Noehren/Buzard organ_Holy Spirit Lutheran_Charleston SC

The Clavier-Übung Third Part

Michael Radulescu

Michael Radulescu, born in Bucharest, Romania, studied organ and conducting in Vienna at the Academy (now University) of Music and Performing Arts where he taught as professor of organ from 1968 to 2008. His career encompasses work as a composer, organist, and conductor. Since his debut in 1959 he has presented concerts throughout Europe, North America, Australia, South Korea, and Japan. He regularly gives guest lectures and masterclasses in Europe and overseas, focusing mainly on the interpretation and elucidation of Bach’s organ and major choral works.

As a composer, Radulescu has written sacred music, works for organ, voice and organ, choral and chamber music, and orchestral works. He is also in demand as a jury member in international organ and composition competitions and as an editor of early and ancient organ music. Radulescu conducts international vocal and instrumental ensembles in performances of major vocal works. As an organist, he has recorded among other things Bach’s complete works for organ, without any technical manipulation.

For his musical and pedagogical contributions Radulescu was awarded the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien in 2005. In 2007 he received Würdigungspreis für Musik from the Austrian Ministry of Education and Art. In December 2013 Michael Radulescu’s book on J. S. Bach’s spiritual musical language, Bey einer andächtig Musiq . . .,
focusing on the two Passions and the B Minor Mass was published.

When approaching Baroque music in general and spiritual music in particular, it is of greatest importance to take into consideration the fundamental difference between the function and the aims of music in the Roman Catholic rite and the Lutheran conception of music. While Roman Catholic music mainly embellishes and adorns the liturgy, Lutheran music wants to preach, to impress, to move, to convince every single listener. Whereas the mystery of the Canon is at the center of the Roman Catholic Mass, the announcing and the elucidation of the Word of God, spoken by the minister and sung or performed by the church musician, stand at the core of the Lutheran Divine Service.

From this dichotomy results the overwhelming importance of rhetoric, of the musical speech (Klangrede) in Lutheran music. Both the ancient rules of rhetoric and the use of the rhetorical-musical figures determine respectively the overall formal concept of a work as well as the invention of characteristic “speaking motifs.”

In the case of J. S. Bach’s music, however, there also seems to be a more subtle, profound, and hidden means of communicating a message, an interpretation of a text. This happens through the ample use of symbols such as allegories, certain characteristic motifs and specific numerical ratios between different sections of the overall formal concept of a piece, and also, most controversial of all, as numerological entities. The latter aspect has been both heartily emphasized and strongly questioned and even ruled out by scholars and practical performers in recent decades. Nevertheless, a surprising hint at the possibility of Bach’s interest in the use of the “numeric alphabet” seems to be, among others, the theoretical work called Cabbalologia by Johannes Henningius (Johann Henning), published in Leipzig in 1683. This publication is said to have been found also in the famous private library of Bach’s neighbor and colleague Johann Heinrich Ernesti, former rector of Saint Thomas Church in Leipzig.

I

Bach published the Third Part of his Clavier-Übung for the feast of Saint Michael at the end of September 1739 on the occasion of the bicentenary of the Lutheran Reformation in Leipzig. This collection of keyboard compositions is generally known under the titles “The Organ Mass” or “The Dogma Chorales,” neither of which can suggest the complex meaning and the message of the entire opus.

It should be remembered that when Luther introduced his Reformation in Leipzig in 1539 he preached on Pentecost Monday in the Leipzig Pleissenburg Castle on two most crucial themes: the Mystery of the Trinity in the Lutheran Mass and the Lutheran Catechism. Most significantly, Bach takes both these theological categories into consideration and, obviously referring to Luther’s sermon of 1539, treats them consistently in his Third Part of the Clavier-Übung. Of the total of twenty-one chorale settings in the collection, the first nine deal with the Lutheran Missa brevis (which includes only the “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie” and the “Gloria”), while the remaining twelve chorales follow exactly, chapter by chapter, Luther’s Catechism of 1529.

Seen as a whole, the entire Clavier-Übung III seems to suggest a most striking resemblance to Bach’s own organ improvisations as described by his first biographer, J. N. Forkel, in 1802:

a) a great prelude and fugue in Organo Pleno as an opening;

b) a long series of different kinds of chorale settings with a varying number of parts;

c) a great fugue in Organo Pleno at the end.

In Bach’s Clavier-Übung III, these correspond to the following sections:

a) the E-flat Preludium in Organo Pleno also containing the two fugal sections;

b) the 21 chorale settings in 3, 4, 5, or 6 parts, as well as four duettos;

c) the E-flat Fugue in Organo Pleno.

Two further allusions to the Trinity are most interesting in the overall plan of the entire collection. These are manifest already in the title, “Third Part of the Clavier-Übung,” and also in the use of the majestic key of E-flat major, with its three flats in the signature, for both the opening Prelude and the closing Fugue. Also striking is the fact that both the Prelude and the Fugue appear to be determined by the number 3 (three main musical ideas in the prelude and three themes in the triple fugue).

Another obvious hint at the Trinity is the fact that the first 9 chorales dealing with the Lutheran Mass are organized in 3 groups of 3 each: 3 “great” settings for Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie, 3 “small” alio modo settings for the same cantus firmi Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie, and 3 settings for the German Gloria, “Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr.”

The remaining 12 chorales, which follow Luther’s Catechism, are arranged by 3 + 3 groups of 2 each, the first group dealing with the 3 main chapters of the Catechism (The Law of the Lord = The Ten Commandments, The Creed, and The Prayer of the Lord = The “Our Father”), and the second with the 3 chapters concerning the Sacraments and the Penitence respectively (Baptism, Penitence as continual renewal of Baptism, and the Communion). Each of these cantus firmi is treated twice, in a “great” version with pedal and in a “small” version without pedal, mostly in another key.

It has often been suggested that these two contrasting versions may allude to Luther’s “Great Catechism” versus its reduced form, the “Small Catechism” for younger and “more modest people.” This double treatment of the “catechism settings,” however, seems also to allude to the double form of liturgy: as the great, official one “in churches,” versus its “small,” intimate, personal form “at home,” within each Christian family. Interestingly enough, this dualism appears also in the original subtitle of the Clavier-Übung III dedicated to both amateurs (Liebhaber) and connoisseurs (Kenner).

II

The opening Praeludium pro Organo pleno, Bach’s largest organ prelude, suggests, in spite of the original slurring of the dotted rhythms of its beginning, the pattern of a French overture:

a) majestic homophonic section with dotted rhythm, measures 1 to 70;

b) Fugato section, measures 71 to 97;

c) majestic homophonic section with dotted rhythm, measures 98 to 129;

d) Fugato section, measures 130 to 173;

e) majestic homophonic section with dotted rhythm, measures 174 to the end.

The three different musical ideas used by Bach seem to illustrate in a marvelous way the three Persons of the Trinity:

1. majestic five-part homophonic section for God the Father (Example 1);

2. transition passage with staccato notes suggesting drops of tears (as in the Passions and in several cantatas) and a plaintive theme in the right hand, full of suspensions and chromaticisms and going to the “extreme” keys B-flat minor and E-flat minor, respectively (musical-rhetorical figure of parrhesia), suggesting the human sufferings, the Passion and Death of God, the Son (Examples 2 and 3);

3. The fugal sections using the most spiritual writing, the fugue, and a theme which by its shape (musical-rhetorical figure of hypotyposis) suggests the movement and the shape of the flames, the fire of God, the Holy Spirit (Example 4).

III

Considering the 9 chorale settings of the Missa brevis, the great “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie,” the small “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie,” and the 3 “Allein Gott” settings, one notes the following characteristics:

• The first three settings of the great “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie” are written in the ancient vocal, a cappella style, the stylus gravis, using the so called white notation (breves, whole notes, half notes, quarter and, more rarely, eighth notes as note values). According to Bach’s cousin
J. G. Walther the stylus gravis is “majestic, serious . . . and best appropriate to elevate the human soul to God.”

• The respective cantus firmus descends within this first triad from the soprano in Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (highest part ~ God Father as the Highest) into the tenor in Christe aller Welt Trost (middle part ~ God the Son as the Mediator) and finally into the pedal-bass in Kyrie, Gott, heiliger Geist (bass part ~ God, the Holy Spirit as the universal Basis). This katabasis, i.e., “descending movement,” suggests the descending of God’s mercy upon us and depicts the “eleison” (“have mercy”).

• The tenor cantus firmus in Christe aller Welt Trost stresses the idea of Christ as the Mediator between God and Man, as strongly emphasized by Luther.

• The bass cantus firmus in Kyrie, Gott, heiliger Geist, on the other hand, represents the fundamental Lutheran idea of Justification through the power of Faith; the text of the chorale also prays for “the reinforcement of our Faith.” The final section of this setting, “eleison,” is excruciatingly dissonant, once again stressing human misery awaiting God’s mercy.

• The total number of measures of all three large chorale-settings is a primary, indivisible number:

Kyrie (42 measures) + Christe (61 measures) + Kyrie (60 measures) = 163 ~ indivisibility of the Holy Trinity!

• The three small settings of “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie” strongly contrast with the preceding three works. The cantus firmus is only hinted at by quotation of its first phrase. Their writing is manualiter, without pedal, and in a soft “cantabile clavier style.” This might suggest love and the soft breath of the Holy Spirit by its “cantability.”

• All three small settings end modally on an E-major chord.

• The time signatures of all these 3 chorales also allude to the Trinity, being “progressions” of the number 3: 3/4; 6/8; 9/8 (= 1 x 3/4; 2 x 3/8; 3 x 3/8).

• The three Allein Gott in der Höh’ sei Ehr settings fulfill a wonderful anabasis (ascending movement) by the sequence of their keys: following the small “Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie” settings ending all on E major, they rise up to F major, G major, and finally to A major, thus obviously alluding to Gloria in excelsis (Allein Gott in der Höh’/“Glory to the Lord in the Highest”).

• All three settings are trios and written in an “instrumental keyboard style,” the first and the last in a brilliant, light style, the second à 2 Claviers et Pedale imitating violins or flutes accompanied by a basso continuo in the pedal.

• The G-major trio on “Allein Gott” seems to stress Jesus’s role as Lamb of God, alluding to the third stanza of the chorale, “Lamb of God, holy Lord and God, accept the prayer of our misery,” by citing these two verses in canon, a most simple symbol for “one part following another part:” first between the right hand and pedal in measures 78 to 83, and in measures 87 to 92 between the left hand and pedal, and thus alluding to the Gospel of John, 1:29–30: “The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. / This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me” (Example 5).

IV

The density and complexity of Bach’s dealing with the theological message through music is most impressively revealed in the settings of chorales treating the main chapters of Luther’s Catechism: the Ten Commandments, the Creed, and the Lord’s Prayer.

The large setting of Dies sind die heil’gen zehn Gebot is written in five parts distributed on two manuals and pedal. The cantus firmus is carried out as a canon between the two tenor parts played by the left hand while the right hand plays the two free upper parts. Surprisingly, these free parts never imitate or cite the cantus firmus.

Most interesting is the fact that in Bach’s treatments of this cantus firmus (Orgelbüchlein, the cantata BWV 77 Du sollst Gott, deinen Herrn, lieben, and the two settings in the Clavier-Übung), he uses the same key, Mixolydian on G, the “pure” key without accidentals in its signature. Never does this cantus firmus appear transposed: this obviously suggests the “immutability of the Divine Law.” Most consistently, the treatment of the cantus firmus as a canon also evokes the “severity of God’s Law.”

A further symbolic meaning of the musical texture is the setting of the canonic cantus firmus in the two middle parts, which clearly refers to Luther’s commentary in his Catechism, regarding the way to keep the Divine Law through “Christ’s the Mediator’s Intercession.”

The beginning of the chorale is most serene, diatonic, and calm, and takes place over an organ point in the pedal. After four measures of “complete harmony” the character changes in the fifth measure: the alto plays a “harsh” descending chromatic figure (the figure of parrhaesia) while the soprano plays three times a “sighing figure” consisting of a sixteenth rest followed by three sixteenth notes, and followed by two groups of stepwise descending eighth notes (Example 6).

This seems to be a strong allusion to the Book of Genesis describing the Garden of Eden (= full harmony~4 measures) and Adam’s Fall in the fifth measure (Adam in Hebrew meaning man and being symbolized, according to Andreas Werckmeister, by the number 5 for man’s 5 senses, 5 fingers and toes, and also hinting at Jesus’s 5 wounds on the Cross).

Interestingly enough, this “sighing” figura suspirans is played by the two upper parts during the whole piece exactly 33 times, reminding of the 33 years of Jesus’s earthly life.

From measure 6 on this figure appears also “transformed” into another figure called kyklosis or circulatio and suggesting a “turning around,” an “insecurity” or, as in our case, a great joy.

This “transformation” of suffering (“sighing figure”) into joy (“turning around in joy”) perfectly matches Luther’s commentary about the Commandments, stressing that those who keep the Law apparently suffer in this earthly world, but that through Christ they shall live in joy.

Luther also considers the First Commandment as being the most important of the Decalogue. It is this very commandment that is cited in the second stanza of the cantus firmus, the stanza to which the great chorale setting seems to allude the most: “I alone am your God and Lord. Thou shalt not have other gods; thou shalt love me from the bottom of your heart. Kyrieleis.”

It is when the cantus firmus expounds the phrase “Thou shalt not have other gods” that the pedal plays a “huge” and “exaggerated” interval of two octaves,
C – c′ (the figure of hyperbole = exaggeration) and obviously referring to God’s immensity (Example 7).

Astonishing is the fact that the motif of measures 47 and 48 appears altered in measures 51 and 52, transformed insofar as it is now divided between the two upper parts: one part continuing the other, and thus suggesting the idea of “two parts becoming one” (the figure called heterolepsis = meaning this continuity, the unification of two parts, i.e., love, as described by J. G. Walther). It is striking to note how often Bach makes use of this figure when alluding to love, to unification in and through love. Not surprisingly, this figure appears in our chorale setting only two times, exactly where each of the two canonic cantus firmus parts play the notes for lieben mich (love me); as one can easily see in the “transformed” version, the motive is played by two “unified” parts according to the text line “Thou shall love me” (Example 8).

If we take a look at the pedal part we note that it is divided into several sections either by rests or by the recurring long organ point on A in measure 29. A most intriguing and striking speculation presents itself in this context when considering the number of notes of each of these sections:

a) measure 1 to 10 = 37 notes

b) measure 10 to 20 = 60 notes

c) measure 21 to 28 = 47 notes

d) measure 29 to 55 = 147 notes

e) measure 56 = 5 notes

f) measure 57 = 5 notes

g) measure 58 to 60 = 14 notes

 

a) Could 37 represent the monogram JCHR for Jesus Christ? (the number alphabet with the correspondence between the letters of the alphabet and the natural numerical order: A = 1, B = 2, C = 3, . . ., Z = 24, with I = J and U = V as in old Latin: J (9) + C (3) + H (8) + R (17) = 37);

b) Could 60 allude to the Old Testament, to the 6 Days of God’s Creation, and also to the 10 Commandments = 60?

NB! Bach occasionally uses the number 6 as allegory for the Creation, for the Entire World (also Orgelbüchlein: Christum wir sollen loben schon, measure 6, where the whole range of the organ is encompassed by the lowest C in the pedal and the highest C in the treble part).

NB! Luther always sees and treats the Old Testament considering the New Testament and vice versa.

c) Could 47 recall the 47th Psalm, mentioned by Luther in his Great Catechism: “O, clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph. / For the Lord most high is terrible; He is a great King over all the earth”?

NB! This third section of the pedal starts in measure 21 where the cantus firmus plays the phrase “Thou shalt not have other gods.” Also, it is here where the pedal plays the enormous, exaggerated interval of the double octave, which also perfectly matches the second verse of Psalm 47.

d) Could 147 recall the 11th verse of the 147th Psalm: “The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy”?

NB! Luther himself quotes Ps. 147, 11 in his Catechism, in the chapter dedicated to the Ten Commandments. This could make the assumption mentioned above quite plausible!

e) & f) Could the number 5 possibly allude in this context to mankind (five senses; the five wounds on Jesus’s crucified body) as “the Old” vs. “the New Man”?

g) 14 might well suggest Bach’s own name (B [2] + A [1] + C [3] + H [8] = 14) as his personal commitment as a believer, as the pro me (= “for me”), a central point in Luther’s theology.

Another interesting symbolic connotation is suggested by the general form of the chorale setting. The total of 60 measures is clearly divided into two unequal sections considering the sort of “recapitulation” of the beginning, in measure 29:

28 measures (= 7 x 4) + 32 measures (= 8 x 4) = 60 measures, or 28 : 32 = 7 : 8.

Could 7 allude to the seven days of the week, of the 6 + 1 days of the Creation of the earthly world and 8 to the eighth day (the day of Messiah)? Could this overall form and its “articulation” transmit the message of Redemption?

The “small,” manualiter version of Dies sind die heiligen zehn Gebot seems to have a more obvious, more straightforward approach to the text. It is a fughetta using the theme in both normal and inverted position. The gigue-like theme is characterized by the strongly repeated notes at its beginning and by strong leaps followed by stepwise passages. It is most interesting to note some aspects of this piece:

1) the title in the original print from 1739 is Dies sind die heiligen zehen Gebot consisting of exactly 10 syllables (Ten Commandments?)

2) the repeated G in the theme appears 14 times (BACH’s commitment? See above).

3) the theme appears 4 times in normal, 4 times in inverted, and again 2 times in its normal forms, i.e., 4 + 4 + 2 = 10 times (see above).

4) there is quite a long interlude without the theme between measures 18 and 31, lasting 14 measures (see above).

V

The large chorale setting dealing with the Creed, Wir gläuben all’an einen Gott (Schöpfer) is striking because of its dynamism, abundant syncopations, “modern” 2/4 time signature, constant movement in sixteenth notes, and lack of organ points in the pedal, by the six times of the pedal ostinato, and the flamboyant movement of the manual parts. The theme treated in the manual is rooted in the first phrase of the cantus firmus, and it is this very phrase that appears literally quoted in the tenor in the last 12 measures of the piece. The overall flamboyant, dynamic character of this setting might be surprising, but it seems in perfect coherence with Luther’s idea of a willful, powerful, and passionate personal commitment of each believer aiming to attain personal justification.

Some characteristics of this composition might elucidate its possible further message:

a) the total of exactly 100 measures of the piece might suggest the idea of the totality of the Creation (Gott Schöpfer = God, the Creator);

b) the 6-fold appearance of the pedal ostinato might hint at the 6 “working” days of God’s Creation (see above);

c) the quotation of the first cantus firmus phrase in the tenor, starting in measure 89 might allude to Christ as the Mediator;

d) the last pedal entry is longer than its other entries and has exactly 43 notes; this may well mean: (C [3] + R [17] + E [5] + D [4] + O [14] = 43: CREDO) “I believe.”

NB! Interestingly enough, the score of the first Credo chorus in the B Minor Mass shows the word “Credo” written 43 times and heard 41 times, i.e., J-S-B-A-C-H’s creed.

The small version of the same chorale is written as a short manualiter fughetta in the style of a brilliant French overture. This surprising setting can be seen as an introduction to the large version of The Lord’s Prayer, Vater unser im Himmelreich, written in the same key of E Dorian. More likely, however, it also seems to have the function of dividing the whole set of 21 chorales into 12 + 9. One should remember that, on the other hand, the 21 chorales are also divided into 9, dealing with the Lutheran Mass, and 12, treating Luther’s Catechism and the Sacraments. A very beautiful parallel, indeed!

VI

The large version of Vater unser im Himmelreich is possibly Bach’s most difficult and intricate organ work. It is written in 5 parts distributed once again among the two manuals and the pedal, with the cantus firmus in canon. Unlike the Ten Commandments however, each hand here plays a free voice and a canonic cantus firmus part.

Some characteristics may help understand and elucidate the enormous complexity of this composition:

a) the slow, majestic tempo in the 3/4 time signature suggests the austere character of a slow sarabande;

b) the pedal is treated as a basso continuo without quoting the cantus firmus;

c) the cantus firmus is treated in canon suggesting our intimately repeating the prayer spoken by Jesus according to Saint Mark and Saint Matthew;

d) the alternating order of the canonic parts at each new entry seems to suggest a still dialogue between the believer and Jesus;

e) the free manual parts are based on a theme quoting the richly embellished first phrase of the cantus firmus (Example 9);

f) each hand expounds this theme 3 times, alluding probably once more to the Trinity;

g) the two free manual parts display an enormous rhythmical richness with frequent use of the “plaintive” Lombard rhythms and the staccato triplets (Example 10);

h) this “plaintive” Lombardian rhythm and the overall rhythmical complexity seem to depict Luther’s comment on The Lord’s Prayer expressing the “multitude of human miseries;”

i) the staccato triplets obviously describe Saint Matthew 7:7: “Ask and it shall be given to you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you.” As a matter of fact, this very verse appears quoted in practically all older Lutheran hymn books on the page where the chorale Vater unser im Himmelreich is printed. The staccato triplets may also allude to drops of tears;

j) there is only one spot where the pedal quotes the “plaintive” Lombardian rhythm and this happens in measure 41 (J [9] + S [18] + B [2] + A [1] + C [3] + H [8] = J. S. BACH), alluding to the composer’s personal commitment.

After this extraordinary piece, the alio modo manualiter version of the same cantus firmus is a simple, quiet meditation on the Prayer, devoid of all further speculative symbols.

VII

Following Luther’s Large Catechism exactly, Bach now treats the Sacraments of Baptism in Christ, unser Herr zum Jordan kam, Penitence in Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, the latter considered by Luther as the continuation and constant renewal of baptism, and finally the Sacrament of Communion in Jesus Christus, unser Heiland.

The large version of Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam treats Jesus’s baptism as described in Saint John, Chapter 1. The piece is set for two manuals and pedal with the cantus firmus in the latter, the bass in the left hand and the two upper parts in the right hand. This setting is quite full of important symbolic meanings:

a) the tenor cantus firmus in the pedal suggests, as the middle part of the setting, Christ’s role as Mediator between God Father and mankind;

b) the almost constant movement in sixteenth notes in the left hand bass part seems to allude to the flow of the waters of the Jordan River;

c) the two upper parts of the right hand can be seen as a symbol for the Holy Spirit floating above the scene of Christ’s Baptism by Saint John the Baptist. The beginning four notes in each of the two upper parts seem to depict, as a hypotyposis, a cross motif. Also, the most intricate imitations between the small motives of the two upper parts can be seen as a hint to the Holy Spirit proceeding from the consubstantiality of God Father and God Son, as mentioned in the Nicene Creed (Example 11).

d) NB: the final note of the fifth chorale phrase in the pedal d° seems to generate a “wrong” 6/4-chord d° - g° - b′: This is to be seen as a hint to avoid the wrong harmony by the use of a 4′ reed in the pedal if the left hand were based on 8′, or a 16′ basis for the left hand, should the pedal be played only on an 8′ basis!

e) The total number of measures, 81, equals 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 as a most impressive symbol for the Trinity.

The small manualiter version of the same chorale is quite a short fughetta based on the first phrase of the chorale, combined with an “obbligato” counter-subject, both treated in normal and inverted position. Could the theme itself represent Christ and its inverted form Christ’s descent on Earth? Could the countersubject stand for Saint John the Baptist? Interesting enough is the fact that this fughetta consists of 27 measures (3 x 3 x 3) with exactly 81 quarter notes (see above).

The large version of Aus tiefer Not schrei ich zu dir, the German version of Psalm 130, “De profundis,” is an exceptional work, as it is written in the old, solemn, majestic vocal stylus gravis or motet style, which, according to Johann Gottfried Walther’s Musicalisches Lexicon of 1732, is able to “elevate the soul to God.” This setting marks a pinnacle in Bach’s entire organ music insofar as it is written in six parts, four in the manual and two in the pedal, with the augmented cantus firmus of Luther’s chorale melody in the right foot’s part. This obviously seems to be an allusion to the significance of the upper bass part as the voice of the Old Testament psalmist. Most impressive is also the fact that at the beginning of the last verse of the chorale Wer kann, Herr, vor dir bleiben? (Who can, Lord, stand before Thee?) in the seventh to last measure, the upper bass part playing the cantus firmus is the highest part in the whole texture (Example 12).

• The registration should be the Organo pleno, i.e., an 8′ based Plenum  in the (coupled) manual(s) and 16′ Plenum in the pedal, without mixtures but with reeds 16′, 8′, and 4′.

• This setting is obviously inspired by the great pleno settings in five parts, with double pedal, in Matthias Weckmann’s great chorale settings with the cantus firmus in the upper pedal part.

NB! In one of the Lüneburg tablatures containing Weckmann’s majestic hymn on O lux, beata Trinitas the opening first movement in five parts with double pedal and the cantus firmus in the upper bass bears the indication that the cantus firmus of the upper bass could be played in the pedal by the right foot, or on the manual by the left hand, or also by both the pedal and the left hand together. This comment seems to confirm the registration mentioned above, with the result that the left foot bass is playing in the reeds-pleno, the manual parts in the mixture-pleno and the cantus firmus in both the reeds- and the mixture-pleno, and thus strengthening the cantus firmus.

The following alio modo manualiter version of the same chorale is written in four parts. Learned contrapuntal imitations in the three lower parts—in normal and inverted form—of each phrase of the chorale, anticipate each phrase of the augmented cantus firmus expounded each time by the treble part.

• Each section of the piece begins with five contrapuntal measures in intricate counterpoint between the three lower parts, followed by eight bars expounding the respective phrase of the chorale in the treble and one supplementary bar concluding each section.

• The overall organization of the piece is quite extraordinary:

Sections a), b), c) & d): 5 + 8 + 1 bars; section e): 5 + 8 + 5

• But 5 + 8 + 1 = 14  [= B-A-C-H = 2 + 1 + 3 + 8] and 8 : 5 stands for the golden ratio.

The large version of Jesus Christus, unser Heiland, der von uns den Zorn Gottes wandt is a trio for the two manuals and pedal with the cantus firmus in the latter. It seems quite interesting that the pedal oscillates between playing the tenor and bass parts. Could this hint at Jesus’s double nature, as God and Man?

• The two manual parts seem to actually symbolize the “Wrath of God” by their extremely virtuosic, agitated, and aggressive movements in sixteenth notes and eighth notes.

• The main theme in the manuals starting with big and then diminishing intervals (tenth-octave-sixth) could possibly hint at Man’s approach to God, whereas, on the other hand, these leaps sometimes occur also in the opposite direction, from smaller to larger (sixth-octave-tenth). The message of these patterns seems to be the “struggle” between God and sinful mankind expecting redemption through communion, Luther’s second sacrament.

The following alio modo version of the same chorale is a very complex fugue in F minor, using as a main theme the first phrase of the cantus firmus. The extremely rich counterpoint and the surprisingly daring new motives seem to recall the big, learned fugues of the Well-Tempered Clavier, Book II.

• The augmented entry of the main-theme in the tenor part in measure 57 might be another symbol for the praise of Christ the Lord, as the mediator between God and Man.

• NB! In order to emphasize this augmented theme in the tenor it should be helpful to use a registration of foundations (principals) 8′ and 4′ and a trumpet 8′.

VIII

Most intriguing and surprising part of the work are the following four duettos preceding the final Fugue in E-flat Major. Some speculations might help justify their presence:

a) Luther adds a “Short Admonition of Confession” after the chapter about Communion. In this short appendix he quotes the various ways of confessing: 1. to the priest/pastor; 2. as an open and common confession in front of the congregation; 3. to the neighbor; and 4. to God;

b) in the first part of his Large Catechism Luther quotes the four elements of the world: 1. Fire; 2. Air; 3. Water; 4. Earth;

c) in his Neu vermehrtes Hamburgisches Gesangbuch (New Hymn Book) from 1739, Vopelius inserts after the Catechism Hymns other hymns for: 1. the morning; 2. the evening; 3. before meals; 4. after meals;

d) taking into consideration the Baroque Theory of Affects one can easily imagine a certain parallel with the four temperaments: 1. choleric; 2. sanguine; 3. phlegmatic; and 4. melancholic temperament;

e) the duettos form a tight unity: their tonal progression ascending from E to F, to G, and finally to A corresponds strikingly to the sequence of keys in the “Trinity chorales” 4 to 9, and thus leading to the first note, B-flat, starting the following fugue;

f) two of the duettos are in a major (II and III) and two in a minor key (I and IV);

g) two are in a ternary (I: 3/8 and III: 12/8) and two in a binary (II: 2/4 and IV: 2/2) time signature.

h) two start with the right hand (I and II) and two with the left hand (II and IV).

It also seems quite remarkable how well the duettos match—by their astonishing variety and by their individual character—both the conception of the four elements (mentioned by Luther in his Great Catechism) and that of the four temperaments and even maybe of the four archangels (Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel) as well as the four Evangelists (?).

Duetto I: E-minor key; 3/8 time signature; right hand starts, left hand follows; 73 measures; perfectly symmetrical form based upon the golden ratio (28 measures + 17 measures + 28 measures = 73 measures // 28:17 = ~ 1.64; 45 (= 28 + 17) : 28 = ~ 1.7; 73 (= 28 + 17 + 28) : 45 = ~ 1.62); flamboyant themes and countersubjects suggesting flames of fire; Archangel Michael (with attributes: fire, sword, perfect balance); choleric temperament (?); element Fire (?).

Duetto II: F-major key; 2/4 time signature; right hand starts, left hand follows; 149 measures; perfectly symmetrical form of: 37 + 31 + 13 + 31 + 37 measures. NB! 37 could stand for Christ’s monogram in the Greek alphabet [ChRistos]: X ~ CH (= 20) + P ~ R (= 17); 31 may stand for the Latin “In Nomine Jesu” (In Jesus’s Name): [I (= 9) + N (= 13) + I (= 9) = 31]; 13 could allude to Jesus and his Twelve Apostles at the Last Supper. NB! This section of 13 measures from measures 69 to 78 is the center, the middle of the whole piece in which the measures 74 to 78 are the exact “inversion” of measures 69 to 73; could that maybe hint to Jesus’s death?; element Air (?) (Example 13).

The overall form of the piece is quite complex, insofar as the first section and its da capo recapitulation (both 37 measures) are in major and in a serene, joyous mood, whereas the second and penultimate sections (both 31 measures) are in minor and written as canons; might this “discrepancy” remind one of the sanguine temperament (?); Air; could the three references to Jesus Christ (see above) suggest a link to the Archangel Gabriel, Jesus’s messenger (with the attributes: lily and fish); could the perfect formal symmetry represent the symmetrical beauty of a lily?; could the inversion, the crossing of the parts in measures 69–78 hint at a symbol for Christ’s Cross and Death?

Duetto III: G-major key; 12/8 time signature; left hand starts, right hand follows; 39 measures:

15 + 8 + 15 + 1 = 39 measures; 15 (= 3 x 5) + 24 (= 3 x 8) = 39 (= 3 x 13) = golden ratio (cf. Fibonacci); melancholic temperament (?); could the very serene character of the piece remind of the Archangel Raphael (with attribute: fish)? element Water?

Duetto IV: A-minor key; 2/2 (Alla breve) time signature; left hand starts, right hand follows; two themes are used (a and b); 108 measures arranged as 8 (a) + 8 (a) + 16 (b) + 8 (a) + 8 (a) + 8 (b) + 13 (b) + 8 (a) + 8 (b) + 10 (b) + 13(a); NB! The grouping of measures and themes reveals the scheme of: 9 x 8 (= 72 measures) + 2 x 13 (= 26 measures) + 2 x 5 (= 10 measures), an order once more based upon the progression 5, 8, and 13 as quantities of the Fibonacci progression hinting at the “golden ratio;” the quite robust character of the music seems to allude to the strong phlegmatic temperament, while the very intricate formal scheme of the piece might possibly be a hint to the archangel Uriel (with attribute: fire); element Earth?

IX

The concluding Fuga à 5 Pro Organo pleno in E-flat major perfectly continues the ascending keys movement of the duettos (E-F-G-A) by its starting with a B-flat in the tenor.

The main theme suggests by its shape the form of a cross: connecting on paper the first note with the fourth and the second with the third, respectively the second with the fifth and the third with the fourth, respectively the third with the sixth and the fourth with the fifth, respectively the fourth with the seventh and the fifth with the sixth, one obtains three times (Trinity again!) the Greek letter X = Chi used as a symbol of the Cross, for crossing: cf. also Bach’s original title Da Jesus an dem X stund’ and the English No X-ing or Merry X-mas (Example 14).

This majestic theme dominates the whole first section of the fugue written in the ancient stylus gravis (see above, chorales 1 to 3). The second section of the fugue is in 6/4 meter and based on a strongly contrasting theme characterized by its constant movement representing a lengthy kyklosis (“turning around-figure”), with the main notes E-flat—F—G and thus quoting the first phrase of the first large chorale Kyrie, Gott Vater in Ewigkeit (Example 15).

Exactly in the middle of this second section, the majestic first theme reappears, rhythmically strengthened by its syncopations, and dividing the whole fugue into two equal parts of 36 + 22½ : 22½ + 36 (Example 16).

Finally, the third and last section of the fugue written in 12/8 time signature, expounds a third theme that will later be combined with the first and with a varied form of the second theme. This third theme seems to use a bass cadence formula of C–F, and B-flat–E-flat (Example 17).

Most impressive is the perfect formal symmetry of the whole fugue organized in: (20 + 16 =) 36 measures + (22½ + 22½ =) 45 measures + (16 + 20 =) 36 measures.

Considering the fugue as a whole and the most natural tempo relationship of its three time signatures (half note = dotted half note = dotted quarter note), one can conclude the following:

a) the first and the third sections of the fugue are equal in length lasting 36 measures each, divided into 20 + 16, respectively, into 16 + 20;

b) applying the tempo relationship “half note = dotted half note = dotted quarter note” and taking as a common unity of measurement the smaller quantity, i.e., the measure length of the second fugue (which has only two beats per measure vs. the four beats of the first and the third sections respectively), one obtains the following measurements for the three sections:

72 (= 36 x 2) half-measures; 45 measures and again 72 (= 36 x 2) half-measures

c) all these numbers being multiples of 9, these ratios can be reduced to:

72 (= 8 x 9); 45 (= 5 x 9); 72 (= 8 x 9), or just 8 + 5 (= 13) + 8 = 21

d) this series of numbers 8, 5, 13, 21 belongs to the famous “Fibonacci progression” starting by 1:1:2:3:5:8:13:21 and reaching the golden ratio or divine proportion (= “proportio divina”) in the infinite.

e) NB! according to the Italian Renaissance mathematician Luca Pacioli the golden ratio might symbolize the Holy Trinity:

A (the greater quantity/God Father) : B (the smaller quantity/God the consubstantial Son) = (A + B) : A, or, theologically speaking:

A (God Father) engenders B (the consubstantial Son) and, out of these two, proceeds A + B (the Holy Spirit);

f) could this majestic, astonishingly built fugue thus represent once more the ultimate Symbol of the Holy Trinity?

g) its perfectly symmetrical construction is most impressive:

First section (40 half measures—cadence—32 half measures),

Second section (22½—22½ measures)

Third section (32 half measures—cadence—40 half measures), or, more simply:

40 – 32 – 22½ – 22½ – 32 – 40 measure lengths of the second section.

X

Taking a more attentive, new look at the Third Part of Bach’s Clavier-Übung, one discovers some interesting facts concerning the overall compositional plan, a plan corresponding also to Bach’s work, the B Minor Mass:

a) both cycles contain a total of 27 movements each.

b) these 27 movements are divided into two groups of: 6 “free” works without a cantus firmus (prelude in E-flat, the four Duettos, and the final fugue) and the 21 chorales; NB! the “Missa” and the “Symbolum Nicenum” in the
B Minor Mass have together 12 + 9 = 21 movements and the last section of the B Minor Mass (“Sanctus,” “Osanna,” “Benedictus,” “Osanna,” “Agnus Dei,” and “Dona nobis pacem”) also contains 6 movements.

c) the 21 chorales in the Clavier-Übung are divided twice into: 9 for the Lutheran Mass (“Kyrie-Christe-Kyrie – Gloria:” Trinity) and 12 dealing with Luther’s Catechism plus Sacraments.

d) The 21 chorales are also divided (“musically”) into 12 and 9 chorales by the 13th chorale written as a French overture and thus opening the rest of 9 chorales.

[NB! All these numbers are multiples of 3 (Trinity again!).]

e) could the total number of 27 pieces possibly recall in both the Clavier-Übung and the B Minor Mass the 27 books of the New Testament?

f) could the number of 21 pieces allude to the “Teaching Books” of the New Testament, the 21 Epistles, and the 6 “free works” to the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the prophetic Apocalypse of John?

g) could one not consider the overall architecture of Bach’s most impressive cycles, Clavier-Übung III and the B Minor Mass, as huge symbols for the New Testament and thereby also for Martin Luther’s Theology?

Gunther Martin Göttsche, translation from German by Valerie E. Hess

Gunther Martin Göttsche is a German composer and organist. After completing master’s degrees in Mannheim and Berlin he worked as organist and choir conductor in Aalen/Württemberg and Braunschweig. From 1992 until 2013 he was director of the Church Music Academy in Schlüchtern, Germany (near Frankfurt). From 2008 until 2013 he also worked as a teacher of organ improvisation at the Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Heidelberg. From 2013 until 2018 he lived in Israel, serving as organist and choir director of the German Lutheran Church in the Old City of Jerusalem. Göttsche is known as a composer, especially in sacred music, and has published numerous works. Visit: www.gunther-goettsche.com.

On the shelves in our music room in Sinntal, Hessen State, Germany, there is a very special relic near the grand piano and the house organ: a heavy 30 cm (nearly 12 inches) long, squared timber cut from the trunk of an ancient olive tree that once stood in the lower part of the garden of Gethsemane. When the new, small Golgotha organ for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built in 2016, the keyboards were made from this wood. Not all of the wood was needed, and so Brother Peter, at that time still vice-bursar for the Franciscans, led me a few days after the dedication of the organ to a plastic sack with the sacred wood remnants, and I was allowed to choose the most beautiful piece of wood! The Gethsemane wood traveled with us back to Germany in 2018, reminding me time and again of my five years in the Holy Land and, of course, of the extremely interesting organ world that I was gradually able to get to know.

The fact that there are organs in Israel and Palestine, in the center of the Middle East, astonishes many people. If I then tell them that the number of instruments is about sixty, their astonishment grows even larger. Where are these many organs, and who uses them?

Some people think of Jewish worship first. In fact, since the nineteenth century in Germany and the United States, the synagogues of Reform Judaism have been home to the “synagogue organs.” In Germany, most of them were destroyed in the Reichs-Kristallnacht (November 9–10, 1938); today only a few of them are left. There are around fifty such instruments in the United States. In Israel, however, where Orthodox Judaism prevails, there are no synagogue organs. Rather, the vast majority of organs in the Holy Land are in Christian churches, especially in the Jerusalem and Bethlehem region, but also in the north (Nazareth). However, not all Christian churches have organs. For example, the Eastern Orthodox churches do not have organs because they have unaccompanied musical traditions, such as the magnificent polyphonic male choirs of the Armenian Orthodox Church, which can be heard in Saint James Cathedral in Jerusalem. 

It is mainly the Lutheran, Roman Catholic, and Anglican churches that, as in their homelands or countries of origin, use an organ in worship, and so the organ landscape in Israel and Palestine offers a very interesting variety. Because each church does not want to miss the familiar organ style of its homeland and the instruments are usually imported, the organ scene of the Holy Land is a reflection of the world’s pipe organs from several centuries. We find German, American, French, and Danish organs from more recent times as well as historical organs from France, Austria, and Italy. 

When did organs first come to the Holy Land? The earliest known instrument is only documented from the remaining 221 organ pipes that were found in 1906 during excavations next to Saint Catherine’s Church in Bethlehem. The pipes date back to the fourteenth century, a time when the organ was established as a church instrument in many European countries, but they may be even older. After being exhibited for a long time in the Museum of Biblical Studies at the Church of the Flagellation in Jerusalem, these pipes will soon find a new place in the museum section of Custodia Terrae Sanctae (The Custody in the Holy Land) on the site of the Monastery of Saint Salvatore. Proof for the presence of organs can only be firmly established from the seventeenth century as documents from the archives of the Franciscans’ Custodia Terrae Sanctae list instruments from about 1630 for Saint Salvatore in Jerusalem and 1640 for Bethlehem.

In the first half of the eighteenth century (1724–1744), the German Franciscan P. Elzear Horn wrote his Ichnographiae monumentarum terrae sanctae (Iconographic Monument to the Holy Land), a kind of “atlas” in which he (in Latin) minutely described the Franciscan churches of the Holy Land and their inventory. Among other things, he preserved a wonderful drawing of the organ of Saint Salvatore Church in Jerusalem at that time, obviously an instrument in the Italian style. The meticulous drawing (Figure 1) reveals many details, such as the range of the two manuals (with the so-called “short octave” in the bass typical of the time), the pedal that has only a one octave range, some register names such as “Principals” or “Contrabasso in Pedals” divided into bass and treble registers, and three leather straps on the right side panel to raise the bellows. 

At the beginning of the second half of the eighteenth century, a permanent organbuilding workshop was established in the convent of Saint Salvatore. Delfín Fernandez, OFM, reports in a 2002 essay that two Franciscan organbuilders from Spain came with the order in 1754 to build a new organ for the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

But when the work was completed and the organ was to be installed in the choir of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Greek Orthodox strongly opposed the installation.¹ In view of this difficult situation, it was decided to set up the organ in the church of St. Salvatore. But given the small size of this church, the instrument had to be downsized and only a part was installed.

In a document from 1793, the organbuilding workshop of the Franciscans was called “Officina sacris exstruendis organis” (workshop for the construction of sacred organs) (Figure 2).

An impressive photograph, published in 1882 in the Palestino-Seraphicum Album by the Custodia Terrae Sanctae, shows the organbuilding workshop toward the end of the nineteenth century. We see a small organ with two registers (or is it a voicing windchest needed in the workshop?). In front of it stands a bearded religious, the director of the Officina Constructorio Organorum, who shows the viewer a large pipe grid. An Arab aide holds something on the right side of the image that could be the bellows lever for pumping the wind. Two Arab apprentices sit in front of the picture, one has a reed pipe in his hands. Also on the windchest of the small instrument are reed pipes.

Of all the organs mentioned so far, apart from the archival documents, there is nothing physically remaining. It was only in the nineteenth century that an instrument was created that we can still see, touch, and hear. It is a small Italian organ from 1847 built by the brothers Agati (Nicomede and Giovanni) of Pistoia (Figure 3). It has nine stops and a small “appended” pedal and belonged to the Franciscan monastery in Tyros, Lebanon. At some point, it was moved to the Christian Information Center at Jerusalem’s Jaffa Gate. (The instrument was there in 2001, but may have moved there even earlier.) In June 2014, the organ found a new home in Saint Peter’s Church in the picturesque old town of Tel Aviv-Jaffa, high above the beach of the Mediterranean. 

1847 Agati organ, Saint Peter’s Church, Tel Aviv-Jaffa

8′ Principale Bassi

8′ Principale Soprani

8′ Voce Angelica

4′ Ottava

4′ Flauto a Fuso

2-2⁄3′ Nazardo

2′ Decimaquinta

1-1⁄3′ Decimanona

1′ Flagioletto (or 1⁄2′?)

1′ Vigesimaseconda

Timpani (pedal at far right)

Manual compass (C, D, E, F, G, A–f3) 50 notes, short octave

Pull-down pedal (8 notes from the first octave)

Ripieno lever, adds 4′ Ottave, 2′ Decimaquinta, 11⁄3′ Decimanona, and 1′ Vigesimaseconda. 

 

By the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, Christian churches, monasteries, and branches of the most important European religious orders were found almost everywhere in the Holy Land. From this time period, a number of extraordinary historical organs are dated, playable to some extent today or preserved only in part. Each has its own story. In 1893, an organ was obtained for the church of Saint John the Baptist, located in the picturesque Jerusalem suburb of Ein Kerem (Figure 4). It had two manuals and 14 stops and was built by Matthäus Mauracher of Austria. The organ remains and, despite numerous shortcomings, was still playable until recently. Currently, it is in storage due to renovation work in the church, and a restoration is planned. 

1893 MatthКus Mauracher organ, Church of Saint John the Baptist, Ein Kerem

MANUAL I (C–f3)

8′ Principal

8′ Gedackt

8′ Gemshorn

4′ Octav

4′ Spitzflöte

2′ Flautino (originally 8′ Gamba)

2-2⁄3′ Mixture

8′ Trompete

MANUAL II (C–f3)

8′ Geigen-Principal

8′ Philomela (open wood flute)

8′ Dolce

4′ Salicet

PEDAL (C-d1)

16′ Subbass

8′ Octav-Bass

Couplers

Manual Coppel

Pedal-Coppel z. I. Manual

Pedal-Coppel z. II. Manual

Piston presets: Fortissimo, Mezzoforte, Piano

“Corno Vi piace” (draws 8′ Philomela, 4′ Spitzflöte, 16′ Subbass)

Mechanical key action

Pneumatic stop action

 

In 1893, the organbuilder François Mader from Marseille, France, built an organ with two manuals and sixteen stops in the Church (Convent of the Sisters of Zion) on the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem (Figure 5). Even after a modification by Rieger in 1935, the organ retained its extraordinary French-symphonic character, but today, despite a 1998 overhaul by the Canadian builder, Dubay, Ltd., it is in poor condition and barely playable.

1893 Mader organ, Ecce Homo Church, Jerusalem

GRAND-ORGUE (Manual I, C–g3)

16′ Bourdon

8′ Montre

8′ Flûte harmonique

4′ Prestant

2-2⁄3′ Quinte (originally 8′ Violoncello)

2′ Doublette

Plein jeu

RÉCIT (Manual II, enclosed, C–g3)

8′ Bourdon

8′ Salicional

4′ Flûte à cheminée (originally 8′ Voix humaine)

2′ Quarte de nasard (originally 8′ Voix céleste)

8′ Trompette

8′ Basson-Hautbois

PÉDALE (C–d1)

16′ Soubasse

8′ Basse ouverte

 

Tremulant

Couplers 

Coupler II–I

Coupler I–Pédale

Coupler II–Pédale

Mechanical key and stop action

 

In 1893 the organ firm of Dinse from Berlin, Germany, built an organ with two manuals and eight stops in Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem. This was the first organ by a German organbuilder in Palestine. In 2000, the organ was still intact and more or less playable. It was then completely rebuilt by the American organbuilder Roland Rutz of Morristown, Minnesota. Although the beautiful design was kept and some pipes were used again, the character and the entire sound and technical system were rebuilt. Now, the organ has electric action, multiplex windchests, and a MIDI device.

Of the few pipe organs in Tel Aviv, the oldest is the organ built in 1896 by Rieger. Located in the Franciscan Church of Saint Anthony, Tel Aviv-Jaffa, it is still standing, but after various modifications, it is no longer in original condition.

In 1898, the Weigle organbuilding firm from Stuttgart, Germany, constructed a two-manual organ with twelve stops for the German-operated Syrian orphanage in Jerusalem. It was damaged in a fire in 1910 and subsequently rebuilt by the builders. After World War II, the orphanage became part of the State of Israel. The organ was removed at some point, its whereabouts unknown since the 1960s. 

In 1898, the newly built Church of the Redeemer of Jerusalem received an organ from the Berlin company Dinse. It stood at ground level north of the main aisle, where the baptismal font stands today (Figure 6). In 1938 it was rebuilt by Weigle, of Stuttgart, in the style of the Organ Reform Movement (Orgelbewegung). In 1970, when the Schuke organ firm from Berlin installed a new instrument, the organ case and façade were not reused.²

In 1899, a Walcker organ with seven stops was built for the church hall of the German Templars in the Refaim plain just outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. Today this is the street corner that marks the beginning of the “German Colony” in the Jerusalem suburbs. The pretty garden around the church is now wedged between huge hotel buildings. In the small church, which after World War II first fell to the State of Israel and was then passed on to the Armenian community, the sad ruins of the Walcker organ still stand in the gallery (Figure 7). In the aftermath of the war, all usable wood and metal parts were appropriated. The Armenians do not need the organ in worship, but they honor its remains. 

A parallel instrument to the organ in the Ecce Homo Church is the organ built in 1900 by the same organbuilder (F. Mader) for the Church of Saint Peter of Zion, part of the Ratisbonne Abbey in West Jerusalem. It has ten stops and was completely overhauled in 2007. 

Also in 1900, the organ of the Dominican Church of Saint Stephen, which is outside the city wall in the immediate vicinity of the Damascus Gate, was installed. With fourteen stops on two manuals, it was built by Matthäus Mauracher of Austria. Since 2005, the organ has been thoroughly rebuilt and has an electric console from which the modernized pipework is operated on a new windchest. The old Mauracher console is still held in honor and is in the entrance hall of the church.

In 1904, Bevington & Sons of London, England, built a new organ for the Anglican Saint George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem. It was replaced by a new Rieger installation in 1984, but its wonderful façade (including pipes) was moved elsewhere in the church.³

Another English late-Romantic organ from 1904, built by the British organbuilder Thomas Casson, stood until 2001 in Willington, England, and was moved the following year at the instigation of the Israeli organbuilder Gideon Shamir to the church of the Trappist monastery Latrun (near Highway 1, about halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv). It seems unplayable for now, as during my last visit to the church (2017) an electronic organ had been put in front of the Casson console.

Around 1910, the Austrian Hospice Chapel in Jerusalem received an organ from Rieger of Jägerndorf (formerly in Austrian Silesia, now the Czech Republic), with seven stops on one manual and pedal. It is untouched—only the front pipes had to be renewed in 1999 as some were damaged by missiles.⁴ With its late-Romantic, warm sound, based almost entirely on 8′ registers, it is similar to its “big sister” instrument at Church of the Ascension (Figure 8), the latter being an important organ in the Holy Land.

Also in 1910, an organ by Wilhelm Sauer was erected in the newly built Church of the Ascension of the Augusta-Victoria Foundation, a German hospital complex on the Mount of Olives. With twenty-four stops on two manuals and pedal, including five 16′ registers, it is a perfectly harmonized synthesis of space and sound. It may certainly be considered the most beautiful among the historical organs of Israel, because it is completely preserved to the last pipe. It has never undergone any change apart from the installation of an electric blower and repair work, but remains in the same tonal state and appearance as it did in its year of construction.

This organ, as well as the organ of the Church of the Redeemer, has been looked after and maintained for decades by the organbuilder Rainer Nass (formerly with Schuke, Berlin) and is in very good condition. This is one reason it is regularly used for concerts. 

1910 Wilhelm Sauer organ, Church of the Ascension, Jerusalem

MANUAL I (C–f3)

16′ Bordun

8′ Prinzipal

8′ Gemshorn

8′ Flûte

8′ Gedeckt

4′ Oktave

4′ Rorhflöte

2-2⁄3′ Cornet III–IV

8′ Schalmei

Koppel II–I

MANUAL II (C–f3)

16′ Gedeckt

8′ Principal

8′ Lieblich Gedeckt

8′ Fernflöte

8′ Aeoline

8′ Voix Céleste

4′ Fugara

4′ Flauto dolce

2′ Flautino

PEDAL (C–d1)

16′ Prinzipal

16′ Violon

16′ Subbaß

8′ Oktave

8′ Cello

8′ Gedacktflöte

Koppel II–Ped.

Koppel I–Ped.

Mezzoforte–Forte–Tutti

 

The third instrument built in 1910 is the organ of Saint Salvatore’s Church, Jerusalem. The organbuilder Vegessi-Bossi of Turin, Italy, built a large instrument with forty-four stops in the Italian style. This organ was rebuilt in 1977 by Delfino Taboada. It remained intact until 2008 before being rebuilt by the Rieger organ company. Only the case of 1910 remains. 

This is a summary of how more than a dozen new organs were built in just seventeen years! After this prolific period of organbuilding came the years of the two world wars, the time between them, and the time after that until the founding of the State of Israel in 1948. In all these years with one exception (the YMCA organ, discussed below), no significant new organs were installed in the Holy Land.

In addition, there were some major alterations to Jerusalem organs in the 1930s:

• the reconstruction of the organ in the church of the Latin Patriarchate in 1933 by Gebrüder Späth from Mengen-Ennetach;

• the reconstruction of the organ of the Church of the Redeemer in 1938 by Weigle of Stuttgart;

• the reconstruction of the organ in the Ecce Homo Church in 1935 (see above) by Rieger of Jägerndorf;

• the reconstruction of the Mauracher organ of Saint Stephan (by Rieger?) in 1933. 

The only major organ to be built in this politically troubled time was a concert hall organ. For the YMCA building, one of the most striking buildings in West Jerusalem, in the immediate vicinity of the King David Hotel, the American Austin Organ Company built in 1932 a large instrument with forty-eight stops, the only organ with four manuals ever in Israel! 

Because of the limited space available on the stage of the concert hall, the pipework was distributed to several small chambers adjacent to the hall, creating numerous acoustic problems and tonal issues. Nevertheless, the organ has been heard in many concerts and recordings for Israeli radio over the years. Most of these were played by the Israeli organist Max Lampel (1900–1987), who was also an organ teacher at the Jerusalem Music Academy. The instrument was disassembled in 2000, originally with the aim of rebuilding it elsewhere, but this did not happen for financial reasons. The location of the organ is currently unknown.

In the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, the activity of two organbuilders based in the Holy Land made a commendable contribution to the preservation and care of many organs in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Given the limited technical capabilities of their workshops and the tight budgets provided by their clients, the indefatigable activity of these two pioneers of organbuilding cannot be overestimated.

Brother Delfino Fernandez Taboada, OFM, 1924–2002, of Spanish descent, had been the director of the organbuilding workshop of the Franciscans in Jerusalem since the 1950s. In his approximately fifty years of activity for the Custodia Terrae Sanctae, he built, repaired, and restored numerous organs. 

His organ workshop also served as a supply house for organ pipes and other parts that were left over when dismantling other organs, some of which were then reused in other projects. For example, when the organ of the Church of the Redeemer was rebuilt in 1971, the Franciscans purchased from the German community all usable parts of the old organ for 15,000 shekels.⁵ Br. Delfino Fernandez mostly built electric key and stop actions. Most of the instruments that he built or converted were replaced by new instruments by the end of the century. For example, he had dedicated many years of his life to the organ of the Church of Saint Catherine in Bethlehem, but he had to disassemble it in 2000 to make room for a new organ that he was not selected to build. 

Gideon Shamir (Figure 9), born in 1939, is to date the only Israeli organbuilder. Trained as a pianist and organist, he came to Israel in 1963 and, during a stay with the German organbuilder Walcker, had his first contact with organbuilding. He first worked as a director of a music school, but then in 1977 founded a workshop in which he initially built positiv organs. After a masterclass at the vocational school in Ludwigsburg, Germany, he has devoted himself exclusively since 1990 to organbuilding in his workshop in Asseret (northern Israel).

He has built a number of home and practice organs (including for the conservatories in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv) and carried out numerous repairs, maintenance, rebuilding, and expansions of existing organs. Like the Franciscan organbuilder Br. Delfino, Gideon Shamir repeatedly used parts of older organs for new instruments. His greatest work is the organ with thirty-three stops in the hall of the University of Haifa (Figure 10). He worked on the project for a total of seven years, completing it in 1998, using parts of three different historical organs, namely the Bevington organ of Saint George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem, from 1904, an Italian organ from 1868, and the old organ of the Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem, from 1898/1934. The dedication concert was played by the Russian-Israeli organist, Roman Krasnovsky. Today, recitals on this organ are an integral part of the concert series of the Israel Organ Association and are enthusiastically received by audiences.

The Israel Organ Association, founded in 2003 by Gerard Levi in collaboration with Gideon Shamir, strives to make the organ popular as a concert instrument in Israel. This is primarily done by organizing concerts with international artists, many of whom are not Israeli. Concert attendees come from all over Israel to Jerusalem or Haifa for these events. 

Gerard Levi (1936–2020), an Israeli with French roots, was a retired businessman and organ lover. In addition to his work with the Israel Organ Association, he wrote a book in English in 2005 about all the organs of Israel (Organ Culture in Israel and Palestine; see bibliography at the end of this article) that contains information on and photos of the organs. It is an important source for the organ scene throughout the Holy Land. In addition, the Israel Organ Association operates the website www.organ.org.il, which publishes not only the current concert dates of the association and other organizers, but also provides continual updates to the above-mentioned book by Levi by listing the current status with photos of all the organs in the country. The website is trilingual: English, Russian, and Hebrew. Yuval Rabin (b. 1973 in Haifa) is now musical director of the Israel International Organ Festival.

The construction of the sixteen-stop organ for Bethlehem University by the Alsatian organbuilder Max Roethinger in 1961 (Figure 11) marked the beginning of a new construction period in the Holy Land after years of organbuilding stagnation due to the political situation. This organ shows the style of the Organ Reform Movement, whose return to Baroque ideals at that time shaped almost every new organ, especially in Germany. The Roethinger organ has electric action and includes bright mixtures and mutation stops. The instrument has been preserved unchanged and was cleaned and overhauled in 2014 by the organbuilder Rainer Nass of Berlin. The organist is the music teacher at the university, Sister Patricia Crockford.

1961 Max Roethinger organ, Bethlehem University

GRAND-ORGUE (Manual I, C–g3)

8′ Montre

8′ Bourdon

4′ Prestant

2′ Doublette

Fourniture VI

8′ Cromorne

Coupler II–I

Coupler II–I 4′

RÉCIT (Manual II, enclosed, C–g3)

8′ Principal

8′ Cor de nuit

8′ Voix céleste

4′ Flûte conique

2′ Quarte de nasard

Sesquialtera II

Cymbale III

8′ Trompette

Tremulant

PÉDALE (C–d1)

16′ Soubasse

8′ Principal

Coupler I–Ped.

Coupler II–Ped.

Coupler II–Ped. 4′

Pistons: pp, p, mf, Tutti

Electric key and stop action

 

This was followed by a series of other new instruments, mostly constructed by organbuilders from the respective home countries of the commissioning churches. In 1971, the Berlin organ workshop Karl Schuke GmbH built the new organ for the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. It was expanded by three stops in 1984, bringing it to twenty-one stops on two manuals and pedal. Not without reason it is considered one of the best-preserved organs of Israel and is often heard in concerts.

The history of the Church of the Redeemer organ is inextricably linked to the person of its longtime organist Elisabeth Roloff (1937–2008), who played there from 1982 until her death. The organbuilder Rainer Nass of Berlin has been associated with this organ and the German Lutheran community since 1984. He comes to Israel every year to look after the organs of the Church of the Redeemer and the Church of the Ascension. In addition, he has worked on many other organs in the country, such as Immanuel Church in Jaffa (Figure 12), the University of Bethlehem, the Arab-Lutheran Church in Jaffa, and others. On the website of the Israel Organ Association, he has been honored as the “Santa Claus of the Israeli organs.” 

As early as 1960, the Church of the Redeemer received an additional small organ built by the Führer company of Wilhelmshaven, Germany. It has five stops and pedal and was originally in the gallery of Saint John’s Chapel. In 2015, it was moved to the sanctuary of the Church of the Redeemer and made portable, serving now as a choir organ (Figure 13). 

In 1977, Paul Ott built a two-manual organ with seventeen stops for Immanuel Church (formerly German, now managed by the Norwegian Church) in Tel Aviv. Under the direction of the organist Arin Maisky, there is a well-established concert series in which organ concerts are an integral part. Arin is the successor of her father, Valery Maisky (1942–1981), a well-known organist in Israel and Europe.

Continuing in the series of new instruments, a three-manual organ by Oberlinger of Windesheim, Germany, was built in 1980 for the German Benedictine Dormition Abbey on Mount Zion next to the Old City of Jerusalem (Figure 14). This instrument was very often played in concerts, but will now be replaced by a new instrument at some future time. The Oberlinger organ was bought by a Russian investor in 2020 and is to be used as a concert organ in a former Orthodox church near Jekaterinburg, Russia. P. Ralph Greis, who had been active as organist of the Dormition Abbey for a long time, left Jerusalem in 2017; his successor is Brother Simeon Gloger. The Dormition Abbey as well as the Church of the Redeemer and the Church of the Ascension play an important role in the international organ concerts organized regularly by the Israel Organ Association. 

In 1984, the Austrian company Rieger built a new organ with thirty-one registers for the Anglican Saint George’s Cathedral in Jerusalem (Figure 15). The organist is Inna Dudakova.

In 1987, the Concert Hall of the Mormon-built Brigham Young University on the Mount of Olives received a three-manual organ with thirty-nine stops, built by the Danish company Marcussen & Søn (Figure 16). The organ is maintained and heard on weekly tours and in regular concerts. Various American organists carry out yearly residencies here.

In 1994, in the Franciscan church “Emmaus” in Qbeibeh, between Jerusalem and Ramallah, a new organ from Inzoli, Crema (North Italy), was built in the Italian-historical style with six stops and a short pedal (Figure 17).

In 2002, a large concert hall organ with three manuals by Eule of Bautzen, Germany, was built for the campus of the Music Academy in Tel Aviv. Alexander Gorin supervises organ students there.

The aforementioned Austrian company Rieger, which had already built a new main organ (two manuals, thirty-nine registers) in 1982 in the gallery of the rotunda in the Jerusalem Church of the Holy Sepulchre, became the exclusive organ supplier for the churches of the Franciscan Custodia Terrae Sanctae and built a number of organs of outstanding quality in the ensuing decades. In 2002 in the Church of Saint Catherine in Bethlehem, a new organ was built by Rieger that gained notoriety, because during the final phase of the construction fighting took place between Israelis and Palestinians. As a result of fire damage, many of the pipes became unusable, so the organ could not be finished until 2003. The organist is Fr. Jago Soce. 

In 2008 in Saint Salvatore’s Church in Jerusalem, an instrument with forty-four stops on three manuals and pedal was installed by Rieger. It can be played by a mechanical-action main console as well as an additional electric-action console behind the altar. The design of this organ, as well as most of the other organs of the Custodia Terrae Sanctae, was the responsibility of P. Armando Pierucci. Born in 1935, he was the long-time organist of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and of the Church of Saint Salvatore. He is now retired.

2008 Rieger Orgelbau organ, Franciscan Church of Saint Salvatore, Old City, Jerusalem

Grand Organo (Manual I, C–a3)

16′ Bordone

8′ Principale

8′ Flauto armonico

8′ Voce humana

8′ Bordone camino

4′ Ottava

4′ Flauto

2-2⁄3′ Duodecima

2′ Decimaquinta

2′ Ripieno grave IV

1′ Ripieno acuto

16′ Tromba

8′ Tromba

Coupler II–I

Coupler III–I

Positivo (Manual II, C–a3)

8′ Principalino

8′ Bordone

4′ Ottava

4′ Flauto camino

2′ Flauto

1-1⁄3′ Decimanona

1′ Piccolo

2-2⁄3′ Sesquialtera

1′ Cimbalo III–IV

8′ Cromorne

Tremolo

Coupler III–II

Recitativo (Manual III, enclosed, C–a3)

16′ Quintatön

8′ Flauto

8′ Bordone

8′ Viola da Gamba

8′ Viola Celeste

4′ Ottavina

4′ Flauto traverso

2-2⁄3′ Nazardo

2′ Flauto ottava

1-3⁄5′ Terza

2′ Pienino III–IV

16′ Bassone

8′ Tromba

8′ Oboe

4′ Clarino

Tremolo

Pedale (C–f1)

16′ Principale

16′ Subbasso

8′ Ottava

8′ Violoncello

8′ Bordone

4′ Flauto concerto

16′ Bombarda

8′ Trombone

Coupler I–P

Coupler II–P

Coupler III–P

Consoles: main console, mechanical; remote console, electric

Roller crescendo shoe

Rieger Tuning System/Rieger Replay System  

Select accessories: Rieger Combination System (10 users with 1,000 combinations with 3 inserts each); archive for 250 tracks with 250 combinations each; Sequencer; Copy functions; Repeat functions

 

In 2012 in Nazareth, three instruments were installed. Two were in the Church of the Annunciation. In the upper church, a three-manual instrument with forty-nine stops was installed, and in the crypt of the lower church an instrument with sixteen stops. The nearby Church of Saint Joseph received a small organ with ten stops. The organist in Nazareth is Fr. George Lewett, an American.

In 2014 in the Church of All Nations, at the foot of the Mount of Olives, an instrument with two manuals, twelve stops was installed. 

In 2015 in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, there is the new Magdalene organ (two manuals, fifteen stops) near Christ’s grave (the Edicule), which is connected to the main organ and its electric console from the gallery above. The following year, again in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre near the Golgotha Rock (Figure 18), there was installed a very small organ with two manuals and five stops. It is completely enclosed in a cabinet. 

2016 Rieger organ near the Golgotha Rock, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Jerusalem

Manual I (C–d3)

8′ Principale

4′ Ottava

2′ Quintadecima

Manual II (C–d3)

8′ Bordone

4′ Flauto

Koppel

No pedal

 

As a tireless promoter, sponsor, and organizer of the Franciscan organ constructions, Br. Peter Schüler, OFM (now editor-in-chief of the Franciscan magazine In the Land of the Bible located in Munich, Germany) also helped out as an organist at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre when he worked in Jerusalem.

The organs of the Custodia Terrae Sanctae have also been featured in a new series of concerts for several years, namely the “Terra Sancta Organ Festival,” which also takes place in Lebanon, Jordan, Cyprus, and Greece (www.tsorganfestival.org). The festival is a very well organized and widely promoted concert series in which organists from all over the world perform. The artistic director is Fr. Riccardo Ceriani.

Another current organ installation in Israel is in the north, not in a church, but in a concert hall. The Elma Arts Center is a spacious, architecturally interesting hotel and conference center in Zichron Ya’akov. It offers a rich cultural program of events in a concert hall seating 450 people. In 2014, the organbuilder Klais of Bonn, Germany, built an organ with twenty-four stops on two manuals and pedal for this center.

The status of organs in the churches of the Arab Lutheran Churches of the “ELCJHL” (Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land) should not go unmentioned. Not all of their churches have pipe organs, but Arab Lutherans also have a tradition of organ-accompanied congregational singing. The organ in the Christmas Church in Bethlehem has already been mentioned. Next to the organ of the Church of the Redeemer, Jerusalem, which is also used by the Arab Lutheran congregation that meets there, it is the largest instrument the ELCJHL has. There are also small pipe organs in the Arab-Lutheran churches in Ramallah and Beit Sahour. The ELCJHL also includes the pilgrimage center Bethany-beyond-the-Jordan in Jordan, whose church in 2013 received a large electronic organ by the Content company with three manuals, numerous stops, and a pipe façade. 

Finally, in Israel there are many small organs, including a number of private house organs. The largest, with seventeen stops, belongs to Gerard Levi, former chairman of the Israel Organ Association, and is located in his home in Youvalim in northern Israel (Figure 19). The instrument was built in 1992 by Gideon Shamir and contains a number of pipes from historic organs. In addition, some orchestras, private families, churches, and other associations have house organs, positiv organs, and/or portable chest organs. On the campus of the Tel Aviv Music Academy, there is the above-mentioned concert hall organ as well as a smaller practice instrument with seventeen stops, built by Gideon Shamir in 1996.⁶ In the Jerusalem music school of the Franciscans, called Magnificat, stands a small, older practice organ by the German company Walcker. 

Thus, all in all, the Holy Land offers a very multifaceted, colorful picture with organs of various stylistic characteristics, different ages, different qualities, and in different states of preservation. It would be worthwhile, though not the subject of this article, to report on the current status of organ playing in Israel. The number of organists is easy to tally. For the approximately sixty instruments, there are (in my estimation) at most thirty organists, of which only about half have a qualified education. Many of the organs mentioned in this article are not played regularly, some only occasionally in concerts, some not at all anymore.

Moreover, it would be desirable for a young organbuilder to settle permanently in Israel in order to continue the commendable work of Gideon Shamir. Enough work would be available! During my five years in Israel, despite my rudimentary organbuilding skills, I was called repeatedly to fix minor problems or to adjust individual registers, and my successor in office, Hartmut Rohmeyer, has as well.

I hope that the network of organs in the Holy Land, across all denominations, in the next few years and decades remains a fascination for all who are involved, whether they listen to the organs, sing with them, play them, or even build or repair them. And in the spirit of Psalm 122 (“Wish Jerusalem happiness”), I join in the Psalmist’s prayer, but expand it to include the entire Holy Land: “May there be peace in your walls!”

Notes

1. Translator’s note: the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is administered by six Christian traditions under rules known as “The Status Quo.” Some carry more weight than others in the decision making process. 

2. Parts of the Weigle organ were incorporated into the newly built organ of the concert hall of the University of Haifa by Gideon Shamir (see Figure 13).

3. In the same manner, parts of the old Bevington organ were reused in Haifa. 

4. When that was is unclear, possibly during the Six Days War of 1967.

5. Translator’s note: approximately $4,200.

6. A similar instrument, also built by Gideon Shamir, standing in the Jerusalem Music Academy, was dismantled there a few years ago. The parts are in Gideon Shamir’s workshop in Asseret; whether it is to be rebuilt in the academy is uncertain. Currently there are no organ students.

Bibliography

Fernandez, Delfín, OFM. “Eine kleine Geschichte der Orgeln im Heiligen Land,” Im Lande des Herrn, Jg. 2002, No. 1.

Jauch, Robert, OFM. “Lauda Sion Salvatorem” (Bericht über die Orgeleinweihung der Rieger-Orgel der Kirche St. Salvator Jerusalem), Im Lande des Herrn, Jg. 2008, No. 2.

Leach, Brenda Lynn. “Organs of Israel,” The American Organist, April 1991, 62–64.

Levi, Gerard. Organ Culture in Israel and Palestine, 2005, published by BookSurge, LLC, ISBN I-4196-1034-1, available at www.amazon.de.

Orgel International, issue 1/2001 with emphasis “Israel.” In it are interviews with Elisabeth Roloff and the Israeli organist Yuval Rabin as well as articles by Oskar Gottlieb Blarr, Achim Seip, and others, besides a detailed description of some organs and an overview of the entire organ inventory of Israel (Gerard Levi).

“Pipework,” The American Organist, February 2015, 26, 28. Report on the new organs in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre and the Church of All Nations.

Schüler Petrus, “Orgeln in der Grabeskirche,” Im Lande des Herrn, Jg. 2017, No. 1.

Schulten, Klaus. Die Sauerorgel in der Himmelfahrtkirche und andere deutsche Orgeln in Jerusalem, Series Edition Auguste Victoria, Volume 2, Jerusalem, 2010.

 

For detailed, up-to-date information on all organs in Israel, visit the website of the Israel Organ Association, www.organ.org.il.

This article was first published in Jerusalem–Gemeindebrief–Stiftungsjournal 2/2019 (quarterly magazine of the German Lutheran Church in Jerusalem) and is reprinted here with permission.

Photo caption: Shamir organ in the concert hall of the University of Haifa (photo credit: the author)