BACH 709 - BACH on Silbermann Organs - Vol 2: Grosshartmannsdorf

That Bach’s Organ Works should be performed on the Organs of Gottfried Silbermann could hardly be more appropriate. Bachbecame known throughout the wider region not only as an organist and improviser, but also as a technician well-versed in the arts oforgan building, and as such he was frequently commissioned to test newly built organs before their official “Handing-over” by the builder.
Yet he never officially tested an organ by Silbermann. Why? Of similar age and living in the same area, the two were firm friends andcolleagues.
Bach and Silbermann shared an interest and advanced knowledge of acoustics as applied to the voicing and location of organs. They
would also work together in their latter years on the escapement mechanism for the first fortepianos – Silbermann was to make several
for Frederick the Great, and it was in trying out one of these at Sans Souci Palace that Bach elaborated on the King’s theme for theMusical Offering. We may be certain that Silbermann was a frequent visitor at the Bach home in Leipzig – he was godfather to CarlPhilipp Emmanuel.
Silbermann was based in Freiberg, Saxony, where he had his workshop. His mainly small village instruments were built to a fairly
standard model thus saving tooling costs which were passed on in the form of highest quality materials and workmanship. Perhaps thesingle most important feature of Gottfried Silbermann's instruments is their distinctive sounds. From the silvery flutes to the strong andreedy 16' Posaune in the Pedal, Silbermann's sounds were unique, and indeed were constantly praised by organists in their testimonies of
his instruments. Frequent reference is made to a play on his name, as organists praised his "Silberklang" or "Silvery Sounds". Mozart
proclaimed: "These instruments are magnificent beyond measure". Silbermann’s “secrets” were: standardization, highest quality materials,
joinery and workmanship, an intimate knowledge of metallurgy (he obtained the best tin from Cornwall) and a similar knowledge ofacoustics used in pipe design, and the all-important final voicing.
Today Gottfried Silbermann has the unique distinction of having a Museum dedicated to his work, located in the picturesque townof Frauenstein where young Gottfried went to school. With his 31 extant instruments gathered relatively closely together within or very
close to the Saxon borders, Silbermann minimized the transportation costs for his materials. For the organ-lover today, this close
proximity of so many single-builder instruments of such fine quality makes a Gottfried Silbermann Organ Tour imperative and richly
rewarding.

BWV 572: Fantasia in G Major - Arnstadt 1705-6
This work falls into three parts. The first part is a solo passage, fast (it is headed "très vitement”) yet quiet in character, the different
phrases and passages seem to be amusing themselves chasing and echoing one another. This single-line melody leads naturally into thesecond part, a majestic five-part movement with rich harmonies somewhat reminiscent of Frescobaldi. The final movement brings backthe memory of the first, yet it is more serious in content, and the difference is significant. The music is not so much single-line andpastoral in character: it consists of broken chords, and the 'solo' manual line is accompanied by periodic pedal notes. Thus while theoutward character of this final movement resembles the first movement, it also resembles the middle movement in that the broken
chords taken together with the pedal produce similar five-part harmonic music. Thus the last movement balances and unifies, containing
the primary characteristics of each of its predecessors. The piece closes quietly, as it began.

BWV 589: Alla breve in D Major
The Alla breve was composed at the beginning of Bach's service at Weimar, probably shortly after 1708. Its name refers to the fact thatin this composition, in the manner of earlier polyphonic works, the half-note, instead of the fast quarter-note, serves as the unit of time.
This is a piece clearly influenced by the Italian works which Bach in this phase of his artistic development was diligently studying, andindeed the theme itself bears some resemblance to a subject employed in a Concerto Grosso by Corelli. It seems to have been a favoriteof the baroque period, as it appears also in a Canon by the great English church composer William Byrd. Bach himself employed its
beginning again in the "Gratias" and "Dona nobis pacem" of his B minor Mass. The Alla breve is an imposing fugue divided by episodes
into four sections.

BWV 537: Prelude (Fantasia) & Fugue in c-minor - Weimar about 1716.

The Prelude, stark and serious in character, is built in two parts, and each part is a Prelude and Fugue! The work begins with a sustained
pedal note; the upper parts work on this base, which eventually gives way when its harmonic possibilities are exhausted. It then becomesapparent that a recurring fugal theme has been introduced, and this is elaborated. Moving smoothly and naturally into the second part,the sustained pedal note again appears, treated in a similar way and followed by the same fugal theme yet with a slightly different
treatment.
The Fugue, in similar style and feeling to the Prelude, is in three parts. The first part is a flowing, straightforward fugue on the statedtheme. A slight break introduces the second, contrasting section, itself a less elaborate fugue on a recurring chromatic theme. The reentry of the main theme marks the third part, and the development of this main theme is then completed.

BWV 533: Prelude and Fugue in e-minor.
Yet another early work, its composition dating from Weimar if not earlier in Arnstadt. Both Prelude and Fugue are brief and the music ismoody and mournful. In the florid passages and extended trills, the effect is of emotional weight rather than display. Syncopations andharping repeated notes show something of the sterner, more ponderous Bach which would become increasingly prominent as Johann
Sebastian grew older. The Fugue, whose theme is reminiscent of a Last Judgment blast by one of the lesser angels, continues thePrelude's mournfulness, increased into sadness.

BWV 543: Prelude and Fugue in a-minor.
The Prelude is composed in Bach's rambling early style: elaborate scales, broken arpeggios, flourishing passages sustained over a pedalpoint. It was perhaps written in his first years at the Court of Weimar. The Fugue, however, was adapted at least fifteen years later at
Leipzig from a Clavier Fugue in a-minor written during the interim at Cöthen. The miracle of all this readjusting is that the Prelude andFugue seem upon hearing to be so suitable and apt together that it is extremely difficult to consider them other than as one continuous
inspiration. Mendelssohn was very fond of the work and played it, among other pieces, at an Organ Concert in Leipzig to raise money
for the placing of a Memorial Stone on Sebastian's unmarked grave.

BWV 568: Prelude in G Major
This composition dates from Mühlhausen around 1708, or possibly earlier in Lüneburg, 1700-1703, and bears all the hallmarks of ayouthful work.

BWV 544: Prelude and Fugue in b minor.
Though Bach composed organ music throughout his life, it was during his tenure at Leipzig that he wrote some of his greatest Preludes
and Fugues, of which the B Minor is one of the most awe-inspiring. The work gives the impression of superhuman scope and emotions
which an analysis in technical terms does nothing to explain. The toccata style: the runs, pedal points, embellishments, contrapuntal
imitations – all are the same materials which Bach had used continuously throughout the organ and clavier works, but here they aretransformed by some inner cohesion into an elegiac epic. There is a multitude of moods in this music, which can only be defined as they
appear to each individual who plays or listens to such great art. The quiet Fugue subject, to all appearances a mere ascending anddescending scale, expands to symphonic proportions such as could only have been handled by the impossible combination which was
Bach: a romantic contrapuntalist, a poet in fugues. "See," wrote Richard Wagner of this work, "what a world the inconceivably great
Sebastian constructed."

The Organ in GROSSHARTMANNSDORF Village Church by Gottfried Silbermann (1683-1753).
On October 27 th , 1738 a new Church for the village of Grosshartmannsdorf wasdedicated, and Gottfried Silbermann was contracted to supply a new organ.

In May 1740 the organ case was completed, and in the month of July, 1741, the casewas painted. On August 15th 1741 twelve 4-axle wagons made the journey fromSilbermann’s workshop in Freiberg bringing all the necessary materials, together withMaster Silbermann and four apprentices. They were lodged in Grosshartmannsdorf
with Meister Christian Dietzen. Fifteen weeks later the Organ was completed. It wasinaugurated on December 3rd, 1741 by (Freiberg) Cathedral Organist Erselius.

The specification, very typical of all Silbermann’s village organs, is as follows. The
Organ has been well maintained over the years and today retains its original sound.

HAUPTWERK

Prinzipal 8'

Rohrflöte 8'
Quintadena 8'
Octava 4'
Spitzflöte 4'

Quinta 3'
Octava 2'

OBERWERK
Gedackt 8'
Rohrflöte 4'
Nasat 3'Octava 2'
Gemshorn 2’
Tertia (1+3/5')
Quinta 1+1/2'
Sufflet 1'
Cimbel 2fach

PEDAL
Subbaß16'

Posaunenbaß 16’

Octavbaß 8'
Slider coupler
OW/HW
Tremulant“Baßventil” –a permanent
HW/Ped coupler