JULIAN RHODES' DREAM ORGANS
Esaias Compenius (c.1572-1617) came from a family of musicians; his father was an organist, composer and organ-builder. Esaias was appointed "Royal organ and instrument maker as well as organist" to the court of Duke Heinrich Julius at Braunschweig-Holstein, thanks to the influence of Michael Praetorius (c.1572-1621), the court Kappelmeister. Praetorius's famous 'Syntagma Musicum' (1619) includes a section called 'De organographia', evidently the result of the creative partnership between Compenius and Praetorius.
FREDERIKSBORG
In 1608-10 Compenius built an instrument for Duke Heinrich Julius at Hessen Castle. It incorporates ideas by the Duke himself, and was supervised by Praetorius. In 1617, after Duke Heinrich's death, the organ was presented to the Danish King, Christian IV, and moved to the chapel of Frederiksborg Castle, Hillerod, Denmark, where it stands to this day.A NOTE ON SOURCES
Establishing an accurate stoplist of the instrument is no easy matter, at least from a British perspective. In lieu of being able to visit the organ and note down the stop-names at the console, one has to rely on secondary sources. Here is the stoplist as it has appeared in three publications during the last thirty years.
The first vertical column is taken from a CD review in 'Organists' Review', February 1997. The second column is from P.G. Andersen's 'Organ-building and design' (English translation 1968). The third column is the stoplist given in W.L Sumner's 'The Organ' (1973 edition).
UPPER MANUAL 8 Gross Principal Principal Prinzipal 8 Grob Gedact Flöite Gedacktflöte Gedackt 4 Principal Prospect Klein Principal Prinzipal 4 Plock Flöite Blockpfeifen Blockflöte 4 Gems Horn Gemshorn Gemshorn (or oder klein Violn little viol) 4 Nacht Horn Nachthorn Nachthorn 2 2/3 Gedact Quint Gedackt Quint Gedacktquinte 2 Kleine Flöite Supergedacktflöitlin Supergedackt 16 Rancket Regal Rankett Rankett LOWER MANUAL 8 QuintaDehna Quintadehna Quintade 4 Gedact Flöite Klein Gedacktflöte Kleingedackt 4 Principal Cantus Principal-Diskant Prinzipal 4 Block Flöite Cantus Blockpfeifen-Diskant Blockflöte 2 Gems Horn Super Gemshörnlein Gemshorn 1 1/3 NaSatt Nasatt Nasat Zimbal Einfach Klein Repetiert Zimbel I Zimbel I 8 Krumb Horn Krumbhorn Krummhorn 4 Klein Regal Geigend Regal Geigend Regal PEDAL 16 Gedact Flöiten Bass Grosser Gedacktflöiten Bass Sub-Bass 8 Gems Horn Bass Gembshorn Bass Gemshorn 8 QuintaDehn Bass Quintadehna Bass Quintade 4 Quer Flöiten Bass Querflöiten Bass Querflöte 2 Nacht Horn Bass Nachthorn Bass Nachthorn 1 Pawr Flöiten Bass Bawrflöiten Bässlein Bauernflöte 16 Sordunen Bass Sordunen Bass Sordun Bass 8 Dolcian Bass Dolzian Bass Dulzian 4 Regal Bass Jungfrawen Regal Bass Jungfern RegalHow does someone with these sources but no access to the organ itself make a choice? The 1997 CD review featured a recording made after the restoration of the organ in the 1980s. The restorer operated the bellows for the recording, which was performed by the chapel organist; we might therefore expect this source to be the most reliable. But Andersen (1968) cannot be ignored, with differences of nomenclature such as Klein Regal/Geigend Regal, and Regal Bass/Jungfrawen Regal Bass. More puzzling still is that the stoplist in the 1973 edition of Sumner's book presents what appears to be modern versions of the stop names, a feature familiar from many 'historical' accounts of organs; yet Sumner lists Andersen's book in his bibliography, and was in any case a careful scholar.
If anyone reading this essay has a first-hand record of the stop-names on the Frederiksborg organ, would he/she please get in touch?
THE STOPLIST
Here is a re-statement of the stoplist (1997 review version), including Andersen's comments about pipe construction and effect:
UPPER MANUAL 8 Gross Principal 8 Grob Gedact Flöite stopped 4 Principal Prospect in front; with ivory veneer and ebony mouths 4 Plock Flöite open, conical 4 Gems Horn open, conical 4 Nacht Horn stopped, quinty tone 2 2/3 Gedact Quint stopped 2 Kleine Flöite stopped 16 Rancket Regal in front LOWER MANUAL 8 QuintaDehna stopped 4 Gedact Flöite stopped 4 Principal Cantus treble register only 4 Block Flöite Cantus treble register only; open, conical 2 Gems Horn open, conical 1 1/3 NaSatt open, conical Zimbal Einfach 1/6, repeating (see below) 8 Krumb Horn 4 Klein Regal PEDAL 16 Gedact Flöiten Bass stopped 8 Gems Horn Bass open, conical 8 QuintaDehn Bass stopped 4 Quer Flöiten Bass open, narrow scale, overblowing 2 Nacht Horn Bass stopped, quinty tone 1 Pawr Flöiten Bass chimney flute 16 Sordunen Bass 8 Dolcian Bass 4 Regal Bass All the stopped flutes are made of tapering pipes. Composition of Zimbel: C 40 B-flat 36 f0 33 b-flat0 29 e1 26 b-flat1 22 e2 19 Bagpipes effect: uses three Rancket pipes, a Kleinhümmlichen (three regal pipes) and a Timpani register. Manual coupler. Tremulant to the manuals. Tremulant to the pedals (added in 1895). Compass: manual - short octave CDEFGA-c3, 45 notes. pedal - short octave CDEFGA-d1, 23 notes. Wind pressure: 54-60mm (depending on the blower). Four three-fold wedge bellows. Pitch: 'chorton' A467. Tuning: meantone, with eight perfect thirds.MISCELLANEOUS DETAILS
There are about 1,000 pipes, all made of wood (though according to other sources the reed pipes are of ivory). Oak, pear, maple and walnut are used for the flue pipes. The reed pipes include parts made of brass and ordinary pipe-metal, and boxwood as well as the aforementioned woods.
The appearance of the organ is well known from photographs. It presents a sumptuous display of precious woods, mouldings, carvings, inlays, turned work, fretwork and ornamental hinges. The small stop-knobs of solid brass (or solid silver, depending on your source) are shaped like human and animal heads, and placed in a row above the upper keyboard. Even the pedal keys are of ivory and ebony.
TONAL STRUCTURE
P.G. Andersen wrote:
If we try to describe the sound, we involuntarily return to the expression of Praetorius, "frembder, sanfter, subtiler." By 'frembder' he almost means 'ethereal' but a direct translation is also justified, as there is something 'foreign' and 'strange' about this organ. Its tonal structure is far from normal... there can be no doubt that the intention was to develop a series of characteristic stops having quite extraordinary qualities...Paul Hale commented, in the aforementioned review:
It is a unique example of its style, that is a large basically non-liturgical instrument with limited Principal choruses and instead an abundance of flutes, mutations and gentle reeds, with each department rich in solo sonorities... The sound of the organ is civilised and rich, with the beneficial influence of the wood for the pipes clearly audible. Variety is the principal feature, with a multiplicity of subtly voiced individual ranks or of beautifully blended combinations...Alec Dingwall attended a performance at Frederiksborg and wrote (in 'The Organ Club Journal', November 1999):
The coughs, snarls, buzzes, rattles and rasps brought colourfully to life the sequence of contemporary pieces... The Principal, while lively - or, if you take another point of view, rude - in speech, is mild, even muffled in effect, and the trumpetings of some of the short-length reeds toy-like... the stoutly-panelled case keeps much of the sound, along with the pipes, contained.Several commentators have made the point that this organ - like that at Adlington Hall in England - was conceived as a secular instrument, and is most suited to contemporary dance music. Cecil Clutton is said to have called it "a medieval theatre organ", but there is much more to it than that.
Compenius set himself a limitation which to others would have been crippling, in the use exclusively of wood for the pipework. This smacks of romantic whimsy and Renaissance mannerism; in a similar vein, Eugen Casparini was later to build a chamber organ with its pipes entirely of paper. But the practical benefit is an exploration of subtelties of timbre which would have otherwise remained undiscovered.
It is clear that the pitch-centres of the Frederiksborg organ are not what we might expect. The 8ft. Principal of the Upper manual has the prefix 'Groß', usually applied to bass registers or 16ft. manual stops. This hints that this manual is really a 4ft. organ, and the majority of registers are indeed at this pitch, with some higher and some lower:
16.8.8.4.4.4.4.3.2The Lower manual shows the same ambiguity:
8.8.4.4.4.4.2.1 1/3.ZimbelThe modern organist is familiar with the concept of performing an occasional baroque movement on a 4ft. flute alone; it is often forgotten that for contemporary players this was not such a rare occurence. Here are some examples:
Flöte 4ft. aloneAs a whole, the tonal structure of the Frederiksborg organ shows a high intelligence at work. Any peculiarities are balanced by the carefully structured nature of the whole. There are three nine-stop divisions with a pitch-range of 16ft. to 1/6ft.. The open-flue and reed choruses are carefully apportioned to the two manuals: Upper (bass chest) has open flues at 8.4.4 with the 16ft. reed; Lower (treble chest) has open flues at 4.2.1 1/3.Zimbel with 8ft. and 4ft. reeds. Complete choruses are thus available when the manual coupler is engaged. The gedackt ranks are also cunningly distributed over the three divisions: Pedal 16ft, Upper 8ft., Lower 4ft., Upper 2 2/3ft. and 2ft. Likewise the gemshorns: Pedal 8ft., Upper 4ft., Lower 2ft. The high calibre of the design is further evident in the individual and self-sufficient nature of the three divisions, which nonetheless work together admirably.
Flöte 4ft. + Nasat 2 2/3ft.
Flöte 4ft. + Superoktave 2ft.
Flöte 4ft. + Sifflöte 1ft.
Flöte 4ft. + Mixtur
(Überwasserkirche, Münster: registration suggestions by the organ-builder J. Roose 1565)Prinzipal 4ft. + Superoktave 2ft. + Sedecima 1ft (for brilliant chorales)
Superoktave 2ft. + Quinte 1 1/3ft. (fot the same and similar music)
(Reccommended by Hertel, organist at Züllichau from 1652)For Fantasias: Spitzflöte 4ft. alone
For Fugues: Flöte 4ft. + Quinte 2 2/3ft. + Oktave 2ft; or Oktave 4ft. + Quinte 2 2/3ft. + Superoktave 2ft. + Mixtur III (1ft.)
(Suggestions from Austrian and Czech sources, 1701-1719)
The Pedal disposition is no less interesting than that of the manuals, even for an age when large Pedal divisions were common. It contains the only harmonic and chimneyed flutes in the instrument, as if encouraging the player to explore these tonalities and linger there melodically. It is completely independent in nature - and there is no manual to pedal coupler provided. Equality of function is thus assured.
This is no random collection of stops, as Andersen suggested:
Compenius seems to have been lost in his excellent details, and he did not possess, to the same degree as his contemporaries, a sense of organisaton for these details.This is hardly tenable in the light of the Apollonian intellect behind the tonal structure of this organ.
BÜCKEBURG
The 1615 organ at Bückeburg was the last instrument finished before Compenius's death. Here is the stoplist, as given in Andersen (op. cit.):HAUPTWERK 16 Gross Principal 16 Gross Quintadehn 8 Gross Octava 8 Gemshorn 8 Gedackte Blockpfeife 8 Viol de Gamba 4 Octava 4 Querpfeife 4 Klein Gedact Blockpfeiff 2 2/3 Gemshorn Quinta 2 Klein Flachflöit VIII-XIV Mixtur RÜCKPOSITIV 8 Principal 8 Gross Nachthorn 8 Gedacktflöite 4 Nassat Pfeife wood principal 4 Klein Rohrflöit 2 Klein Octava 2 Klein Gedackt 1 Suiflöit III Klingend Zimbel 16 Rankett 8 Krumbhorn BRUSTWERK 8 Rohrflöiten 4 Offenflöit ivory-covered wood principal 4 Nachthorn 2 Klein Gemshorn 1 1/3 Holquintlein II Zimbel 8 Regal 4 Geigend Regal PEDAL 1 32 Sub-Principal Bass 16 Gross Gemshorn Bass 16 Gross Rohrflöit Bass 8 Holpfeifen Bass 8 Gross Nachthorn Bass 8 Querflöiten Bass 4 Octaven Bass 4 Klein Gemshorn Bass 16 Posaun/Bombard Bass 8 Trommeten Bass PEDAL 2 2 Hornbässlein 1 Bawrpfeifflein III Zimbel Bass 16 Sordunen Bass 8 Dolcian Bass 2 Cornet BassI have a suspicion that there is one major error in Andersen's stoplist: the 32ft. Sub-Principal Bass on Pedal should perhaps be assigned to the Hauptwerk instead. This may appear a strange suggestion, typical of French rather than German practice, but there is a precedent in the 1605-6 organ built by Heinrich Compenius (a relative of Esaias) for Magdeburg Cathedral. Andersen's stoplist for Magdeburg includes a 32ft. Untersatz on the Pedal; yet Praetorius (1619) assigned it to the Oberwerk, making the stoplist of that department begin as follows:
Principal 16and so on. (To see the full stoplist from which this extract is taken, visit Barry Jordan's Magdeburg Cathedral organs website.)
Principal Bass abgesondert 16 (i.e. with a corresponding Pedal stop)
Principal grosser Untersatz bis ins F von 24
Quintadehn Untersatz mit ein abgesonderten Baß 16 (ditto)
Große Octava 8' mit eim (sic) abgesonderten Baß 8 (ditto)
Grob Gedact 8
Grosse Quinta 6
Remove the 32ft. Principal from the Bückeburg Pedal and the division makes much more sense. There are no principals at 16ft. or 8ft., and no large mixture: it is, in fact, largely a colour/melodic division similar to that at Frederiksborg, with the addition of two chorus reeds. On the other hand, the Hauptwerk chorus (complete with 32ft. Principal) becomes, as at Magdeburg, a kind of Blokwerk with all chorus ranks above 4ft. contained in the large mixture. This kind of internal balance, in which an impressive Hauptwerk formed the backbone of the instrument while the Pedal played a subservient role, is familiar from other contemporary instruments (examples: St. Maria in Bernau, Scherer 1573; Mariakirche, Straslund, Maas 1604).
Be that as it may, it is immediately evident that here are many of same characteristics found on a smaller scale in the Frederiksborg organ: a taste for refinement and delicacy of tone, a plethora of contrasting, complementary flute registers, a penchant for deliacte upperwork. There is also the same clever distribution of family groups throughout the instrument:
Gemshorns: Pedal 16ft. and 4ft., Hauptwerk 8ft. and 2 2/3ft., Brustwerk 2ft.Note also the two 4ft. wooden principals, on Rückpositiv and Brustwerk.
Rohrflöiten: Pedal 16ft., Brustwerk 8ft., Rückpositiv 4ft.
The Hauptwerk (with or without a 32ft.) is an especially interesting division. Note the generous number of 16ft. and 8ft. registers, and the high proportion of open ranks. The large, bold chorus is far removed from Frederiksborg; it is well designed to lead congregation chorale-singing and supply loud incidental music. The Rückpositiv is much less assertive, with principals at 8.4.2 only (the small Zimbel was usually intended for smaller combinations). There is a chorus of stopped flutes at 8.4.2 in contrast to the open/harmonic chorus of 8.4.2 on the Hauptwerk. The Brustwerk has the second of only two mutation stops in the organ; in this Compenius was in accord with the practice of his time and area, where such stops were not common. Finally, the Pedal has a range of colour and a melodic independence which was soon to diappear for good. For the next 200 years large pedal divisions would concentrate on the provision of complete principal and reed choruses. Even the various historical reforms and pastiches of the 20th-century recreated nothing like it.
CONCLUSION
Over and above their unusual and specialised nature, there is undoubtedly something "frembder" - alien, strange - about these tonal schemes. Both in content and structure they are full of the unexpected; they are also full of suggestion, as though the imaginative spirit of the builder were still hovering around his very individualistic creations.We can only partially comprehend the mentality behind these organs by analysis; like all artefacts they are inextricably linked with their cultural and spiritual milieu, and therefore - with the best will in the world - alien to us. We can be in danger of falsification if we try to second-guess the motives of past artists; and the more alien they appear, the greater the risk. The styles of Schnitger and the Silbermanns are comfortably familiar to us at the end of the 20th-century; they seem useful as vehicles for repertoire in a way that Compenius's instruments, at first sight, do not. If we make such judgements we are, of course, revealing as much about ourselves as about the organs of which we speak: the sort of tonal palette which suits us best, the limits of musical colour and emotion which we feel comfortable in expressing, the kind of repertoire we prefer to play and listen to.
For myself, organs as unexpected as Compenius's are a welcome challenge. By their very strangeness they force the player to engage anew with the music and how he expresses it, and thus to acheive new insight. I find Compenius's mixture of classicism and romanticism intriguing, and refuse to believe that his organs have nothing to teach us for the future. During the last century we have learnt from the organs of Schnitger and the Silbermanns: I hope that the time may come for a revival of interest in the styles of Compenius and Fritzsche; or, for that matter, of Hildebrand and Wagner and Holzhey and Riepp. We are proud to have learned from the past; but perhaps our view has been too selective.
Julian Rhodes
December 1999