© DDOA 2008
Mixture
An Adventure in Darmstadt and Bensheim
By Tony Westerman
By Tony Westerman
Few would challenge the idea that German organ builders are amongst the very best in the world and have maintained their pre-eminence for several centuries through a harmonious blend of 'craftsman's art and music's measure'. What I suspect would challenge the reader's credibility is the sheer number of new, renovated and restored instruments in both Protestant and Catholic churches. The German state has for many years allocated 8% of paid income tax to the maintenance, restoration and rebuilding of its churches and the organs in them, resulting in Christian communities which are strong and able to function as a vibrant centre of cultural and spiritual life in both villages and cities. During a recent exchange visit to the Darmstadt region of Germany I was fortunate enough to sample splendid hospitality, offered with genuine warmth, and to see first-hand the results of the positive state support.
Occasionally we experience those moments in life that leaves a lasting impression lodged in our consciousness; I was fortunate to have two such experiences which, for me, crowned a very successful visit – playing the Mayer organ in the Liebfrauenkirche in Darmstadt, and the Klais organ in St. Georg, Bensheim.
The organs are both in large, resonant buildings and are relatively new instruments with the Klais organ the older of the two (1963). The Mayer organ is a two manual tracker of 31 stops, standing on a mezzanine level at the west end of the building. The nave is large, rectangular and free of obstructions allowing the organ to speak freely from its shallow and rather striking case in which the pedal prinzipal is presented in two towers framing the Schwellwerk, with Hauptwerk above. Touch to the manuals is light with toccata-like passages easily manageable when the Schwellwerk is coupled to the Hauptwerk. Wind pressures were clearly light - no need for any overblown flues or reeds in that shallow case and in that splendid acoustic.
The range of 8' stops allows for a greater variety of foundation tone than one might expect as the blending of flues and reeds is exceptionally good, making the range of colours available to the player truly astounding. When reeds and mixtures are added the sound is quite magnificent, causing that tingling of the senses that only the finest instruments can create. Some of the softer Schwellwerk flues might have come from a late eighteenth century English instrument whilst bolder flutes and prinzipals are sufficiently varied in colour and attack (some with a delightful chiff) to allow the convincing performance of very wide range of music. The scaling of the upper-work was finely judged too; flutes lost none of their character or presence without becoming strident, whilst the prinzipal chorus developed consistently without overpowering the tonal colours of the other stops.
The reeds on both manuals were a joy to use, though with discretion! The tradition of using a chorale prelude to introduce the melody to the congregation is still strong in that part of Germany and the Hauptwerk Trompete is able to provide a strong statement against the Schwellwerk. The Schwellwerk 16' reed has that throaty roar that so delights English organists whilst still blending with the accompanying flues and mixtures. The full organ sound was absolutely stunning and very moving: it was not sheer volume (one did not feel bombarded, stunned into submission) it was the sheer majesty of a beautifully homogenetic tonal scheme that was perfectly at one with the acoustic.
As with most German instruments the Pedal organ is quite independent and speaks promptly with understated assurance. On the Sunday morning of my visit I listened to an organ scholar accompany the morning mass (with 300+ in attendance) using relatively few stops. At the end of the service he played a Rutter Toccata, with the pedal adding all of the punctuation that the piece required, the 16' pedal reed being added at the end to exploit the generous 4 second reverberation period of the building. This was an instrument that I wanted to play for several days and felt that even then I would not have explored all of its rich potential. The specification given here is from memory – my apologies for any small inaccuracies.
This Page was Last Updated
25th Oct 07