University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications: School of Music Music, School of June 1993 Information on Organ Registration From a Student of J.S. Bach Quentin Faulkner University of Nebraska - Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub Part of the Music Commons Faulkner, Quentin, "Information on Organ Registration From a Student of J.S. Bach" (1993). Faculty Publications: School of Music. 19. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/musicfacpub/19 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Music, School of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications: School of Music by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. INFORMATION ON ORGAN REGISTRATION FROM A STUDENT OF J.S. BACH Quentin Faulkner tivityas an organist. Nevertheless, the article translated below reveals that Agricola re­ mained highly knowledgeable in organ mat­ ters, as does his contribution ten years later to Jacob Adlung's Musica mechanica or­ gancedi (1768). Agricola served as the final editor2 of that publication, and the notes he added to it confirm not only his understand­ ll. ing of organ construction and playing tech­ nique but also his acquaintance with a wide variety of organs and organ music, both ~amm(ung tiniger 'lacbricbten throughout Germany and (as a result of his reading) in France. "on berU~mten Dr~el",trrtn -in Xeutfd>~ * * * *** * ** ~Jlu~t e~ Here follows the translated text ofAgricola's lanb, mit t1idtt aufgefe6t \)on article. Original terms and phrases ofspecial Eieb~aber ~tetJ(au, interest are italicized. The translator's foot­ nem btt rotu»r. notes are in superscript numbers; super­ ~trlegt6 ~arl script letters identify Agricola's own foot­ (!;ottfrieb roteger. notes, contained in parenthetical statements in smaller type immediately following the 1757. 14 [iogen in 4t. letters. Boldface numbers in curly brackets identify the original pagination ofMarpurg's publication. ~iq,at( prAtoriu8 ~at 1m i~flJtfn t:~fft {486} A Collection of Some Reports about ~" feinr~ Famous Organs in Germany [Sammlung mufit4lifc1)en e,ntagma8, auf­ einigerNachrichten von beriihmten Orgel­ re~ 0e~retbun9 werken in Teutschland], drawn up with finer genu,*, aUer in ben Ot'gthl great effort by a musical amateur. Breslau, jU published by Carl Gottfried Meyer,3 1757. 14 signatures in quarto. In the second part of his Syntagma Mu­ The beginning (p. 486) ofAgricola's article sicum Michael Praetorius has furnished, in addition to precise descriptions and designs Despite two centuries of research into the The article falls into four sections: of each of the stops {487} normally found in life and music ofJ.S. Bach, there is little that I. A brief appreciation of the new publica­ the organs of his day, the stoplists or specifi­ can be said with certainty about his organ tion (not really a review, since there is no cations of 27 famous organs4 in Germany. registration practices. Aside from two short detailed critical examination), on pages Mr. von Mattheson, Secretary of Legation passages (quoted below) that merely assert 486-87. [Legationsrath 5 ], has published a far more Bach's understanding ofand skill at registra­ ambitious collection of stoplists in the ap­ tion, there is only J.F. Agricola's report that II. A classification and description of stops pendix to his new and expanded edition of Bach liked reed stops.t Up until now, it has found in organs of the time, from page Niedt's Handleitung zur Variation des Gen­ not been possible to identify sources, either 487 to page 501. eralbasses.6 Despite these efforts there were from Bach himselfor from his immediate cir­ III. Information on how to combine the many additional instruments in Germany cle, that offer precise instructions on organ stops, from page 502 to page 505. This (where one encounters a greater number of registration. The source described and trans­ section is of immediate relevance to or­ beautiful, large organs than in any other lated here provides such information. gan registration, and it contains the only country) that also deserved to have their de­ The source is an article found in Friedrich material evaluated in the analytical por­ scriptions published. This has prompted the Wilhelm Marpurg's Historisch-Kritische tion of this article. author of the collection here announced to Beytriige zur Aufnahme der Musik (Histori­ compile and publish (doubtless with great IV. The stoplists, unpublished elsewhere, of cal and Critical Contributions to the Recep­ effort and expense) an additional 124 stop­ six organs, from page 506 to page 518. tion of Music), Volume 3, Part 6 (Berlin: lists, including many very notable ones, These stoplists describe organs located Gottlieb August Lange, 1758), pages 486 to none of which are to be found in Praetorius in the Freiberg Petrikirche, the Halber­ 518. Marpurg-an author, theorist, and crit­ or in Mattheson. And although this still falls ic closely associated with the circle ofBach's stadt Stiftskirche, the Halle Marktkirche, far short of describing all the good organs in the Konigsberg Domkirche, the Magde­ students in Berlin-published the Historisch Germany, yet there is no doubt that with it burg Johanniskirche, and the Meerane Kritische Beytriige as a periodical from 1754 Mr. Meyer has once again rendered an es­ Stadtkirche (Saxony). The present En­ to 1762 and again in 1778; it includes book timable service to all those who pursue reviews, biographies of musicians, discus­ glish translation omits these stoplists. greater knowledge of the organ. sions of problems in music theory, and re­ Neither the Table ofContents for Part 6 nor Perhaps some ofmy readers will not mind ports on musical inventions. The article un­ the heading of the article indicates its au­ my taking this opportunity to provide them der consideration falls into the first of these thor. Only the name"Agricola" at the end of with a rather more precise account of organ categories. Ostensibly it is a review ofa new the article identifies the author as Johann stops or registers, since they are so various collection of organ stoplists, the Sammlung Friedrich Agricola (1720-74), a student of and have so many different names. {488} I einiger Nachrichten, published in 1757. In J.S. Bach from 1738 to 1741. Thereafter, will endeavor to be of service to them here. fact, only a small portion ofthe article is de­ Agricola moved to Berlin, becoming part of Stops in organs are divided in general into voted to the new publication. That portion, the circle of Bach's students (including flues [Pfeifenwerkl and reeds [Rohr- oder however, begins the article, and this may be C.P.E. Bach and J.P. Kirnberger) active there. Schnarrwerkl. The distinction lies in the dif­ one reason why the significant information Frederick the Great, King ofPrussia, eventu­ ferent structure of the pipes, principally in on registration found later in the article has ally named him Royal Prussian Court Com­ their mouthpieces [Mundstiicks7l, which escaped previous notice. poser, a position that limited Agricola's ac- naturally results in a different sound. The 58 THE AMERICAN ORGANIST mouthpiece ofa reed is a short tube, usually cut-up ofthe lip-larger or smaller, wider or make, instead of, e.g., one ten-rank manu­ made of tin, cut in half lengthwise. Over its narrower-also contributes [to the differ­ al mixture, two mixtures, one having 6 open side there lies a movable sheet [Blatt], ence in timbre]. and the other4 pipes per note. The former called the tongue (languette (in French]), {491} The material used to make organ is then called Mixtur, the latter Scharf or which the wind can force up and down. Both pipes is either pure tin, pipe metal (a mixture Cimbel. are anchored at the top in a little block (noix8 of lead and tin), or wood. Brass, as men­ (in French]), through the middle of which tioned above, is used for reed tongues. It is All of these principals are actually the there is an opening. The lower part of the as unsuited for pipe resonators, though, as stops that one draws for the full organ [zum shallot [MundstiicJc9] and its reed are set into sheet iron [Blech], since it causes a far too vollen Werk], when the organ is to sound at a separate tube, called the boot, which con­ rattling, crackling, rustling sound. Our an­ its fullest power. All these stops in one divi­ stitutes the lowest section of the pipe. The cestors made their Regals of it, but with a sion [aufeinem claviere] must be built to the block sits atop this boot. Through [the block] poor effect. Tin sounds more brilliant [schiir­ same scale [von gleicher Mensur], or as or­ there passes a piece ofsteel or brass that ex­ fer], while wood sounds softer and duller ganbuilders say, "on the same basis" [aus tends about halfway down the tongue, and than pipe metal. einerley Fundament]. If there are several keeps the wind from lifting the tongue any Flues are again divided into so-called keyboards, however, each keyboard should higher than the correct pitch requires. The principals and flutes. The principals are by right have stops of different scaling and pipe is tuned either lower or higher by draw­ completely open and cylindrical [von voicing. For example, in the Hauptwerk and ing this piece of steel up or down, and thus gleicher Weite]. To this category belong: Pedal they are of broad and full scale. In the it is called the tuning wire [Stimmkriicke]. second manual they are voiced more keenly The upper part of the pipe, the part organ­ 1.