Her majesty, the queen of sounds: Cultural sustainability and heritage in organ craftsmanship and music

Organ craftsmanship and music are inextricably linked with each other. In Germany, a particularly rich symbiosis between craftspeople, composers, and performing artists has evolved over the centuries. In recognizing the transmission of this intangible cultural know-how from generation to generation, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) inscribed organ craftsmanship and music together in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2017. This article elucidates how this inscription influences the perception and self-concept of organ craftsmanship and music, both in theoretic-intellectual and in virtual terms. Complementing the qualitative content analysis of literature and documents, narrative first-hand accounts/expert interviews with organ craftspeople/organ builders have been conducted and interpreted. Taking into account a dual nexus of cultural sustainability and intangible cultural heritage, sustainable value creation, substantial claims, multi-perspective visibility, and facilitative reassurance were analyzed and assessed vis-à-vis organ craftsmanship and music. Including organ craftsmanship and music in UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity demonstrates an appreciation for sustainable value creation related to the quadruple bottom-line of sustainability – that is, addressing economic, environmental, and societal aspects, including culture as a fully integrated dimension; claims substantial rights for safeguarding and invoking/activating heritage; enhances visibility of performing organists, assigned organ builders, frequent practitioners, and nominated organ experts; and enables reassurance of passion and self-positioning with organ craftsmanship and music.

Organs in Transylvania. Part 1 – The Organs of the Baroque Period

"The following study represents the first chapter of a series, which is intended to shed light on the development of the Transylvanian organ landscape throughout the centuries. It offers relevant information regarding the first historical sources which indicate the presence of the organ within the Transylvanian region, and details about the organs built during the baroque period. Keywords: Transylvania, organ, baroque period, organ builders, stops, positive organ, restoration. "

“Carrying the organ” – the thing on the portative, Part 1

The present article is aimed at outlining the history and form of instruments known as portatives. Its continuation will be a paper devoted to discussing technical issues connected with designing and constructing Opus 1 Portative built by the author. The portative is an instrument belonging to the family of keyboard aerophones. It is the smallest representative of the pipe organ family – both in terms of its sound range and size. As there are not many historical instruments preserved to this day, we draw information on their form and use from how they are depicted in art. It is a testament of the evolution of portatives and their popularity – from the first mentions about them from the beginning of the 12th century to the16th century when their significance lessened. This drop in popularity of these instruments was probably connected with their technical limitations noticed at that time, the fact that they were unable to meet the requirements of the evolving music and they became ousted by other portable instruments. The construction of the portative is similar to the construction of the full-size pipe organ. We can notice the occurrence of similar components, only in a simplified and smaller form. An important discrepancy is a different treatment of air system – the portative usually has only one wedge bellow operated by the player, which allows to very precisely control the air pressure, and that is connected with the dynamics and tone colour of sound produced by the pipes. This results in playing music characteristic of portatives, i.e., similar to vocal music having greater phrasing capacities as compared to playing the full-size pipe organ. Despite the decline of interest in portatives, which could be noticed in the 16th century, nowadays portatives have been regaining popularity with musicians and organ builders. They all want to build instruments with a high level of historical accuracy as well as create portatives with modern features. Examples of the first trend can be found in Marcus Stahl’s workshop, whereas the instrument built by me follows the second trend. A great model of a portative combining both ideas is one constructed by Bartosz Żłóbiński.

On organ building in Lithuania in the Baroque period: instrument and facade

In the beginning, the term “organ building” is clarified. One can find many sources which claim that the questions connected with the instrument and the organ case with the facade sometimes were solved separately. The majority of available sources say that this was the work of craftsmen of different specialties. Their relationships were rather strictly regulated by the system of workshop rules and privileges. Organ building in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was strongly connected with the neighbouring Prussia and Kurland. In the 18th century, the most important organ building centre of the lands on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea was Königsberg. The most influential masters worked there, and from there the most well-known organ builders of that time settled to work in Lithuania. In the 18th century’s Lithuania, the work of the Jesuits was very influential. A lot of young people became educated in the Vilnius Jesuit novitiate and academy. Craftsmanship was also taught there. At the Vilnius Jesuit novitiate there were many students of German origin who continued to work in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Prussia. The capenters trained in the novitiate of Vilnius later worked installing churches in the entire Grand Duchy. They also made organ cases. No names of Jesuit organ builders have survived. Transportation possibilities had a significant importance on the spreading of the pipe organ. Towns situated near water ways were at the convenient situation, they could acquire instruments from afar. There is no agreement about who was the author of organ facade – the organ builder or the carpenter with the carver who made the case. It seems likely that usual structures and templates prevailed and organ builders mainly created the instruments into the cases made by others. Small one-manual instruments were prevalent in Lithuania, their interiors as well as the specification were very similar to the organs of the same size in neighbouring countries. The Lithuanian style facade layout was usual in a wide area.

May God Protect This Beautiful Organ

In chapter nine, Gottfried Silbermann’s construction of a new organ in the small town of Rötha serves as a case study of such projects, which were undertaken frequently in Bach’s Germany. Its unveiling in 1721 was celebrated with a performance led by Johann Kuhnau, Bach’s predecessor as Cantor of St. Thomas. Impressive organs like the one built in Rötha were spectacular feats of engineering and artistry. Such instruments were among the most complicated pieces of technology in existence and there was something promethean about the work of Silbermann and other organ builders: their work came as close as human beings ever did to fabricating fellow living creatures. As a result, organs often figured in the analogies of philosophers of the era, particularly those who sought to preserve a distinction between the physical (organ) and metaphysical (organist).

The Organ Music of William Russell

William Russell (1777–1813) came from a London family of organists and organ builders. He published two sets of voluntaries: in 1804 and 1812. As well as his liturgical duties at St Anne's Limehouse, and in the Foundling Hospital Chapel, Russell worked as pianist and composer at the Sadler's Wells Theatre; the influence of opera and theatrical music can be strongly felt in some of the voluntaries. He was also particularly interested in the development of the organ itself, and had ‘progressive’ ideas regarding early nineteenth-century organ design.Russell's music fascinatingly blends, or sometimes simply juxtaposes, several disparate musical influences. He therefore sits at an interesting point in English organ music. This article investigates Russell's own music – its forms, styles and genres – and his use of the instruments available to him. In addition, I will consider the extent to which his style was of the nineteenth century, and looked forward to future developments, of which his pioneering use of the pedals is one significant aspect.

Vibrato, the Orchestral Organ and the ‘Prevailing Aesthetic’ in Nineteenth-Century Symphonic Music

The issue of vibrato's presence in the nineteenth-century orchestral string section has become controversial, with musicians often asked to accept the proposition that vibrato existed rarely, if at all. Fortunately an extensive, hitherto overlooked, body of primary source material exists that goes straight to the heart of the matter, offering a definitive answer to the question of whether or not vibrato was an intrinsic component of period orchestral string sonority. It comes from the organ literature and from the history of the instrument's evolution over the course of the long nineteenth century. A group of artists and artisans, working from approximately 1830 to 1930, documented the importance of vibrato to any attempt at reproducing, or at least approximating, the authentic timbre of the orchestral string section. Organ builders and performers noted vibrato's use both as an intrinsic constituent of string tone and as an actively applied expressive device. They discussed it extensively in their literature, gave their instruments the capacity to simulate its effects, and specifically notated its presence in their transcriptions of orchestral music. The information they have left behind dispels the modern myth of ‘pure’, vibratoless orchestral string tone as a timbral norm, and provides a truer sense of the era's prevailing aesthetic.