The famous gathering of organists
Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629)
Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612)
Michael Praetorius (1572-1621)
Jean-Charles Ablitzer
Fritzsche (1622) / Treutmann (1728) Historic
Organ
Church of St. Levin of Harbke (Germany / Saxony-Anhalt)
“The
voluble and fervent play of Jean-Charles Ablitzer leads us directly towards
illumination.”
Classiquenews.com, Philippe Alexandre Pham, Tuesday 21 July 2009
On 2 August 1596, an extraordinary effervescence reigned over the Castle
of Gröningen, near Halberstadt. Fifty-three organists, prestigious
Masters of Music, arrived from all over Germany to test and inaugurate
the instrument commissioned four years earlier by Duke Heinrich Julius
of Braunschweig-Lüneburg, Bishop of Halberstadt, from the organ builder
David Beck. Its 59 metal organ stops make it an exceptional encyclopedia
of sounds, imitating all instruments perfectly and producing the most
astonishing musical combinations. Among all the participants, only Hans
Leo Hassler, Hieronymus Praetorius and Michael Praetorius have left works
in print. Through their art, this recording sheds new light on compositions
for the organ in Germany at the end of the Renaissance and at the birth
of the different writing styles of the Baroque period.
The court of Wolfenbüttel was an illustrious centre for the development of organ building thanks to the passion shown by Duke Heinrich Julius. This artistic prince, a brilliant organist, turned to the best organ builders of his time to create extraordinary instruments intended for his private residences or the churches of the Duchy. Three organ builders thus succeeded each other at the court: David Beck, Esaias Compenius and then Gottfried Fritzsche.
Although most of their instruments have disappeared, the total preservation of the organ with wooden pipes at the Castle of Frederiksborg, built by Esaias Compenius in 1610, as well as the set of 12 organ stops by Gottfried Fritzsche for the Church of Saint Levin of Harbke, provide an excellent insight into the surprising musical universe of these men at the end of the Renaissance.
Elaborating medleys from different sources of that period, in particular, a table of registrations written in 1587 by Heinrich Cumpenius for the Harbke organ, Jean-Charles Ablitzer unveils the selected works in their original musical identity, the ideal of which, inspired by the instrumental consort, is far removed from the principles known at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries.
This album perfects the efforts undertaken by Jean-Charles Ablitzer on Michael Praetorius to expand knowledge about his works for the organ (Pro organico, CD Alpha, 2007) and his revelations on the practice of transcription that goes hand in hand with the adapted presentation of the Compenius organ at Frederiksborg (Auch auff Orgeln, Music and Memory Productions CD didbox, 2009).
Combining interpretative scholarship with musicology, this publication offers a new and full panorama of the organ in Germany at the dawn of the Baroque period.
An important discographic landmark!
1 CD digibox 2010-2 - total time: 71.24 - accompanied by a 92-page booklet:
• The registrations of the recording
• The art of registration in Central Germany at the end of the Renaissance,
by Jean-Charles Ablitzer
• Table of registrations for the Harbke organ, Heinrich Cumpenius
1587
• The gathering of organists at Gröningen in 1596, by Gerhard
Aumüller
• The organ builder Gottfried Fritzsche, by Dorothea Schröder
Release in December 2010
Recording made with the support of the regional Council of Franche-Comté and Adami
distribution: