1884/1995 E.F. Walcker&Cie / Eule Organ

Ev. Luth. St. Annen Church, Annaberg-Buchholz/ Saxony, Germany

 

Short Introduction and History

The 1884 E.F. Walcker organ (op. 424) of the St. Annenkirche in Annaberg-Buchholz in the Erzgebirge is along with Riga and Vienna one of the few almost completely original surviving Walcker organs of the High Romanticism.

The three-manual instrument originally had 56 stops (including 3 free reeds) and mechanical cone chests and is sonically the smaller sister of the Riga Cathedral organ, built in the same year. Only 10 years later, the organ was rebuilt with pneumatic action, widening of both sides of the façade with dummy pipes and enlarged with nine stops on new cone chests - according to the tastes of the time.

In the 1960s, the pneumatic system started to fail and in 1975 the organ was put out of service when restoration work started on the church. There was no money for basic repairs. Different variants for the reconstruction of the old organ as well as a complete dismantling of the organ were considered.

Fortunately, after lengthy discussions, the foresighted assessment by organ builder Eule gave the impulse to restore the instrument to its original state with its almost original preserved sound. In order to achieve the same touch on all three manuals, the organ received Barker levers for all the manuals as well as the stop controls. In addition, a register lock (a so-called Walcker stop prolongation) allows resetting stops while playing.

The instrument was enlarged with nine stops on the 1894 cone chests using Walcker scalings.

The excellent restoration and reconstruction of the instrument took place after the German reunification in 1992. It took Hermann Eule organ builders of Bautzen 29,000 man hours.

The re-inauguration of one of the most important and most beautiful instruments of the German High Romanticism took place on October 22, 1995.

The St. Anne's church has a reverberation time up to 7 s

360° Panoramic View

See Location in Googlemaps

Recording technique

The instrument was recorded in October 2013 with 48 kHz, 24 bit, for Hauptwerk 5, using the multi-release technique introduced by OrganArt.
The stops were recorded with multiple releases for short, medium and long key attacks for optimal acoustical mapping.
The Vox humana was additionally recorded with the original tremulant sound.

Thanks

Many thanks to the parish of the Ev.-Luth. St. Anne's Church of Annaberg-Buchholz for recording permission, organist KMD Matthias Süß and the Melzer tower keeper familiy for the local support.
Special thanks to Jiri Kocourek, artistic director and organ builder Helmut Werner, leading restoration manager, for providing detailed organ informations and intensive discussions about restoration and Walcker organ concepts.

 

Virtual Console

 

Specification

Organ Temperament:  Equal (a1=432 Hz)

Manual I (C–f3)*

01. Principal 16'
02. Flauto major 16'
02. Quinte 5 1/3
04. Principal 8'
05. Gemshorn 8'
06. Bourdon 8' 
07. Hohlflöte 8'
08. Doppelflöte 8'
09. Quintatön 8'
10. Viola di Gamba 8'
11. Dolce 8'
12. Octav 4'
13. Gemshorn 4'
14. Rohrflöte 4'
15. Quinte 2 2/3'
16. Oktav 2'
17. Mixtur 4' 6-fach
18. Cornett 4-5 fach
19. Mixtur 2'  6-fach
20. Fagott 16' (free reed)
21. Trompete 8' 
22. Clairon 4'

Manual II (C–f3)*

01. Quintatön 16'
02. Principal  8'
03. Gedeckt  8'
04. Spitzflöte8'
05. Salicional  8'
06. Aeoline  8'
07. Voix celeste 8'
08. Octav 4'
09. Flauto dolce 4'
10. Viola 4'
11. Quinte 2 2/3'
12. Piccolo 2' 
13. Superoctave 1'
14. Mixtur 4-5fach
15. Cymbal 2 2/3 3-fach
16. Oboe 8' (free reed)

Manual III (C–f3)*

01. Bourdon 16'
02. Geigenprincipal 8'
03. Lieblich Gedackt 8'
04. Concertflöte 8'
05. Harmonika 8'
06. Principal 4' (J)
07. Traversflöte 4'
08. Fugara 4'
09. Waldflöte 2'
10. Mixtur 4-fach
11. Harmonia aetheria 2 2/3  3-fach
12. Clarinette 8' (free reed)
13. Vox humana 8'

Pedal (C–d1)*

01. Principalbaß 32'
02. Principalbaß 16'
03. Violonbaß 16'
04. Subbass 16'
05. Bourdon douce 16'
06. Octavbaß 8'
07. Flötenbaß 8'
08. Octave  4'
09. Violoncello 8'
10. Mixtur 5 1/3'  6-fach
11. Posaune 32'
12. Posaune 16'
13. Trompete 8'
14. Clairon 4'

* extendable C-g3, C-f1

All ranks are original 1884 Walcker (voicing and pitch), except
(J): Jehmlich 1894 (III-Principal 4, P-Posaune 32', reworked by Eule)
and the 1995 added Eule stops (Walcker voicing)
 

 

 

Requirements

Loaded Version (Stereo)

Memory Requirements 3)

Processor Speed

16-bit, compressed1), all loops

~ 8 GByte

≥ 3.4 GHz  QuadCore 2)

20-bit, compressed, all loops

~ 12 GByte

≥ 3.4 GHz QuadCore 2)

24-bit, compressed, all loops

~ 14 GByte

≥ 3.4 GHz  QuadCore 2)

 
1)
Lossless compression (no loss of sound quality!)

2)
Recommended:
Minimal configuration (Single loop loading, some ranks disabled):
Quad-Core, 8 GByte main memory
Optimal configuration: Octa Core, 32 GByte RAM

3) To load this organ into Hauptwerk you will need enough free memory in your computer, due to the amount of playable stops, not including the operating system or any other programs that may be running!

We recommend the professional audio card RME series and the AKG Reference Headphone K702/712 for optimal sound and room impression.

Demos

The following demo pieces were recorded with the Hauptwerk Advanced Edition software and the virtual organ sample set, with no additional effects processing.

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy  (1809-1847)

Präludium und Fuge G-Dur op. 37,2 | 10:32 min | Edo Luynenburg, Spain/Netherlands
Sonate VI d-Moll | 14:41 min | Andreas Mattes, Germany

Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)

Präludium und Fuge g-moll WoO 10 | 07:50 min | Andreas Mattes, Germany

Franz Liszt (1811-1886)

Präludium und Fuge über B.A.C.H. | 14:25 min | Edo Luynenburg, Spain/Netherlands

Julius Reubke (1834-1858)

Sonate c-Moll "Der 94. Psalm" | 27:37 min | Andreas Mattes, Germany

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901)

From six short pieces: # 5 - Consolation" | 05:10 min | Edo Luynenburg, Spain/Netherlands

Otto Dienel (1839-1905)

Choralvorspiele, op. 52: 15-18 | 05:41 min | Edo Luynenburg, Spain/Netherlands

Max Reger (1873-1916)

Introduktion und Passacaglia d-Moll ohne Opuszahl | 09:20 min | Andreas Mattes, Germany
Phantasie über den Choral "Wie schön leucht' uns der Morgenstern", op. 40,1 | 20:42 min | Andreas Mattes, Germany
Phantasie über den Namen B-A-C-H, op. 46,1 | 09:04 min | Markus Weyand, Germany

Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)

"Kyrie Eleison" (from Cathedral Windows, op. 106,1 | 02´4:02 min | Markus Weyand, Germany
"Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele", op. 65,51 | 03:03 min | Markus Weyand, Germany
"Nun danket alle Gott", op. 65,59  | 04:27 min | Edo Luynenburg, Spain/Netherlands


 
A large playlist is additionally available on Concert Hall-Website: (Search: Walcker-Eule)

 

 

© OrganArt Media, all rights reserved
No demo sounds may be used or transmitted in any form for public purposes without the prior permission of the publisher!

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