The Italian Face of Salzburg
Visitors to Salzburg who consult guide books will read that, from 1588, successive Archbishops (Prince-Archbishops then) commissioned Italian architects to rebuild the centre of the city in the grand manner; most writers draw attention to the vast funds that were available for this project. As a result, splendid Renaissance buildings now suggest that parts of Florence or Rome could have been transported to the Alps.
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Everything about the cathedral of St Rupert, plan, execution and detail, is that of a major Italian church. Walking up the aisle toward the dome, the visitor is not, therefore, surprised to see, on each of the four piers supporting it, galleries supporting organ cases that are undoubtedly Italian in design.
Picture 1 is the view up the aisle with two cases more-or-less fully in sight and side views of the others. The positions of these galleries is shown by red dots on the plan. (See below) |
Pic 1. Aisle of St Rupert
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Pic. 2 Italian characteristics of the pipes in the north-east end (Click to enlarge)
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Picture 2 was taken from close to the South-west pier, and gives a better view of the organ on the North-eastern one and of its Italian characteristics. Case pipes stand in round-topped, open arches and their arrangement is not entirely symmetrical as it is in many traditions. Instead - and you can just see this in the photograph - each pipe to the right of the tallest, central one in each group is slightly shorter than its counterpart on the left. False length has not been added to compensate for the length differences between pipes a semitone apart.
Organists, by choosing suitable vantage points and craning their necks can see something of the organs. Three are two-manual-and-pedal instruments, the third a one-manual. Antique style in console fittings rightly suggests that all have tracker action but gives a misleading idea that they might date back to Mozart's day. All date from the latter part of the twentieth-century. Those on the Eastern piers are by Austrian builders, those on the Western by Italian, with national traditions reflected in specifications. It is worth an extra crick in neck to admire the very fine wrought-iron work of the galleries - see picture 2 top right. |
Pic 3. The main organ in St Rupert. (click to enlarge)
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The cathedral's principal organ, is easily missed by virtue of its high position at the West end, (shown by the blue dot on the plan at the bottom of this page). The case of this (picture 3) dates from 1705 and would have been known to Mozart. The instrument it now contains is largely new (1988), by Metzler, with 58 speaking stops spread over three manuals and pedals. Pipework from the previous organ, some dating from the 18th century, is incorporated.
The tradition of using several choirs in various places at St Rupert's goes back at least to the consecration of the present building (1628) when a Te Deum for 12 choirs (by kapellmeister Stefano Bernardi) was sung. Other works written for the cathedral and dating from the 17th-century include Masses requiring the use of singers and instrumentalists in various combinations on the galleries. St Mark's Venice, it will be recalled, also has a number of galleries and employed Monteverdi, Gabrieli and others who excelled in writing for dispersed choirs and instrumentalists. It is probable that a wish to develop music at St Rupert's along the lines of that at Venice influenced the design of the building. Some of Marc-Antoine Charpentier's liturgical settings suggest that similar arrangements were fashionable at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris at about the same time. |
When the cathedral was repaired extensively after the ravages of air raids, consideration was given to the desirability or otherwise of reinstating the choir galleries and their organs. In making their decision as they did, the authorities hoped that as well as allowing for authentic performances of works from the past, they would encourage present-day composers to explore the possibilities this offers.
Let us, too, hope that this happens.
David Bridgeman-Sutton, April 2010
Photo credits:
Thanks to Dr Thorsten Hauler for the use of his photographs
(Church plan: D B-S)
Thanks to Dr Thorsten Hauler for the use of his photographs
(Church plan: D B-S)
