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stenberg

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PostMon Apr 05, 2004 6:07 pm

Hi,

I am a new kid on the block. I’ve been watcing you from a distance for some time, and I have now decided to join the fun.

I am a co-founder and executive in the company which lends a corner of its ftp site to Hauptwerk. Before you all start getting on my back, please note it’s a private site mainly intended as a tool for our engineers, who frequently need to get in touch with their homebase when roaming the world on various assignments. We are a software company specializing in off-line programming of industrial robots (we write the ”score” and the robots follow the ”notes” when welding together supertankers and that sort of thing). At the moment I am the only one left at the office, the rest are off on jobs in Italy, Spain, and Korea, and it’s therefore crucial that they are able to download the latest (bug-weeded) versions of our software without any delay. That’s why we’ve had to restrict visitors from the Hauptwerk and the Sound Canvas Organ Project (yes, they are there too) to two at a time. I apologize, if you have to exercise a little patience to get through.

I’ve been a Hauptwerk user since the first version was released a couple of years ago. And what a wonderful program it is. Unfortunately I have long since had to give up trying to keep up with the never ending flow of new sample releases, and I am eating my heart out each time I listen to mp3 demos of yet another fantastic virtual organ – debating with myself whether I should skip summer vacations and cancel Christmas.

To make matters worse, Brett has announced his Skinner Organ and Martin will soon ”give birth” to a new superversion of Hauptwerk both of which will render my hardware hopelessly inadequate and obsolete. I read Martins specs for an ideal Hauptwerk 2 computer, but I stopped calculating the cost of that wonder machine, when I realised that one Opteron processor alone equaled the cost of my current computer. A dual Opteron computer with 8 giga ram will at the moment probably cost the equivalent of a two month Caribbean cruise (first class).

The problem is of course the ram limitation imposed by both current hardware and software (read Windows), which means no full blown Skinner Organs at present Hauptwerk setups. What if Hauptwerk and the Skinner organ were both geared to run on two standard computers in stead of one? It would certainly be cheaper than investing in a 64 MHz dual Opteron computer which Windows at the moment cannot cope with anyhow. Just a thought – I suppose Hauptwerk could already now run on two machines given the proper midi-setup. In the meantime, let market forces prevail. Prices are bound to drop over the next couple of years.

Finally, some sad news for my German Haupwerk playmates: Buxtehude was a Dane! His father was the organist at the cathedral in Elsinore, and recently when repairing the woodwork of the organ some correspondance between Buxtehude senior and junior came to light. All correspondance was in Danish. In one of the letters junior asked his father to thank his mom for the wonderful meatballs she had sent to prevent him from starving in Lubeck. I bet he received some Danish bacon too. Now only one unresolved mystery remains: from where did Bach get his sausages? I bet he might be Danish too!

Happy organ playing

Stenberg
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mamuesp

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PostTue Apr 06, 2004 4:14 am

Hello!

As far as I know, Buxtehude was german and lived in Denmark. Slightly a difference ... :mrgreen: It's dicussed that he was born in Oldesloe/Holstein (Northern Germany). Speaking of Buxtehude: I'm hopeful that there will be a sample set of a Schnitger organ for Hauptwerk, is there anything known?

Regards,
Manfred Müller-Späth
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stenberg

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PostTue Apr 06, 2004 8:01 am

He, he! I thought my observations on Buxtehude might provoke a comment or two. Fortunately he now speaks to us in a universal language everybody understands - music.

By the way, I'm glad my comments on 32 and 64 Mhz processors have gone unnoticed. I don't know what I was thinking. It must have been a "bit" late. Fortunately none of my colleagues at work are Hauptwerk enthusiasts that would have been too embarrasing.

Stenberg
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stenberg

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PostTue Apr 06, 2004 8:06 am

Oh, I forgot. I understand Ariaan Hoogendijk's next project is the Schnitger Organ at Nordbrook Groningen (22 stops). Take a look at his home page.

Stenberg
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BachsFugue

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PostWed Apr 07, 2004 2:06 am

"As far as I know, Buxtehude was german and lived in Denmark." Manfred Müller-Späth

I have no way to prove anything, but according to Michael Barone of Pipedreams (http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/), Diderich (Dietrich) Buxtehude was a Dane. I know how borders in Europe are not definite things, but after doing a Google search, I would have to choose "Danish" if I were asked the nationality of Buxtehude on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".

Cole
Cole Votaw -- Springfield, Ohio, USA
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BachsFugue

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PostWed Apr 07, 2004 2:11 am

In addition to my post above--
I believe Buxtehude was born in what is now Sweden. Evidently it used to be part of Denmark.

Cole
Cole Votaw -- Springfield, Ohio, USA
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Jon Hammond

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PostWed Apr 07, 2004 6:10 am

Hi Stenberg! Very informative obervations - thanks. Are you talking about the "Buxtehude" organ at Torlosa - supposed to be the only organ that remains on which he regularily played? More importantly, do you have access to the excellent Roskilde cathedral organ for sampling? Its' sound ranks with the best, including a Snitger. The stoplist - much like Adrian's Mordjick Marcussen. Best regards. - Jon
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Jon Hammond

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Buxtehude

PostWed Apr 07, 2004 6:12 am

I believe that Torlosa is in Sweden.
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stenberg

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PostWed Apr 07, 2004 7:28 am

Thanks Cole, I appreciate your transatlantic support. At the risk of getting boring, here are a few facts.

It is uncertain whether Dietrich was born in Oldesloe, Holstein or Helsingborg, Scandia, Sweden. However, at the time of his birth (ca. 1637) both places were parts of the Danish Realm. This is where it gets complicated: After numerous wars, Scania was permanently lost to Sweden in 1658, and although the dukedom of Schlesvig-Holstein (with a mixed population of Germans and Danes) was part af the Danish realm it was not part of the Danish kingdom – The king of Denmark for some obscure political reasons was only duke of Schleswig-Holstein and in that capacity nominal subject to the German empire (which to confuse matters further at that time was called the Holy Roman Empire – something to do with Charlemagne).

Are you still with me? In 1864 the Danish parliament for some halfbrained reason decided to incorporate the dukedom of Schleswig-Holstein as part of the Danish Kingdom. This led to a war with Germany and Austria, which Denmark lost and Chancellor Bismark annexed the entire Dukedom as part of the newly formed German Empire.

To recapitulate: whether born in Scania or Holstein, Dietrich was at the time of his birth indisputably a Danish subject, the main bone of contention between Danish and German music lovers (nobody else cares) has always been whether German or Danish was his mother tongue, hence the importance of the discovery “the meatball correspondence” – who would write to his mom in anything but his native language? Musical experts (Danish of course) furthermore claim that the fabulating elements of Buxtehude’s music are closely related to the melodic structure of traditional Danish folk song tradition.

Ironically Dietrich probably never gave much thought to the question of his nationality, like many of his contemporary fellow artists he felt at home anywhere he could perform his art.

Apart from the fun of kindling a friendly neighbourly dispute, I just thought it quite droll that his appreciation of a home cooked meal should prove his true identity almost three hundred years after his death.

Stenberg
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stenberg

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PostWed Apr 07, 2004 8:20 am

Hi Jon! The Schnitger I mentioned is actually situated in Holland. And my “Ariaan” is no other than your “Adrian” who sampled the Mordjick Marcussen. Sorry if I’ve caused any confusion. Roskilde cathedral was actually at one time my parish cathedral (sounds good doesn’t it?) and I was confirmed there a couple of centuries ago.

Yes, the cathedral organ has a beautiful sound. Unfortunately I don’t think I have either the skill or the patience to embark on a sampling project of this magnitude. I salute the ones who have, and rest content ruining myself trying to acquire as many of their products as possible.

While on the subject of Buxtehude, one of our members, Andy Maguire, has actually recorded some very beautiful renditions of his music for the scpop community - have a peep at scpop's website - www.scpop.de. I know he's got the Mordjick Marcussen and I hope that some day he will delight us with his interpretations on that organ.



Best regards,

Stenberg

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