Tour of Prague, Central Bohemia & Northern Austria : August 2009

the monastery’s impressive Schiffner 1900/ Organa 1987 organ (complete with Kronwerk) in a case which originally housed the 1784 Roth instrument.

Next stop was organs plus, as the Klementinum (Jesuit College), which at the time of building (1663) was the largest building in Prague after Prague Castle, comprises not only the Mirror Chapel, with its two Baroque organs, dating from 1732 and 1750, and accordingly tricky to play, and the featured mirrored walls, but a Baroque library and an Astronomical Tower as well.

Our Lady of Tyn

We’d earned our lunch by this time, and met up again in the afternoon to visit what is probably the organic jewel in the Prague crown – the instrument in the church of Our Lady of Týn. The building dates from the 15th century, the organ (H.H. Mundt, in a splendid black-and-gold case) from 1673.

The next day was free for sightseeing, so some of us took the opportunity to visit the castle, others the wonderfully Art Nouveau Municipal House, which also contains the Smetana Concert Hall (unfortunately it would have been too expensive to arrange time on the organ there), or perhaps the extensive and historically important Jewish Quarter, or take the funicular up Petrin Hill, with its miniature Eiffel Tower.

On Friday our adventures really began, with a sortie to Dvoøák’s birthplace at Nelahozeves and then on to Litomìøice. Some of us literally travelled with Pavel, but those who tried to follow in two hired cars sadly ran into difficulties trying to emerge from Prague in the right direction. One party made it to Nelahozeves an hour late, but the others, having cut their losses and made a beeline straight for Litomìøice, missed the main group by a slender margin and weren’t able to benefit fully from the visit.

Litomìøice - the Cathedral

We ruefully concluded that a mobile ’phone in each car should have been a must, and that we were not sufficiently provided with clear maps. For those who were able to enjoy the whole visit there was plenty to experience; the gracious 16th-century castle at Nelahozeves; an illuminating exhibition at Dvoøák’s humble birthplace; the imposing Cathedral at Litomìøice with its 1914 Schiffner organ; a tour of catacombs (entrance through a restaurant); fine views from the ‘Chalice’ (a large wooden chamber at the top of the

Town Hall tower); and a sobering reminder of more sombre times as we passed through Terezín (Theresienstadt) on the way home.

Back in Prague the next day, it was time to visit the Loreto Palace, with its 2-manual/pedal Katzer and Weltzel organ of 1738 and its mind-blowingly rich treasury, before making our way to the Castle complex and the Cathedral of St. Vitus.

The large Jozef Melzer instrument (1932) boasted a number of stops that were new to us, including a Flétna Dutá (Hohlflöte) and an 8' Roh (Horn – perhaps it’s onomatopoeic), and sounded well in the huge space, despite the noise of milling tourists. The Military Parade of the Castle Guard didn’t quite match up to its British equivalent, so we moved on to the Brevnov Monastery, arriving in time for a very satisfactory lunch before our guided tour and visit to St. Margaret’s Church.

Our visits are not renowned for their leisurely pace, so it was with a hint of weariness that on Sunday morning we made our way up to Prague’s birthplace – the mighty crag known as the Vyšehrad, portrayed by Smetana in the first movement of his cycle of tone poems ‘Ma Vlast’. The Basilica of Ss. Peter and Paul is a late 19th-century building with an organ by Paštika from 1903. Wandering round the impressive municipal cemetery we found the graves of Smetana and Dvoøák, and Petr Eben’s very simple memorial.

In the afternoon we visited the church of St. Cyril and St. Methodius (don’t get many of those in England) before girding ourselves up for an early start for Monday’s visit to Kutná Hora. This sounds like an ancient holy city in India, but had it not been for a mineral misfortune this could well have been the capital city of the Czech Republic. When a rich vein of silver was discovered here in the 13th century Wenceslas II established his Royal Mint and residence in the burgeoning town. Sadly the silver began to run out in the 16th century and decline set in, but the town is still full of history and interest.

We spent some time in the Italian Court (home of the aforementioned Royal Mint) before moving to the huge 14th century church of St. Jacob, with its appropriately impressive 4-manual Melzer of 1946 (any idea what a Kryt Tichý is? Answers on a postcard, please) and then along a road flanked by statues in the manner of Prague’s Charles Bridge to the Cathedral of St. Barbora (sic). This was begun by the silver miners in 1380, but abandoned in 1558 when the money ran out, and was only finished at the end of the 19th century.

And then, for something completely different, some of us visited the Ossuary Chapel at neighbouring Sedlec. This somewhat grisly attraction was the result of the overcrowding of a monastery graveyard by plague victims. The chapel was pressed into service as an overflow bone chamber, whereupon woodcarver Frantisek Rint decided to create something artistic from the knobbly remains – which he did to considerable effect...

On Tuesday we took the coach to Èeský Krumlov. To where? Well, it may sound like a viral infection, but if you’ve only got time to go to one place in the Czech Republic, this is a real contender.

Èeský Krumlov - Choir Organ

Almost surrounded by the River Vltva, in the shelter of its magnificent 16th-century castle, the inner town winds upwards to the lofty church of St. Vitus with its tall slender spire.

We had a little difficulty in making contact with the organist, but it was worth the effort, as both he and his wife (who spoke excellent English, much to our relief) were charming and gave us generous time on the 1716 Choir Organ (the unusually complex Schiffner Main Organ was in process of restoration and not available to us).

Next day saw a bus journey to the regional capital Èeské Budìjovice, about 30km away and graced by the Czech Republic’s largest plaza. We were able to experience the 1934 Rieger organ in St. Nicolaus’ Cathedral, and saw a modern copy of a 1679 instrument (in what we assumed to be the original case) in the Old Dominican Monastery. There was also time, on our return, to visit Èeský Krumlov Castle; some managed to fit in a tour of the castle’s Baroque theatre, one of only two of the period in Europe that are still functioning.

Alas, our time in this lovely town was soon over and (thanks to the efforts of David and Marion Burgess in finding a very convenient coach service) we made a smooth transition to Linz for the remainder of our trip.

Our first appointment was for an early evening organ recital at the Minoritenkirche followed by time on the 2009 Kristian Wegscheider instrument. Some abandoned dinner in favour of another recital at the Alter Dom, where Bruckner was once the organist. Next morning we took a bus ride out to the beautiful Cistercian abbey at Wilhering, renowned for its outstanding Rococo decoration, largely created by the father-and-son team Martino and Bartolomeo Altomonte.

Wilhering Abbey

The console of the choir organ (Nikolaus Rumel the Elder, 1746) is tucked away in the choirstalls in such a way that a visitor really does not know that it’s there. It was one of Bruckner’s favourite instruments. The main organ, resplendent in its Baroque case, was built by Breinbauer in 1884.

A free afternoon gave some of us the opportunity to take the funicular up to the Pöstlingberg (wonderful views in the sunshine); others investigated the Botanical Gardens, or paid a visit to Solar City, a suburb which, as its name suggests, appears to run almost entirely on solar power.

On Saturday it rained (hard), but the sacristan and the organist at the Martin Luther Kirche both made us very welcome and it was good to have chance to play the 2006 Rowan West (no, he’s not English) organ.

Klaus Sonnleitner, Organist at St Florian

There was an opportunity to visit Steyr in the afternoon, and some of us took time out from organs to travel on the narrow-gauge preserved railway to Grünberg.

On Sunday we made the Bruckner pilgrimage to the magnificent Abbey of St. Florian, where we were royally entertained by the organist, who not only gave us the freedom of the huge Bruckner organ (originally by Krismann, 1770-74), but also showed us the twin cases of the choir organ, as well as giving us a tour of the crypt, including Bruckner’s tomb (by his own request, directly beneath the main organ).

On Monday we completed our exploration of the most important churches and organs in Linz, taking in the huge Neuer Dom (Marcussen 1968), the Ursulinenkirche (including the 1986 Westenfelder choir organ) and the Stadtpfarrkirche, where we attended a recital, but were not able to play.

The last day of our trip was spent in Melk, where we made a tour of the spectacular Benedictine monastery,

dominating the little town from its position high on a rock above it (not surprisingly, the first building on this site was a fortress) and were allowed time on its 1731 Sonnholz organ (rebuilt Hradetzky, 1970).

Melk Abbey

Sadly, the next day saw us taking our farewell of Linz, the tour and each other. As well as Pavel and Rod, who had said goodbye to us when we moved on to Èeský Krumlov, the party had included, at various times, our friend Maggie Pemberton, whom we had met on the Munich visit in 2005, Bob and Mary Batchelor, David and Marion Burgess (their first experience of one of our overseas visits), Mike Clift, Pete Currie, Jeff, Gillian and Michael Lloyd, John and Gwen Mansfield, Geoff and Elaine Mitchell and Tom Sweeney.

Our group at St Cyril and St Methodius

Our thanks are due to John and Jeff for their hard work in making all the arrangements, to Jeff and Michael for preparing the brochure, and to each one of us, in our various ways, for making the visit, despite one or two problems, such a special experience.

Special thanks to Mike Clift for the photographs (except that of Pavel, which is from his web site)