From Newsletter no. 166 : December 2011

Since our last Newsletter, there has been a visit, an improvisation workshop and the Birmingham Retrospective – but, because of the space required for the Hamburg report, details of these will, regrettably, have to wait until Newsletter 167. Watch this space! However, there is one event that does require reporting, and that is the opening of the new organ at Odiham, which we shall be seeing and hearing after our AGM on 28th January. Jane Palmer writes:

ODIHAM’S DAY TO REMEMBER

All Saints’ Church in Odiham was filled to capacity last Sunday [25th September] for a Service of Dedication for their newly-built organ. The 23-stop, 2 manual instrument was built by Messrs. Goetze and Gwynn, and has already attracted considerable admiration for the sheer beauty of its craftsmanship. It is dedicated to the memory of Ian Ledsham, the Church’s previous Director of Music, whose brainchild the organ was.

During his time in Hampshire, Ian conducted no fewer than four choirs, and representatives from the Cheriton Singers, the Fountains Singers and the Odiham Jubilee Choir joined All Saints Choir at the West end of the Church as the Revd. Gary Keith, Vicar of Odiham read out a message of encouragement from Martin Goetze, whose role in constructing the organ was halted recently by serious illness. Then the 70-strong Choir sang Duruflé’s ‘Ubi Caritas’, followed by a psalm setting by current Musical Director, Jane Palmer as the Rt. Revd. Timothy Bavin, formerly Bishop of Portsmouth, entered in procession to conduct the blessing. Tim Paton, who took over the reins of the organ project on Ian’s death in 2005, then formally asked the Bishop to bless the organ. After a few simple, but moving words came the moment the huge congregation had been anticipating, when the organ’s first notes were sounded.

The Service included an opportunity to hear the instrument’s beautiful and distinctive tone colours, as Robert Gillman played two short solos, and the readings, by Ian’s widow and younger son, were specially chosen for the occasion. The Revd. Michael Bever, former Vicar of Odiham, gave an engrossing address, including many personal insights and challenging all who are involved in music at Odiham to aim for new heights. Of course, there was plenty of music: the Choir sang Vaughan Williams’ spectacular setting of ‘Let all the world in every corner sing’ and were joined by the braver congregation members in Stanford’s ‘Te Deum’; and, poignantly, the prayers ended with Ian’s own composition, ‘Holy Mary’.

The proceedings were completed with Charpentier’s ‘Prelude on the Te Deum’ as the congregation streamed out of the church, to enjoy a lavish buffet lunch at Mayhill School.

HAMBURGERS

The North Hampshire Organists’ Association's 2011 visit to Hamburg (15th-28th August) actually began in the area known as the Altes Land, which lies along the River Elbe west of the city. There is a stong Swedish influence here, which can be seen in the huge steep-pitched roofs, and the use of wood, particularly in the construction of church towers. It’s an area rich in wonderful historical organs, many of them by Arp Schnitger, and from our first base, in the picturesque town of Stade, we were soon on their trail. Travelling in two hire cars and the Mitchells’ family car (for the use of which we were most grateful), we made our first stop at Grünendeich. Here the first of our many kindly hosts, Jürgen Wiesecke, introduced us to a gifted young student who ably demonstrated for us the 1766 Gloger organ (restored Rowan West 2008). Lunch in a specialist fish restaurant on the bank of the Elbe followed, after which Herr Wiesecke led us to Steinkirchen. Here the 1581 Hoyer instrument had been rebuilt by Schnitger in 1687 and restored by Beckerath in 1991. Our last stop of the day was at Mittelnkirchen (an original Schnitger this time, from 1688).

The next day took us rather further west, beginning with Lüdingworth, where Schnitger had, in 1683, rebuilt the 1598 Wilde organ. Lovingly restored by Ahrend in 1982, this instrument, like so many others that we were to see, was enhanced by a glorious case, which itself complemented the richly-decorated woodwork of the rest of the church.

Similar delights awaited us at Cappel (Schnitger 1680, originally from a Hamburg monastery, and possibly the most authentic Schnitger instrument still in existence), and again at Altenbruch (an even older Dropa instrument of 1498, restored by Beckerath in 1967).

Cappel Schnitger Organ

Thursday began in Stade itself, with the two magnificent instruments at the churches of Ss. Cosmae and Damiani, and of St. Wilhadi.

The first, replacing an original from 1493, was by Behrendt Huß and his journeyman Arp Schnitger (1675), the first organist of the new instrument being Vincent Lübeck. Restored by Wellmer in 2007, it was awkward for us to play, and we were actually encouraged not to try it but to save our efforts for the next church. St. Wilhadi had lost its Schnitger organ in a disastrous fire in 1724. Its new organ (1736) was by Bielfeldt, who was apparently a native of Stade. Another feature of this church was a tiny ‘demonstration’ instrument, used for introducing young people to the organ. We were very grateful to our hosts Martin Böcker and Annegret Schönbeck for their detailed introductions to and demonstrations of all these instruments.

On Thursday afternoon we met up again with Herr Wiesecke, who, as well as introducing us to the 1861 organ at Twielenfleth (whose incumbent played us some music by a local composer, as well as some jazz), presented us with a beautiful copy of the New Testament illustrated with features from many of the churches we would be seeing. We also had the opportunity to see his 1690 instrument at Hollern. This had been part of our schedule, but had only very recently been rebuilt by Ahrend; the church authorities felt that the congregation, rather than visitors, should be the first to hear it in its newly-restored glory, so we were able only to look.

Friday took us to the evocatively-named town of Buxtehude, via the village of Jork, where the 1982 Führer organ is housed in a splendid Schnitger case from 1709. St. Petri, Buxtehude, boasts a large 1859 Furtwängler instrument, as well as a choir organ, and a chamber organ with a ‘Ridiculus’ stop, a Harry Potter-ish addition which causes two small reed pipes to sound at once. At Neuenfelde, as well as a fine 1688 Schnitger organ, we were able to see the master’s memorial, and his family’s coat of arms.

Saturday was rather a different kind of day. We began with a visit to the celebrated transporter bridge at Osten (one of only six in the world still in use), which offered a striking solution to the perennial problem of crossing a busy river without impeding its traffic.

Transporter bridge at Osten

We also visited the organs at Osten (Peternell, 1890) and Neuhaus (another Gloger, this time from 1745) before heading off to Cuxhaven. The parish church of this port, almost the furthest west we were to go during our visit, was celebrating its centenary, so, although we weren’t actually able to play the 1993 Woehl organ ourselves, we did form part of the audience for the church’s uproarious birthday concert, and were able to hear it in various musical items. (Amazing how funny ‘in-jokes’ can still be even if you aren’t ‘in’ on them and don’t even really understand the language!). The following day we said goodbye to Stade after a magnificent Sunday lunch at the local folk-museum, and took the train back in to Hamburg itself.

Our convenient, if somewhat hot and noisy, hotel was very near to the splendid main railway station, home of the first station shopping mall in Europe (and very comprehensive it is, too). We were also near the Alster Lakes, one of Hamburg’s most distinctive and attractive features. First stop on Monday morning was St. Ansgar, also known as Kleiner Michel, to distinguish it from the enormous Michaelikirche nearby. St. Ansgar’s intriguing history places it as the only church in Gemany to have begun in the Reformed tradition before being transformed into a Roman Catholic Church. Sadly its 1955 Krell main organ is currently out of commission, but our very friendly and informative host Norbert Hoppermann showed us the little 1890 Mauracher choir organ which, amazingly, packs enough punch to accompany the congregation in a fair-sized church.

Norbert Hoppermann at Kleiner Michel

St. Michaelis itself could be described as organ heaven. Its vast interior (it can seat 2,500) is home to no fewer than five organs. The huge Steinmeyer 1962 main organ has six manual divisions (though only five manuals) including a Kronwerk, and a Fernwerk up in the roof, which features a ‘rain’ stop. There is also a substantial 1914 Marcussen Concert Organ (both these instruments may be played from a single detached console) and a third instrument (the ‘C.P.E. Bach’ organ by Freiburger, 2010) in the south gallery. And if that weren’t enough, there is also a small box organ of four stops, and a Crypt Organ downstairs, near the tomb of Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach.

Our host, Christoph Schoener, demonstrated the main organ most impressively, but it has to be said that all of us rose to the occasion and acquitted ourselves very creditably (John Mansfield’s Buxtehude gained a warm round of applause from visitors downstairs, who clearly thought they were being treated to a recital).

Some of us then went up the imposing church tower for a panoramic view of the city before, as it were, ‘going home’ to the English church of St. Thomas à Becket. This looked rather like a synagogue, both outside and inside, and the organ was not particularly distinguished, but our host, choirmaster Yotin Tieuwtrakul (a good old English name) made us very welcome, and got us singing a round. Next day saw us up bright and early for the train to Lüneburg, where our host at St. Nicolai introduced us, not only to the substantial 1899 Furtwängler organ (he thought our playing sounded wonderful – what a nice man!) but to the stunning medieval paintings and carvings in the church. The Johanniskirche, in addition to its magnificent Baroque west-gallery organ (whose most distingished incumbent was Georg Böhm) also has a free-standing French Romantic Kuhn instrument of somewhat controversial design.

The new Kuhn organ at the Johanniskirche, Luneberg

Some members of the party dined by the river in Lüneburg before making our way back to Hamburg where the next day offered a somewhat different experience in the form of a visit to the von Beckerath organ works.

This was a real privilege, and gave us an insight into the German view of organ-building as compared with the British approach.

Preparing the soundboard at the Von Beckerath works

Our host from Beckerath’s accompanied us to the Mariendom, where the firm’s large 1966 (enlarged 2008) instrument was shown off in a brilliant improvisation by the cathedral organist.

Organ at the Mariendom

The day finished with a visit to St. Georg (1959, Walcker) and a convivial dinner (one of many enjoyed during the trip) at a Portuguese restaurant called the ‘Alte Floit’ (and, sure enough, it had an appropriate organ pipe to prove it).

At St. Petri the next morning we met Thomas Dahl, who, as well as being very welcoming and enthusiastic, has a passion for English choral music, and has taken his choir to a number of English cathedrals to sing. The Choir organ here was of particular interest, being, we understand, the apprentice-piece of John Mander when he was at Beckerath’s in the 50s. Arguably the jewel in the crown of the whole visit was the 1693 Schnitger at St. Jacobi. A truly magnificent instrument, it nevertheless presented challenges – and not just to us. As our host explained, the high pitch of the organ means that congregational music has to be transposed down to make it singable. “So”, she said, “you come in on a Sunday morning, read a chorale in one key, play it in another and [if you have absolute pitch] hear it in a third.” Not a good experience. Add to that the usual difficulties, for us, of strange pedalboards and the like, and Everest presents itself. However, the sound makes it all worthwhile. We just wished we had two hours each to practise on it. The last full day of our visit was spent in Lübeck. It was so hot and stuffy that it was a big relief to go into lofty, shady, cool churches. The first was the Marienkirche, famous for its connection with Buxtehude, where we heard the 1986 ‘Totentanz’ organ briefly, but had no opportunity to play. It was, however, moving to see the Buxtehude memorial, and, from a different time, the shattered church bells, lying where they fell, in silent witness to the Allied raid of Palm Sunday, 1942. We then moved to St. Aegidien (Klais, 1982), and finally to a recital at the Dom, given by the organist, Hartmut Rohmeyer, on a delightful 1777 single-manual Italian organ. We were allowed to play after the recital; it’s probably the first time that most of us have stood up to play the organ! We were also able to play the 1970 Marcussen main organ, on which Michael Lloyd’s rousing performance of Vierne’s ‘Carillon de Westminster’ provided a fitting finale to our organistic travels.

We rounded off our Lübeck day with a most enjoyable dinner in a restaurant which seemed to get steadily and ominously hotter while we were eating – and, sure enough, we were caught in a spectacular thunderstorm on our way back to the station, where we arrived resembling a pack of drowned rats.

Never mind! It was worth it. That goes for the whole visit – and should you think that we ‘did’ nothing but organs, you'd be mistaken. There are always ‘extras’ when NHOA goes abroad. Some of them are not ‘prepared for’; like a hiatus with the hire-cars, deftly sorted by John Mansfield; or the worrying non-arrival of our party-member from the Netherlands, Nigel Durrant. (We later discovered that, despite being taken seriously ill shortly before the trip, Nigel had managed to ask a friend to contact us; unfortunately, the message went to the wrong person.) But some were a bonus. While in Hamburg, several of us visited, and were bowled over by, the world’s largest model railway, ‘Miniatur Wunderland’; others enjoyed a boat trip on the Alster Lakes, or a visit to the Botanical Gardens, or a tour of the Brahms house or the art gallery. In fact, there was something for everyone, and we were deeply grateful to Jeff Lloyd for all his hard work in

arranging the visit We should also mention Michael Lloyd’s outstanding tour brochure; John Mansfield’s labour of love in producing a beautifully-drawn NHOA logo for each of the many visitors’ books we were asked to sign during our travels; and Les Graddon’s inspiring singing (we were several times invited to sing a chorale at the end of our visit, but Les’ fine bass was our best contribution). However, none of these trips would be quite the same without any of those attending; so, in addition to Jeff, Michael, John and Les, thank you too to Bob and Mary Batchelor, Mike Clift, Pete Currie, Ian and Charmian Harrison (like Les, first-timers on one of these trips), Gillian Lloyd and Geoff and Elaine Mitchell. Together, we made it a great trip!

Thanks to Mike Clift for the photographs

Following the success of the Open Committee Meeting in September, at which we were joined by representatives from the Berkshire, Surrey and Winchester and District Associations, it was decided to hold a further, and bigger, meeting, to involve more members from all four Associations in discussions as to how our Associations can work together more effectively. We all have similar concerns: how best to share our enthusiasm for the organ with others, and, particularly, how to inspire young people to play the organ: how to do our best for our members: how to increase our membership. Each Association has a slightly different way of tackling these issues, and we can all learn from each other.

If anyone who didn’t attend the September meeting would like a copy of the notes from it, please contact Gillian Lloyd (01483 570586 or musoc@guildfordurc.org.uk); they make interesting reading. If you can, please do try to come along to the meeting in Farnham in March. One of the subjects for discussion is likely to be the possibility of a genuinely ‘joint’ event, probably along the lines of a Regional Organ Day (as many of you will know, several such events have been reported in ‘Organists’ Review’, and they seem to have been very worthwhile). But it would be good to have our members’ views on other matters too.

Following the success of last year’s ‘Organ Treasure Island’ at Guildford, we are repeating the event, this time at St. Andrew's Church, Farnham, where we shall have the bonus of the opportunity to see, hear and play the newly-rebuilt organ. Stephen Lacey will talk about the work that has been done by Geoffrey Coffin and his team from Principal Pipe Organs, and will demonstrate the instrument.

The idea of the rest of the event is to share favourite items, with special emphasis on ‘hidden gems’, pieces that congregations have particularly appreciated, or music that means something special to the player. A short verbal introduction would be helpful (but not essential). If you would be willing to contribute, please contact John Mansfield on 01252 723548 or j.mansfield@alumni.manchester.ac.uk.