Organist, at SL Jamrs' Church, "Toccatas" Is the Most Assertive of the Which Most Choir Directors Would Call Dundas, Ontario
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THE DIAPASON AN INTERNATIONAL MONTHLY DEVOTED TO THE ORGAN, THE HARPSICHORD AND CHURCH MUSIC Sixty,Sroe,,'" l'e-ar, No.5 - TV/l ole No. 797 APRIL. 1976 The beginnings of organ-building and brothers from Regensburg; Szymon Li or@-an·playing in Poland arc indissolu liusz; Jan Helwig of Neustadt (Schleswig· hi} linked with the adoption of West· Ho lstein); the Nitrowski family - Jerzy, ern Christianity. To this day, we do not An Historical Survey Andrzej. Daniel; Mateusz Brandt or know wht: n or where orb"'"S were fint Hr.lI1dtner; Piotr Ostrowski, who was installed. or what sort. It may be that. also known outside Poland; and finally. following the example of the monaster Jan Glowinski. Among the in!ltruments ies in Western Europe. it was the monb built by them. such works as the fonow. who were most interested in the organ. ing. preserved or not. are notable: 01. in lusz (1612.1617); KazimicTZ Dolny (1607· It is surely not an accident (if we dis of Organbuilding Poland mUllt the rather vague chronicle refer 1620): TOTUn (Church of the BVM) ences of Gallus and Kadlubek) that the (1611); Frombork (1693); Sandomierz first firm news concerns monasteries: (1698): Lczaj.ok (I 68(). 1693). It is a per the Cistercian abbey at Trzebnica, where itKl of intensive dcvelopment in organ in 1218 instructions for organ.playing Until 1900 building in all parts of the country. in· are mentioned: and the Dominican mon cluding those which earlier in the 16th aster}' at Sandomierz, where the organ century had no great tradition in this ist died at the hands of the Tartars in sphere. From a chronological point of 1260. Organs appear at about the same by Jerzy Golos \ iew. the greatest intensity fell in the time in ducal seats (CzefSk. 1244) .and first and second decades of the 17th cathedrals (Plock. 14th century). cC:" lImry. There was a marked slump The first builder known by name after the difficult years of the Swedish was Jan Wane of Zywiec. who in 1581 and Cossack wars in mid.century. and constructed an organ with a pedalboard a substantial increase toward 1700. - this being still a rarity in Europe - which was the start of an epoch of nu at Kety near Cracow. from the endow merous large endowments in ecclesias ment of the voivode Piotr Kmita. ]n tical buildings generally. the 15th century we encounter a series In this and other respects, the 18th of names of master organ.builders and century (at least up to the time of the numerous historical reports on the build. Partitions (1772-1795) was a natural con ing of organs. For example, there was tinuation of the lines of development a new organ built at Kalisz in 1403-1+11. dating from the second half of the pre At the same period (140B). the cathedral ceding century. Only the external de· at Chelmza obtained an organ; a little sign is changed, in accordance with cur· later there was one at Torun (1343) rent trends in art; while the construc and Wloclawek (1483). The installation tional principles and countrywide mo of an organ in the parish church at mentum in the field of organ·building. Buk ncar Poznan by the organ·builder which was not slowed down C'·C'I1 by Stanislaw Br6dka in 1439 indicates that the Northern 'VOIr {17()()"1721 ). did not it was not only cathedrals and monas change. Many positives, t."5pecial1y. were tcry churches that had organs. To· huilt. and these were lISed 111 the smaller wards the end of this century Jan Nied· churchl.'S and chapels. but at the same ziela and Stefan of Pnemysl were known time large instruments were constructed. in the Cracow region. E\'cll at that time surpassing in design and dimensions there are signs of an exchangc bctween anything built hitherto. and sometimes districts and countries which we see bearing the late Baroque mark of a continuing in succeeding centuries. Proof liking for the unusual and the biunt. of this may be found in such figures as From this time come the splendidly pre Laurentius of Nuremberg, acth'e in Poz served organ in the Cistercian monas nan, or Petrus Handlar de Kyczng. i.c. tery at Jedrzej6w. one of the most in· from the Franconian town of Kietzing, teresting instruments in Europe. and the ft.-corded in Cracow in 1495. The stand· rather lattr and considerably larger or· ing of the Polish organ.builders· cr.lft gan at Oliwa, of which there now re must ha\'e been quite high at this time, mains only the organ·case front to give sincc Polish master·builders sometiml.'S an idea of the magnitude and complex· built organs in Germany. which was ity of the original scheme. Little less foremost in the field. The most sought magnificent in design and profusion of after master·builder was undoubtedly stops were the organs in the Jesuit the Dominican Mikolaj. with the clearly church at Polack and Swieta Lipka, the distorted surname of Schalenuki (per. Pauline church at Czcstochowa. the Cis· haps Zaleski). who in 1499-1507 buUt a tercian church at Lad. the Bernardine scnes of instruments in Frciburg. Baut churches in Warsaw. Poznan and Kal zen, Zwickau and G5rliu. waria Zebrzydowska. and also the more As an aside to the international con modest but above average churches at tacts. it is worth emphaSizing the lack Ostroleka. Mst6w. the Cracow church of any data to confirm the delays in of S1. Anne. and many other churches de\'elopment in the sphere of organ all over Poland. building in relation to the Wl.'St of Eu As in the 17th century. Wt have doz· rope, and also in rega.nl to time of .ap ens of names of master organ-builders. pearance. degree of diffusion and kmd among them several of the more im of instruments built. Although (as in portant, like the members of the Cas other countries) the main centers were parini family from Silesia. with Adam the largc towns like Cracow. Poznun, Horaey (Casparinl) . of European re· Cdansk. Torun. and, rather later. Lw6w nown, at its head; Jan Wulf. Szyroon and Pnemysl, the geographical dis~r. Sadlowski. 'Vawrzyniec Harbutowski. sion seems to testify to a quite Wide· Jakub Stankiewicz of Zalor. Wojdecb spread and territorially unlimited tend I.ibowicz of Costyn. Mikolaj Janson of ency to eqUip at least the more promi. Sandomierz Cathedral. Organ case of the instrument buih by Andrzej Nitrawslci in Wilno and Jan Janiczek of 'Warsaw. nent churches with an organ. Ne,·erthe· 1697 and described by Matthesan, Adlung. and Joachim He.s. While in previous centuries the main less. it is possible e\'cn then to see the centeR of activity of the master organ trcnds of influence or connection ap· Ihey built gOC'S rar beyond the list I As Tt'ganls the 17th century. it is al· buildtrs were in the areas of Wielko pearing along the line Poznan·Gniezno. ha\"e drawn up. It must be remembered n·ady possible to speak of the wide polska. Malopolska and the Kielce Torun·Wloclawek, C r a c 0 w·Przemysl· Ihat this was a period of great advance spread use of the organ in Polish church· voivod, in part of the 17th century but Lw6w. Cracow·Kielce·Sandomierz-Lublin. ment in the country. and of substantial L'S. to say nothing of positi\'l.'1 for do abo,,·c all in the 18th century activity and to a lesser degree Cracow·Poznan activity in its eastem nogions. To judge mcstic music.making. Most of the urban began in and around Warsaw. Lw6w and Cracow·'Vroclaw (Brcslau). with rrom the historical documents. one of churchcs, including of course the cathe· and Wilno. Moreover. the monastic C\'cry possible ramification dependent Ihe most imF.rtant builders of those drals. ha\'e larger or sma ncr u rgans. workshops. Cistercian and Bernardine, chiefly on the administrative conpections days was Slanlslaw Warpaski. also known They are also found as a rule in the showed brisk actiVity. At that time Dan of the church as well as water and land as ZeJik (rrom the surnamc of his half monasteries and abbeys (with the ex iel Wroblewski and Jerzy Wojcik - routes. brother): he was active in the first half ception of those which did not use mu both working for some time in Scandi The network of places mentioned of the 16th century and had to his sic). the collegiate churches. the diaconal navian countries - worthily represented abO\'e is surely only a pale reflection of credit cathedral organs at Sandomien. churches, and in many of the ordinary Polish organ-building craft. the actual state of affairs at that time. Wloclawek, Gniezno and Cracow. Be rural parish churches. We ha,·e in this The further development of the Ba.· especially in the 16th century. when sides him. there were other master connection dozens of namcs of organ roque organ in Poland was brought to sl','eral dozen master organ·builders were builders acth'e in Cracow. and among builders from that time. hl.'Sides the a stop not so much by a historical cata· acti\'e at anyone time. We may con them Stanislaw Komorowski and Andrzej anonymous builders. I name only the dysm in the shape of the Partitions and clude that the number of instruments of Olkusz are the most conspicUOUS. most important: Jan Hummel; the Kuntz (Continued, pog. 5) New Reeordings THE DIAPASON Established in 1911!1 Reviewed by Robert Schuneman An International Month" Devoted too the Organ.