The Organs of J. S. Bach is a comprehensive and fascinating guide to the organs encountered by Bach throughout Germany in his roles as organist, concert artist, examiner, teacher, and visitor. Newly revised and updated, the book's entries are listed alphabetically by geographical location, from Arnstadt to Zschortau, providing an easy-to-reference overview. Includes detailed organ-specific information: high-quality color photographs each instrument's history, its connection to Bach, and its disposition as Bach would have known it architectural histories of the churches housing the instruments identification of church organists Lynn Edwards Butler's graceful translation of Christoph Wolff and Markus Zepf's volume incorporates new research and many corrections and updates to the original German edition. Bibliographical references are updated to include English-language sources, and the translation includes an expanded essay by Christoph Wolff on Bach as organist, organ composer, and organ expert. The volume includes maps, a timeline of organ-related events, transcriptions of Bach's organ reports, a guide to examining organs attributed to Saxony's most famous organ builder Gottfried Silbermann, and biographical information on organ builders. Publication of this volume is supported by the American Bach Society.
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Churches. Historical information concerning the churches in which the organs are situated is meant to provide a basic orientation, since the size, disposition, care, and use of an organ depends on external conditions such as the architecture of the space and who is in charge of the organ (e.g., the court or the city). Details of the history of the church are provided only when they are of importance to the organ itself (e.g., Hamburg/St. Jacobi, 1714, collapse of the vault over the organ; destruction of the building in 1944 [the organ was in storage]).
Organs. Organ descriptions are specific to their condition at the time the organ was encountered by Johann Sebastian Bach. Dates of construction of earlier and later instruments are mentioned only when they have direct relevance to the state in which the instrument was known to Bach. In cases where the instruments were enlarged and changed over several centuries, such as Hamburg/St. Catherine’s or Lüneburg/St. John’s, the essential developmental stages are cited.
Dispositions. Dispositions represent their configuration at the time the organs were encountered by Bach; each is provided with the date the disposition was recorded, as well as the size (number of manuals/number of stops) of the organ. The spelling of stop names follows the historical sources, except that the number of ranks in multiranked stops is given in Roman numerals next to the name of the register. Manuals are numbered from bottom to top.
Pitch. Only for recently renovated organs is dependable information available regarding pitch. During Bach’s time, it was highly variable compared to the modern standard pitch of a1 = 440 Hz at 15° C (g
1 = 415 Hz, g1 = 391 Hz, b
1 = 495 Hz). (Note: For the frequencies given in Part I, Sections A and B, if not specifically otherwise noted, pitches are based on a room temperature of 15° C.) Historical data cited from organ-building contracts is limited to indications of the use of Kammerton, a pitch standard imported to Germany from France around 1700 and which during Bach’s time was considered an exception to the norm. A Kammerton pitch of a1 = 415 Hz (also called Dresden Kammerton), about one half tone below modern standard pitch, was the most prevalent, but pitches up to a whole tone lower, a1 = 408–392 Hz (low or French Kammerton), are also documented. In central and north German church organs of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the prevalent pitch was Chorton (also called Cornetton), preferred because of the greater tonal brilliance it afforded, and predominantly set at a1 = ca. 465 Hz, around a half tone higher than modern standard pitch. Pitches of up to a whole tone higher (high Chorton) are also documented, however, such as a1 = 476 Hz (Silbermann, Freiberg/Cathedral) and a1 = 495 Hz (Schnitger, Hamburg/St. Jacobi).
The existing pitch differences of the time posed problems in performance of concerted music—that is, when vocal and instrumental ensembles performed church music together. The most practical solution, and the one preferred by Bach, was to transpose the figured bass or continuo part assigned to the organ. Organ builders confronted the problem in various ways. In 1738, Christian Friedrich Wender, for example, provided the organ for Mühlhausen’s St. Mary’s Church with two Kammerton couplers. Gottfried Silbermann noted in numerous proposals that organs in low Kammerton required longer pipes, which resulted in higher costs.
Temperament. Information regarding temperament is given only for restored instruments. Each and every organ builder had (and has) his own system of tempering, and these temperaments are not unequivocally recoverable from surviving pipes. In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, organs in Germany were tuned in meantone (where pure thirds were emphasized); starting around 1700, modifications to this system began to be made in newly built instruments. Irregular (well-tempered) tunings that allowed performance in all keys, set according to Andreas Werckmeister, Johann Georg Neidthardt, and other music theorists, were gradually established. In the circle of the young Johann Sebastian Bach, the organ builders Johann Friedrich Wender and Georg Christoph Stertzing, as well as the organists Johann Christoph Bach, Johann Effler, Dieterich Buxtehude, and Johann Kuhnau, were prominent advocates of well-tempered tunings. During the renovation of Jena’s Collegiate Church organ (built 1690) by Zacharias Thayßner, Johann Nicolaus Bach, organist of Jena University, called temperament “the most noble [attribute] of an organ.” In his expert’s report of 1704, he demanded the retuning of the apparently meantone organ to allow for performance in “diatonic–chromatic–enharmonic” keys—that is, in all keys. The retuning of the organ (II/25) was accomplished in less than ten days (Maul 2004b, 160–61).
Some organs still tuned in meantone—such as the organ built in 1704 by the Donats for Leipzig’s New Church—had a “Lieblich Gedackt 8′ for concerted music,” a stop that was set in a milder temperament than the rest of the organ in order to allow for a greater range of harmonic possibilities. Nothing is known about the temperament of the organs in Leipzig’s two principal churches. Because of their Chorton pitch, organ parts for the cantatas were written at a pitch one tone lower than parts for the other instruments. According to Bach’s original performance materials, a piece in C minor would have been played by the organist in B
minor, for example, or a piece in E
major would have been played in D
...
Table of contents
Cover
Title
Copyright
Contents
Foreword
Preface
Bach—Organist, Composer, Organ Expert: An Introductory Sketch
