Organ concerts take place in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Chapel on Wednesdays, from 12:05 pm to 12:35 pm.
Future concerts include:
November 2 ~ Leonardo Ciampa
Music of the 21st Century, Part I
November 9 ~ Leonardo Ciampa
Music of the 21st Century, Part II
November 16 ~ Christian Lane
Harvard University
For further information, e-mail [email protected].
In the September 2005 issue of The Diapason, I wrote about the destruction of a venerable pipe organ in a Boston church. E. & G. G. Hook’s Opus 253 of three manuals and 25 stops was built in 1859 and was destroyed on Tuesday, January 18, 2005, in a five-alarm fire that gutted the First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts. The response of firefighters was such that the parsonage (just a few feet from the church building) and the rest of the close urban neighborhood were preserved. But the church’s loss was deeply felt in the community and in the wider world of those who appreciate historic organs. [See also “In Memoriam E. & G. G. Hook, Opus 253 (1859–2005),” by Leonardo Ciampa, in the March 2005 issue of The Diapason.]
Many professional organists and organbuilders will argue that E. & G. G. Hook was among the finest organbuilding firms in the history of the art (See Photo 1: Hook factory). Under three different names (E. & G. G. Hook, E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings, and Hook & Hastings) the firm produced over 2,600 instruments in its more than 100-year history. The factory was located in Roxbury (another of Boston’s neighborhoods) on a site now occupied by Northeastern University, about two miles from Jamaica Plain. Until the Jamaica Plain fire, three of the seven surviving pre-Civil War Hook organs were located on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain within easy walking distance of one another. George Greenleaf Hook, the younger of the Hook brothers, lived less than two blocks up a side street from Centre Street. What a neighborhood!
Television news broadcasts carried the story while the fire was burning and Boston’s organ community crowded the phone lines. The church’s pastor, the Rev. Ashlee Wiest-Laird, was prominent in both television and newspaper reporting, assuring the congregation and the community that they would rebuild. The publicity surrounding the fire included much information about the organ, making it clear that the church was well aware of its importance and the heritage it represented. Mariko Irie, the church’s current organist, past organist Leonardo Ciampa, and local organist and friend of the congregation Lois Regestein all joined Pastor Wiest-Laird in asserting the intention that the rebuilding of the church would include the acquisition of a comparable organ to replace the loss. The smoke cleared and the dust settled. A double-wide trailer was installed on the church yard providing space for worship and meetings. Committees went to work to plan the rebuilding project. It became clear that the walls and steeple of the building could be retained, but the entire interior and roof would have to be replaced. (See Photo 2: First Baptist Church)
My work frequently takes me to New York, a city rich in great churches with wonderful organs and organists and outstanding music programs. The city is so crowded that outside the grand public parks there are few places where the actual earth is apparent through the pavement. It’s something of a surprise to see real dirt when walking past a water-main repair in progress. As such, there is precious little open land available in the city so real estate developers are perfecting the practice of adding high-rises on top of existing buildings. An institution such as a church can realize a powerful economic boost by selling air rights above their building.
In August of 2005 I received a call from The Rev. Dr. Edward Earl Johnson, pastor of the Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Harlem, on Fifth Avenue in New York City. His church was planning a large-scale renovation project stemming from the sale of their air rights and plans for construction of a large condominium development overhead. The back wall of the sanctuary would be drastically rebuilt to provide support for the new building—in the wall were the chambers that housed an old pipe organ they weren’t using any more. Could the Organ Clearing House help? The next time I was in the city, I visited Mt. Moriah, and what did I find but a three-manual organ built by E. & G. G. Hook & Hastings in 1872—the year that Frank Hastings was made a partner in the firm! (See Photo 3: Opus 668, Mt. Moriah Baptist Church)
Opus 668 was originally built for the Church of the Disciples on Madison Avenue in New York. It was moved to Mt. Moriah by Hook & Hastings early in the 20th century where it was installed in two chambers on either side of a choir loft above the preacher’s platform—a very unusual installation for a 19th-century tracker-action organ! Trackers assisted by a pneumatic Barker-lever machine ran more than 30 feet from the keydesk under the floor of the choir loft to the Swell division. A study of the organ’s building frames implies that the instrument was also originally installed in two locations—the free-standing structure that supports the remote Swell is “original equipment.”
I must admit that because of the unusual configuration of this organ, I had some trouble imagining how it might be relocated. But I promised Dr. Johnson that I would try to find a new home for the organ, took photographs and measurements, wrote down the stoplist, and posted the organ on the Organ Clearing House website as #2112. I gave it the headline, “the wonders of technology,” reflecting the presence of the Barker-lever machine that allowed the split installation. Look at a photo of the installation and you would never recognize this as a Hook organ. But glance at the stoplist and you’ll have no doubt. A call from Lois Regestein suggested that a colleague of hers had noticed the listing on the website and wondered if the organ might be a candidate to replace Opus 253 in Jamaica Plain. What a thought. If the organ had been installed twice in divided configurations, why couldn’t it be reworked into a more common layout and take its place in the neighborhood where it was built?
Great
16' Open Diapason
8' Open Diapason
8' Viola da Gamba
8' Gemshorn
8' Doppel Flute
4' Octave
3' Twelfth
2' Fifteenth
III Mixture
8' Trumpet
Swell
16' Bourdon
8' Open Diapason
8' Stopped Diapason
8' Viola
4' Violina
4' Flauto Traverso
2' Flautino
8' Cornopean
8' Oboe
Choir
8' Geigen Principal
8' Dulciana
8' Melodia
4' Flute d’Amour
2' Piccolo
8' Clarinet
Pedal
16' Open Diapason
16' Bourdon
8' Violon Cello
It was a poignant moment, gathering with pastor, organist, moderator, and parishioners in the temporary trailer in the shadow of the burned church building to discuss this exciting possibility. In March 2006 an agreement was signed between the First Baptist Church of Jamaica Plain and Mt. Moriah Baptist Church of New York for the purchase and sale of the organ. On April 24, 2006, the crew from the Organ Clearing House arrived in Harlem to dismantle the organ. One important detail remained. There were not even architectural plans for the rebuilding of the burned church. We needed a place to store the dismantled organ. It was Pastor Wiest-Laird who worked the magic. Earlier in the year a large church building on Centre Street had been vacated (the Casavant organ had been purchased by a parish in San Antonio, Texas and dismantled and shipped by the Organ Clearing House). While plans for the future use of the building were being developed, it would be available for the storage of the organ from Harlem. So just a few months after removing one organ, we placed another in storage in the same building!
Construction is under way at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church. Opus 668 is safely in storage in Jamaica Plain. The First Baptist Church is proceeding with their planning process. Stay tuned for future developments. Send your donations to:
The Organ Fund
Pastor Ashlee Wiest-Laird
The First Baptist Church
633 Centre Street
Jamaica Plain, MA 02130-2526
A year ago, Hurricane Katrina caused widespread destruction along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, especially in Mississippi and Louisiana. And in February of this year a series of fires, intentionally set, destroyed rural church buildings in Alabama. Laurence Libin, recently retired Curator of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and newly elected vice-president of the Organ Historical Society, responded by conceiving the Phoenix Project, an initiative of the OHS supported by the American Institute of Organbuilders and the Associated Pipe Organ Builders of America. This exciting project is for the purpose of placing “redundant” pipe organs in churches that have suffered such losses. If you know of such a church that needs a pipe organ, or of one that has an organ to give away, contact Laurence Libin at
As the Organ Clearing House is a good source for experienced pipe organs, Mr. Libin and I corresponded several times about the Phoenix Project. I would soon be in New York for the dismantling of the Mt. Moriah Hook organ, and I suggested we might get together. When I told him what I was up to, his deep appreciation of historic musical instruments got the better of him, and he volunteered to help. I told him to wear old clothes! He spent two days with us immersed in pipe organ preservation. In fact, he had pipe organ preservation all over him. If you haven’t seen it first hand, you cannot imagine how deep is the dirt in a pipe organ that has been sitting still for a hundred years in New York City. Walking through a hotel lobby at the end of the day creates quite a spectacle. (See Photo 4: Bishop and Libin)
When a pipe organ is made available “free to a good home,” there is almost always a string attached. The cost of relocating and renovating the organ is still there. The church that receives a free organ will likely have significant expense attached. However, that cost is typically competitive with the price of an electronic instrument, and but a fraction of the price of a new pipe organ. The Phoenix Project is a wonderful way for any church that has suffered loss through disaster to obtain a fine pipe organ.
I believe that I am safe in saying that many readers of The Diapason share a concept of an effective church music program. There is a choir of adults, perhaps another of children, perhaps another of teenagers. There is an organ, a piano or two, a library of anthems. The organist/music director plans programming and rehearses the choirs. The congregation is used to singing three or four hymns in the course of a service. Music is offered at regular worship services, festivals, funerals, and weddings. Get the picture?
There is a lot of talk and action these days about alternative forms of musical expression in public worship. Praise bands, folk instruments, and rock-and-roll have found their place in the church. It’s here to stay. Recently I was participating in a public forum about organ music, and an audience member asked what I thought about such new trends in church music. I answered that what we consider to be a traditional music program is what works for me, that I know that many churchgoers are spiritually fed by alternative and contemporary forms of church music, and that whatever music is offered in church as part of worship should be the very best it can be—that contemporary should not be synonymous with poor quality.
If you would like to hear public worship offered in a special language, I recommend the choir of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church, 2050 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York. You will hear a splendid Gospel choir—exquisitely trained, enthusiastic in their presentation, singing from memory, accompanied by a wizard on a Hammond organ. Terrific. They have toured churches in Brazil several times, and people come from far and wide to share their art. The night before we began dismantling the Hook & Hastings organ there, people from the First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain visited New York, shared a meal with the people of Mt. Moriah, and worshipped together. A wonderful witness of the work of the wide church, and testament to the work of a great organbuilder from another age.
When an organ builder creates an instrument for his alma mater, the stage is set for a career achievement and the conception of a work of art. Such was the case when Charles Fisk built his masterpiece at Stanford University. In the same spirit, Paul Fritts created the magnificent opus that was the centerpiece of an International Symposium entitled "The Organ in the New Millennium" at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.
This symposium was jointly sponsored by the Westfield Center and Loft Recordings of Seattle, Washington. It attracted organists and organ enthusiasts from all over the world. Scheduled events included four daily concerts, most of which were held at Lagerquist Hall in the new Mary Baker Russell music center at Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington.
"The Organ in the New Millennium" embraced multiple efforts to approach a fairly difficult subject. The participants had at their disposal an organ of the highest excellence, but no crystal ball. However, they proceeded to present their views of the transition between millennia in a series of panel discussions which served as a framework for the symposium.
As one might suspect, predictions for the future were plentiful and to some extent, easy come, easy go. Despite the more predictable questions and answers, only a few panelists and participants had the courage to say they didn't know what the future might hold, and even fewer had the fortitude to admit that they couldn't be sure what the organs of the 21st century might be like. All seemed to agree that the artistic expression of the organ builder's art was here to stay and that quality far outweighed quantity as a worthy goal. Roberta Gary of the University of Cincinnati exemplified the spirit of the conference when she recalled a "5 star experience" as she discovered the John Brombaugh organ at Ashland Avenue Baptist Church in Toledo, Ohio. Martin Pasi described the first time he experienced the revival in American organ building at the Fairchild Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio. It was plain to see that a well deserved "lifetime achievement award" was in the making for John Brombaugh.
How often the wisdom of elders comes out in storytelling. John Brombaugh related, in somewhat hilarious detail, learning to sing as a child. With characteristic nonchalance, he claimed that he "never quite made it to soloist," because he "couldn't make his voice wiggle." However, he learned that the art of singing is the art of music, that the organ is a musical instrument, first and foremost, and that the organ must sing if it is to be musical. All agreed that "making pipes sing was much more important than making them hum." Hopefully, the reader will note that this was not a dry discussion of "historically informed" musicology, but a spirited outpouring of what the organ meant to these major players and builders of our time, mirth notwithstanding.
During the four-day course of the event, some seven recitals and fifty-four compositions were played on the three-manual, 54-stop Fritts organ. (See the June issue, pp. 1 and 19 for description and specification.) The presentation of this instrument, along with important organs of John Brombaugh in Tacoma, and Martin Pasi in Lynnwood, Washington, provided proof positive that outstanding organ building is alive and well in Washington State. Quentin Faulkner of the University of Nebraska at Lincoln commented that, "the Pacific Northwest builders are in the process of creating a new organ type that will not merely incorporate, but will fuse the previous organ styles that feed into it, and thus will transcend all of them." He stated that "There is of course an element of risk in such an undertaking, but also an immense amount of excitement and adventure . . . in leading the organ into a new age!"
What will the organ of this new age be like? This concentration of recitals gave the symposium participants a preview of the new directions a historically derived organ might take. In this case, the sum of the concert series seemed to be greater than each part. Far from being worn down, this listener attained new heights of perception with each recital and most fortunately the last concert was as fresh as the first. The scope of musical styles was panoramic. There was an almost symphonic element to the progression of concerts as it continued over this four-day period. David Dahl's opening recital served as an overture to the week's events with an exposition of the organ's considerable capabilities. Professor Dahl's 30-year career at Pacific Lutheran University is obviously capped by the installation of this magnificent organ. His opening recital gave him the opportunity to breathe life into the week's events with a highly varied program that included "A diverse suite" of some 13 composers, spanning time periods from 1583 (Frescobaldi) to the present (Cindy McTee and the late William Albright). It is interesting to note that Dahl has served as advisor for more than 30 pipe organ projects in the last 40 years and on the eve of his retirement was able to bring about the installation this superb instrument in his own university.
Hatsumi Miura, organist of Yokohama Mirato Mirai Hall in Japan, presented a program of 20th-century music which developed the theme of "new directions" and demonstrated the broad capabilities of this organ. She began symbolically enough, with A Prophecy for Organ, by Daniel Pinkham and ended with the cheerful Salamanca of Guy Bovet.
Margaret Irwin-Brandon, organist of the Unitarian Universalist Society in Springfield, Massachusetts, broadened the palette with fantasias and baroque transcriptions that introduced the listener to the lyric qualities of the instrument. She seemed to play the organ like a violin, rather than a Steinway and encouraged the audience to listen with their whole attention. To heighten their awareness of the sound of the organ, she invited listeners to move about the hall at will, throughout the concert program--a fairly brave thing to do, when you consider the sight of somber "ghost walkers," slowly treading from nook to cranny of the room. Her final presentation of Arvo Pärt's Annum per Annum was thwarted by the failure of one of the power supplies in the organ. This necessitated some quick thinking on her part to save the piece. It turned out that the rapid-fire computerized pyrotechnics of the "sequencer" overwhelmed a 5 cent fuse. Such is the irony of high technology when applied to an ancient form.
After these diverse presentations of organ literature, Peter Sykes, organist of First Congregational Church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave a bravura performance of the Poulenc Concerto in G Minor and Maurice Duruflé's Requiem. This vocal repertoire brought additional awareness of the musical qualities of the organ. Rather than competing with the orchestra and choir, it seemed to expand tonal sonorities. Of particular note was the effectiveness of the Kellner temperament in providing a foundation for orchestra and choir. The pure chords underlying the choral passages of the Requiem hushed the audience and heightened the sanctity and depth of the music. Throughout this performance the listener was introduced to a kind of feminine nobility that few organs possess. Beyond power, this organ has profundity and lyricism.
Craig Cramer, of Notre Dame University, presented Bach's partitas, trios and chorales and revealed more of the intimate qualities of the organ and the hall. Again, the listener could not ignore the fact that the organ wanted to be played like a violin, rather than a mega-piano. And ever mindful of the possibility of finding the best seat in the house, this lowly scribe positioned himself behind a chair that is permanently reserved for the donor of the hall, Mary Baker Russell. An amazing discovery was a sharp slap echo that could heard there and nowhere else. Could it be that she has the worst seat in the house?
By the sixth recital, one would think that every stop in the organ would have been heard once, twice or even thrice. Nevertheless, William Porter of the New England Conservatory scored a direct hit with his improvisation on O dass ich tausend Zungen hätte (Oh, that I Had a Thousand Tongues). Yes, he played the thousand tongues of the rich reed choruses of the organ which, in this writer's opinion, take their place amongst the best reeds in any organ, anywhere. There simply are not enough superlatives to describe the perfection embraced in these reeds. John Brombaugh once remarked that the best reeds contain both fire and ice--that the blaze of sound has to include some measure of restraint or reserve as well as bravado. Paul Fritts has achieved this quality in his reeds.
The stage was set for the last movement in this symphony of concerts. Martin Rost is organist of the 1659 Stellwagen organ in St. Mary's Church, Stralsund, Germany, which provided the inspiration for this organ. The Stellwagen and Fritts organs share the same lofty structure and noble authority--the Stalsund casework is enhanced with enormously imposing even magisterial statues, while the Fritts carvings display busty gargoyles, introverted sculptures and a few insects and other artifacts of the Pacific Northwest. Rost proferred a freshly revised concert featuring the music of Scheidemann, Ritter, Köhler, Brahms and Mendelssohn. He hushed the audience with the softest stops on the organ and rendered the Brahms Chorales with magic as well as spirituality. He closed the symposium concerts with the Mendelssohn Sonata in C minor, giving an air of restraint and modesty, like a Mozartean cadence. The crowd went wild with a standing ovation.
One must make the inevitable comparison with the Westfield Center sponsored "Historical Organ in America" at Tempe, Arizona in 1992. (See reports in The Diapason, June, 1992, pp. 10-12, by Herbert L. Huestis, and July, 1992, pp. 12-13, by Rudolf Zuiderveld.) What were the similarities and differences between these two gatherings? The Arizona conference featured the documented work of a dozen organ builders and opened up the lines of technical communications in an entirely new way. Trade secrets gave way to genuine "help lines" from one organ builder to another. This meeting was collegial and convivial in the same way as the Arizona conference, but lacked the documentation that was presented by the same group of organ builders seven years ago. Despite presentations made by such luminaries as Christopher Kent of the University of Reading, England and Hans Davidsson of the University of Göteborg in Sweden, there seemed to be more opinion than hard data.
However, the sheer number of concerts provided the opportunity for the organ literature to speak for itself as it related to this splendid Paul Fritts organ. An incredible variety of organ music was played during this session. It seemed that the organists who presented recitals took great care with the literature they brought to the organ. Few if any compromises were made, and almost all the music that was played worked well on the organ. (One cannot help but note the exception of César Franck.)
It seemed like a good opportunity to look at just how wide a range of music could be played on an organ that was built on a historical "platform," but was obviously an instrument of tremendous flexibility. In the space of four days, seven recitals were presented with a total of 54 selections drawn from 400 years of organ literature. It is interesting to note that of all the music performed, thirty percent was from the 17th century, another 30 percent from the 18th century, 7 percent from the 19th century and an astounding 26 percent from the 20th century. Two of the seven concerts featured music that was exclusively contemporary. This organ speaks to our own time with the same authority as the age of J.S. Bach. This is no small accomplishment and demands a very broad flexibility in both voicing and tonal development. Another aspect of interest was the unique ability of this organ to accompany choir and orchestra. The tonal palette of the organ was every bit as varied as any orchestral color and the Kellner temperament provided a resonance that is unknown in most orchestra halls.
This symposium provided absolute proof that historically inspired organs can attain tremendous flexibility for the performance of the repertoire. The Fritts organ was not at all restrictive, as an analysis of the recital content will show. It is capable of playing a very big slice of organ literature, very well.
Three events occurred off campus, in "must see" venues that provided some of the most inspiring music and worship experiences of the symposium. Mark Brombaugh of the United Church on the Green, New Haven, Connecticut, presented a recital on the milestone organ built by his brother John at Christ Church in Tacoma, Washington. David Dahl has spent his long career at Christ Church along with his post at Pacific Lutheran University. To a very great extent, the sublime achievement of Paul Fritts at PLU can be directly linked to the inspiration provided by John Brombaugh's milestone organ at Christ Church. It is an understatement to say that they are cut of the same cloth. Mark's recital was dedicated to his father Burlin Brombaugh, who was present at the symposium. The central feature of this recital was a commissioned work on his father's favorite Spanish Hymn in honor of his 90th birthday.
A joint recital by Melvin Butler and Roger Sherman, both of St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle, provided the opportunity to hear Messiaen and Franck, among other composers, in the newly renovated cathedral space. The 1965 Flentrop organ illustrates the long lasting values acclaimed at the symposium. In his opening remarks, Roger Sherman recounted the time that the cathedral vestry was presented with two proposals for a new organ by Dirk Flentrop. The organ builder had suggested a modest organ as an alternative to the lofty instrument that now stands in the cathedral. The dean's reasoning for selecting the magnificent organ that has provided a musical legacy to the city for the last 30 years: they didn't have the money for either one!
A final event was the participation of the symposium group in worship at Trinity Lutheran Church in Lynnwood, Washington. This solid, working class church is the home of a new organ recently built by Martin Pasi of Roy, Washington. Rodney Gehrke, organist of St. Mark's Lutheran Church in San Francisco, presided at the organ for the service and was assisted by a vocal quartet from Pacific Lutheran University. The symposium participants were enthusiastic to be sure and were matched by parishioners note for note and word for word as they fervently sang the hymns and service music. One could not help but observe that "richening up" the music worked so much better than "dumbing it down!" The performance of all this music suggested that the impact of this symposium was not so much its forecast for the future, but the presentation of what was possible in the organ music of the 21st century. The panel discussions were infused with humor as well as platitudes and serious presentations and readings of papers. Perhaps the greatest impact was provided by the "who," as well as the "what," and "why." The closing of the international circle of organ builders was amply demonstrated in the remarks of two European organ builders present, John Mander of London and Kristian Wegscheider of Dresden. It was clear that they felt the Americans, in their revival of the historic organ, had taken knowledge gained from the European masters to new heights and that here at Pacific Lutheran University "a circle of learning" was completed when they took this information back to the continent.
All that aside, the raconteurs carried the day when it came to preparing for the new millennium. The subject of "Cincinnati" had come up in John Brombaugh's remarks, and Roberta Gary quoted that city's most revered citizen, Samuel Clemens, who said that if the end of the world came in his lifetime, he wanted to be in Cincinnati, because everything happened ten years later there. Could it be, that like the celebrated Mark Twain, organ builders will always seek values that last longer than the fashion of the day? If this meeting is any indication, the future of the organ is in good hands in the 21st century.
John Collins has been playing and researching early keyboard music for over 35 years, with special interests in the English, Italian, and Iberian repertoires. He has contributed many articles and reviews to several American and European journals, including The Diapason, and has been organist at St. George’s, Worthing, West Sussex, England for almost 26 years.
In 2010 there are several composers for organ from the 16th to 18th centuries whose anniversaries can be commemorated, albeit only some of the dates are certain. Many of the names listed here will not be well known, but their compositions are well worth exploring and many are suitable for both liturgical and recital use. Although the dances and variations were destined primarily for the harpsichord and clavichord, they would have also been played on the domestic chamber organ—even performance on a church organ can sound most effective when using carefully selected stops based on clarity, rather than thick diapasons. From the 16th century onwards, publishers had an eye for commercial exploitation and frequently included multiple instrumental possibilities on the title pages! This list makes no claim to completeness, but the compiler has copies of almost everything here, although it is entirely possible that some items are out of print and would have to be consulted in libraries.
Antonio de Cabezón (1510–66). Leading 16th-century Spanish composer for keyboard. Several of his works (including 14 tientos, some 15 hymns, and two short diferencias or variations) were published in Venegas de Henestrosa’s Libro de Cifra Nueva (1557), which includes important comments on performance practice, including ornaments and fingering; modern edition by Higinio Anglés in two volumes (Groen’s catalogue mentions a reprint in four volumes) for Monumentos de la Música Española. The posthumous Obras de Música para Tecla, Arpa y Vihuela, published by his son Hernando in 1578 (which also includes invaluable comments on performance practice), contains much liturgical music; after four duos and five pieces in three parts headed “for beginners,” there follow 11 hymns, sets of four versos, four fabordones, six (on the second, third and fifth tones) or seven verses on the Magnificats, and four Kyries on each of the eight tones, in addition to 14 tientos, nine diferencias, a setting of Duinsela, and over 40 glosadas (intabulations) in up to six parts, including four by Hernando, one by Juan de Cabezón, and one anonymous. A modern edition in three volumes excluding the glosadas is edited by Anglés and published by Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. A new edition is in preparation, edited by Claudio Astronio for Ut Orpheus. The glosadas have been edited by Maria Ester Sala for Union Musical Ediciones. A few pieces in MS 242 at Coimbra published in Portugaliae Musica Vol. XIX have tentatively been assigned to de Cabezón, although the ascription to A.C. may well have meant Antonio Carreira, the leading Portuguese organist of the 16th century.
Ercole Pasquini (ca. 1560–1620). Organist in Verona and Rome, from which post he was apparently dismissed in 1608. He left over 30 pieces in MSS (none autograph), including six toccatas (some with interesting rhythmic patterns in the note groupings), ten canzonas, one fuga, sets of variations including Ruggiero, two on Romanesca and two Pass è Mezzi, an intabulation of Ancor che co’l partire, a sonata, a gagliarda, and the earliest known examples of two durezze and two correnti. Collected edition by W. Richard Shindle, published by American Institute of Musicology, Corpus of Early Keyboard Music 12.
Peter Philips (ca. 1560–1628). Spent much time in Italy, Spain, France, and Belgium, where he died in Brussels. Left some 34 compositions, including pavans, galliards, three fantasias, 15 intabulations of madrigals, and a set of 10 verses on Veni Sancte Spiritus. Nineteen pieces, mainly dances and intabulations, are to be found in the Fitzwilliam Virginal Book Vol. 1. A further eight pieces, including an almande, pavana, fantasia, four intabulations, and the setting of Veni Sancte Spiritus, are edited by John Harley for Stainer & Bell’s Early Keyboard Music K40. The complete keyboard works, edited by David Smith, are in Musica Britannica, Vol. 75.
Hieronymus Praetorius (1560–1629) was organist of the Jakobikirche in Hamburg. He left a large corpus of organ music in the Visby MS, of which the eight Magnificat cycles bear his name. Ascribed to him with some certainty from the same MSS are 19 hymn cycles (of Latin hymns) and 10 Kyrie cycles as well as four sequence cycles, a setting of Psalm 113, of the German Magnificat using the Tonus Peregrinus, and two recently discovered lengthy chorale fantasias, on Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam and Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist. All of these pieces have been edited by Klaus Beckmann in three volumes for Schott (ED 9581–9583).
Johann Benn (ca. 1590–1660) worked in Messkirch (Baden) and Lucerne, and left seven ricercars and two canzonas in a MS now in the BL. A modern edition by R. Schächer is published by Cornetto Verlag (CP342).
Pedro de Tafalla (1606–1660) was organist at El Escorial, Spain, where his three known compositions for organ are preserved. They include a Tiento lleno on the 2nd Tone, a Medio registro alto on the 2nd Tone, and a Tiento de dos tiples on the 7th Tone. They have been published recently by Ediciones Escurialenses in Música para órgano (siglo XVII) Volume 1-1, which also includes works by Diego de Torrijos and Cristóba1 de San Jerónimo, available from Tritó, Barcelona.
Henri Dumont (1610–84). Born in Belgium, Dumont became organist at St-Paul in Paris and left 17 pieces, including 11 allemandes, one courante, one pavane, and four préludes. Modern edition P. Bonfils, Editions Musicales de la Schola Cantorum et de la Procure Générale de Musique, L’organiste Liturgique 13.
Bernardo Pasquini (1637–1710). Organist in Rome and teacher of Zipoli, Casini, Georg Muffat, composer of over 200 pieces for keyboard conserved in four main MSS, covering all the main genres (17 suites, a few individual dance movements, about 30 short arias, over 35 toccatas, two capriccii, a fantasia, three canzone), one fuga, four ricercari (one of which runs to 345 bars), four sonatas, 22 variations (including four passacagli), and including over 300 versos and 14 sonatas for one and a further 14 for two instruments with just a figured bass. Available in seven volumes, edited by Maurice Brook Haynes, published by American Institute of Musicology, Corpus of Early Keyboard Music 5—this edition is unfortunately very unreliable but does group the works by genres. The far more accurate new Italian edition in seven volumes—which, after volume one that contains an Introduzione and Pastorale, and 60 versetti, all taken from a newly discovered MS in Bologna, follows the haphazard groupings of the (mainly autograph) MSS—is available from Libreria Musicale (www.libreria musicale.com). A facsimile edition of the Landsberg MS has been edited by Emer Buckley in two parts plus CD, published by Anne Fuzeau Classique (www.
editions-classique.com).
Alessandro Scarlatti (1660–1725). Better known for his sacred and secular vocal music, he left many toccatas in MSS, most of which are multi-movement (with some loose fugues as well as dance movements), including lengthy sets of variations on the Folia. Some toccatas are retrospective, others are forward-looking, with many dissonant clashes and lengthy passages of chords to be arpeggiated. An excellent new edition by Andrea Macinanti and Francesco Tasini with a most illuminating introduction on performance is published in five volumes by Ut Orpheus: Alessandro Scarlatti, Complete Works for Keyboard, Vols. 1–5, Ut Orpheus AS 01–AS 05; <www.utorpheus.com>.
Johann Kuhnau (1660–1722) worked in Leipzig and published two sets of seven suites (the first set in major, the second in minor keys, also including a sonata in B-flat), seven sonatas in from three to seven movements, and a set of six sonatas that are multi-movement programmatic pieces entitled Biblical Histories. All are available in facsimile, published by SPES. The edition by Moser for Denkmäler deutscher Tonkunst volume 1/4 is out of print, but a new edition in two volumes has been edited by C. Harris in Art of the Keyboard Vol. 6 for Broude Brothers: Johann Kuhnau: The Collected Works for Keyboard, ed. C. David Harris; AOK 6, 2 volumes; Broude Brothers Limited (www.broude.us/Catalogues/EarlyMusic2006.pdf). The Biblical Sonatas are available separately, AOK 6C.
Christian Witte (ca. 1660–1717), organist in Altenburg, left about 20 pieces in MSS, including suites, preludes, fugues, three chorale preludes, and ciaconas; a passacaglia on D-C-Bb-A with 30 variations was formerly attributed to J. S. Bach. A modern edition of 12 pieces has been edited by Laura Cerutti for Armelin (www.armelin.it) in two volumes (AMM 026/053), of which the pieces best suited to organ are in volume 2. Three pieces from the Mylau Tablaturbuch are edited by John R. Shannon for American Institute of Musicology, Corpus of Early Keyboard Music 39. A capriccio in the Andreas Bach Book has been edited by Robert Hill for Harvard University Press: Keyboard Music from the Andreas Bach Book and the Moller Manuscript, ed. Robert Hill; Harvard University Press (www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog/HILMUS.html).
Georg Leyding (1665–1710) studied with Reincken and Buxtehude and became Jakob Bölsche’s successor at Braunschweig. He left three praeludia, a chorale prelude on Wie schön leucht uns, and a set of six chorale variations on Von Gott will ich nicht lassen, which have been edited by Klaus Beckmann for Breitkopf & Härtel: Georg Dietrich Leyding, Organ Works (EB 8405) (www.breitkopf.com).
Vicent Rodríguez (1690–1760) was organist at Valencia Cathedral, successor to the great Cabanilles. In MSS he left a Libro de Tocatas (30) for harpsichord and a few pieces for organ including a fantasia, six tocatas (several of these are pieces for the clarines or trumpet stops and are much lighter in style than those by Cabanilles), and a partido. New edition by Águeda Pedrero for Tritó edicions (www.trito.es). Ten versos sobre Pange Lingua have been edited by Vicente Ros and included in Música de Tecla Valenciana Vol. 5.
Thomas Arne (1710–78). Left Six favourite concertos for organ, harpsichord or piano-forte published ca. 1787, which may be performed without the accompanying parts; edited by Robin Langley for OUP; and Gwilym Beechey has edited the organ solos from the concerti for Peters (H 1544). Arne also published a set of Eight Sonatas or Lessons for the harpsichord in 1756, facsimile edition edited by Beechey and Dart for Stainer & Bell K27.
Thomas Gladwin (1710–99). Worked in London, where he published Eight Lessons for the Harpsichord or Organ, three of which have violin accompaniment, in the 1750s. Facsimile edition of these two-movement pieces has been published by Jacks, Pipes and Hammers; <www.
btinteret.com/~edjacksph/pub.htm>.
Giuseppe Paganelli (1710–63). Worked in Venice, Bayreuth, Munich, and Madrid, where he may have succeeded D. Scarlatti. He published XXX Ariae pro organo et cembalo in 1756, facsimile edition in Minkoff, and edited by M. Machella for Armelin AMM163. He also published in 1757 Amusement for the fair sex or Six sonatines for the harpsichord, modern edition by Laura Cerutti for Cornetto Verlag (CP388). Three further sonatas are included in volumes 2, 3, and 4 of the Haffner Raccolta. Facsimile edition of volumes 2 and 3 in Raccolta musicale… Bibliotheca Musica Bononiensis IV/56 Bologna.
Wilhelm Friedemann Bach (1710–84). Oldest son of Johann Sebastian, he left relatively few keyboard works, most of which sound best on the clavichord, including eleven sonatas, eight fugues, twelve polonaises, ten fantasias, seven chorale preludes, and eight fugues from isolated MSS, in addition to pieces in the Notebook for W F Bach compiled by Johann Sebastian. The eight fugues have been edited by Paul Simmonds and Mike Daniels (www.paulsimmonds.com/publications/php) and published by themselves. They are also included in volume 1 of the organ works edited by Traugott Fedke for Edition Peters in two volumes (vol. 2 includes the chorale preludes and some more fugues). A new complete edition of the keyboard music in two volumes (vol. 1 just published) is in progress for Carus Verlag (Carus 32.001, 32.002). Best suited to the organ are the fugues and chorale preludes.
Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (1710–36) is better known for his operas and sacred music, but three organ sonatas are included in Splendori del ’700 Napoletano Vol 1. and one in Vol. 2, edited by Maurizio Machella for Armelin as AMM 161 and AMM 240 (www.armelin.it). Many pieces formerly attributed to him in 18th-century sources have now been identified as being by other composers—the one certain thing about Pergolesi is that he died young!
Many of the publishers mentioned have their own websites and accept orders from anywhere; the following would supply “one-stop shopping” for orders from more than one publisher, although they themselves would have to order titles from many of the smaller publishers, including the Spanish and Italian.
Jacks Pipes and Hammers: <www.jackspipesandhammers.com>
Saul Groen: <http://saulgroen.nl>
Sheetmusicplus: <www.sheetmusic plus.com>
Other individual publishers’ sites include:
Edicion Tritó: <www.trito.es>; especially useful for Spanish scores
Corpus of Early Keyboard Music: <www.corpusmusicae.com/cekm>.
This article is a considerably expanded version of a list originally published in British Clavichord Society Newsletter 46.
We watch our car’s odometer approach 100,000 miles. It seems like an important milestone, but we’re distracted by traffic, go into a different train of thought, and miss the great event. It reads 100,002.3 and we never felt a thing.
Ten years ago we were anticipating the start of a new millennium. As the year 2000 approached we were told that the language of computer programming did not allow for calendar years above 1999—that we should expect computers all over the world to crash at midnight on January 1. Enough people nervously withdrew money from ATMs that the banking system published concern about the supply of cash. We didn’t even know how we would say what year it was. What would we say, two-oh-oh-one, aught-one, the aughts, the Ohs? Some people planned to be in an airplane at the stroke of twelve, others assured us that the computer-driven air-traffic-control system would collapse at that moment.
And what do you suppose happened? Nothing. My computer kept working as did my alarm clock and microwave oven. I have not met a single person who has any trouble saying what year it is. Planes kept flying and landed safely and the ATM still spat out stacks of twenties. The clock struck twelve, the mouse ran down, hickory-dickory-dock.
We tend to mark our progress in big blocks. If the Baroque era ended in 1750, what did Händel (1685–1759) do for the last nine years of his life? The boundaries are muddy. We do this with the history of the pipe organ. The beginning of the 20th century brought electric action and orchestral playing. The second half of the 20th century was The Revival when some of us got excited about historic performance practices and tracker-action organs, and others felt upset and disenfranchised. A hundred years from now, what will our successors say about the beginning of the 21st century? What would we like them to say? How can we influence that? How do we assess the present state of the art? And most importantly, how do we assure its health and growth so that later generations will have something significant from our body of work to study and assess?
Eighty years ago, more than 2,000 new pipe organs were completed by American organbuilders each year. Now it’s more like 40 or 50. I don’t know how many digital instruments are installed each year now, but I suspect the number balances with the century-old total of pipe organs. We’ve noted and discussed at length the decline of the number of serious students of the organ, and we have watched in horror as venerable educational institutions close their organ departments.
The true test of the state of things is the response of the public. How many laypeople—those who are not professional organists or organbuilders—make it a point to attend organ recitals? I have sat in many a grand church listening to a great musician play a marvelous organ—sharing the thrall with only 30 or 40 other music lovers. At the height of his career, E. Power Biggs noted that twice as many Americans attended concerts of classical music than professional sporting events. Do you think that’s the case today?
All these things are related. While most pipe organs are unique, I suppose that thousands of churches may have identical digital instruments—an organ committee might opt for “no pickles,” but otherwise the choice is pretty limited. I know that many people think this is a good thing—McDonald’s and Starbucks would not be successful otherwise—but I can’t believe that such institutional sameness contributes to the growth of this or any art.
For the second month in a row I refer to the excellent article “Repertoire in American Organ Recitals 1995–2005” by Moo-Young Kim published in the October 2006 issue of The American Organist. Dr. Kim analyzed 249 recital programs totaling 1689 selections as published in TAO. Using statistics and pie-charts, he showed how limited in originality is our recital programming. Is this related to the disappointing attendance at so many organ recitals?
The performance of historic repertoire will always be central to the art of the pipe organ, and each serious player has ambitions about which pieces are next on the practice schedule. This is a good thing. But it’s the art of improvisation that distinguishes the organ. How thrilling for the first time concertgoer to hear the mighty instrument as the vehicle for the creation of new music, right here, right now. What a celebration of human genius! (I’m reminded of Gjon Mili’s time-lapse photograph of Picasso drawing a bull with a flashlight—a masterpiece of the moment—you can see it at
Ours is heralded as the age of communication. International news is instant, a CD or sweater ordered online today is in our hands tomorrow, and we have a fit if a Fed-Ex package is six hours late. We send what we think is an important e-mail and wonder why it hasn’t been answered four hours later. (Is it just possible that our correspondent wasn’t at home? What, no BlackBerry?) But if we limit our understanding of communication to these amazing technological advances, we will fail our art. You cannot communicate the art of the pipe organ by beaming between handhelds.
Here’s the good news. There may not now be many new pipe organs built each year, but most of them are glorious and unique works of art. And hundreds more projects are accomplished each year restoring older instruments to their full artistic potential. Some schools are closing organ departments, but others are revitalizing theirs. Young organists are still taught to base their playing on good scholarship, but as a foundation, not an end. After all, it is about the music. Playing the organ is not a parlor trick—it’s a thrilling vehicle for the expression of an artist and for an audience to experience and absorb.
In what sometimes seems an atmosphere of gloom, I’ve always felt that the pipe organ has a significant future in our society, and my optimism is rewarded as I recently had the privilege to make association with what promises to become an important center of the study of the organ. The University of Oklahoma (OU) has a long tradition of excellence in organ teaching—that is where Mildred Andrews Boggess taught many of today’s finest organists during her 38-year tenure. Now a fresh wind is blowing in tornado country as John Schwandt has joined the faculty of the OU School of Music to lead an exciting new teaching program.
Brainchild of Dr. Schwandt and his long-time friend, theatre organ specialist Clark Wilson, the American Organ Institute has been founded to lift up and celebrate American contributions organbuilding and organ playing. The philosophy behind the institute is to unite the worlds of the classical and theatre pipe organ, advancing the art by emphasizing improvisation in all genres along with the performance of the classical repertoire. A fresh curriculum will include courses in arranging, computer notation, and multiple styles of composition—a return to the classic concept of the complete organist: one-third performance, one-third improvisation, one-third composition.
An integral part of the institute will be the establishment of a fully equipped and staffed pipe organ workshop on campus. This unique facility will be home to the restoration of an important instrument recently acquired by the university for the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall at the School of Music and will allow students the opportunity for hands-on experiences with organbuilding, even to providing pipe organ maintenance services for the general area, an area not as yet saturated with experienced organbuilders. The next generation of organ students can be well-versed with knowledge of organ history and construction, and the next generation of organbuilders can be well-versed with knowledge of organ playing and composition.
There will be three degree tracks (Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts), each allowing flexible emphasis of applied studies to include classic and theatre organ playing as well as organbuilding. Significantly, the institute enjoys the enthusiastic support of University of Oklahoma President David Boren, Dean Eugene Enrico of the OU Weitzenhoffer Family College of Fine Arts, and Dr. Steven Curtis, director of the School of Music, who are working to build the foundation for this refreshing and innovative approach to the study of the organ.
The School of Music is housed in the Catlett Music Center on the north end of the campus, the entrance to which is a striking contemporary space of cathedral proportions. The Morris R. Pitman Recital Hall and the Paul F. Sharp Concert Hall both open off this grand space as does a corridor leading to the classrooms and teaching studios. This “lobby” is called the Grace B. Kerr Gothic Hall and is home to the Mildred Andrews Boggess Memorial Organ, C. B. Fisk’s Opus 111 (go to
Just a minute—that organ is already in place, and I referred to a “recently acquired organ” that will be installed in Sharp Hall. Ah, the other shoe drops. In the April 2005 and November 2006 issues of this column in The Diapason, I have written about M. P. Möller’s Opus 5819, the massive and singular instrument originally built for the Philadelphia Civic Center. Go to
The organ was stored next door in another large convention hall slated for demolition at a date that was suddenly and significantly accelerated by the needs of the hospital construction. This news was a shock—another demolition deadline—we were going to have to rescue the organ for a second time. In the November 2006 issue, I wrote wistfully about it sitting in storage, looking more like an industrial wasteland than a work of art. But—thanks be—I can say now that as I wrote I knew that a zephyr was over the horizon—a breath of amazing promise. John Schwandt had come over the bow looking for a significant concert organ around which to build the American Organ Institute. Oh boy—have we got the organ for you! (See photo: theatre console, classic console, automatic roll-player.)
It seemed too good to be true. Here’s a huge organ with two consoles, virtually the only large extant instrument expressly intended as both a classic concert organ and a theatre organ with “all the bells and whistles,” drums, cymbals, toys. And there’s a new venue for the teaching of organ playing of all styles.
Meanwhile, the administrators at Penn were preparing to demolish their building, and engaged me in a complicated conversation about what to do with the organ. They were less than entranced with the idea of funding another moving project, but having gone to considerable—really considerable—expense to dismantle, pack, and store it, they were committed to its preservation. When Dr. Schwandt and OU came into view with the possibility of a new home for the organ where it would be properly restored and used as part of a significant educational program, there started a whirlwind of conversations between the two universities. We all have experience with large bureaucracies moving slowly, but picture this. In just four weeks, OU expressed interest in the organ, Penn agreed to make it a gift, and the myriad political and legal details were worked out. Two other important and usual hurdles were instantly checked off—funds were immediately available to move the organ, and first-class space was immediately available in which to store it. The Organ Clearing House lined up a fleet of five semi-trailers, and the 120,000-pound organ was moved to Oklahoma, two days ahead of Penn’s demolition schedule. Yikes! Go to
While we were dismantling the organ a couple years ago, Brant Duddy (Philadelphia area organ technician who had tuned the Civic Center organ for many years) gave me a recording of the recital played on the Civic Center organ by Tom Hazleton for the 1992 convention of the American Theatre Organ Society. Along with several traditional barnburners (high on the list of favorites in Dr. Kim’s TAO article!) is Hazleton’s medley of tunes from Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. What a wonderful way to introduce a venerable organ to its new home. And a quiet aside: Once the organ was in storage, I was in touch with Mr. Hazleton to ask about his experience with it. He was enthusiastic about its preservation and promised to help find it a new home. I asked him for an interview thinking that would enhance a column someday, but before the scheduled date arrived I heard of his death.
Late one evening while the Organ Clearing House was in Norman delivering the organ, Dr. Schwandt played the Fisk organ for us, weaving a creative tapestry around Richard Rodgers’ place-appropriate theme. As the music reverberated in the darkness, I reflected on the magic of improvisation—how a mystery becomes reality, and how important that concept is to the history of organ music. Like Picasso’s bull it’s gone as soon as it’s over, perhaps to be recreated tomorrow but never to be repeated. Improvisation must be the best tool to convince the public that the pipe organ is not just a relic of an earlier age but a vital participant in today’s culture. A fresh vision, a fresh approach, and the rebirth of a renowned institution and a venerable instrument combine to bring new energy to the work of organists and organbuilders across the country.
If you think this is “just another big Möller organ,” take my word for it: There is no other organ like it. It’s simply spectacular—an American monument of artistry in concept and craftsmanship in execution. I hope you’ll join me in Norman when it’s first played there. It’s fun to imagine that future music historians will notice Opus 5819’s rebirth as a significant event. You young students of the organ, here’s the website of the Office of Admission at the OU School of Music: ''
Alexander Fiseisky, born in Moscow, is one of the most famous and influential organists in Russia. He graduated with distinction from the Moscow Conservatoire as pianist and organist. He is an organ soloist of the Moscow State Philharmonic Society, head of the organ class at the Russian Gnessins’ Academy of Music in Moscow, and president of the Vladimir Odoyevsky Organ Center. He organized and served as artistic director for organ festivals in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, and Tallinn, among others. In 1997 he was honored by President Yeltsin with the title ‘Honoured Artist of the Russian Federation’. Fiseisky has given concerts in more than 30 countries. In the Bach Anniversary Year of 2000 he played J. S. Bach’s entire organ works, twice in the context of EXPO 2000 in Hannover, and once in a single day in Düsseldorf as a Bach Marathon. Sought after as a juror in international competitions, he has directed seminars and masterclasses in Europe and the USA. He is the dedicatee of numerous compositions, including works by Mikhail Kollontai, Vladimir Ryabov, Milena Aroutyunova, and Walther Erbacher. A musicologist, he has edited anthologies of organ music of Russia and of the Baltics (Bärenreiter-Verlag). He has many recordings to his credit, including the complete organ works of J. S. Bach.
1. Historical Sketch
Until the 13th century, the indigenous people of the territories of modern Estonia suffered numerous invasions from the West, the South, and the East. Nevertheless, they were able to keep their independence, and the Estonian language emerged in the sixth century. During the 13th and 14th centuries the Estonians were Christianized, in the course of which the southern parts of Estonia were divided in 1224 between the German Schwertbrüderorden (a military-religious order) and the bishops of Dorpat and Ösel. The northern part of the country, together with the city of Reval (Tallinn) founded by German merchants in 1230, was under Danish rule from 1238 to 1346.
The country was ruled by the Teutonic Knights and local bishops, who were supported by the merchants of the towns and the landed gentry. This ruling class was almost entirely ethnic German, and the native Estonian farmers fell by degrees into bondage. The church, showing no interest in the Estonian language, had only limited influence on the local people until the Reformation, when, during the 1520s, the Estonian people began to take a more active part in church life.
As a result of the Livonian war (1558–83), the Order of the Teutonic Knights collapsed. The northern part of Estonia was occupied by Sweden, the southern part brought under Polish–Lithuanian rule, while the island of Saaremaa remained Danish. From 1645, all Estonian territory was under Swedish jurisdiction. After the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War (1700–21), which was accompanied by a devastating plague, Estonia fell under Russian rule, remaining a part of the Russian Empire until 1917.
Under these circumstances, Estonian culture always developed under the influence of the ruling nations, that of the Germans being particularly strong. The Baltic German aristocracy, the clergy, and the merchants of the Hanseatic League maintained their privileged position in Estonian society, even when the Baltic territories were controlled by Poland, Sweden, or Russia. The church’s administration in Lutheran Estonia from the 16th century until Estonia’s declaration of independence in 1918 was, for instance, always headed by Germans.
2. Organs in Estonia from the 13th to the 16th century
Early Estonian music developed in monasteries and church schools, founded even during the subjugation of the Estonian tribes by foreign invaders. Twelfth-century unison church hymns written in neume notation can be found in liturgy books preserved in the Tallinn City Archives. In 13th-century sources, the main churches of Tallinn are mentioned for the first time: the Cathedral of St. Mary (1219); St. Nicholas’ Church (1230); and St. Olai’s Church (1267). It is evident that organs began to spread in parallel with the growing influence of the church in Estonia. However, the first documented reference to organs in Estonian territories dates only from 1329: in Paistu and Helme (northern Livonia) organs were destroyed by enemy action.1 Some years later (1341), an organist working for a church in Tallinn is mentioned.2
After the great fire, which almost completely destroyed Tallinn on 11 May 1433, a new organ was built in St. Nicholas’ Church (Niguliste) by the organ builder “Orgelmaker” Albrecht; it was later rebuilt in 1489 by Hermann Stüwe from Wismar and six assistants. Most of the organ builders working in Estonia during this period came from the Hanseatic cities of North Germany. Around 1500, the church of St. Nicholas, the largest and wealthiest church in the influential Hanseatic city of Tallinn, boasted a total of three organs3: the first on the west wall; the second in St. Antonius’ chapel; and the third in the chancel, built in 1502 by the local organ builder and Dominican monk Peter Schmidt.4 Tradition hands down the name of one more local “Maker of Organs”: Yllies. His name is mentioned in the report of the treasurer of St. Olai’s Church (Oleviste) in 1540.5
A new organ in St. Nicholas’ Church was built in 1547 by a certain “Meister Hans.” In 1584 this organ was enlarged by the organ builder Bartolt (Bartold) Fiehoff (Viehoff, Fehoff)6 and fitted with a Rückpositiv.7 Between 1588 and 1590 the same builder built an organ of 38 stops for St. Olai’s Church.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, positive organs became fashionable among the wealthier nobility, citizens, and town officials. For instance, in 1499 the “Domherr” and “Stadtschreiber” (Town Clerk) Magister Christianus Czernekow bequeathed his positive organ to the organist Matthias: “ . . . Item domino Mathie, organiste in summo, positivum stantem in camera mea . . .”8 The above-mentioned Bartolt Fiehoff also built a positive organ in 1585–86 for the church of St. Johannis in Tartu (Dorpat).
With the spread of Protestantism, church music in Estonia acquired new significance. Lutheran hymns, accompanied by the organ, became the musical basis of the liturgy. Following the guidelines of Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon about education, the Latin school at St. Olai’s Church in Tallinn was reorganized in 1528 as a Lutheran town school (Stadtschule). Its curriculum included basic studies of Protestant music. Choral singing was practiced under the direction of the Kantor—a special teacher who also became responsible for the musical accompaniment of the church services. Gradually the Kantors became the main figures in the cities’ music life. The first Protestant Kantor in Tallinn whose name has come down to us was Petrus Mellin (1531–2).
After the Reformation, the Tallinn churches of St. Nicholas and St. Olai became the focus of cultural life. In the second half of the 16th century, the choir of St. Nicholas’ Church, consisting of about 50 members, performed vocal music from handwritten Kantionalien (liturgical books) by Lukas Lossius, Jacob Meiland, Melchior Vulpius, Hieronymus Praetorius, and others.
3. Culture, religion and musical life in the 17th and 18th centuries
In 1630, the Swedish King Gustavus Adolfus II established a Gymnasium in Tartu for the purpose of strengthening Protestantism. Two years later this Gymnasium was transformed into a university (Academia Gustaviana) and became the most important center of cultural life in Estonia. In Tartu, for the first time in the history of the country, the music of an Estonian folk song was printed (Friedrich Menius, Syntagma de origine livonorum, Dorpat 1635). Another important publication appeared in Tartu in 1640, the Oratio de musica of Jacob Lotichius, who later became the Kantor of the Cathedral School in Riga (Latvia). Concerts and theatrical performances regularly took place in the University of Tartu.
The churches continued to be centers of musical life, the concerts that regularly took place there being contributed by choir, organ, solo singers, and the musicians in the service of the town. It should be noted that organists in Estonia maintained a privileged position compared with town musicians. While the latter received a payment of 20 Taler per year (with three tons of rye and other food in addition), the organists of the Tallinn churches of St. Nicholas and St. Olai in the middle of the 17th century received 100 Taler a year (as well as accommodation and other benefits).9
Much attention was paid to church music; for instance, St. Johannis, the main church in Tartu, employed two organists in the 1680s—one of them, the cantor figuralis, being responsible for the choir, the other, the cantor choralis, for hymn singing.
Use of the Estonian language had also grown. The first attempts at translating Lutheran hymns into Estonian had already been made in the 16th century, while the earliest surviving historical source in the Estonian language is Pastor Henrico Stahl’s anthology of religious hymns, Hand- und Haußbuch Für die Pfarherren und Haußväter Esthnischen Fürstenthumbs (Handbook and Domestic Book for the Clergy and Nobility in Estonia, 1632–38). The first collection of music was published in Estonia (in 1637) by Tallinn’s Gymnasium (founded in 1631 by Gustavus Adolfus II). From the end of the 17th century, lessons at schools were increasingly held in the mother tongue. The New Testament was translated into Estonian in 1686, followed by the entire Bible in 1739.
Country parish churches established the post of sacristan (Küster in German, köster in Estonian), whose duties included instructing young people in reading and writing, prayers, and singing hymns. In 1684 Bengt Gottfried Forselius founded a seminary near Tartu to train young people for such posts, and from the 19th century the köster was also the village schoolmaster and organist.
A tendency towards secular influences is noticeable in the art and religious life of that time. The decorative depiction of saints on organ cases was replaced by allegories from non-religious art. The organ gallery in the chancel of St. Nicholas’ Church in Tallinn, finished in 1639, was decorated with seven wooden sculptures. The “Allegory of Music” was placed in the middle between six other female figures. Together they portrayed the seven fine arts (septem artes liberales).
Important among organ builders working in Estonia at this time were Johannes Pauli (Pawels, Paulus) from Riga, who built and repaired several organs in Tallinn and Kuressaare (Arensburg) between 1611 and 1644, the Swede Andres Bruse (mid-17th century), and above all Christopher Meinecke (Christoff Mencke) from Lübeck, who, working first with Bruse, was active in Tartu until 1645, and from 1660 in Tallinn (St. Nicholas, III/P/3010, 1668).
Tallinn, St. Nicholas’ Church
Christopher Meinecke (Christoff Mencke), 1668 (does not exist)
HAUPTWERK (upper manual)
16' Principal
16' Quinta-Thön
8' Octava
8' Rohrflöte (4'')
4' Super-Octava
2' Rausch-Pfeife
Mixtur IV–V
16' Trommet
8' Trommet
RÜCKPOSITIV (lower manual)
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
4' Octava
4' Gedackt
Tertian II
Scharf III
8' Krumbhorn
8' Dulcian
BRUSTWERK (played from the upper manual)
8' Quinta-Thön
4' Gedackt
2' Octava
Sesquialtera II
8' Regal
PEDAL
16' Untersatz
8' Octava
8' Gedackt
4' Gedackt
16' Posaune
16' Fagotto
8' Trommet
4' Cornet
Tremolo
Koppel
Sources:
Leonid Rojman, Organnaja kul’tura 'stonii [The Organ Culture of Estonia], Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe muzykal’noe izdatel’stvo [State Musical Publishing House] 1960, p. 84.
Hugo Lepnurm, Istorija organa i organnoj muzyki, Kazan’ 1999, p. 74 (translation of the Estonian original “Oreli ja orelimuusika ajaloost,” Tallinn 1971 [“On the History of the Organ and Organ Music”]).
During the Great Northern War (1700–21), almost all organs in the Estonian territories were destroyed. There is a reference to only one organ preserved in a small church in Mänspä on the island of Hiiumaa (Dagö), built by an unknown organ builder at the beginning of the 18th century. After the war and until the end of the century, most of the existing organs were in poor condition because of the country’s extraordinary poverty. Only a few installations or renovations of organs are known; Gottfried Kloos (Clossen, Klossen, Kloss, died 1740), an organ builder from Danzig, installed a Vox humana stop and a Zimbelstern in the main organ of St. Nicholas’ Church in Tallinn (1720–21).
In the 1780s, the organ builder Johann Friedrich Gräbner from Bremen, who later became a citizen of Tallinn, began working in Estonia. He also built harpsichords, clavichords, lutes, harps and fortepianos. In April 1789, he visited St. Petersburg and handed over plans for two organs with 45 and 60 stops to Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potyomkin (1739–91). Shortly before that, he had finished an organ for the Cathedral of St. Mary in Tallinn and brought a report about his work to St. Petersburg:
We, the undersigned members of the council of the church “de la Noblesse” and the Cathedral, certify by this document that Johann Friedrich Gräbner, an organ builder, designed and built a wonderful and majestic organ [ . . . ], which gained the endorsement of all experts.11
The most famous organ builder in the Baltics in the 18th century was Heinrich Andreas Contius (1708–92). Between 1764 and 1771, he built a new organ in St. Olai, Tallinn (III/P/60)12 (Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart gives the starting date as 176713). Abbé Georg Joseph Vogler played this organ on his way from Stockholm to Moscow in 1787; according to his report he “never encountered a better organ.”14
Contius’s son-in-law, Johann Andreas Stein (1752–1821), born in Karlsruhe, established his own workshop in Pärnu (Pernau) at the end of the century. In 1805, he installed an organ in the church of Kihelkonna on the island Saaremaa. This instrument, with a case in the late rococo style, is the oldest church organ in Estonia still preserved.
The Church of Kihelkonna
Johann Andreas Stein, I/P/14 (Pärnu), 1805
Friedrich Weissenborn, II. Manual (J'kabpils [Jacobstadt], Latvia), 1890
I. MANUAL (C–f³)
16' Bourdon
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
8' Gamba
4' Octave
4' Flöte
2 2/3' Quint
2' Octave
Mixtur II–III
8' Trompete
II. MANUAL (C–f³)
8' Geigenprincipal
8' Hohlflöte
8' Piano
4' Geigenprincipal
PEDAL (C–c¹)
16' Subbass
8' Principalbass
4' Octave
8' Posaune
II/I, I/Ped.
II. Manual in Swell Box
Sources:
Leonid Rojman, Organnaja kul’tura 'stonii [The Organ Culture of Estonia], Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe muzykal’noe izdatel’stvo [State Musical Publishing House] 1960, p. 85.
Andreas Uibo and Jüri Kuuskemaa, Historical Organs in Estonia, Lilienthal/Bremen (Eres Edition 2408) 1994, p. 72.
Among the foremost musicians in 17th-century Estonia was Johann Valentin Meder (1649–1719). Born in Wassungen on the Werra, he worked as a Kantor in the Tallinn Gymnasium (1674–83), and was a prolific composer. The first performance of his Singspiel Die beständige Argenia took place in Tallinn in 1680.
Notable contributions to the development of the art of the organ in Estonia were also made by Erasmus Pogatz (organist at St. Nicholas’ Church in Tallinn 1583–1630), Christopher Asmes (organist at St. Olai’s Church in the first half of the 17th century), and representatives of the Busbetzky musical dynasty. The most important of the latter was Ludwig Busbetzky, a pupil of Dietrich Buxtehude and from 1687 to 1699 organist at the German church in Narva.
Playing the organ became widespread in private homes from the middle of the 17th century. Organists were evidently invited to play at weddings there, for in 1665 a special decree was issued by the Tallinn Magistracy emphasizing that: “ . . . at weddings of housemaids only two musicians and an organist should play, and each of them should receive two Taler for his work.” In 1777, August Wilhelm Hupel, a member of the Independent Economics Society founded in St. Petersburg in 1765, wrote about organists coming from rural families: “ . . . our farmers are not completely without a musical ear: nobles have sent them to study and now they can satisfactorily accompany dances.”15
Musical life became more active in the second half of the 18th century, when it became fashionable to take music lessons and to give concerts in private homes. One instrument that was probably played on such occasions, a positive organ built by Johann Karl Thal from Antsla (I/2, 1795), is now exhibited in the Theatre and Music Museum in Tallinn.
Established by Carl Christian Aghte, the Hündelberger Theater-Kompanie (1776–82) performed the first Singspiels under his direction. In 1784, August von Kotzebue founded the Tallinn Liebhaber-Theater, known from 1809 as the Staendiges (“Permanent”) Theatre, where such works as Mozart’s operas Die Zauberflöte (1795') and Don Giovanni (1797) were performed.
4. Estonia in the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century
The 19th century brought momentous changes to Estonia. The abolition of serfdom between 1816 and 1819 by Tsar Alexander I (reigned 1801–25) was the decisive step towards liberating the Estonian peasants from the grip of their Baltic German landlords; however, it took several decades before the peasants came into the possession of their farms. In the course of agrarian reform and development of the education system, national self-awareness began to awaken. It was during Alexander II’s reign (1855–81) that the Estonian national movement came into being. Its leaders saw it as their main task to develop Estonia culturally, but step by step the movement became increasingly more political. During the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Estonians demanded cultural and political autonomy, but the Tsarist government refused any concession. It took the collapse of the Russian Empire to create the conditions for the emergence of an independent Estonia, proclaimed on February 24, 1918.
Against this background, concert-giving activity in Estonia steadily expanded. In Tallinn, compositions of the Viennese classical period were performed, among them Mozart’s Requiem (1814) and Haydn’s Creation (1817). In 1819 and 1821, compositions by Peter Andreas Johann Steinsberg using folk melodies and folk dances were performed in the Estonian language for the first time: Häbbi sellel’, kes petta tahhab (“Shame on One Who Wants to Cheat”) and Krappi kaie willetsus, ehk: Kes paljo lobbiseb, peab paljo wastama (“Krappi Kais’ Need, or: Who Chatters Much Has Much to Answer”).
Many famous musicians performed in Estonia, among them Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, Sigismund Thalberg, and Anton Rubinstein, while the conductor Arthur Nikisch brought the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra to Tallinn in 1899.
Among composers particularly active in Estonia in the first half of the 19th century was Johann Friedrich de La Trobe (1769–1845), who came from Chelsea near London. From 1829 he worked as a music teacher in Tartu; in 1834 he conducted Handel’s Alexander’s Feast in St. Johannis Church there with more than a hundred singers, and in 1835 he founded the Tartu Choral Society, to promote the development of choral music in the town. De La Trobe’s works included mainly sacred vocal compositions, as well as piano and chamber music. His son-in-law Woldemar von Bock (1816–1903) studied law in Tartu before living in Riga (1857–66) and afterwards in Quedlinburg. His collection, Chorale Studies for the Organ, was published in Erfurt in 1855.
The surviving organ works of de La Trobe (the Chorale Preludes, 1805, and the Fughettas, 1798, from the early period of his life)—as well as those of von Bock—are of little artistic value.
The national epic poem Kalevipoeg (“Kalev’s Son”) by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald, written between 1857 and 1861, became a landmark in Estonian literature. Poetry became the most important genre, represented by Lydia Koidula-Jannsen, Ado Reinwald, Mihkel Veske, Marie Under, and Betti Alver.
In 1841, the pianist Theodor Stein (1819–93) and Ferdinand Johann Wiedermann founded the Musical Society, followed by such associations as the Men’s Choral Society of Reval (1849), the Reval Choral Union (1854), the Harmony (1858), and the Jäkelsche Choral Union (1859). The art of choral performance developed rapidly, reaching its zenith in 1869, when the First Song Festival (Üldlaulupidu) took place in Tartu, involving 1,000 singers and an audience of 15,000. It was initiated by the journalist Johann Voldemar Jannsen (1819–90). Here for the first time choral works by Aleksander Saebelmann-Kunileid (1845–75) were performed, settings of patriotic poems by Lydia Koidula-Jannsen (1843–86): Mu isamaa on minu arm (“My Native Land, My Dearest Love”) and Sind surmani (“I’ll Cherish You till Death”).
In 1827, Eduard Philipp Körber published his Little Estonian Hymnal in the Tartu Dialect (Das kleine ehstnische Choralbuch in Dörptscher ehstnischer Sprache). Soon afterwards, Johann Leberecht Ehregott Punschel (1778–1849) presented the Evangelical Chorale Book Appropriate to German, Latvian and Estonian Hymnbooks in the Russian Baltic Provinces (Evangelische Choralbuch zunächst in Bezug auf die deutschen, lettischen und estnischen Gesangbücher der russischen Ostsee-Provinzen) (Leipzig, 1839). This book included 363 chorales. Its second, extended edition was issued in 1844.
These collections of hymns were complemented by tutorial books in the Estonian language for those who wanted to learn to play the klavier. One of the first books of this kind was the unfinished work by Johann Heinrich Rosenplänter (1782–1846), How One Can Learn to Play the Piano [and the Organ] (Õppetus kuida klawwerit [ja orelit] mängida) (manuscript, 1830).16 A little later, the Saxon Johann August Hagen (1786–1877), who from 1815 was the organist at St. Olai’s Church in Tallinn,17 published his instructive book Instruction on How Singing People, and Whoever Else Wishes, Can Learn to Bring Forth Songs from the Written Notes, in Order to Play Them on the House Organ and to Sing Themselves, As Well As Together with Their Pupils (Õppetus, kuida laulomehhed, ja kes muud tahtwad, joudwad notidest laulo wisid ülleswõtta, lauloerrelatte peäl mängides ja nende järrel lauldes, ni hästi nemmad isse, kui ka nende õppetus lapsed) (Tallinn, 1841). In 1861, a new work by Hagen was published: A Guide to Organ Playing for Those Who Wish to Attain the Position of Country Organist and to Prepare Themselves for It (Juhhataja errela mängimisseks neile, kes maal errela mängimisse ammetid noudwad ja ennast selle wasto tahtwad walmistada); and finally, the textbook of Andreas Erlemann, Instruction in Music (Musika õppetus), was published in 1864, placing special emphasis on the organ.
In addition to these theoretical works by Hagen and Erlemann, the large number of chamber organs built by self-taught enthusiasts had a significant influence on the musical education of the people. As a rule, most of these instruments had only wooden pipes. At the end of the 19th century, hardly any sizable family in Estonia did not possess a chamber organ. Schools contributed much to the spreading of music, as they also possessed organs. Thus the organ in Estonia really became the folk instrument.
Organs of a larger scale were built by Carl Tanton, as well as by the Germans Ernst Kessler and Wilhelm Müllverstedt, who had settled in Tartu. Some of their church organs are still preserved in Kullamaa (C. Tanton, I/P/12, 1854), Otepää (E. Kessler, I/P/12, 1853), Vigala (W. Müllverstedt, II/P/14, 1886), and other Estonian towns.
The Church of Vigala
Wilhelm Müllverstedt, II/P/14. Originally the organ was built for the church of St. Peter in Tartu (1886); was moved to Vigala in 1888.
I. MANUAL (C–f³)
16' Bordun
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
8' Gambe
4' Principal
4' Flöte
4' Spitzflöte
2 2/3' Quinte
2' Octav
Mixtur IV
II. MANUAL (C–f³)
Phisharmonika
PEDAL (C–d¹)
16' Subbass
8' Principal
8' Bassflöte
Calcant
Sperrventil Pedal
Pedal Coupler
Source:
Andreas Uibo and Jüri Kuuskemaa, Historical Organs in Estonia, Lilienthal/Bremen (Eres Edition 2408) 1994, p. 78.
Müllverstedt had often been in St. Petersburg and Moscow, where he repaired and tuned, in particular, the house organ “Sebastianon”18 of the Prince Vladimir Odoyevsky, and the old organ (1889) in the Small Hall of the Moscow Conservatoire. As Professor Alexander Fyodorovich Goedicke (1877–1957) remembered, in the 1890s the Tartu master regularly visited towns in central Russia to tune and repair organs. There were about 60 organs in Russia in the care of Müllverstedt.19
Gustav Normann (1825–93), a very productive organ builder, was the founder of the “organ building school” in Northern Estonia. He built one of his more significant works for St. Johannis’ Church in Tallinn (III/P/40, 1869).20 Others of his surviving instruments include those in Harju-Madise (I/P/7, 1859) and Simuna (II/P/20, 1886).
Normann’s successors were the father and son Gustav and August Terkmann. Gustav (1855–1911) founded his own organ workshop in Tallinn in 1882 and produced mainly small organs with tracker action for village churches. One of his instruments (II/P/13, 1902) can be seen in Järva-Madise.
His son, organ builder August Terkmann (1885–1940), who had been a trainee of Laukhuff, used pneumatic and electropneumatic action in his instruments. Active in the Estonian countryside, as well as in St. Petersburg, Astrakhan and Simbirsk, he also built some larger organs in Tallinn, in particular for the Estonia concert hall (III/P/56 + 3 borrowed stops, 1913)21 and in St. Johannis’ Church, (III/P/36 + 23 borrowed stops, 1914).22
Tallinn, The Estonia Concert Hall
August Terkmann, III/P/56 + 3 borrowed stops, 1913 (does not exist)
I. MANUAL
16' Principal
8' Principal
8' Seraphon-gambe
8' Hohlflöte
8' Rohrflöte
8' Gemshorn
4' Octave
4' Rohrflöte
2' Octave
2 2/3' Quinte
Mixtur III
8' Trompete
II. MANUAL
16' Bourdun-doux
16' Quintatön
8' Principal
8' Bourdun
8' Quintatön
8' Traversflöte
8' Gamba*
8' Salicional
8' Unda maris
4' Principal
4' Traversflöte
4' Salicional
2' Waldflöte
Cornett III–IV
8' Clarinette
8' Basson
III. MANUAL
16' Lieblichgedackt*
8' Geigenprincipal
8' Gedackt
8' Flauto amabile
8' Gamba
8' Viola d’amour
8' Aeoline
8' Vox celestis
4' Fugare
4' Flauto dolce
2' Flautino
Harmonia aetheria III
Cornett IV
16' Fagott*
8' Trompete
8' Oboe
8' Vox humana
4' Clairon
PEDAL
32' Untersatz
16' Principalbaß
16' Violonbaß
16' Subbaß
16' Gedecktbaß (* Manual III)
8' Octavbaß
8' Cello (* II)
8' Flöte
8' Dolce
4' Flöte
(102'3' Quinte)**
16' Posaune
16' Fagott (* Manual III)
* Borrowed stops
** Thus in the source
Source:
Leonid Rojzman, Organnaja kul’tura 'stonii [The Organ Culture of Estonia], Moscow: Gosudarstvennoe muzykal’noe izdatel’stvo [State Musical Publishing House] 1960, pp. 85–86.
The large German companies were very productive in Estonia, above all
E. F. Walcker & Co. and Wilhelm Sauer. Walcker built two large organs in Tallinn: St. Olai (III/P/65, 1842) and St. Nicholas (III/P/43, 1895). Of the most important Sauer instruments to have been preserved, that in St. Mary’s Cathedral, Tallinn, is noteworthy (III/P/71 + 2 borrowed stops, 1914).
Tallinn, Cathedral of St. Mary
Wilhelm Sauer, III/P/71 + 2 borrowed stops (Frankfurt/Oder, Germany), Opus 1171, 1914
I. MANUAL (C–a³)
16' Principal
16' Bordun
8' Principal
8' Gamba
8' Doppelflöte
8' Flauto amabile
8' Quintatön
8' Gemshorn
8' Gedackt
8' Dolce
51'3' Nasard
4' Rohrflöte
4' Gemshorn
4' Octave
2' Waldflöte
Mixtur III
Cornett III
8' Trompete
II. MANUAL (C–a³)
16' Gedackt
16' Salicional
8' Dulciana
8' Rohrflöte
8' Salicional
8' Koncertflöte
8' Viola
8' Flauto traverso
8' Principal
4' Dolce
4' Flauto amabile
4' Principal
2 2/3' Nasard
2' Piccolo
Progress II–III
Cymbel III–IV
8' Klarinette
III. MANUAL (C–a³)
16' Gedackt*
16' Gamba
8' Voix celeste
8' Aeoline
8' Gemshorn
8' Gedackt
8' Viola d’amour
8' Quintatön
8' Flauto amabile*
8' Portunalflöte
8' Schalmei
8' Geigenprincipal
4' Flauto dolce
4' Salicet
4' Fugara
2' Flautino
Harmonia aetheria III
8' Aeolodian
8' Oboe
8' Trompete
PEDAL (C–f¹)
32' Untersatz
16' Lieblich Gedackt (* Manual III)
16' Gemshorn
16' Subbass
16' Quintatön
16' Violon
16' Principal
102'3' Quinte
8' Dulciana (* Manual III)
8' Gemshorn
8' Bassflöte
8' Cello
8' Principal
4' Flauto
4' Principal
16' Posaune
8' Trompete
4' Clairon
* Borrowed stops
III/II, III/I, II/I
III/Ped., II/Ped., I/Ped.
Sub-octave Coupler II/I
Super-octave Coupler II/I
General Coupler
Prepared Combinations: Piano, Mezzoforte, Forte
3 Free Combinations
Crescendo Roller
Swell Pedal for Manual III and Lieblich Gedackt 16', Dulciana 8' (Ped.)
Piano Pedal
Mezzoforte Pedal
Forte Pedal
Stops Off
Reeds Off
Pedal Couplers Off
Crescendo Off
Pneumatic Action
Restoration: Orgelwerkstatt Christian Scheffler (Frankfurt/Oder, Germany), 1998
This organ incorporates many elements of an earlier instrument by Friedrich Ladegast (III/P/51, 1878). Ladegast built also a number of organs in provincial towns, of which the instrument in the Town Church of St. Johannis (II/P/21, 1867) in Valga (Walk) should be first of all mentioned.
Valga, Town Church of St. Johannis
Friedrich Ladegast, II/P/21, 1867
I. MANUAL (C–f³)
16' Bordun
8' Principal
8' Doppelflöte
8' Flauto traverso
8' Viola d’amour
4' Rohrflöte
4' Salicional
2' Octave
Cornett III
Mixtur IV
II. MANUAL (C–f³)
8' Lieblich Gedackt
8' Gamba
8' Bassflöte
4' Principal
4' Flauto amabile
2 2/3' Quinte
2' Waldflöte
PEDAL (C–d¹)
16' Subbass
16' Violon
8' Cello
16' Posaune
II/I, I/Ped., II/Ped.
Source:
Andreas Uibo and Jüri Kuuskemaa, Historical Organs in Estonia, Lilienthal/Bremen (Eres Edition 2408) 1994, p. 78.
Other German organ builders who also worked in Estonia include E. Ch. Lemke (Narva, 1837); Guido Knauff from Coburg (Viljandi [Fellin], St. Paul’s Church, II/P/31, 1866); and the brothers Schwalbenberg.
Of great interest is the activity of another Estonian organ building dynasty, that of the three brothers Tannil, Juhan, and Jakob Kriisa. From Haanja in southeast Estonia, they continued an old popular tradition by building first smaller organs. Slowly their business expanded, their sons joined the firm, and at the beginning of the 20th century their instruments were to be found all over Estonia; one of their biggest was installed in the church in Võru (1910).
The importance of the organ in Estonian music is underlined by the fact that almost all significant Estonian composers were organists. This is particularly true in the older generation such as Johannes Kappel (1855–1907), Konstantin Türnpu (1865–1927), and Miina Härma (1864–1941), all of whom were graduates of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, where their organ professor was Louis (Ludwig) Homilius (1845–1908).
Having finished his conservatoire studies in 1881, Kappel became the organist at the Dutch church in St. Petersburg. In later life he remained connected with that city, conducted Estonian choirs, and regularly took part in song festivals in Tallinn and Tartu.
Türnpu finished his studies in 1891 and became organist at St. Nicholas’ Church in Tallinn. As a choir trainer, he was unequalled in Estonia at that time. His choir performed major works of the central classical repertoire, such as J. S. Bach’s B-minor Mass, Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, and others.
Härma (who graduated in 1890) became an active recitalist not only in Estonia and Russia, but also beyond their borders. The inclusion of works by Bach, Mendelssohn, and Reger in her programs introduced these organ classics to the Estonian public.
Kappel, Türnpu and Härma composed neither symphonic nor organ music. Their works consist mainly of choral music and solo songs. The first Estonian symphonic music was written around 1900 by the succeeding generation.
Rudolf Tobias (1873–1918) composed in 1896 the tragic overture Julius Caesar, and Artur Kapp (1878–1952) a dramatic overture, Don Carlos, in 1899. Both musicians were graduates of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, the artistic traditions of which, represented in the music of Rimsky-Korsakov, Lyadov, and Glazunov, deeply influenced Estonian music.
Tobias, the founder of classical Estonian music, was born into a sacristan’s family in the village of Käina in 1873. He received his first music instruction from his father. From 1893 to 1897, he studied organ with Homilius and composition with Rimsky-Korsakov at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire. For a diploma, he submitted the cantata Johannes Damascenus for mixed choir, male voice choir, soloists, organ, and symphony orchestra. Having finished his studies, he became the choirmaster and organist at the Estonian church of St. Johannis in St. Petersburg. He was held in high regard as a performer and improviser.
In autumn 1904, he settled in Tartu and there conducted symphony and choral concerts, gave music lessons, and wrote articles on music, thus inspiring Estonian musicology. In 1908, he moved to Leipzig, and then from 1910 lived in Berlin, where he published articles as a music critic in (for example) the Deutsche Allgemein Musikzeitung. From 1912 onwards, he taught music theory at the Royal Music Academy (Königliche Akademische Hochschule für Musik). He died in 1918 in Berlin.
Besides the overture Julius Caesar and the cantata Johannes Damascenus, his output includes a concerto for piano and orchestra, string quartets, chamber music, and vocal compositions. For organ, Tobias wrote more than thirty preludes and choral arrangements, Fugue in D minor, Largo, Prelude and Fughetta in C minor, as well as a Concerto for Organ and Orchestra in F minor. He made use of the organ in almost all of his large choral works—in the oratorios On the Other Side of the Jordan, Jonah’s Mission, the cantata Johannes Damascenus, and others.
Artur Kapp, a classical master of Estonian music, was born in Suure-Jaani in 1878. He received his first instruction in music from his father, a village sacristan. After graduating in 1898 from the St. Petersburg Conservatoire, studying organ with Homilius, he continued his studies there in the composition class of Rimsky-Korsakov (diploma in 1900), and then for a few years he worked as the second organist (as assistant to Homilius) at the Lutheran church of St. Peter in St. Petersburg.
From 1904 to 1920, he was director of the music college and head of the local department of the Russian Musical Society in Astrakhan. In 1920, he became the musical director of the Estonia theatre and a teacher at the Tallinn Conservatoire (from 1925 professor of composition). Among his pupils were Edgar Arro, Gustav Ernesaks, Eugen Kapp, Riho Päts, Villem Reiman, and others. He died in 1952 in Suure-Jaani.
His output includes symphonic works and oratorios, concertos and compositions for different instruments, as well as chamber and vocal music. His organ works are of great importance; the first was the Sonata in F minor, which Kapp wrote while studying at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire (1897). This was followed by Variations on a Chorale Theme (1902), two concertos for organ and orchestra (1934 and 1946), a trio for violin, cello, and organ (1936), the Sonata in D major (1948), choral fantasias, and other compositions.
In Kapp’s truly independent works, various stylistic influences are obvious. His style attempts to combine the tradition of the classical Viennese school, polyphony and a Romantic internationalism.
Homilius’s predecessor as head of the organ department of the St. Petersburg conservatoire, Heinrich Stiehl (1829–86), had lived in Tallinn since 1880, being the organist of St. Olai. Besides the above-mentioned musicians, Louis Homilius was also the teacher of such renowned composers of Estonian music as August Topman (1882–1968), Mart Saar (1882–1963), and Mihkel Lüdig.
Mihkel Lüdig was born in Reiu in 1880. He received his first instruction in music from Max Peters, the organist at Pärnu. In 1897, he began his studies at the Moscow Conservatoire, but in the next year moved to St. Petersburg, where he graduated from the conservatoire organ class (of Homilius) in 1904. His other teachers there were Rimsky-Korsakov, Glazunov and Solovyov (composition), and Czerny (piano). After graduating the conservatoire, Lüdig worked in St. Petersburg as an organist and choirmaster. From 1912 to 1914, he was solo organist in Count Sheremetyev’s symphony orchestra. Lüdig’s organ recitals were always well received by both experts and press. Honored by the composer’s request to give the first performance of Alexander Glazunov’s first organ work, the Prelude and Fugue in D major, op. 93 (1906), he did so in the Small Hall of the St. Petersburg Conservatoire on January 29, 1907. In 1917, Lüdig moved to Tallinn, where in 1919 he established the Higher Music School, of which he became the director (1919–23). At the same time, he was the organist of the Charles’ Church in Tallinn (until 1924). He spent three years in Argentina and returned to Tallinn in 1928. From 1934 until his death in 1958, he lived in the village of Vändra.
Mihkel Lüdig’s output includes symphonic works and oratorios, as well as chamber and vocal music; his choral compositions are of great importance. Apart from Three Fugues for Organ (1946), Lüdig composed another work with organ (or piano) accompaniment: the romance In Remembrance of Mother.
Among the pupils of Louis Homilius, the talented Peeter Süda should also be mentioned. Born on the island of Saaremaa (Ösel) in Lümanda district in 1883, Süda studied organ at the St. Petersburg Conservatoire from 1902 to 1911 (first with Homilius, and, after the latter’s death in 1908, with Jacques Handschin). In 1912, he passed the final examination in composition, his teachers being Anatoly Lyadov, Nikolai Solovyov, and Alexander Glazunov. After completing his education, Süda lived in Tallinn, gave private music lessons, and performed as a solo organist. Even as a student, his organ playing was praised. It is known that Professor J'zeps V'tols, for instance, said of Süda’s playing in the final examination, “What playing! Precise, clear cut, pure, and exciting in its virtuosity. One should play the organ exactly as Süda does.” In 1919, Süda became the teacher in composition and organ at the newly established Tallinn Higher Music School. He died in 1920 in Tallinn.
Süda’s compositional output comprises mainly organ pieces, which are of great importance in the development of Estonian organ music. As a brilliant executant, whose knowledge of the potentialities of the instrument was excellent, Süda used the polyphonic style with great mastery. Süda wrote the following organ works (the autographs are preserved in the Theatre and Music Museum in Tallinn): Fugue in F minor (1910), Basso Ostinato (1913–14), Ave Maria (1914), Prelude (1914) and Fugue (1920) in G minor, Scherzino (1916/1918), Gigue à la Bach (1919), and Pastorale (1920).
By the turn of the century, the first music schools in Estonia had been established: in Tartu (1897) and Tallinn (1898). In 1900, the Estonian Symphony Orchestra first appeared under the direction of the composer Aleksander Läte (1860–1948). Soon afterwards the first professional theatres were opened in Estonia’s larger towns: Vanemuine (Tartu, 1906), Estonia (Tallinn, 1906), Endla (Pärnu, 1911), and the Tallinn Dramatic Theatre (1916). In 1905, Artur Lemba (1885–1963) composed the first opera in the Estonian language, Sabina (St. Petersburg, 1906), the second version of which bore the title Lembitu tütar [“Lembitu’s Daughter”] (Vanemuine theatre, Tartu, 1908).
The choral tradition developed with great momentum. There were seven song festivals from 1869 to 1910, with more than 10,000 singers taking part in the last of these, while the composer Juhan Simm (1885–1959), who played a significant role in the organization of subsequent song festivals, founded in 1911 the Tartu university choir.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the literary movement Young Estonia (Noor Eesti) was inaugurated and presided over by the poet Gustav Suits. The motto of the movement “Let us remain Estonians, but let us also become Europeans!” became the inspiration of cultural Estonia.
5. Estonia in the period of its first independence (1918–1940)
The period between the First and Second World Wars witnessed many brilliant events in Estonian artistic life. The greatest literary achievement was the five-part epic novel Truth and Justice (Tõde ja õigus) by Anton H. Tammsaare (written 1926–33), depicting Estonian life between the 1870s and 1920s.
The Tallinn Song Festivals attracted constantly rising numbers of participants (with 17,500 singers in the 11th Song Festival of 1938). From the 1920s, operas were regularly performed in the Theatre Estonia. The concert repertoire in the 1921–22 season included such works as Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique and Till Eulenspiegel by Richard Strauss. In 1936, Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms was performed under the direction of Eduard Tubin (1905–82) in Tallinn, and in the following year the composer himself came to conduct his Firebird Suite and the Capriccio for piano there.
As mentioned above, in 1919 the Higher Music School (from 1923–93 the Conservatoire, and from 1993 the Estonian Academy of Music) was established in Tallinn. In 1919, the Tartu Higher Music School (Tartu Kõrgem Muusikakool) was opened. The Tallinn Conservatoire was directed from 1923–33 by Rector Jaan Tamm, and August Topman was the head of the organ department. Hugo Lepnurm (1914–99), who studied organ there from 1928 to 1933, recalls that Topman laid particular emphasis on preparing his students for their work in Lutheran churches. Since playing services occupied little time and yielded little income, Topman tried to prepare his students for a greater variety of activities, stimulating their interest in choral skills and teaching. Sometimes he joked, “any organist, especially in the provinces, should be able to conduct choirs and the fire brigade band, accompany guest soloists, perform operettas in the House of Culture, be the chairman or at least secretary of the agricultural society, and, if still able, play the organ well.”
In the period between the wars, Peeter Laja (1897–1970), Alfred Karindi (1901–69), Edgar Arro (1911–78), and Hugo Lepnurm were among Topman’s best pupils.
Peeter Laja first became known in 1923, when, at that time a student of the Tallinn Conservatoire, he made his debut in the Estonia Concert Hall, performing as a soloist in G. F. Handel’s Organ Concerto in B-flat (from Op. 4), accompanied by an orchestra under Raimund Kull. Laja’s programs contained compositions of both international and Estonian composers (A. Kapp, R. Tobias, P. Süda, and others).
A distinctive performer, Alfred Karindi was born in Kõnnu. He studied organ (with Johannes Kärt) and composition (with Heino Eller) at the Tartu Higher Music School, where in 1925–28 he taught music theory. From 1927, he was organist of the Tartu university church (here he played the organ that was later moved to the Estonia concert hall) and performed in concerts as organist and conductor. In 1928–32, he was a teacher and a conductor of the mixed students’ choir at the Tartu university. In 1931, he finished his studies as organist and composer at the Tallinn Conservatoire. At the beginning of the 1930s, he moved to Tallinn, where he pursued an active career giving concerts, conducting choral works, including Mozart’s Requiem (1940), and performing as a solo organist. Between 1940–50 and 1955–69, he taught at the conservatoire (from 1946 as a professor). Karindi wrote a symphony, cantatas, piano, chamber, and vocal works. His output includes a number of interesting pieces for organ, of which the central place is held by his four sonatas: No. 1 in E minor (1928), No. 2 in G minor (1932), No. 3 in F minor (1944), and No. 4 in E minor (1963).
Born in Tallinn, Edgar Arro studied the organ at Tallinn Conservatoire with August Topman (1929–35) and composition with Artur Kapp (1934–39). From 1935 to 1940 he worked for the radio. It was one of his tasks to improvise on the organ in the morning hours. Occasionally, he gave solo concerts. From 1944, he was a teacher at the Tallinn Conservatoire (Professor from 1972). Arro wrote symphonic works and oratorios, compositions for choir and different chamber ensembles and—together with Leo Normet—the popular musical comedy Rummu Jüri. Throughout his life as a composer, he had a strong liking for the organ. His first work, Sonata for Organ (1938), was written while studying at the conservatoire. In the early 1940s, it was followed by Maestoso (1943). Of his other organ music, the collection of about 56 concert pieces Eesti rahvaviise orelili (Estonian Folk Tunes for Organ) is of great interest.
A little different was the artistic life of Hugo Lepnurm during the period between the two World Wars. After graduating from the conservatoire, he served as assistant to Professor Topman (1936), but soon he moved to Paris, where he continued his studies with Marcel Dupré (in the winter of 1938–39). In Paris, the young Estonian musician got to know the work of celebrated French organists and he had the chance to listen to Rachmaninov, Cortot, and Menuhin.
During the 1920s two other large organs were built in Tallinn. One of them was the largest organ ever built in Estonia by the company E. F. Walcker & Co. and installed in the Charles’ Church (III/P/81 + 3 borrowed stops, 1923). The other was built by August Terkmann for the Holy Ghost Church (IV/P/71, 1929).23 The Brothers Kriisa were also very active, and among their notable instruments in the 1930s were Paide (II/P/20, 1933), Urvaste (II/P/25 + 1 borrowed stop, 1938), and Suure-Jaani (II/P/25 + 1 borrowed stop, 1937). This last was installed by the Kriisas behind a Johann Andreas Stein case from 1804.
The Church of Suure-Jaani
The Brothers Kriisa, II/P/25 + 1 borrowed stop, 1937
I. MANUAL (C–a³)
8' Principal
8' Viola di Gamba
8' Doppelflöte
8' Gemshorn
8' Salicional
4' Octave
4' Flauto dolce
Cornett III–V
Mixtur III–IV
II. MANUAL (C–a³)
16' Bordun
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
8' Viola d’amour
8' Voix celestes
4' Flauto
2 2/3' Quintflöte
2' Flautino
1 3/5' Terzflöte
Cymbel IV
8' Trompete
Tremolo
PEDAL (C–f¹)
16' Kontrabass
16' Subbass
16' Gedacktbass (Tr. Manual II)
8' Octavbass
8' Violon
16' Posaune
II/I, Super II/I, Super I, Sub II/I
Super II, Sub II
I/Ped., II/Ped., Super II/Ped.
II. Manual in Swell Box
Source
Andreas Uibo and Jüri Kuuskemaa, Historical Organs in Estonia, Lilienthal/Bremen (Eres Edition 2408) 1994, p. 77.
A milestone in Estonian culture was the foundation of the Music Museum in 1934 in Tallinn (from 1941 the Theatre and Music Museum); it became the custodian of archival material and manuscripts of Estonian composers, recordings of folk songs, musical instruments, and other holdings.
6. Estonia from 1940 to the end of the 20th century
With the establishment of the Union of Estonian Composers in 1941, the creative work of native musicians received official support from the government. In the 1940s, some professional choirs were founded on the initiative of the famous choirmaster and composer Gustav Ernesaks (1908–93); their performances on radio and in the concert halls of the Soviet Union were well received. In 1947, the tradition of the Song Festivals was revived after a break of nine years (the 21st Song Festival in 1990 assembled some 30,000 singers and half a million listeners).
In 1947, the theatre and the concert hall Estonia, both of which had been destroyed in the Second World War, were rebuilt. In the years 1948–49, the Tallinn organ builder Gutdorf Brothers transferred the organ of the university church in Tartu, built by Herbert Kolbe (1928), to the concert hall and installed it on the stage. In doing so, the specification was enlarged (III/P/75). This instrument was superseded as early as 1961 with an organ by Rieger–Kloss (IV/P/66). Two others by this company were installed in the Vanemuine theatre in Tartu (III/P/47, 1978) and in St. Nicholas’ Church in Tallinn (IV/P/63, 1981), which had been turned into a museum and concert hall.
In the 1940s, the work of the most important representative of the Tartu school of composers, Heino Eller (1887–1970), reached its climax. Eller wrote three symphonies (1936, 1948, 1961), five string quartets, music for piano, chamber music, and vocal compositions. An estimable pupil of his, Eduard Tubin, wrote ten symphonies, two operas, two ballets, chamber and choral music, and a Pastorale for alto and organ (1956).
The decades following gave rise to a new generation of Estonian composers who were influenced by 20th-century Western European music: Veljo Tormis (*1930), Eino Tamberg (*1930), Jaan Rääts (*1932), Arvo Pärt (*1935) and Kuldar Sink (1942–95). Tamberg’s and Rääts’s compositions show neoclassical tendencies. Pärt and Sink tend towards serial techniques. Tormis, following the tradition of Mart Saar and Cyrillus Kreek (1889–1962), is interested in folklore and prefers choral music.
Eller taught Alo Põldmäe (*1945) and Lepo Sumera (*1950), while Ester Mägi (*1922), Jüri Tamverk (*1954), Erkki-Sven Tüür (*1959) and Urmas Sisask (*1960), a composer of a number of organ works, are among the distinguished pupils of Saar.
Apart from the works presented in the collection Organ Music from the Baltic States, Volume 2: Estonia (Bärenreiter, BA 8422), the following compositions for the organ written by Estonian composers in the 20th century should be mentioned: Kaljo Raid (*1921), Sonata in Classical Style (1948); Peeter Laja, 5 Pieces (1950); Leo Virkhaus (1910–84), Organ Prelude on Psalm 108 (Be Thou Exalted) (1973); Igor Garschnek (*1958), 3 States (1980); and Arvo Pärt, Trivium (1976), Annum per annum (1980) and My Path Has Peaks and Troughs (1989).
In the post-war period, the tradition of centuries of organ-playing in Estonia manifested itself above all in the work of Hugo Lepnurm. After his evacuation, he returned to Tallinn in 1944 and continued teaching organ, solfeggio, and music theory at the conservatoire (from 1945 as a professor). He also gave many concerts in the USSR, was organist at Tallinn’s Cathedral of St. Mary, and made recordings. In 1971, he published his book On the History of the Organ and Organ Music (Oreli ja orelimuusika ajaloost). Lepnurm’s compositions are not numerous, but include a number of interesting pieces, especially for the organ: a toccata (1943/50), two cycles of variations for violin and organ (1942, 1954), and a concerto for organ and orchestra (1956). Among his pupils, the Tallinn organist Rolf Uusväli (*1930), Andreas Uibo (*1956), and Urmas Taniloo (*1953) from Tartu are well known.
An important part in the revival of public interest in early music and its authentic performance was played by Hortus Musicus, a specialist ensemble (artistic director Andres Mustonen), founded in 1972. Since 1987, the International Tallinn Organ Festival has taken place every year in the Estonian capital. The tradition of organ building is continued by Hardo Kriisa (*1940), a representative of the third generation of the famous organ dynasty. His workshop is in Rakvere.'
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