road below,
it sometimes caused quite a stir--this anachronistic behemoth driven by a
woman, no less!

At one of these small
churches--and I forget which one--we were warmly received by a gentleman who
proceeded to give us a fascinating and detailed history of the organ, told with
great pride and enthusiasm. We all assumed that he was the local organist.
Imagine our astonishment when he turned out to be the pastor! No longer
subsidized by the state, and with attendance and membership down, times have
been difficult for these small churches since the reunification. The amazing
thing is the pride that the people take in these wonderful old churches and
their organs. Their tenaciousness and their strong sense of stewardship in
preserving and restoring them is to be marveled at. Many of these churches have
concert series and festivals and are a real source of pride to the entire
community.

And lastly, but not at all in
the least, the organs we had seen, and heard, and played. Peter Williams' book,
The European Organ: 1450-1850, begins
with a quote from D. A. Flentrop: "It is not easy to write about organs;
they need to be played or listened to." And to that, I would add the word,
seen. The vivid intensity of each individual experience was indeed
indescribable. So very many instruments in such a few short days! Our senses
were at times overwhelmed. The larger, sometimes newer, instruments in the
cities were magnificent to be sure, but in retrospect, I find that what I
treasure most are the memories of the smaller instruments in the smaller
parishes off the beaten path. In this case, the whole was indeed greater than
the sum of the individual parts, and now, in memory, these kaleidoscopic images
seem to have merged into a kind of visual and sonic template: the incredible
sweetness and vibrancy of the sounds combined with that translucent,
transforming light which flooded the rooms with an almost palpable energy. Most
important of all--and a real gift, since I hadn't expected it--is the recent discovery
that my approach to the music of Bach has been forever changed in some
fundamental, yet mysterious way. This is not a conscious change, and I am not
speaking of things musicological. I can neither describe nor explain it. It
remains my own priceless souvenir.

And having said all of that, I
must in all honesty admit that Prague, with all of its magnificence and
splendor, would be, for me, an anti-climax.

Day 11

Prague

Thursday, May 2. It is blessedly
warm, and the sun is shining! It is the last day of our tour, and our one and
only day in Prague. It is, of course, impossible to do more than barely scratch
the surface. Prague is the first really large city we have visited since we
started out in Berlin. Berlin, in many aspects, resembles any modern western
city. Prague, by comparison, seems strange and exotic. Though the Germans have
a certain formality about them, they are, by and large, a warm and friendly
people. The Czechs seem more distant and remote. Since we were not due at the
Basilica of St. James/St. Jacob until ten o'clock, we began our day with a
walking tour accompanied by our new guide. Sonja was still with us, but our
arrangements through the travel agency specified that here, in the Czech
Republic, we should use a Czech guide.

Architecturally, Prague is
undeniably stunning--a city of golden domes, graceful spires, and red-tiled
roofs. Back in the fourteenth century, Emperor Charles IV set out to create the
most splendid city in all of Europe, and it would seem that he succeeded. It is
a colorful city whose buildings and streets span a period of more than a
thousand years. Castles, palaces, cathedrals, libraries, museums, theaters and
concert halls attest to a marvelously rich cultural heritage. Charles
University, one of the oldest and largest in all of Europe, dates back to 1348.
This is the city of King Wenceslaus, Kafka, Kepler, Smetana and Dvorák,
to name but a few. Music is everywhere, and Prague is home to many of Europe's
finest orchestras and chamber music groups.

Prague is a port city with an
important inland harbor. The Vltava River (the Moldau to us Westerners) divides
the city in half with two ancient castles standing sentinel on the right and
left banks of the river respectively. It is a city of bridges--fifteen in
all--the most famous being the Charles, with its splendid Gothic arches dating
back to the fourteenth century. Pleasure boats ply the river along with the
usual commercial river traffic. None of us could know that only a few months
hence the newspapers at home would be filled with photographs and accounts of
the devastating flooding of the Vltava into the old sections of Prague.
Thousands would be evacuated from their homes and much property destroyed.

I had been told by friends at
home that this was an excellent time to visit Prague because we would be there
before the height of the tourist season. I cannot, nor do I want to, even
imagine what that must be like. As it was, we were surrounded by a great number
of tourists--many in groups like ours. I found this phenomenon to be a major
distraction to say the least--dominating the scene and tending to obliterate
those very sights and sounds that had drawn us here. It was pedestrian gridlock
of the worst kind, and it was all we could do to stay connected with our own
group and not end up in another! Not only that, but there was a plethora of
little tourist shops which seemed to have sprung up in every nook and cranny,
seriously--in my opinion--detracting from the authenticity of the old parts of
the city. Perhaps I was a bit travel weary at this point and wasn't really
ready for Prague. But the truth is that I had left my heart back in Bach
country.

Basilica of St. James/St. Jacob

Our first musical stop was at
the Basilica of St. James/St. Jacob. The organ had its beginnings in 1705 as a
two-manual instrument of twenty-six stops by the builder, Abraham Stark.
Although it has been expanded, the original case remains today along with a few
of the original Stark registers. Over the years, it has been extensively
altered and expanded, most recently by the Rieger-Kloss firm in 1982. It now
has four manuals and 91 stops, and it may very well be the largest organ in the
Czech Republic. On this day, the organ was impressively demonstrated for us by
Irene Chribkova.

By now it was nearly noon, and
so we were able to join the droves of tourists in the Old Town Square as we
waited in front of the Old Town Hall for the striking of the fifteenth-century
astronomical clock. At noon, twelve elaborately carved apostles appear, while a
bell-ringing skeleton dances off to the side.

Strahov Monastery

Then it was on--or perhaps I
should say up--to the ancient monastery at Strahov, which was built on the
highest point on the approach to Prague Castle.  Now the Museum of National Literature, the library houses
many thousands of books and works of art, the oldest dating back to the tenth
century. We had come to see and hear the small cabinet organ of six registers
in the chapel upon which Mozart once improvised.

Tyne Church

Our last organ--and the last
organ on our tour--was an instrument by Hans Heinrich Mundt built in 1673 for
the Tyne Church. A two-manual instrument of twenty-nine stops, it was restored
in the year 2000 by the Klais firm. The organ has survived largely intact and
offers an interesting blend of Austrian-Moravian and Netherlands-North German
building styles.

A farewell dinner had been
arranged for us at a restaurant overlooking the river at the foot of the
Charles Bridge. There was much camaraderie as well as some spontaneous toasts
and impromptu entertainments. Some in our group departed early in order to
attend various performances in the city that evening. The more adventurous
among us concluded the evening by walking across the famous Charles Bridge. And
then it was back to our bus and on to our hotels for the night. Some had very
early departures in the morning, a few would remain in Prague for more
sightseeing, and the rest of us would be bussed to the airport where we would
begin to go our separate ways. Our extraordinary journey had come to an end.

Postlude

Though we have come to the end
of this narrative, the astute reader will have noticed that little mention has
been made of our genial tour host, Michael Barone. That is simply because it is
Michael's style to keep a low profile. As his Pipedreams fans have come to
expect, the focus is always on the organs and the music. Throughout the entire
trip, he seemed to be everywhere and nowhere all at once. Talk about
multi-tasking! In his quiet, efficient way, he somehow managed to keep us
always on schedule. Up in the organ loft, he was our great "enabler,"
ever ready to lend a hand or an ear as needed to register, pull stops and turn
pages. He encouraged those who needed encouragement and made sure that no one
took more than his/her fair share of time at the organ. Often, but not always,
he also played. If everything was under control at the console, he was off to
sample the sounds of the organ from as many different locations in the room as
possible. In addition, he held doors, distributed sandwiches or concert tickets
as the occasion demanded, and otherwise kept himself in constant circulation in
order to ascertain that all was well with each of us. In regard to the hosts
and performers at our many and various venues, he was ever the gracious
ambassador, sowing seeds of goodwill and laying the groundwork for future
exchanges. Yet the casual observer might easily have been unaware that he was,
indeed, our leader. A Pipedreams organ tour is not unlike the weekly radio
broadcast. The difference--and it is a big one--is that in this case, we have
become much more than mere armchair travelers. Michael's challenge to each of
us, as it is each week, is to open our ears and our minds--and in this case,
our eyes--and make our own discoveries.

It was our good fortune on this
particular tour to be the direct beneficiaries of Michael's having led an
almost identical tour two years before. Not only were we able to profit from
this experience, but we also inherited the other two members of this great leadership
team--our bus driver, Manuela Huwe, and our German tour guide, Sonja Ritter.
Manuela was wonderful, always keeping us safely on track, getting us there on
time, and taking our bus into places it was never designed to go! Sonja's
excellent English and her engaging and informed commentary enriched our whole
experience immeasurably. Our one day in Prague without Sonja as our guide only
made us appreciate her all the more.

Another important aspect of this
tour, in my opinion, was the makeup of our group. We were as unlikely a
collection of people as one could possibly imagine, coming from an amazing
variety of backgrounds, experiences and expectations. How marvelous to think
that this unique and ancient instrument we call the organ had brought us all together
in a joint adventure of discovery and enlightenment. In the light of the
uncertain and disturbing political climate in which we find ourselves today,
tours such as this afford a wonderful opportunity to build bridges between
countries and cultures and people.

I hope you enjoyed reading about
my Pipedreams adventure. If, in the future, the opportunity to take a
Pipedreams tour presents itself, I urge you to take it. Much will be promised,
and you will find few, if any, disappointments, and a great many unexpected
delights. In the meantime, I encourage you to take the "virtual"
Pipedreams tour each week and to support your local public radio station. To
learn more and whet your appetite even further, you can explore Pipedreams
online at

<www.pipedreams.org&gt;.

Ending on a lighter note, this
is my limerick for Michael, which I wrote somewhere along the way:

Through ancient cathedrals so
pietal,

With organs of endless varietal,

With Baronial splendor,

Apt words he did tender.

Heartfelt praises and thanks to
our Michael!  

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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

The University of Michigan Historic Organ Tour 54

Jeffrey K. Chase

Jeffrey K. Chase is a practicing attorney in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with a concentration in the area of estate planning. He is a member of the bar of the United States Supreme Court. Prior to becoming an attorney, he earned a bachelor’s degree in music literature and a master’s degree in musicology. He has been a published feature writer and music critic for The Michigan Daily and The Detroit Free Press and has also written for High Fidelity magazine. Currently he also reviews classical music compact discs for All Music Guide, an online music reference source.

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What a special trip the Marilyn Mason University of Michigan Historic Organ Tour 54 this past July 9–22 was, tracing the cities and churches limning the lives and careers of J. S. Bach and Buxtehude and, among others, the organ builders Silbermann, Schnitger, Trost and Marcussen! Entitled “In the Footsteps of Bach and Buxtehude,” it included visits to historic organs in Mühlhausen, Weimar, Eisenach, Arnstadt, Altenburg, Frauenstein, Freiberg, Dresden, Leipzig, Wittenberg, Hamburg, Lübeck, Århus, Odense and Copenhagen. Much was learned and experienced by its fortunate participants.
After arriving in Frankfurt at approximately 7:30 a.m. and after having collected all of the participants flying in from various locations, we boarded a beautiful, very modern bus to commence our journey of exploration.

Mühlhausen, Weimar, Eisenach, and Arnstadt
Our first stop was at St. Blasiuskirche in Mühlhausen, where Bach had worked from 1707–1708 (this year being the 300th anniversary of Bach’s arrival there from Arnstadt). While there, Bach submitted plans for rebuilding the organ.This organ, however, was replaced in the 19th century with a new instrument. But turnabout is fair play, and from 1956–1958 the 19th-century organ was removed; the Alexander Schuke company built a new organ based upon Bach’s plans, but with the addition of five new registers to support the performance of modern organ literature. The casework of this Schuke organ exemplifies the industrial style of the former East German regime and its banal aesthetic.
Then on to Weimar where Bach spent ten years as a musician to the Grand Duke; where Bach was imprisoned in 1716 for requesting to resign from his position to take another; and where, in 1717, Bach was first mentioned in print, being called “the famous Weimar organist.” After checking into the outstanding Elephant Hotel, next door to the building in which Bach lived from 1708–1717 and where his sons Wilhelm Friedemann and Carl Philip Emmanuel were born, we took a short stroll in the rain to visit the Parish Church of Sts. Peter and Paul, where, beginning in 1707, Bach’s relative and colleague Johann Gottfried Walther was organist.
Early the next morning we boarded the bus and departed for Eisenach, where J. S. Bach was born on March 21, 1685. He was baptized at St. George’s Church, where Luther had sung in the choir and had also preached. That baptismal font, which has a pedestal carved like a wooden basket, is still in use today. At that church, located on the Market Square (that day it was market day), we were treated to an organ recital (well attended by the public) performed by the young Denny Philipp Wilke, an organist from Nürnberg, who studied with Latry and van Oosten. Wilke performed Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in D, the Scherzo from Vierne’s Organ Symphony No. 2 and the Franck A-minor Choral on the 1982 Schuke of Potsdam organ. This fall Wilke was scheduled to record a recently discovered transcription by Dupré of Liszt’s Ad nos, ad salutarem undam.
After lunch we visited the Bach Museum (Bach’s birth house), where we heard a talk describing and demonstrating two small period organs, a spinet, a clavicembalo and a clavichord, and in which a crystal drinking cup, the only item remaining from the Bach household, is displayed. One of the rooms is set up as Bach’s composition room in Leipzig presumed to have looked.
Then back in the air-conditioned bus for a drive to Arnstadt to visit St. Boniface Church, containing a 1703 Wender organ (reconstructed by Hoffmann in 1999) on the fourth level. It was to test this organ that Bach came to Arnstadt in 1703. He was so appreciated that he was hired as organist and remained employed here until 1707, when he took his 200-mile walk to Lübeck to hear and learn from Buxtehude, a trip that resulted in his dismissal and move to Mühlhausen. Marilyn Mason’s friend Gottfried Praller demonstrated this Wender/Hoffmann instrument with performances of Buxtehude’s Ciaconne in d and Bach’s Fugue in d. On the third level of this church, now referred to as the Bachkirche, is a 1913 Steinmeyer organ, also reconstructed by Hoffmann in 1999.
Our last stop in Arnstadt was the nearby New Bach Museum containing, inter alia, the console Bach played upon in St. Boniface and some historic holographic music manuscripts.

Altenburg, Frauenstein, and Dresden
The next day, after breakfast, we departed for Dresden, but with two intermediary stops. The first was in Altenburg to view and play the 1735–1739 Tobias Heinrich Trost (1673–1759) organ in the castle church (“One of the great organs of the world,” says Marilyn Mason). Bach played this organ in September 1738 or 1739 and again in October 1739, when Bach’s pupil Krebs was the organist, as he was for the last 25 years of his life. This fine organ was also played by Weber, Liszt, Agricola and Schütz. Today Felix Friedrich, who has edited and published several volumes of Krebs’s work, is the organist. Altenburg is known as the playing card capital of the world, because playing cards are made here, and the castle museum contains an interesting collection of both old and new cards.
The second stop was in Frauenstein, the birth city of the revered organ builder Gottfried Silbermann (1683–1753) and the site where Werner Mueller established the Gottfried Silbermann Museum, which contains, among other things, a reproduction of a one-manual, no-pedal organ in Bremen, and upon which we each shared playing a theme and variations by Pachelbel on Was Gott thut, das ist wohlgetan. While there, we learned that the property has recently been sold to developers, so most likely the museum will be removed to another building.
Now in Dresden, we visited the Dom or Hofkirche (the Dom was the main church in a town) containing a 1755 Silbermann organ, his largest and last, with three manuals and 47 registers, and which was last restored by Jehmlich in 1971. Then we walked past the porcelain mural of the kings of Saxony on the street leading to the Frauenkirche, which, however, we could not visit due to the late time of day. So on to a fine dinner at one of the outside restaurants.

Freiberg, Leipzig, Rötha, and Stürmthal
The next day we traveled to Leipzig via Freiberg to visit Silbermann’s Opus 2 (1714) with three manuals and 44 registers and last restored by Jehmlich in 1983. We also visited the Jakobikirche, just outside the old city wall, where we played a two-manual Silbermann. This church is an old, very plain building but with an active congregation. The priest, rather than an organist, let us in and explained that the congregation can’t afford an organist. Can you imagine: a church with an historic Silbermann organ and no organist! Any volunteers?
In Leipzig we lunched on the Nikolaistraße before entering the Nikolaikirche, whose congregation was a leader in the democratic movement before the fall of the Berlin Wall. This church has a very ornate interior decorated with sharp pointed simulated foliage. We played an 1862 five-manual Ladegast organ reworked over the years by Sauer and by Eule. Currently part of its electronic stop action is by Porsche, whose name is prominently displayed on the beautiful wood of its art deco-like console. From the Nikolaikirche it was a short walk to the legendary Thomaskirche, originally part of a 13th-century monastery and the other main city church, and the one at which J. S. Bach was cantor from 1723 until his death in 1750 and with which he is most closely associated. Because this church is such a tourist attraction, all we could do was look around; the organ here is not a relic of the days of Bach’s tenure, but an 1889 Wilhelm Sauer instrument last restored in 1993. It is here that Bach is buried.
No University of Michigan organ tour to this area would be complete without a stop in Rötha to view the 1721 G. Silbermann organ in the Georgenkirche, because this instrument was chosen by Charles Fisk and Marilyn Mason as the model for what is now known as the “Marilyn Mason Organ” in the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre and Dance—Fisk and Mason thought it, of all known G. Silbermann organs, best suited to the U-M space.
Next, an unscheduled visit to Stürmthal to tour a country church, where a funeral was in progress. Zacharias Hildebrandt (1688–1757), a protégé of G. Silbermann, built this organ, a one-manual with pedal, but got into trouble with Silbermann because of Silbermann’s perceived competition. Hildebrandt invited Bach to play this bright, high-pitched instrument and Bach wrote Cantata 194 for Hildebrandt.

Wittenberg, Lüneburg, Hamburg, and Neuenfelde
The next day, Saturday, began with a long drive to Hamburg with a first stop along the way in Wittenberg, birthplace of the Lutheran Reformation, to visit the revered Martin Luther sites. We did not play the organ in the castle church, another major tourist attraction and which now has Luther’s 95 statements immortalized in bronze on its doors (the doors upon which Luther nailed his 95 Theses on 31 October 1517 have long since been replaced).
The second stop on the Hamburg journey was in Lüneburg to visit the Michaeliskirche, where Bach had matriculated in the choir school. This triple-naved, Gothic, red-brick hall church with drastically leaning pillars contains an organ with a typical North German case and with pipes from many eras. This was originally the church for a Benedictine monastery, and thus the private church and sepulchral vaults for the reigning families of the Billungs and Guelphs. Tobias Gravenhorst is the current choirmaster. The organ here consists of an old case with new contents last reworked in 1999–2000 by Sauer, which used to be a large firm but now is only a small company. One might speculate whether Bach, as a young boy in the choir school gazing up at the organ case, got the idea of putting “Soli Deo Gloria” at the end of his compositions from the “Soli Deo Gloria” inscription at the top of the organ case. Sunday mornings are, of course, the time when churches are fulfilling their main function as houses of worship for their congregations, so for us Sunday morning is free time.
Sunday afternoon we visited the famous Jakobikirche in Hamburg, where we were hosted by a friendly female organist who knows English well. Reinken was on the city committee in 1693 when the organ was built by Arp Schnitger. Reinken didn’t want this church’s organ to have a 32′ stop because he wanted his church to be the only one in town to have a 32′ stop, but Schnitger foiled him by building two 32′s—a Principal and a Posaune. Bach applied for the organ post here in 1720, but he would have had to pay a fee to get the job. Instead a wealthy man with the money to pay (bribe!) was hired.
This was the organ whose pipes were removed to safe storage during WWII, thus saving this organ when the church and loft were subsequently destroyed. This Schnitger organ, which used to hang higher on the wall, was eventually restored by Jürgen Ahrend in 1950 and again in 1993. It was Schnitger’s habit to reuse pipes, so pipes from the 1500s were incorporated by Schnitger. (This in contrast to Silbermann, who used only new material.) Its temperament is between meantone and Werckmeister III (modified meantone). The faces of its donors are immortalized on the original stopknobs of the original console, which is displayed on a balcony but is not part of the currently functioning instrument. Albert Schweitzer has played this organ, and Marilyn Mason has proclaimed it one of the great organs of the world.
We also visited the Michaeliskirche in Hamburg, the main city church, a rococo room with curved balconies. The gallery organ was built from 1909–1912 by E. F. Walcker of Ludwigsburg. With its five manuals and 163 stops, for a time it was the largest organ in the world. We played music including French pieces that work well on it. The restored organ in the side gallery we did not play, nor did we play a small organ in the choir space. There were many visitors coming and going in this church.
St. Pankratius, a small church with a rural setting in Neuenfelde, is the burial place of Arp Schnitger (1648–1719) and was his home church for a number of years. He built this high baroque-style, two-manual, 34-stop organ for this church in 1688 and the bulletin board invites people to worship on Sunday to the accompaniment of the Schnitger organ.

Lübeck
On Monday, our last day in Germany, we journeyed to Lübeck, the first German city bombed in World War II (in response to the Germans’ bombing of Coventry, England), where we visited four important churches. The first was the Marienkirche, where Ernst-Erich Stender, organist, was our host. This is the church where Buxtehude had worked from 1668 to 1707. Its historic Schnitger organ and the Totentanz organ (named after a painting in the church) were destroyed by bombs in 1942.
The Domkirche, founded by Henry the Lion in 1173, today makes modern use of space. Its Romanesque towers survived the war, but its Gothic portions fell. Its contemporary (1960) stained glass window in the west end is especially beautiful. The 1699 Schnitger organ, originally built here but burned during the war, had been played by Handel, Mendelssohn and Mattheson. A 1970 Marcussen instrument now sits on the north wall. There are raised auditorium seats on the west end where the organ used to be and a small positiv organ is in the choir space. Here also is a charming Baggio di Rosa 1777 Italian one-manual portative organ with pull-down pedals and a bird stop, which has been restored by Ahrend in the Netherlands.
The design of the 13th-century Aegidiankirche is unusual because its pews face the preacher and not the altar. It has a choir screen from the Renaissance with eight panels depicting the life of Christ. Its original organ dated from 1629 and was built by Scherer of Hamburg. The case, not in baroque style, but with small, refined details suggestive of earlier times, was created by a famous Lübecker carver. This is one of the few organs built during the Thirty Years War, in which the independent northern German cities were not obliged to fight. Now, the old cabinetry with its intricate light and dark inlaid wood figures is more interesting than the 1992 Klais instrument it contains.
The Jakobikirche is where Hugo Distler—who had a good sense of history and resisted romantic modifications to the great organ, built by Joachim Richborn in 1673 and last restored by Schuke/Berlin in 1984—was the organist from 1931 to 1937. This organ contains pipes from a Blockwerk from the 1400s; Schuke added a Swell as part of his restoration in 1984. This organ is approximately 20% original and includes an 18th-century pedal division. Interestingly, there are two matching organ cases, north and west, both in swallow’s nest design. The main case is in Renaissance style and the Positiv case is in Baroque style.
The Jacobikirche three-manual, 31-register smaller organ by Stellwagen, built in 1637 and based upon an anonymous builder in 1515, was last restored by Brothers Hillebrand in 1978. With this organ being 70% original, today one hears what would have been the sounds of 1637 and of 1515. The Werckmeister temperament is tuned one step above A=440. Distler had this organ in mind when he composed Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland.

Ulkebøl, Sønderborg, and Aabendraa
The Ulkebøl Lutheran Church was our first stop in Denmark. Although this church has housed an organ continuously since the beginning of the 16th century, its current organ is a Marcussen & Søn dated 1888 set in a Jürgen Hinrichsen angel façade dated 1790. From 1864 to 1920 this part of Denmark had been part of Germany, and during World War II this church’s bells were removed to Hamburg to be melted down for munitions manufacture, but were fortunately rescued just at the end of the war before being melted. Danish churches have ships suspended from the ceiling to as a symbol recalling that human life is sustained by God; the nave is called the church ship. The patron of this church was the Duke of Augustinborg.
From there we bussed to the Sønderborg Castle; however, when we arrived the streets were blocked. We soon learned that this was for the security of the visiting Queen Margrethe, who had arrived in her royal yacht to visit this coastal castle. However she left promptly at 2 pm, and we were granted entrance to hear a recital on this reconstructed Renaissance organ by its organist. Originally there was a 1570 Rottenstein-Pock instrument, which was enlarged to two manuals with nine and five stops, respectively, in 1626; each manual has a slightly different compass. The present instrument is a 1996 Mads Kjersgaard reconstruction set in the original 1570 façade; D-sharp and E-flat are separate pitches because of the (probably) meantone tuning.
From there we were treated to a Marcussen factory tour. Founded in 1806, this firm celebrated its 200th anniversary last year. Still in the ownership of Marcussen’s descendants, it has been in this location in Aabendraa since 1829. Our tour was conducted by a Marcussen relative. We concluded this day in Århus.

Århus, Odense, and Copenhagen
The first stop the next morning was at the Århus Domkirke, the largest church in Denmark. Originally containing a Schnitger organ, the current instrument is a 1928 Frobenius, which has been placed behind the 1730 Kastens console and is the organ on which Gillian Weir recorded the complete works of Franck, Messiaen and Duruflé. Its 8′ Voix humaine is modeled after that in Ste. Clotilde in Paris (César Franck’s church).
After lunch we left for Odense, the birth city of Hans Christian Andersen, and visited St. Canute’s Cathedral, located next to a beautiful city park. This cathedral contains three organs: the smallest and oldest is the Jens Gregersen instrument built c. 1843; the second oldest is the main organ built by Marcussen & Søn in 1965 and using the façade of its 1756 predecessor; and the newest, in the east end of the cathedral, was built by Carsten Lund in 1999. Then on to Copenhagen for a visit to the Church of the Holy Ghost with its 1986 Marcussen & Søn organ; the opulent Jesuskirken, built by the Carlsberg brewing family and containing in front one of the last Cavaillé-Coll organs (dated 1890) built and, in the rear, a 1993–1994 Jensen & Thomsen instrument; and a city tour.

Roskilde
On the penultimate day we visited the impressive Roskilde Cathedral containing a 1991 Marcussen & Søn three-manual, 33-rank organ. We were granted special access to the upper gallery from which to view this magnificent edifice, which is the burial place of many Danish kings and queens and with its wonderful trompe l’oeil paintings of heroic exploits on various side chapel walls.
From there we visited the environmentally friendly chapel organ, an 1882 A. H. Busch & Sønner rebuild at Ledreborg Castle. The resident organist (from Tennessee!) gave a demonstration of this unusual single-manual instrument to which the pedal is always coupled, which has not been electrified and requires an assistant to work the bellows. We returned to Copenhagen to give a public recital at St. Andreas Church.
On Saturday, our last day together, many spent the day shopping and enjoying the city, while others visited the Trinity Church with its three-manual, 53-rank, 1956 Marcussen & Søn organ rebuilt by P. G. Andersen in 1977 and the Garnisonkirche. Our communal dinner, at an historic local restaurant, was a bittersweet gathering, knowing that the camaraderie created by this tour’s participants was a unique organism and never to be duplicated.
Unlike any other instrument, no two organs are the same and, to be fully understood and appreciated, should be personally touched and experienced. Thus, one of the primary values of these tours is to acquaint oneself with the famous historic organs of the world to experience what it is about each that makes it so revered. And on this two-week, multi-city tour of northern and eastern Germany and Denmark, the participants “experienced” approximately 43 organs dating from the 16th through the 20th centuries. But it’s not just about the organs. It’s about the camaraderie with organ aficionados, too.■

 

A Concert Organ for the Béla Bartók Hall in Budapest

Burkhard Goethe, translated by Constanze Geiss

Burkhart Goethe, church music director and organ-architect in Schwäbisch Hall (South Germany), was born in 1948. After an apprenticeship for six years (carpenter and organbuilder) with Alfred Führer, Wilhelmshaven, he traveled in Europe working on the restoration of North German instruments. Since 1982 he has been organ advisor of the Protestant church of Württemberg and teacher at the Freiburg National Academy of Music. He is the architect of more than 80 organ cases since 1978. Constanze Geiss is a journeyman organbuilder for Mühleisen Orgelbau in Leonberg, Germany, where she works both in management of the business and in organbuilding areas. She studied at the organbuilding college in Ludwigsburg and completed her apprenticeship with Mühleisen. She worked at the Brombaugh shop in Eugene, Oregon during 1999–2000. Ms. Geiss was assisted in editing the translation by David Petty, organbuilder in Eugene, Oregon. He and Ms. Geiss were colleagues at the Brombaugh shop during her time in the U.S.

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In 2003 the Arcadom company requested 13 European companies to design an instrument for the new Béla Bartók National Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary. Six companies then were looked at more closely; three of them were from Germany. After a series of journeys in order to gain as much knowledge about the companies as possible, the committee (five concert organists) decided to ask the joint venture of the Mühleisen company (Germany) and the organ manufacturer Pécs (Hungary) to build the organ. The two companies were known to each other because of various projects they had encountered with the Fraunhofer Institute, Stuttgart. Prof. Judith Angster, a descendant of the organ-builder family Angster in Hungary, is an acknowledged specialist on physical questions related to the technical parts of organs. She strongly supported the joint venture and was a big help in organizational matters.
The concert hall itself was designed by Gabór Zoboki and was finished in 2005. The fascinating oval building has the dimensions of a large cathedral: it is 25 meters tall and 52 meters long. The building’s interior is covered with wooden panels, creating a warm atmosphere. In order to guarantee an outstanding acoustic, the internationally known American advisor Russell Johnson worked on the design. The principal element is a huge detailed platform in the center of the room that can be lowered completely or in parts, which helps to create a suitable acoustic for special solo concerts. Along the sides of the room, 84 large chambers provide the reverberation needed for organ concerts. Since they can be evenly adjusted, the conditions for the organ builders were ideal.
Finding a musically suitable concept turned out to be more difficult. Two organ advisors with opposing ideas, István Baroti and László Fassang, were a challenge for the organ builders. On the one side, there was the idea of a large Hungarian organ in the style of the 1950s Orgelbewegung; on the other side there was the idea of a modern symphonic concert instrument. More journeys and concerts on various instruments and long discussions were necessary to finally agree on the disposition of a concert instrument.
During the years 2004–2006 the instrument was built by both companies, Pécs in Hungary and Mühleisen in Germany. The case, chests, wind system, frames and structural parts were made in Hungary, as well as all of the wooden and some of the metal pipes. All the design work, construction of coupler systems and details, electric and mechanical stop action, keydesk, reeds, and complete scaling was done in Germany. The Mühleisen Company also was in charge of the entire voicing process, working closely with both advisors. Since the concert hall was heavily used during the daytime, most of the installation and the voicing had to be done after 11 pm.

Façade
As seems to be typical during the last decades, the façade essentially was designed by the architect of the concert hall. Gábor Zoboki at first offered a post-Art-Nouveau-style façade, which would have worked well in the room and also resembled downtown Budapest with its Art Deco style. Unfortunately, the buyers were not convinced and had the Mühleisen company work on an idea of an open façade. The divisions in the back are of course all contained in their cases made of solid wood. The biggest façade pipes are the Majorbass 32? (starting at E) and the Principalbass 16? and Montre 16?, both starting from bottom C, all made of a high tin alloy. On the top (slightly shifted to the back), the Octavbass 8? and the Solo Principale 8? can be seen. The lower middle part (above the mechanical console) contains the horizontal reeds (Chamade 16?–4?). Therefore, the organ builders need not fear that the organ will be covered with curtains as is the case in various concert halls nowadays. The organ stays visible at all times.
The case is made of solid cherry and, in order to break with the strong vertical lines of the whole façade, the pipes of the inside corners of the main groups are slightly tilted towards the center of the organ. This subtle feature is often only seen with a second look.

Technical design
Twelve meters above the orchestra stage, the organ is installed on a large balcony. Its overall height is 15.6 meters, width 13 meters, and depth 4.4 meters. Inside the instrument, a good “infrastructure” made up of large stairs and wide walkboards guarantees good access to every part of the chests and pipes for maintenance. Every detail was planned; no big surprises were left for the people who worked on site.
Chests
The 18 mechanical slider windchests and some 29 single and support chests are positioned on top of large wooden construction beams, along the action lines. Behind the façade of the first story, one can find the Grande orgue. Separated by a large walkboard, the Récit expressif is positioned directly behind it. The Solo and the Positif expressif are located symmetrically on the second story. This whole complex is lined by the Pedal stops on the left and right sides, whereas the largest pipes of the 32? needed to be lowered into the “basement” of the organ.

Wind system
The wind system is divided into two divisions. The Grande orgue, Récit expressif, and Pedal are supplied by two large blowers and six large parallel double wedge bellows, which are built into the base of the instrument. Another blower and bellows on top of the swell box of the Récit provide the wind for the Positif expressif and Solo divisions. A high-pressure blower for the Tuba Mirabilis 8? with 450mm wind pressure is also located there. In all manuals, the wind pressure varies from the bass to the treble. The three 32? stops have their own extra wind supply. The whole system consists of four blowers and about 105 meters of wind trunks made of solid wood.

Action
The new organ in the Béla Bartók Hall has two different action systems. The main (attached) console with its ten couplers is played mechanically. The only exceptions are the Chamades and the 32? stops. The key action is balanced and is supported inside the chests with little pivot-rail bellows. They are also suspended. The fourteen octave couplers and the five Chamade couplers work electrically; the ten mechanical couplers can also be switched to electric usage. The second, detached concert console is exclusively electric; so is all the stop action. Solenoids work the sliders; the preset combination system and the couplers are run by a BUS system.
When the organ was shown to the press, the detached console was not available to be seen. Therefore the author could only feel and play the action of the main console. It is easy and light and allows good articulation on all four manuals. Even when using all mechanical couplers and playing tutti, the pluck stays elegant and precise, due to good coupler construction and well-adjusted balancier support.

Consoles
The main console combines the neat, clean look of a well-designed keydesk with ergonomic standards. The 139 stop knobs are designed as pull knobs. The detached console is a work of art in itself. It is made of solid cherry and shows many round, Art Nouveau-like lines. The pluck of the keys is simulated electrically in order to provide the best articulation possible.

Swell boxes
All walls and the shutters of the swell boxes are made of a special five-layered wall system approximately six cm thick. This was especially developed by the Stuttgarter Fraunhofer Institute. Both swell boxes work remarkably well.

“Hanging” façade pipes
Organ builders are often confronted with the following problem: large pipes are stressed by their own weight, especially around the mouth opening. Therefore inlays, hooks and supports are soldered to hold everything in place. Nevertheless, they often have the tendency to bend or collapse. The ideas of the creative Swabians help to prevent those matters. Already their large instrument in Stuttgart (Stiftskirche 2004 IV/84) was protected by a large contraption to take weight off the foot of the pipe. In three places the pipe is hooked to the top of the room, where it is held by counterweights. That lowers the static weight of the pipe, preventing collapse, and also enables one single person to lift the pipe in its rack.

Tonal design
It is always difficult to describe the sound of an organ. One simply has to hear it. What one can say about this particular instrument is that the tonal design works very well in the given acoustic, which has a tendency to swallow bass frequency pitches and therefore needs good foundation stops. During the voicing process, the scale of various stops had to be enlarged to meet these needs.
The principals, which account for 26% of the whole instrument (with its eight mixtures), are formidable and can fill the hall, but can also show their vocal mild sides. The Montre 16? shows itself very subtly without losing its tonal force. An outstanding stop is the Principale 8? of the Solo manual with its changing scale. It works very nicely in combination with the Voce humana. The separate wind supply of the 32? and 16? Pedal stops gives them remarkable speech in the room.
The 23 reed stops of the organ account for 25% of the stoplist. Not only trumpets and clairons belong to that group, but also five almost lyrical voices and the Chamades and the high pressure Tuba. Producing a highly differentiated and distinct sound is taken very seriously in the Mühleisen company. Many trumpet ensembles and various solo stops such as the Cromorne, Voix humaine, Clarinette and Basson-Hautbois make it a challenge for any organist to exhaust all the color possibilities. The Chamaden division with its Chamades 16?–4? resembles an “ultima ratio” to the tutti. The Tuba mirabilis seems in the British manner, darker and softer but still strong enough to add to the fortissimo of all other divisions. Another outstanding sound of a different kind is created by the Cor anglais of the Solo division. Its silken clarity reminds one of Ernest Skinner’s Orchestral Oboe. It is hard to understand why those fine stops are built so rarely nowadays.
The instrument also includes 13 string stops; two of them are celestes. This is a moderate number (14% of the overall stops), but nevertheless they are very characteristic in sound and can be used in many combinations. The Gamba of the Grande orgue is strong and precise, the Salicional of the Positif expressif soft, the Violon 16?, Geigenprincipal 8?, Gamba 8?, Aeoline 8?, Voix céleste and Violine 4? of the Récit expressif are all very distinct in sound. In the Pedal, the Contrebasse, Violon and Cello make a good ensemble. The presence of the Violon is impressive, its sound very clear.
Flutes make up 18.5% of the stoplist. Those 17 different colors are open, stopped or over-blowing pipes that have a progression in their scaling, following the French tradition to be used as solo voices. Some are built in the German tradition in order to blend and add color. In combination with string stops (for example, the Salicional and the Fl. traversière on the Positif expressif or the Gamba and the Flûte octaviante of the Récit expressif) they sound remarkably good.
The great number of mutations allows building a “Cornet décomposé” in all divisions except the Grande orgue, which has its own large Cornet. Taking a close look inside the Pedal division, one is strongly reminded of Oskar Walcker’s “Grand Bourdon.” The Großquinte (102?3?), Tercsept II (62?5?) and the Zinck III (51?3?) are able to underline the 32? and 16? sounds and have a great presence in the room.
An interesting steel-like, synthetic sounding voice is the Septnon of the Positif expressif, combined with Piccolo 1? and Tierce. The Solo division again follows Cavaillé-Coll’s idea of the “Clavier Bombarde” because its mutations (the Septième 22?7? included) are based on the 16? range. The large room handles all of this easily.
It would take ages in order to try and find all different kinds of registrations. To listen, the best seats are located on the opposite side of the room, in the balcony. It is even possible to hear calm noises or whispering from the console! Bravo to the great acoustics.

Successful joint venture
A great compliment must be given to both companies that have worked to create this wonderful instrument: the Organmanufactura Pécs Ltd. of Hungary and the organ building company Mühleisen of Leonberg, Germany. Both contributed their best creativity and skills. The outstanding quality of the Hungarian craftsmanship, creativity and motivated work attitude strongly supported the design work, organization and the voicing process by the Germans. It is quite probable that in the future, large organ projects will be given to companies that are willing to cooperate. Good communication and well-balanced work attitudes and standards are needed for these kinds of projects. It is of great importance to make agreements and also to draw close lines that each group has to stick to, in order to make things a “snug fit.” Too much back and forth, communicating about the same things all over again, would be too time-consuming. Prevoiced test pipes are hard to e-mail throughout Europe.

Coda
The new instrument of the Béla Bartók Hall in Budapest is definitely worth seeing and hearing. As a “Swabian from the Danube” with its French lifestyle, the instrument suits the great architecture. The inaugural concert featured four organists: Zsuzana Elekes, István Baróti, László Fassang, and Xavér Varnus on May 22, 2006. In June 2006, many internationally known concert organists played many concerts on the organ. Most of them used the detached, electrical console on the stage. Obviously, the possibility of playing in front of the audience is of more importance than the sensitive touch of the mechanical main console. But this also happens in other places, due to the fact that organists like to listen directly to their registrations in advance.
This is one sad aspect about designing and creating an instrument in two ways: having to face the fact that all the extra work and preparations are not honored. One could question the reason for the double construction. Shouldn’t one build symphonic organs completely electrically in the future, since there have been so many inventions lately that provide an almost mechanical touch? This thought obviously would not be the taste of many organ advisors.
Undoubtedly, the mechanical slider chest is a very good solution for smaller and middle-sized instruments. Luckily for recent German organ building, Cavaillé-Coll consequently built these chests during his work life. The primary wish at many times had been symphonic instruments by all means (with Barker levers or electric couplers that are rarely talked about). In the meantime, we can see that there are quite a few good German symphonic instruments from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. There are great instruments with cone chests, membrane chests or various electro-pneumatic inventions that are not mechanical slider chest systems.
However, many large organ projects are requested to have slider chests (single-lever keys preferred), Romantic, symphonic layouts and everything that goes with it. This creates many problems for the organ builder who often also must deal with poor acoustics. Not all mechanical chests have been of outstanding quality throughout the decades. Why do they appear to be the one and only solution? There are many ways to get to Rome, also many detours probably.
In Budapest, they definitely found the right path! And, stranger, if you go and visit this great instrument and get the chance to play, try the main console. Even if your footwork cannot seen by the audience, it is worth it!

Five manuals and pedal, 92 registers

I. Grande orgue
16? Montre
8? Principal
8? Flûte harmonique
8? Bourdon
8? Gamba
4? Praestant
4? Rohrflöte
22?3? Quinte
2? Superoctave
8? Cornet II–V
22?3? Mixtur V–VII
11?3? Cimbel IV–V
16? Trompete
8? Trompete
4? Trompete

II. Positif expressif
16? Quintatön
8? Principal
8? Fl. traversière
8? Cor de nuit
8? Salicional
8? Unda maris
4? Praestant
4? Flûte conique
22?3? Quinte
2? Doublette
13?5? Tierce
11?3? Larigot
1? Piccolo
11?7? Septnon II
2? Mixtur IV–VI
16? Basson
16? Dulzian
8? Trompette
8? Cromorne
8? Clarinette
Tremolo

III. Récit expressif
16? Violon
16? Gedeckt
8? Geigenprincipal
8? Flûte harmonique
8? Bourdon à cheminée
8? Gamba
8? Aeoline
8? Voix céleste
4? Violine
4? Flûte octaviante
22?3? Nazard
2? Octavin
13?5? Tierce
2? Progressio II–IV
2?3? Cymbale IV
16? Bombarde
8? Trompette harm.
8? Basson-Hautbois
8? Voix humaine
4? Clairon harm.
Tremolo

IV. Solo
16? Rohrbourdon
8? Principale
8? Konzertflöte
8? Voce humana
51?3? Nazard
4? Octave
31?5? Tierce
22?7? Septième
22?3? Sesquialtera II
2? Flûte
22?3? Plein jeu III–V
8? Cor anglais
8? Tuba mirabilis
V. Chamaden
16? Chamade
8? Chamade
4? Chamade

Pedal
32? Majorbass
32? Soubasse
16? Principalbass
16? Contrebasse
16? Soubasse
16? Violon
102?3? Großquinte
8? Octavbass
8? Gedackt
8? Cello
4? Octave
4? Tibia
62?5? Tercsept II
51?3? Zinck III
22?3? Mixtur IV
22?3? Compensum VII
32? Bombarde
16? Bombarde
16? Basson
8? Trompete
4? Clairon

Mechanical couplers (also electrically activated):
I+II, I+III, I+IV, II+III, II+IV, III+IV,
P+I, P+II, P+III, P+IV.
Electric couplers:
I+V, II+V, III+V, IV+V, P+V,
I+II 4?, I+II 16?, I+III 4?, I+III 16?, I+IV 4?, I+IV 16?, II+III 4?, II+III 16?, III+III 4?, III+III 16?, IV+IV 4?, IV+IV 16?, P+III 4?, P+IV 4?

Manuals I–IV and pedal: mechanical action.
Manual V, the 32? stops and 16? stops in the façade: electric action.
Manual chests are divided bass/treble for different wind pressures.
Mechanical attached keydesk.
Second electric console on the stage.
Programmable crescendo pedal.
Pleno, Tutti, and reeds are selectable/programmable.
Reeds, mixtures, and couplers available on roller crescendo pedal.
Swell shutter coordination available on crescendo pedal.
Priority switching between crescendo pedals on both consoles when being played simultaneously.
Cancel button for every division.
Selectable dividing point in pedal division of second console.
Sostenuto in all divisions.
Combination action with 5000 possible combinations; memory stick connectivity.
Playback and recording possibilities on both keydesks.

The University of Michigan Historic Organ Tour 50

Carl Parks

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

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

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

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

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

Leipzig

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

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

Thomaskirche

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

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

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

Nikolaikirche

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

Rötha

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

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

Gottfried Silbermann

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

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

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

Eisleben and Halle

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

Altenburg, Störmthal and Pomßen

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

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

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

Naumburg

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

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

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

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

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

Freiberg and Frauenstein

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

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

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

Dresden

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

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

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

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