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Bellows being manually inflated, fascinating
- Thread starter Contratrombone64
- Start date
Ghekorg7 (Ret)
Rear Admiral Appassionata (Ret)
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
"some places just refuse to modernise?"
So what? I think it's a great thing as it means that we had the odd preserved instrument showing former mastery.
So what? I think it's a great thing as it means that we had the odd preserved instrument showing former mastery.
Ghekorg7 (Ret)
Rear Admiral Appassionata (Ret)
Modernize? - Look at this !
Hello gentlemen.
As we need our computers and space technology these days, at the same level we badly need the ancient stuff (I call them masterpieces...) to find balance and happiness in our lives.
This one is for the delight of my friend C.T.64. David I hope you like it !
The rest of us , sirs, we can just watch and admire !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNX0gOTLWDo&feature=channel
Cheers
Panos
Hello gentlemen.
As we need our computers and space technology these days, at the same level we badly need the ancient stuff (I call them masterpieces...) to find balance and happiness in our lives.
This one is for the delight of my friend C.T.64. David I hope you like it !
The rest of us , sirs, we can just watch and admire !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oNX0gOTLWDo&feature=channel
Cheers
Panos
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
Panos - that's a video I've seen before, it's a wonderful instrument.
Marc
New member
I've been there!
It's Noordwolde!
That's about 10k from my home. I visited the church & organ last year, and also went upstairs to watch the instrument & bellows.
Btw, for those who are interested: the instrument is not really a Freytag, but a 17th century organ built by Huisz brothers in 1658, with later restorations by a.o. Arp Schnitger (1695), Hermann Freytag (1802) and N.A. Lohman (1833). It was restored by Jan Veldkamp (Mense Ruiter organ builders) in 2006.
Marc
New member
But there are loads of modern instruments.
This is just taking care of our historical and cultural heritage.
And .... it's a beautiful instrument!
The province of Groningen has got some more of these oldies .... with pumped bellows, too. All of them tasty treats, IMHO.
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
My friend Marc, thanks for that, no doubt about it, you Nederlanders certainly keep your fingers in more than just dykes!
Marc
New member
Next Saturday evening there will be an organ concert in Noordwolde .... maybe I will go there (by bike), football/soccer/weather depending.
Organist is Stef Tuinstra. He might prefer pumped bellows. He also did in the first concert after the latest restoration.
Another option is the Schnitger/Hinsz organ in the Pelstergasthuis church, played by Peter Westenbrink .... that's a fine instrument, too (yet without original bellows).
Organist is Stef Tuinstra. He might prefer pumped bellows. He also did in the first concert after the latest restoration.
Another option is the Schnitger/Hinsz organ in the Pelstergasthuis church, played by Peter Westenbrink .... that's a fine instrument, too (yet without original bellows
).
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
What a stunning organ case!! I love the subtle use of gold leaf!
JHC
Chief assistant to the assistant chief
The Church that I sang in as a choire boy and was later married in had a manually operated bellows but it was not the same as the one in the video as it had only one lever which was operated by hand, it was a small organ and the Church had once been a private Chapel for the local Lord of the manor, it was ripped out and replaced with a modern instrument quite a few years ago, and it was used by the Choir Master to punish wayward boys.
Ghekorg7 (Ret)
Rear Admiral Appassionata (Ret)
Hi JHC ! so, Bill was right about !!! A hard punishment I believe...
Marc this is a great looking beast and beautifully restored too !
Thanks for the picture, I saved it for wallpaper in my desk top for this week.
I would love to come to the concert and listen to it singing, but it's along way with my race bike from Athens.....
Marc this is a great looking beast and beautifully restored too !
Thanks for the picture, I saved it for wallpaper in my desk top for this week.
I would love to come to the concert and listen to it singing, but it's along way with my race bike from Athens.....
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
Got to love the Calvinists, they spent a lot of time burning their Catholic brothers and sisters for religious views. I really thank god on a daily basis I'm an athiest.
Soubasse
New member
The first organ I ever played was in a church to which my dad (an Anglican priest) was assigned. We were shown inside the organ chamber by one of the parishoners who knew a little bit about the instrument, and the only way to get to the back of the chamber was to duck beneath the long arm used for manual inflation of the bellows - and it still worked. It was quite the novelty since we could swing on this lever and have someone at the front playing it quite sucessfully. It was also much quieter than the electric blower (one of those very noisy, two-stage Discus blowers that sounded like a spaceship taking off, I'm sure someone here has heard them!).
This organ was originally installed before electricity reached this (then small, now far too big) Adelaide Hills town hence the manual bellows (and the candlestick holders for reading light at the console). We were also told that choirboys were seconded into calcant duties in the organ chamber, which explained the rather old, chalked grafitti on the Bourdon windchest adjacent to the pumping lever: "Little devils - this is hell!"
There's a page about the organ here,
http://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/MtBarkerAng.html
but they got their dates wrong in regard to the repairs to the bellows, which actually took place in 1981, not 91. I recall being quite grumpy about it because of the amount of time that the organ was unplayable, robbing me of my much loved practice time! Sadly, the installation of the vertical bellows also meant disconnecting the pumping arm.
OT (and perhaps for another topic) @ David: Re your last sentence above, that's a big +1 from me.
This organ was originally installed before electricity reached this (then small, now far too big) Adelaide Hills town hence the manual bellows (and the candlestick holders for reading light at the console). We were also told that choirboys were seconded into calcant duties in the organ chamber, which explained the rather old, chalked grafitti on the Bourdon windchest adjacent to the pumping lever: "Little devils - this is hell!"
There's a page about the organ here,
http://www.ohta.org.au/organs/organs/MtBarkerAng.html
but they got their dates wrong in regard to the repairs to the bellows, which actually took place in 1981, not 91. I recall being quite grumpy about it because of the amount of time that the organ was unplayable, robbing me of my much loved practice time! Sadly, the installation of the vertical bellows also meant disconnecting the pumping arm.
OT (and perhaps for another topic) @ David: Re your last sentence above, that's a big +1 from me.
Marc
New member
Got to love the humans, they spent a lot of time burning their human brothers and sisters for different convictions.
I myself am quite happy I do not have such a conviction which claims there is a one-sided absolute truth.
(Could not resist this. But yes, it's OT .... and perhaps for another topic.)
Btw, just to let you all know: the Noordwolde organ, as most other 'manual' treats, can also be played with electric blower(s).
Contratrombone64
Admiral of Fugues
What a little sweety, those front pipes look like facade, are they?