Trost organ ready for taking pre-orders

Hello all,

finally the sample set of the Trost organ Waltershausen is ready for taking pre-orders.
Apologies for the delayed release, but implementing all new features, like native tremulants, and new designs took a lot more of work than expected.



The DVD package contains two DVDs and a booklet (German version available!)

The Trost organ of Waltershausen with its 53 stops (47+6) is the biggest baroque organ in Thuringia.
It is largely preserved in its original state of 1730 and therefore is an invaluable reference when performing organ music by J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. Today this organ is viewed as the most authentic "Bach organ".

It is a typical instrument of the Thuringian organ building school with ranks such as a Violonbass, mixtures containing thirds, Sesquialtera, and Viola di Gamba, etc. This, and the richness of well-blending stops, allowing endless sound combinations, already anticipates the romantic organ of a century later in a fascinating way.

Trost's outstanding and innovative concepts using unconventional and extreme pipe measurements in stops like the Geigenprincipal, Flauto traverse, Vagarr, but likewise stops with a delicate sweetness preferred by Bach, such as the Flauto dolce, Flöte dupla and Nachthorn etc., also support the upcoming gallant style. The "Gravität" demanded by Bach is realized by three 16 foot manual ranks, a 16 and 32 foot Posaune in the Pedal, 12 eight foot flue manual ranks, rich mixtures as well as two Sesquialtera stops. The instrument has an extremely rich plenum sound, while never forcing the sound.

The reverberation time is about 2 s, providing an absolute clearness for polyphonic structures.
Due to Trost's innovative specification and the extended compasses, all music up to early romantics can be played at this organ.

Sound examples please check (live demos following)
http://www.organartmedia.com/Waltershausen-Demos.html


Technical details:
Samples 24-bit, 48 kHz
Multi-loops (up to 9)
3 Release Layers (Short, medium, long attack)
NEW: Original tremulants for all Oberwerk ranks and all manual reed ranks!
Separate tremulant control for all manuals (extd. mode)
Display: 1280*1024
Memory requirements:
Minimal 3100 MB (16-bit compressed, single loop) up to 6500 MB (24-bit compressed, all loops)

Several display modes: Full console, optimized single touch page, dual monitor touch pages
Please check http://www.organartmedia.com/Waltershausen-VCons.html

The following features can be activated (extended mode) and deactivated (authentic mode) optically and functionally by control switches:
- Combination system with 16 programmable combinations
- Extended compasses (invisible)
Manuals: C-f3
Pedal: C-f1

Introductory price (until November, 15, 2009):
690.- Euro, (790.- Euro later on), customers outside EU: 579,83.- Euro

Shipping will be by end of September, order processing due to sequence of the orders.

Congratulations with this release Prof. It sounds beautiful it looks beautiful it just is in one word beautiful.
A very important release for the Hauptwerk world.

Thanks!

Thank you for the kind comment!

People interested in learning how to use this instrument for Bach will find Quentin Faulkner's edition of the Orgelbüchlein very valuable. It contains many extensive essays on things such as articulation, registration, fingerings, ornmentation, and the hymn tunes. In addition, it reprints Lynn Edwards' excellent essay "The Thuringian organ 1702-1720," from *The Organ Yearbook* 1991, which is one of the two best historical surveys of the instrument. (The other is by Winfried Schrammek in *Bach-Studien* 7, but I don't remember the year. 1982-ish.) There are other good things in this edition as well. It's available directly from the publisher, Wayne Leupold: https://www.wayneleupold.com/frameset.asp?section=organ_teaching.html (scroll to the bottom of the page, and look for "Vol. 2"), and I don't know from where else.

If I can indulge in a little historical rant: This is one of the most important sample-sets for Hauptwerk because, as Prof. Maier says, "It is a typical instrument of the Thuringian organ building school," and it's very different from the bright northern-German instruments that we all grew up hearing Bach on. The huge Northern German instruments were the basis for the tonal ideal of the Orgelbewegung starting, I guess, in the 1920s and 30s, and continuing in a big way after the war; the neo-Baroque organs of the 50s and later were even brighter. But these northern German instruments were becoming old-fashioned in the early 18th century (Arp Schnitger moved to Holland late in his life, where he could foist them off on the Dutch), so even though we're used to hearing Bach on them, they actually have almost nothing to do with Bach, or at least with the organ music we have from Bach. (Bach spent a few months early in his life playing them, but his written organ music circulated almost entirely within central Germany and the sphere of his pupils and followers, and virtually all the organs here were of the normal central-German type, not the northern type. )

This is why, as Prof. Maier writes, it "anticipates the romantic organ of a century later" - this is not a feature of this particular organ but of Thuringian (and Saxon) organs in general. This type of organ represented the future, with the disintegration of the old Werkprinzip in favor of better blending of the divisions (the Rückpositiv of the Naumberg Hildebrandt is a conservative feature because Hildebrandt was reusing an old case), and the multiplication of many 8' stops. The southern German organs are of pretty much the same tonal universe (the original of Jiri Zurek's "Prague Baroque" organ is a good example), except they are Catholic organs (smaller pedal range, no sesquialt, etc).

So when Prof. Maier writes about the "unconventional and extreme pipe measurements," it's important to remember that they are unconventional to us, but they were absolutely the norm for the kind of organ Bach knew - many other organs show them, and they are favorably mentioned by contemporary writers.It's just that this type of organ is exotic to us.

Incidentally, the online shop at the Waltershausen church (linked from the Organartmedia site) doesn't seem to sell outside of Germany. Oh well.

My Trost organ pre-order is placed and was acknowledged as received by Herr Prof. Maier
this morning, well Hawaii morning time.

Hooray; now the long wait as anticipation builds!

Was just able to place an order, via Organ Historical Society:

"Three Free Works. Edited by Quentin Faulkner. (Historical Organ Techniques and Repertoire, 2.)""

Contains the complete Orgelbuchlein, Faulkner edition, and other music plus
much added information as given on above. Cost at OHS, $36.25 plus cost of shipping,
various ship options offered.

"(Arp Schnitger moved to Holland late in his life, where he could foist them off on the Dutch)"

Actually Arp Schnitger never moved to the Netherlands, though his name is attached to many instruments in Holland. He did visit Holland but the organs were actually installed by his apprentices Johannes Radecker, Rudolph Garrels and his sons Frans Caspar and Johann Georg. The last two were building the great organ in Zwolle when their father passed away in Hamburg in 1721. As they were already temporarily situated in Zwolle (with their workshop in the empty Roman Catholic "The Church of Our Dear Lady") and they were able to get a number of new contracts (Alkmaar, Harderwijk), they stayed in Holland.

Until his death, Arp Schnitger pretty much had a monopoly in Northern Germany. After his death his apprentices continued building in his style for several decades. It took another 50 odd years and a new generation of organ builders before any major changes took place, certainly in the Netherlands.

Thanks to Dutch Brad for the correction about Arp Schnitger's biography. I hope DB is wrong about Schnitger's death date, though, since Schnitger was buried in 1719, and it must have been uncomfortable for him if he didn't die until 1721.

Gecko, a very interesting post, above.

Yes I do very much notice the short to absent acoustics reverb of the
Trost within its' room environment.

But, is this a characteristic of all organ instillation in
Thuringian , or do others have more room "reverb"? Probably nothing
as dramatic as Brett's Bovenkerk-Kampen Hinsz , but a bit more at other
organs J. Bach might have known and played. Why do I ask, well as I
have a pre-order placed for the Trost, was just wondering about adding
a bit of convol acoustic enhancement for it during my use here at home.

As far as I know them, it's typical for Thuringian organs, to be located in rooms with short reverberation, due to the church architecture with visitor galleries, a lot of wooden installations etc.

I don't know, if Bach was influenced by this characteristic, but if you play Bach at the Trost organ, you will hear the polyphonic structures with a clarity perhaps never heard before. Please note, that the Waltershausen Trost organ, despite of its size, is not a "cathedral" organ.

It's a huge "chamber music" organ and doesn't need any boost. So, adding reverberation can be done of course, but would perhaps destroy the intimate sound of this instrument.

Pulling mixtures for example, doesn't increase the loudness very much, but increases the richness and complexity of the sound.
So forget all, what you know about typical "Plenum" registrations used for Silbermann and Schnitger. The organ is, like the German romantic organ later on, like a "paint box" for mixing endless sound colours.

Thanks to Dutch Brad for the correction about Arp Schnitger's biography. I hope DB is wrong about Schnitger's death date, though, since Schnitger was buried in 1719, and it must have been uncomfortable for him if he didn't die until 1721.

lol. Of course it was 1719. 1721 was when the organ in Zwolle was more or less completed. My mistake.

Thank you, Prof. Maier,

I will play the Trost just as it comes in your package.
Certainly will no longer consider moving it to a
larger environment!

Thank you, Prof. Maier,

I will play the Trost just as it comes in your package.
Certainly will no longer consider moving it to a
larger environment!

hello Jim,

As Hauptwerk reseller I have had the privilege using a pre-release with this set over the summer and I guarantee you that you won't be able to take your hands and feet off it and that you will totally forget about adding reverb to it once you hear it as it is. The clarity and tonal variety is absolutely spellbinding, and the short original acoustics makes it a perfect practice instrument as well. Just a tip, while waiting for this gem: The late Stephen Bicknell's most interesting article "J. S. Bach and the Organ - Some Neglected Threads" (http://www.organfocus.com/features/scholarly_works/bicknell.php3) is almost a mandatory reading and an excellent travelling companion while exploring the fascinating Waltershausen organ.

Good luck!

.
Oh dear, jleyman - why did you have to say that...when I can't possibly afford it?

deW

.
Oh dear, jleyman - why did you have to say that...when I can't possibly afford it?

Can't help it -- The Trost organ is addictive.. But who am I to say what's affordable or not? 690 Euro is definitely a lot of money. On the other hand I think it's not an unreasonable sum for this magnificent instrument, thinking of the tremendous amount of work required to make it available for Hauptwerk. A decent second hand car costs at least ten times as much, and seen over only a one year period the introductory price 690 Euro is not very much more than what a monthly subscription to a comprehensive set of satellite and film channels costs. This said just for the sake of comparison and perspective.The Trost organ is worth every cent it costs, believe me. Once you have taken the initial cost for a Hauptwerk system (like you have to my knowledge), 690 Euro is really all that's needed to get you a completely new 47+6 stop organ of this beauty and historical importance.

best regards,
Johannes