Dorothea, Queen of Denmark ~ and an organ
David Bridgeman-Sutton reveals a must-visit destination in Denmark -
and finds an organ with a difference
and finds an organ with a difference
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After the death of her husband, King Christian III of Denmark in 1559, Queen Dorothea moved her Court to the castle at Sonderborg (position 54 55N 9 49E). Among her courtiers were musicians employed to sing services in a chapel remodelled on severely Protestant lines. The organ was by Hermann Raphaëlis, who had built instruments for the palace at Copenhagen and for major churches.
This was completed c. 1570; Queen Dorothea died in October of the following year, so she did not long enjoy what seems to have been somewhat old-fashioned instrument even for its day. The main division, Oberwerk, really stood over the small Positiv, which was contained in the plinth. The two manuals were not placed together, which meant that a player had to regard them as separate, alternative organs rather than as one instrument. |
Pic 1: The organ in Sonderborg Castle, suspended from the gallery (Click on images to enlarge)
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The castle continued in Royal use and the chapel was somewhat remodelled in 1626. This involved the removal of the organ from a free standing position to one suspended from the gallery - see picture 1. The old positiv was replaced, the two manuals brought together, one over the other, and the case embellished. Those engaged on the work were an organ-builder, Bartholmeus; a sculptor, Niels Tagen and a painter, Wolf Petersen.
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Pic 2: Ironstrap hinge close up
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Less than half a century later, the organ fell silent and out of use, a state of affairs that continued for three centuries. For 80 of those years, the castle was barracks to a German regiment. As remarked elsewhere, soldiers and organs rarely mix to the advantage of the latter. Almost every piece of metal was stolen - even down to pins from the action. The case had a remarkable escape in avoiding being converted to a cupboard or even to firewood. (One iron strap hinge that certainly looks original is employed in the recent reincarnation of the instrument - see picture 2.) The windchests also remained.
Interest in the organ was rekindled by Princess (later Queen) Ingrid in 1935, though it was not until 1994 - four years after Ingrid's death - that work began. This was undertaken by Mads Kjersgaard of Uppsala, an organ-builder with a specialist knowledge of old instruments: visit his website. Guided by the windchests and few other remaining components, he created a new organ that reproduced the old as nearly as possible. The 1626 windchests are now on display in the castle museum.
Pic 3: Levers working the Oberwerk stops
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Perhaps the most striking features of the case are the levers suspended from the impost of the main case ... five at each side. These operate the stops of the Oberwerk. The lengths have been adjusted to accommodate the player when leaning out from the gallery to change stops. Picture 3 shows those at one end in greater detail.
Positiv registers are controlled by stop-knobs placed below and at either end of the manuals - picture 4. |
Pic 4: Close up of the keyboard
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As the organ is tuned to mean temperament, the D#/Eb keys are divided. This is often found in old organs - Bernard "Father" Smith divided his G#/Ab keys as well: the arrangement allows the use of chords that would otherwise be disagreeable to the ear. It will be remembered that Bach wrote his "forty-eight" preludes and fugues to demonstrate the versatility of equal temperament. A puzzle to modern players is the transposing nature of the instrument, which sounds a fourth higher than the keys suggest - "c" sounding "f" and so on. Several hours spent browsing through Grove and other references have failed to explain the purpose of this, a feature, apparently of some Renaissance organs. Organum - singing in parallel fourths and fifths, had long been overtaken by polyphony by 1570.
Transposition of several parts simultaneously down by a fourth would have required extraordinary skill. Perhaps someone can throw light on the mystery of its purpose?
Don't miss it if you visit Denmark.
Transposition of several parts simultaneously down by a fourth would have required extraordinary skill. Perhaps someone can throw light on the mystery of its purpose?
Don't miss it if you visit Denmark.
David Bridgeman-Sutton,
October, 2008
October, 2008
Footnote: Philip Bailey writes: "Something which struck me about the pitch of that organ, c=f#. They've totally misread the 6' longest pipe thing, as Metzler did at Trinity Cambridge - but in the completely opposite direction. At Trinity they took the 12' Great & 6' Choir and extended the compass downwards to CCC and CC. This of course has distorted the tonal floor since the Gt would have been 8' pitch but down to FFF, the Choir 4' similarly. By shifting the diapason pitch down an octave the organ sounds too bottom heavy. In Denmark, they should have had an FF keyboard, rather than a CC one. That would make the pitch a semitone sharp which agrees with just about every other baroque German organ I've played."
Thanks to Philip Wells for suggesting this topic - and to both Philip and Mads Kjersgaard for pictures and information. (PW pic 2; others MK)
