BAROQUE ORGAN IN THE FOUNTAIN COURT

BAROQUE ORGAN IN THE FOUNTAIN COURT

by Joan K. Yanni

An antique Baroque organ  arrived by boat from Germany in July and is now the keynote in the Gallery’s Herdle Fountain Court, designed by McKim, Mead and White in 1926. The magnificent organ, 22 feet tall and 9 feet wide, has been installed on a rostrum custom-built by the MAG exhibition crew at the north end of the gallery. Owned by the Eastman School of Music, it is the only known full-size antique Italian organ--and in a lavishly ornamented case--in North America. It will be housed permanently in the Fountain Court in a space surrounded by Baroque art.

Originally constructed in Italy in the late 17^th century, perhaps around 1680, and refurbished a century later, the instrument was discovered by German organ builder and restorer Gerald Woehl while he was visiting Florence in the 1970s. Woehl spotted parts of the organ at an antique store. When he inquired about it, he found that the dealer was planning to destroy the pipes and turn the case into furniture.

After examination of the instrument and research on its origin, Woehl acquired the organ in 1980. He has been responsible for its restoration and reassembly, aided by a group including the Italian organist and scholar Edoardo Belotti, the German organist and organ expert Harald Vogel, and Hans Davidsson, Eastman School organ professor and artistic director of the Göteborg Organ Art Center in Sweden.  Destroying the organ would have been a disaster, says Davidsson, “because Baroque organs have a sweet warm sound that you don’t hear on today’s instruments and can’t be reproduced...It’s the sound that Bach and (Italian composer Girolamo) Frescobaldi would have heard.” The Eastman School of Music purchased the organ from Woehl, and it will become part of the Eastman center for organ study.

In June, following the purchase by the ESM, the restored organ was completely dismantled, packed into a massive 40-foot container, and loaded onto a ship bound from Germany to the United States. In July, it arrived in Baltimore, then was carried by truck to Rochester.  Though the 40-foot container held smaller crates, some of which were unpacked outside in the parking lot or front lawn, still MAG’s original front doors had to be removed to get the huge parts up the 1913 stairs and into the building. In total, the boxes held 2000 parts of the organ including its 600 pipes. Woehl and his team spent two weeks reassembling and installing the organ in the Fountain Court. Voicing, tuning, and final adjustments by Davidsson, David Higgs, chairman of the organ department, and others from Eastman, are still taking place. The exquisite sounds that can often be heard in the Gallery are the sounds of the tuning and voicing.

Unusually well preserved, the organ most likely originated in Tuscany or in the Naples region in the 17^th century. The ornate crown (top), base and case are original, as are its wind chest and some pipe ranks.  Its lavishly ornamented, carved and gilded case, however, links it to the Italian court culture of the 18^th century.  Each side of the case is decorated with a

10-foot high painting of a vase of flowers, and the crown ornament is adorned with an unusual motif depicting St. Andrew.

The picture of Andrew is unusual because ordinarily an image of King David, the multi-faceted personality who was a musician as well as a warrior and is traditionally said to be the author of the Psalms, and whose symbol is the harp or lyre, would be pictured on a musical instrument. Yet we know that this image is St. Andrew, an apostle and the brother of Peter, because of the saltire, or X-shaped cross that can be seen behind him. The saltire is the symbol of Andrew because he was crucified on that unusual type of cross. He is probably pictured because the organ was originally in a church dedicated to him.

The Eastman Italian Baroque Organ (official name) actually refers to the mechanism inside the case. The case, the outside part of the organ, is built separately, often to match the interior of the church or court that will house the instrument. The Organ itself is made up of the pipes, keys, wind chest, and mechanisms that work the stops and keys, all inside the case. (This arrangement, the instrument inside and separate from the case, is also true of our Mondini harpsichord. The keys, strings and sounding board, the real harpsichord, sit inside the case and can be removed. The harpsichord case, like that of the organ, is also lavishly decorated.)

Professor Davidsson describes the Italian organ as being “virtually a ‘living recording’ of the musical sounds heard hundreds of years ago.” As far as the sound that listeners actually will hear, Davidsson reports that “the facade stop (pipe) has a sweet, warm and prompt sound; the flutes a charming and beautiful singing quality, and the full chorus--the ripieno--a rich, powerful and silvery cascade of complex elegance.” As a research tool, the organ will provide a better understanding of how to interpret and musically shape a vast body of work created for this type of organ.

The organ is the first major accomplishment of ESM’s Eastman Rochester Organ Initiative (EROI), which plans to assemble a collection of new and historic organs unparalleled in North America, making Rochester an international center for performance, preservation and research. EROI also plans a romantic organ to be built for Christ Church, a new organ specially designed for symphony orchestra performance to be built for the Eastman Theatre, and an enhanced collection of practice instruments.

The organ will be introduced to the public at EROI’s  fall festival on Friday, October 7 (by invitation only) and Saturday, October 8 at MAG, initiating the weeklong EROI Festival with guest artists, public concerts, master classes, and symposia. Visit www.rochester.edu/Eastman/EROI for updates.

Source: Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, 7/19/05; MAG and ESM press releases; Google.