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
See Location in GooglemapsRecording 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' Manual II (C–f3)*01. Quintatön 16' |
Manual III (C–f3)*01. Bourdon 16' Pedal (C–d1)*01. Principalbaß 32' * 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!
Information, Media and Weblinks
CD-Productions, selection:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Orgelsonaten op. 65 Nr.1-6
Matthias Süß
Label: Auris Subtilis, 2010
Orgelkonzert: Guilmant, Rheinberger, Franck, Reger
Matthias Süß
Querstand, 2011
Johannes Brahms: Orgelwerke
Martin Schmeding
Ars, 2006
Rudolf Mauersberger (1899-1971): Orgelwerke
Enrico Langer
Querstand, 2014
< Prev |
---|