XAVER VARNUS PLAYS BACH ON THE OLDEST ORGAN OF CENTRAL-EUROPE (1633)

Johann Sebastian Bach: Choral Prelude "Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walten"

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The Johann Woeckerl Organ in the Cathedral-Church of Saint-George in Sopron, Hungary, was built in 1633, but the pipes of its Holzflöte 8 stop were made in 1580. Among the church's congregation was Vitus "Veit" Bach, a miller whose great-great grandson Johann Sebastian Bach would compose the most celebrated organ music in the world.

Specification:

Holzflöte 8'
Gedact 8'
Principal 4'
Spitzflöte 4'
Superoctave 2'
Quint 1 1/3'
Mixture III

Pedal:

Subbas 16'
Bassföte 8'

The first part of this choral prelude is played on Holzflöte 8' from the year of 1580 (!).

Category:

Music

Tags:

• xaver
• varnus
• xavér
• organ
• orgue
• orgel
• bach
• choral
• prelude
• sopron
• veit

[Nuk1eus]

The oldest pipe organ in the Central Europe? Maybe in Hungary, but definitely not in the whole Central Europe.

Smečno, Czechoslovakia: 1587

Doksy-Kruh, Czechoslovakia: 1620

[xavervarnus]

@Nuk1eus According to the Archaeological Examination of the Sopron organ, the oldest pipes (Flote 8) were made in 1580.

[issueagent]

What is the stop used for the first segment of this piece? A blocked flute?

[xavervarnus]

@issueagent Holzflöte 8

[Txboy85A]

Was the organ electrified later? Or does it still have it's bellows system operational?

[xavervarnus]

@Txboy85A It's still tracker.

[xavervarnus]

I'm sorry, but Switzerland is a part of Western Europe :-)

[Nuk1eus]

@xavervarnus In the town I live there is an instrument from 1910 which has facade including 30 facade pipes preserved from predecessing baroque instrument. The rest of the instrument (case, pipework, windchests, pneumatic tracture, manuals, pedal, etc.) is from 1910. So we have got a baroque instrument from 1760 in our church, haven't we? There is quite a lot of old instruments with reused older pipes over the Central Europe, even older than from 1580.

[PipeOrganistSC]

I'm not concerned about the date of this organ being built or where it's located. I'm just enjoying the music and marveling at the craftsmanship of such an ancient organ.

[Nuk1eus]

@xavervarnus :-D In the town I live there is an instrument from 1910 which has facade including 30 facade pipes preserved from predecessing baroque instrument. The rest of the instrument (case, pipework, windchests, pneumatic tracture, manuals, pedal, etc.) is from 1910. So we have got a baroque instrument from 1760 in our church, haven't we? :-) There is quite a lot of old instruments with reused older pipes over the Central Europe, even older than from 1580. ;-)

[frenchiecocorico1]

Very interesting. Are the stop registers divided in two parts (Bass and Treble) like the spanish organ ones. So, it seems the stop rods glide on a vertical movement while in italian organs they move horizontally and in the other european organs (german, english, french,...) they are in and out rods.

However, you are wrong because the oldest organ in central Europe is Aquincum hydraulis (3° century after J.C) discovered by Lajos Nagy in 1931 near Pècs (Hungary) the roman capital of Pannonia .

[lipsbach]

Xaver, will you send me a copy of the cd which you recorded at Wanamakers????

[issueagent]

@xavervarnus Wow ! That's a thick Holzflote there, Thanks a lot! :)