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Late
Baroque sounds for Christ Lutheran Church, Oberhausen, Germany:
Director of Music Klaus
M?ler offers some thoughts on the design and concept of the new Hey
organ.
The scathing opinion of the congregation뭩 previous 1950뭩
era organ offered by organ expert G?ther Eumann helped to pave the way for
the planning of a new instrument for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of
Christ, located in the historic city of Alt-Oberhausen, Germany.
Many aspects of both (potential) instrument and church were carefully
examined, and it was deemed worthwhile to begin with a concept uniquely
suited to the church뭩 acoustical environment, which is superbly suited to
the performance of sacred music. Complex polyphony, whether small or
large in scale, can be heard from any point in the church with absolute
clarity and transparency. The acoustic of the room is such that a
simple flute or recorder can fill the space as readily as a full
orchestra; a decided acoustical advantage for the multiplicity of tonal
possibilities inherent in a pipe organ.
But how would the tonal design of the instrument be
determined? Every region and time period have their own
aesthetic: The years following the Second World War were heavily
influenced by the organ reform movement of the 1930뭩, resulting mostly in
Neo-Baroque instruments with prominent upper work, but lacking in
fundamental pitches. In the 1970뭩, numerous attempts were made to
build a so-called 밬niversal Organ? intended to play the entire palette of
organ repertoire, an undertaking which ultimately proved fruitless.
In the 1980뭩 and 90뭩, the popularity of the French Romantic school held
sway, and often, space and acoustical conditions were not taken
sufficiently into account. As a result, many symphonic, tonally
powerful instruments were installed even in small spaces with a dry
acoustic. At the opposite end of the spectrum, neo-Baroque organs
with delicate, transparent voicing were installed in vast cathedral
spaces. In the city of Oberhausen, one finds today numerous
몍niversal?organs, a few neo-Baroque instruments, and two rather successful
French Romantic installations. Anyone wishing to play the music of
Franck or Couperin with a sense of authenticity would find suitable
instruments in our neighboring Catholic parishes. However, an
organ dedicated to the effective rendition of Lutheran organ music,
particularly that of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries, has
until now been lacking.
As a result of the aforementioned conditions, it was
decided that the new organ for Christ Lutheran Church should have
mechanical action and be rich in transparent tone colors; an instrument
eminently suited to the polyphonic music of Bach and his
contemporaries. However, it was equally important that the
individual ranks achieve a blended ensemble, so that the works of the
German romantic composers could be accommodated. An examination of
historical organs will show that this new organ displays the tonal ideal
of a typical central German instrument from the last years of the 18th
century. These instruments represented the pinnacle of Baroque
organ building technology, and were mechanically sound and very
dependable. Already at this time, these organs showed signs of later
19th century tonal concepts, since they built upon and strengthened the
fundamental pitches of earlier Baroque building styles, and introduced
characteristic 몊tring?ranks, such as the Gamba and the
Salicional. Indeed, Felix Mendelssohn himself played on and
composed for instruments such as these.
The new organ in Christ Lutheran Church thus combines the
tonal ideals of the Late Baroque with the unique acoustic properties of
the space in which it stands. Nonetheless, elements of earlier
styles are still in evidence, such as the employment of a sensitive
mechanical action, and the traditional division of the instrument into
Hauptwerk, R?kpositiv, Echowerk and Pedal.
The church뭩 first instrument, built in 1876 by the
organbuilder Ibach from Wuppertal, was also a purely mechanical action
organ, with 21 stops over 2 manuals and pedal. A 1908 rebuild saw
the replacement of the tracker mechanism with a pneumatic action; this
insensitive key action resulted in a disturbing time delay for the
player. Both the church and the organ were destroyed in the Second
World War. In the years following the war, the church, which was
rebuilt in a rather austere and simple style, became home to a new three
manual organ, constructed by the builder Stahlruth of Aachen.
This instrument, with its pipework divided between the main case and a
R?kpositiv (installed on the expansive gallery rail), enlivened the space
both architecturally and tonally. Unfortunately, the
electropneumatic key and combination action was prone to failure, and this
organ ended its service after 40 years.
The concept for the new organ creates a synthesis between
the good qualities of the previous instruments and the contemporary,
Baroque-influenced technical and musical achievements in
organbuilding. Like the church뭩 first organ, the new instrument has
a purely mechanical action. The combination action is a solid state
programmable system, designed to expedite the changing of registrations
for both service and concert playing. The gap in the gallery
rail, created after the removal of the previous organ, has once again been
filled with a new R?kpositiv, and the entire instrument is completely
enclosed in casework, designed specifically to accommodate the space in
the gallery. Not only does this guard against dirt and dust, but
also serves to facilitate a blending of the ensemble, and allows for good
directional projection of sound into the room.
Of particular interest in the new Hey organ is the small
Echo division (Echowerk), playable from the third manual. With its
two delicately voiced stops, this division has been conceived primarily
for continuo playing, as well as providing suitable accompaniment for solo
instrument or voice. The soft, delicate stops speak into the room in
a rather indirect manner, rendering this division particularly useful in
organ literature calling for echo effects. Due to financial
considerations, it was not possible to include a swell division on this
organ, but the presence of this small gem makes up for this.
Particularly well represented on this new organ are the
fundamental pitches, at 16?and 8? In particular, the 16?Principal in
the pedal and the 16?Bordun in the Hauptwerk set the instrument on a solid
foundation. The 8?Gamba on the Hauptwerk and the 8?Salicional in the
R?kpositiv serve to broaden the Baroque tonal spectrum of the organ, and
help to facilitate the performance of Romantic literature. The organ
derives it뭩 needed gravity of tone from the well stocked store of
reeds: two 8?trumpets (Hauptwerk and Pedal), 16?Posaune (Pedal),
8?Dulcian and 8?Krummhorn (R?kpositiv). Along with the 23 speaking
stops over 4 divisions, the new organ also has 2 toy stops, once common on
Baroque organs but seldom seen today: A Cymbelstern, made of bronze
bells and installed high in the main organ case, and a 멞achtigall? or
nightingale, which imitates bird song. This stop is comprised of two
small organ pipes, mounted upside down and blowing into a water-filled
vessel.
The new Hey organ is without a doubt an instrument
conceived specifically for the room in which it stands. Never
designed to play the entire canon of repertoire, this organ imparts its
own unique color on the repertoire which will be played on it, and for
this reason also the instrument is not tuned in equal temperament, but
rather in a well temperament after Kirnberger. As a result, each key
has its own character, contributing to the organ뭩 multiplicity of tone
colors.
As Director of Music for Christ Lutheran Church, I am
both delighted and thankful to have had the privilege of being involved in
this project. I thank in particular the directors and members of the
Organbuilder뭩 Guild, without whose assistance this project would never
have come to fruition. My thanks also to our Presbytery, who placed
their complete trust and confidence in our work. Our collaboration
with master organbuilders Herbert and Erhard Hey has resulted in the
construction of a truly wonderful instrument.
It was a lot of work, but well worth it!
Translated by Chris Oelkers,
US Representative and
Baroque Specialist |
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The Newspaper said: A true Master Concert at an Perfect Organ
An impressing Organ
Demonstration
Am Sonntag, den 30. Sept. kam Herr Prof. Dr. Wolfgang
Stockmeier, Professor f? Orgel und Improvisation an der Universit?
K?n i. R. in die Oberhausener Christuskirche, um , wie ?lich, als
Gast das erste Orgelkonzert nach der ?ergabe der Orgel durch
Orgelbaumeister Herbert Hey an das Presbyterium zu spielen. Er ist ein
kompetenter Kenner von Orgeln und dazu ein genialer, vollkommener
Interpret der Orgelliteratur. Er hatte ein vielseitiges Programm
ausgew?lt, um die Zuh?er zu erfreuen, aber vor allem auch darum, um die
Klangsch?heit und die Feinheiten dieser wahrhaft hervorragenden Orgel
h?bar zu machen. (...) Stockmeier zeigte eindrucksvoll die gro?
Variationsf?igkeit der Orgel, die sich bei einer Komposition vom vollen
Werk mit Trompeten und Posaunen ?er einen abgestuften mittleren Klang bis
zu leisen zarten T?en und wieder gro?r Klangf?le immer wieder neu wandeln
kann, so bei Reger und Preston. Bei D. Buxtehudes innig gestalteten
Orgelchor?en wurden schlichtere, zur?khaltendere aber doch sehr
charakteristische und differenzierte Stimmen h?bar. Stockmeier offenbarte
sein K?nen und das Verm?en der Orgel auch dadurch, dass er verschiedene
Klangfarben miteinander kombinierte und zueinander in Beziehung setzte, so
z. B. "normale" Grundstimmen zu Zungenstimmen wie Dulcian und Krummhorn
oder auch ?er Grundstimmen eine sehr tragende, warm klingende Fl?e. Prof.
Stockmeier demonstrierte, dass die Hey-Orgel einmal einen sehr in sich
geschlossenen , runden Klang hat, der gekr?t wird durch helle, silbrig
klingende Mixturen. Andererseits haben alle Register einen so
charakteristischen Klang, dass sie bei mehrstimmigem Spiel wie auch bei
Fugen sehr gut zu h?en und zu verfolgen sind. Durch Prof. Stockmeiers
Kunst wurden alle zu atemlosen Zuh?ern, die nach einer besinnlichen Pause
mit tosendem Beifall dankten, sodass der K?stler als Zugabe noch einen
Satz aus einer Bach-Sonate spielte.
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