Bit of Buxtehude

[Dorsetmike]

Choice of 2 versions of BuxWV76,Klaglied, one instrumental



One organ and vocal, (probably Emma Kirkby)

[Dorsetmike]

And for contrast Toccatta in D min BuxWV 155 Schnitger organ, Bernard Fouccrolle



Like the coupler action at around 6:15- 6:20.

[Dorsetmike]

Gigue Fugue in C BuxWV 174

[Nikam]

And for contrast Toccatta in D min BuxWV 155 Schnitger organ, Bernard Fouccrolle



Like the coupler action at around 6:15- 6:20.

Neat! Can anyone explain the action? - Have not come across that before.

[Marc]

Neat! Can anyone explain the action? - Have not come across that before.

I'm far from a technical guy, but I guess you are referring to the direct-key-to-pipe technique called "tracker action".



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracker_action

[Nikam]

It was the coupler action at 6:15-6:20 that Mike pointed out and where the upper manual is seen to be pushed backwards. May well be due to tracker action, but I was hoping someone could explain the reason for the movement of the manual.

[Dorsetmike]

Yep, I'd heard of moving the whole manual but had not seen it before.

[Marc]

It was the coupler action at 6:15-6:20 that Mike pointed out and where the upper manual is seen to be pushed backwards. May well be due to tracker action, but I was hoping someone could explain the reason for the movement of the manual.

I think it's because the manuals are coupled by means of a shove-coupler (Schiebekoppel in Schnitger's mother tongue language.)

Organist Sietze de Vries was doing the same (during a short demonstration some years ago) on the Schnitger et al organ in the Martini Kerk of Groningen, NL.

Maybe other board members can tell you more about the technical details. Or .... do the Google ....

[Nikam]

Posed the question to a Scottish organ builder and this is his reply:

"The shove coupler is found on many historical organs, I suppose principally in Europe. It requires no additional mechanism apart from
the alignment of the two keyboards. Put simply, there are blocks mounted on the underside of the top keyboard and the top of the lower keyboard. When the upper keyboard is in its forward position these blocks are not in alignment and so each keyboard plays independently. When the upper keyboard is slid backwards, (normally approx 15 mm travel) the blocks are sitting one on top of the other so that when you play the upper keyboard the lower one is coupled.
Because of its simplicity we've used this mechanism on many of our house organs. If you have a suspended key action with the keys pivoting
on the back frame, you have to play the upper keyboard to couple with the lower. If on the other hand you have balanced keys with the
pivot point in the centre, the coupling is normally operated from the lower keyboard.
This is the preferred coupling method for most harpsichords."

[Marc]

Good job! Thanks for the technical explanation.

(After all, we don't need Google on this board, do we? )

[Dorsetmike]

Found another BuxWV gem, 223 on the Nordern Schnitger with Ton Koopman driving

[Dorsetmike]

BuxWV 160, Chacconne in E minor, 2 versions, first organ, second two harpsichords

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YOWP3rrGz0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBMFbliMOns