M ig h t y W ur l it z er sub title ( t.b .d .)
ConstellationCenter
Project Concept: Glenn A. KnicKrehm Photography: AndrĂŠ Costantini Art direction and design: Burt Sun Introduction: Lyn Larson Tex: Susan M. Cole and Meret S. Peter Editing: Andrew Figel
ConstellationCenter 161 First Street Cambridge, MA
02142-1207
Tel 617.939.1900 Fax 617.576.0914 constellationcenter.org
Š 2011 Constellation Productions, Inc., All rights reserved. Published 2011 Library of Congress Control Number:
This book is dedicated to William P. Brown ( 1925 - 2006 )
PREFACE As founder and president of ConstellationCenter, I am thrilled to say that ConstellationCenter is poised to become a leading center for the performance and study of organ music. In addition to the construction of a Bach-style organ by leading organ building firm Taylor & Boody, the center will also be home to a vintage theater organ originally located at the Paradise Theater in Chicago. This organ, built in 1928, was generously donated to ConstellationCenter by the late William Brown of Phoenix, Arizona. One of only three five-manual theater organs built by Wurlitzer, we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to bring this organ to Cambridge. In anticipation of its installation at ConstellationCenter, we are delighted to introduce you to our Wurlitzer in this publication.
Glenn KnicKrehm President, ConstellationCenter
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Introduction It is a special experience to walk into the Wenzelskirche in Naumburg and look up at one of the most beautiful organ cases of Europe; it is a heavenly concert for the eyes, and its elegant proportions compel one’s eyes to look not only with admiration, but also with attention and curiosity, with a view towards understanding what makes it so persuasive. It invites us to pay attention. The sound of this instrument does the same thing to our ears: we are first struck by its beauty, but then we are invited to listen carefully to its complexity, to its idiosyncratic way of speaking, to the way its rich tonal palette can make the music of Bach sound somehow just right. If one then plays this organ, the experience deepens: here is an instrument which, far from simply being a tool for the player to realize an already formed musical idea, has its own distinctive personality, a specific behavior which challenges and leads the player to new perspectives.
The organ in the little parish church of Störmthal, near Leipzig, was built by the same person who built the Naumburg organ, Zacharias Hildebrandt. Despite its diminutive size – it has only one manual – it has a peculiar capability to arouse much the same kind of response as its larger and younger brother in Naumburg. Although this organ has only fourteen stops, its tonal world is both varied and complex. When listening to this organ, one can become even more aware of the three-dimensional character of a single set of pipes: here the sound of a single pipe has not only length (a pronounced beginning, a sustained sound that seems to be in motion, and an elegant release) and height (a balanced structure of harmonics reinforcing the fundamental tone), but also depth: the sound has a physical character to it, as if it were a column of sound that you could wrap your arms around. It is this sense of the third dimension that distinguishes superior instruments from those which are merely fine, and at Störmthal one gets the impression that the organ is in a real sense a living organism.
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It is neither nostalgia for the past nor the aural equivalent of rose-colored glasses that account for such r e a c t i o n s . T h e i n s t r u m e n t s o f H i l d e b r a n d t , t h e w o n d e r f u l l y i n c i s i v e i n s t r u m e n t s o f h i s m e n t o r, G o t t f r i e d Silbermann, and a host of other organs from the same period are indisputably alive, and their specific character and behavior have an almost magical way of animating the music played upon them. Such instruments are also in a curious way democratic: one does not need to be among the most skillful players in the world in order to make memorable music on these organs. They respond both to the seasoned artist and to the village organist, and everyone who plays them sounds better than they would sound on most organs. These are not organs only for the specially gifted, but rather they are organs of such surpassing quality that they allow a transcendent musical experience to be the norm instead of the exception.
S u c h m u s i c a l i n s t r u m e n t s w e l l r e f l e c t t h e o v e r a l l g o a l s b e h i n d t h e c o n c e p t o f t h e C o n s t e l l a t i o n C e n t e r, where the quality of the musical environment – its proportions, materials, visual and acoustical propert i e s , a l o n g w i t h t h e i n s t r u m e n t s p l a c e d i n i t – i s t o b e g i v e n h i g h e s t p r i o r i t y. T h e s e o r g a n s w i l l a l s o s h o w u s t h e w a y t o b u i l d n e w i n s t r u m e n t s o f c o m p a r a b l e q u a l i t y, i f w e p a y a t t e n t i o n a n d l e a r n f r o m w h a t t h e y have to say to us. They will be our guide, and they will help us achieve the vision of realizing in instruments yet to be born the qualities that move us so at Naumburg, Störmthal, and in other places where Johann Sebastian Bach worked and – one may dare to say – was similarly moved.
Lyn Larson
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SPECIFICATION AT A GLANCE ( Opus 1942 )
74
Solo Chamber
Main Chamber
Percussion
8’ Brass saxophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Clarinet (Page xxx, yy)
Piano (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Oboe horn (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Quintadena (Page xxx, yy)
Marimba harp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Brass trumpet ((Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Vibraharp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Orchestral oboe (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dulciana (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Kinura (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol d’orchestre (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (37 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Concert flute (Page xxx, yy)
Cathedral chimes (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Flute celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Tuned sleighbells(Page xxx, yy)
8’ Horn diapason (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Chrysoglott (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Krumet (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (30 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Trumpet (style D) (Page xxx, yy)
Tower chimes (24 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Salicional (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Musette (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Voix celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Solo string (10”) (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo string (15”) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tuba mirabilis (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Diaphonic diapason (Page xxx, yy)
16’ English horn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Tuba horn (Page xxx, yy)
SPECIFICATION AT A GLANCE ( Opus 1980 ) Solo Chamber
Main Chamber
Percussion
8’ Brass saxophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Clarinet (Page xxx, yy)
Piano (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Oboe horn (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Quintadena (Page xxx, yy)
Marimba harp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Brass trumpet ((Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Vibraharp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Orchestral oboe (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dulciana (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Kinura (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol d’orchestre (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (37 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Concert flute (Page xxx, yy)
Cathedral chimes (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Flute celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Tuned sleighbells(Page xxx, yy)
8’ Horn diapason (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Chrysoglott (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Krumet (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (30 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Trumpet (style D) (Page xxx, yy)
Tower chimes (24 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Salicional (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Musette (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Voix celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Solo string (10”) (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo string (15”) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tuba mirabilis (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Diaphonic diapason (Page xxx, yy)
16’ English horn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Tuba horn (Page xxx, yy)
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SPECIFICATION AT A GLANCE ( Opus 2011 ) Solo Chamber
Main Chamber
Percussion
8’ Brass saxophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Clarinet (Page xxx, yy)
Piano (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Oboe horn (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Quintadena (Page xxx, yy)
Marimba harp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Brass trumpet ((Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Vibraharp (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Orchestral oboe (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dulciana (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Kinura (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Viol d’orchestre (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (37 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Concert flute (Page xxx, yy)
Cathedral chimes (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gemshorn celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Flute celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Tuned sleighbells(Page xxx, yy)
8’ Horn diapason (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba celeste (Page xxx, yy)
Chrysoglott (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Krumet (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Gamba (Page xxx, yy)
Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce (Page xxx, yy)
Glockenspiel (30 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Muted viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Trumpet (style D) (Page xxx, yy)
Tower chimes (24 notes) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Salicional (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Musette (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Voix celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Dolce celeste (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Solo string (10”) (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Solo string (15”) (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)
8’ Tuba mirabilis (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Diaphonic diapason (Page xxx, yy)
16’ English horn (Page xxx, yy)
16’ Tuba horn (Page xxx, yy)
ConstellationCenter 161 First Street Cambridge, MA
02142-1207
Tel 617.939.1900 Fax 617.576.0914 constellationcenter.org