Stephansdom Wien Pipe Organ St. Stephan's Cathedral Vienna

Viennese music performed in Vienna. When I uploaded this before, I attributed it to the wrong organist (bad notes on my part, taken many years ago). Here's the re-edited version, giving credit where credit is due. Franz Schmidt's Prelude in D major, performed by Franz Falter (in 1977) on the IV/125/169 Kauffmann instrument installed in the gallery in 1960. For reasons that I haven't been quite able to determine, this instrument has been sitting idle (broken?in need of restoration? deemed unsuitable?) since 1991, when the (much smaller) Rieger instrument was installed in the front of the church.

Schmidt is a woefully under-performed composer of the early part of the 20th Century (he died in 1939), who wrote for almost every classical genre.

The bell at the beginning is Pummerin, at over 44,000 lbs the largest bell in Austria & the 3rd-largest swinging bell in Europe. It's rung only on certain special occasions, such as New Year's Eve.

Once again, thanks to Martin Doering of Die Orgelseite for the use of his magnificent pictures. YouTube doesn't do them justice: take a look at his web site. There are hundreds of organ pictures that are startling in their clarity. I don't know what kind of camera Martin uses, but I suspect it's not the one in his cell phone.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Stephansdom
• orgel
• pipe
• organ
• orgue
• St. Stephan's
• Cathedral
• Wien
• Vienna
• classical
• Franz
• Schmidt

[kapariz44]

Yes, she actually died under the Nazi euthanasia programme in 1942 as she was suffering from dementia, an undesirable situation wrt the regime. By that time, tho', Schmidt had been dead for some 3 years. He did not live to see the error of his ways as he died before the outbreak of WWII; before the occupation of Bohemia & Moravia even, which showed to everyone who cared to see just what sort of a regime the Nazi government was. In his case it would seem that ignorance was more-or-less bliss.

[a55b47]

The various ways that artists reacted to the Nazi terror would make for a fascinating book, wouldn't they? We always hear about the big ones, like Furtwangler & von Karajan & Schwartzkopf, but not many of the minor ones.

[kapariz44]

Hey, this theme is just like the Hallelujah Chorus from Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln, but w/o the choir and organ instead of orchestra.

[a55b47]

Well, if Handel could borrow from himself, I guess Schmidt, could, too ;-). I keep saying I'm going to sit down one day & listen to the Book of Seven Seals -- but somehow I never get around to it.

[kapariz44]

I recommend it. The whole work lasts around an hour & a half and, if my memory is correct, there are two organ solos in it, neither of which is related to this theme. Quite a tour de force. On a historical note, Das Buch got its first outing shortly after the Anschluss and Schmidt was seen giving the Nazi salute during the (favourable) reception. It was done more in the heat of the moment than anything else - Schmidt was a supporter of the Anschluss but was not himself a Nazi.

[a55b47]

Apparently, being a supporter of the Anschluss didn't help Schmidt much when things got tough: I understand his wife died in a concentration camp.

[oakberry61woohalol]

Die pummerin!

[MegaDani141]

Währe schön, wenn die große Orgel wieder spielen könnte..........

[Deoxys0070]

The Kauffmann organ was deemed too remote, too stolid, unresponsive and inflexible. Who cares if there's no 32-foot reed on the Rieger? You can play an awful lot more repertory far more convincingly now than you could have on the old monstrosity. Falter does show the post-romantic instrument to advantage here, however. I guess they could fix up the 1960 instrument in case anybody wants to give a recital of Liszt, Reger, Schmidt and Karg-Elert.

[witchcraftlord]

arent they finished renovating that tower?

[avifauna]

How beautiful it would be to hear a tridentine mass in this cathedral....

[mynamesis03]

bellissima!!!qualcuno sa dove posso trovare lo spartito????

[DVD33019]

Preludio maestoso, stupendo! E l'organo rende bene questa mastosità. Wonderful

[ronanmurray]

@stormkingfan The Walcker organ was destroyed during the war. The Kaufmann organ was built in around 1960.

[stormkingfan]

@ronanmurray

Kaufmann?  If you're referring to the big West End organ, I thought it was built by the E. F. Walcker company.