Léon Boëllmann: Prière à Notre Dame

This is one of the organs that I play as an organist. It is in the pilgrimage church in Maria Limbach in Lower Franconia, not far from Bamberg. The organ was built in 1756 by the famous Franconian organ builder Johann Philipp Seuffert (1693-1780) from Würzburg and is still basically intact. The church is no less famous, it was designed by Balthasar Neumann.
Of course, there is no swell pedal, but the beauty of the sound of this instrument speaks for itself.
The stops I use here are: Solicional 8 and Pifra 8 (both together are the baroque celeste).
You are pretty restricted in what you can actually play on this organ, as there is only one manual with just four octaves and the pedal has just two octaves. But the incredibly beautiful sound makes up for all these restrictions. I had to make some minor modifications to this piece to play it on this organ, especially towards the end.
The piece itself is very well-known. It is taken from Boëllmann's "Suite gothique".

Category:

Music

Tags:

• léon
• boellmann
• prière
• notre-dame
• suite
• gothique
• matthias
• rascher
• orgen
• orgel
• orgue
• romantic
• maria
• limbach
• seuffert

[goodchappy]

Hi, very well done. I am currently trying to perfect this peice myself and you have helped confirm I am getting it right. I was interested to see you crossing your hands to play the part which would normally be played on another manual.

I am also a casual organist and hope to start recording myself, it is a good way to see where you are not quite right.

Pity the cougher couldn't have waited till you finished. I would have pounded the keys! Grrrr!

[Messjuh1]

@goodchappy Thanks for your comment. Do upload your recordings to Youtube, too. It's always nice to share.

[costasimpson]

Exceptional playing, fascinating organ and registration. How difficult is this piece?

[Messjuh1]

It is really quite easy to play. Try it.

[litanijebral]

Beautiful sound and organ.

"Pifra" would be the italian Voce Umana, right?

[Messjuh1]

Yes, that's it.

[ramil90]

That Coughing is annoying but hey the interpretation is good and clear...:) I like the sound of the organ..sounds like a bit similar to the Bach Organ.

[goodchappy]

@Messjuh1 Just watched this again and I still laugh at your comments regarding the inconsiderate coughing tourist! Have you tried the Hauptwerk Vitrual organ program? I am envious of your Electronic but Hauptwerk sounds better :-)

[jmeister321684]

Very nice !!

[dannypurtell]

it is incredible how you pulled this off an a single manual organ :|