German Organ Weekend

[myorgan]

Folks,

I just returned from a weekend in Germany, and met some nice instruments there. The observations I made of the pipe organs I saw/played were:

• They were all voiced to fill, but not overpower the space. However, properly played, they don't leave you wanting.
• Nearly all stop combinations I tried worked and blended well. Only registering in the extreme would provide an unpleasant registration.
• AGO is definitely NOT the standard (for obvious reasons), nor are the manual compasses similar--even on newer instruments.
• They were a pleasure to hear and play.

Weyland Orgelblau--Evangelischen Kirchengemeinde Honrath

This instrument is the first 3-manual tracker/mechanical instrument I've ever played that was truly NOT 3-manual. The Positiv is the topmost manual, the Hauptwerk is the middle manual, and the bottom manual is simply a means of coupling the Positiv and Haputwerk together. The entire organ is unexpressed, and in addition to the 3 stops in the Pedal, the other two manuals can be coupled by means of two (I think they're called) "hitch-down" levers.

Hauptwerk	Positiv	Pedal
8' Prinzipal	8' Holzgedeckt	16' Subbaß
8' Rohrflöte	4' Koppelflöte	8' Offenbaß
4' Oktav	2' Oktav	4' Choralbass
8' Krummhorn	Terzglockenton
Mixtur 3f' (III)	Tremulant
Tremulant		FYI, baß = bass (sharp S in German)

I was able to catch the tail-end of a church service in Antoniterkirche (Evangelischen), and saw the organ there. This is the first church I've ever seen that had QR codes on their windows!


At Altenburg Cathedral we were able to catch the end of a choral/organ concert. Of course, the concert ended with a postlude of the Finale of some guy's 5th Organ Symphony I can't remember (Vierne?). My brain's leaking right now. In any event, it ended with the 32' Pedal Contra Posaune with full-length resonators, and the 64' Resultant! There must've been a 7 second reverb time there. WONDERFUL!!! I did have an opportunity to play the organ, but had to be at the airport about 5:00AM, so I had to take a rain-check. It was difficult convincing those with me that the appropriate time to play the organ was not on a Sunday while many parishoners/tourists were there.

I don't feel I need to say much about the Kölner Dom organ, other than I was surprised it did not have the console I thought. The console I saw (in the air, on the wall) appeared to be English in design--not the French terraced console I had expected. Again, we caught the end of the service. I was surprised the organist went directly from Eucharist to the Postlude (some 20th century thing) without any break at all. I've never seen that before. Instead of the organ, I'll include a photo of Kölner Dom at sunset (guess not--limited to 5 pictures per post, so I'll include it in the next post).

We definitely plan to return to Köln in a few years. David, thanks so much for your input. You were extremely helpful.

Michael

[myorgan]

Here's the photo of the Kölner Dom I promised.

Michael

[jbird604]

Wow! What a trip, Michael! Must have been a joy to hear an organ in a seven second reverberation.

I've never been to Germany or even heard a genuinely German organ. I know that some of the sounds of the Allen are of German influence (Prinzipal, Oktav, for example) but I've often felt that a truly German organ would be considerably different from the toned-down sounds of Allen that I am familiar with.

Did you find these organs to be rather brilliant compared to the typical American organs? When I think of German and Dutch organs, I think of prominent attack sounds, emphasis on the upper frequencies with strong, high-pitched mixtures, and reeds like rankets and krumets instead of trompettes and oboes. Bright, loud strings, probably without celestes. Would you say that's about right, or did you get a different impression?

Thanks for the pics. Very beautiful and interesting.

[myorgan]

Actually, John, I found the sound of the German organs to be less pronounced in the upper frequencies. I guess I'd characterize it as well-balanced with no particular frequencies accentuated. That was true of the attack of the pipes as well. The articulation was there, but not as pronounced as I've heard--especially from Allen's 505B Swell Gedackt 8', or some of Allen's other Swell flutes. In retrospect, I think any brilliance comes from the height of the ceilings and the live acoustics due to all the hard stone walls and floors. One church I was in had what looked like squares that were about 2' square on the floor, and they were made from the grainy ends of heartwood from trees. They looked like they were 2x4 ends. I suspect that makes the floor as hard as stone.

I heard no Celestes or Strings, and the only solo reed I heard was the Krummhorn of the first organ pictured. The sound of that Krummhorn was not as richly developed as I've heard on some American instruments and on Allen's. I guess that's why Allen sampled 4 or 5 different Krummhorns for the MOS instruments and slightly fewer for the ADC instruments.

Thanks for the response. We plan to go back in the next few years and spend more time as tourists rather than playing!

Michael

[Sathrandur]

Great post. I think you are making the rest of us envious.:devil:

[davidecasteel]

Michael, in the Köln Dom, the French-style terraced console is in the Main Organ location--what you apparently saw was the "Swallow's Nest" instrument in the Nave. (As a matter of interest, unlike most organs of that design, it is not mounted to the wall, but is suspended from the ceiling structure by 4 very strong steel cables, and separated from the wall by a very short distance. That method was required because the walls of the Cathedral are historic and could not be altered by the installation of the organ. The ceiling was not historic, though, having been damaged in WWII and subsequently rebuilt.)

When the Organ Selection Committee of my church visited Orgelbau Johannes Klais Bonn in 2001 and we auditioned the two instruments in the Köln Dom, I elected to not climb to the Swallow's Nest organ and stayed downstairs to listen, so did not see the console up there.

Probably the most popular "5th Organ Symphony" is the one by Widor. Perhaps that is what you heard.

David

[myorgan]

Michael, in the Köln Dom, the French-style terraced console is in the Main Organ location--what you apparently saw was the "Swallow's Nest" instrument in the Nave.
[snip]
Probably the most popular "5th Organ Symphony" is the one by Widor. Perhaps that is what you heard.

David,

You got it! I just couldn't come up with it while posting.

Thanks for the clarification on the consoles. I'll defer to you, having not seen the consoles myself. I knew the organ was suspended, so I got some good pictures of that, though.

Michael