wisdom and beauty

Mighty Wurlitzersubtitle ( t.b.d.)

C o n s t e l l a t i o n C e n t e r

Project Concept: Glenn A. KnicKrehm

Photography: André Costantini

Art direction and design: Burt Sun

Introduction: Lyn Larson

Tex: Susan M. Cole and Meret S. Peter

Editing: Andrew Figel

ConstellationCenter

161 First Street

Cambridge, MA 02142-1207

Tel 617.939.1900

Fax 617.576.0914

constellationcenter.org

© 2011 Constellation Productions, Inc., All rights reserved. Published 2011

Library of Congress Control Number:

This book is dedicated to William P. Brown ( 1925 - 2006 )

As founder and president of ConstellationCenter, I am thrilled to say that ConstellationCenter is poised to become a leading center for the

performance and study of organ music. In addition to the construction of a Bach-style organ by leading organ building firm Taylor & Boody,

the center will also be home to a vintage theater organ originally located at the Paradise Theater in Chicago. This organ, built in 1928, was

generously donated to ConstellationCenter by the late William Brown of Phoenix, Arizona. One of only three five-manual theater organs built

by Wurlitzer, we consider ourselves extremely fortunate to bring this organ to Cambridge.

In anticipation of its installation at ConstellationCenter, we are delighted to introduce you to our Wurlitzer in this publication.

Glenn KnicKrehm

President, ConstellationCenter

PREFACE

1

It is a special experience to walk into the Wenzelskirche in Naumburg and look up at one of the most beautiful

organ cases of Europe; it is a heavenly concert for the eyes, and its elegant proportions compel one’s eyes to

look not only with admiration, but also with attention and curiosity, with a view towards understanding what makes

it so persuasive. It invites us to pay attention. The sound of this instrument does the same thing to our ears: we

are first struck by its beauty, but then we are invited to listen carefully to its complexity, to its idiosyncratic way

of speaking, to the way its rich tonal palette can make the music of Bach sound somehow just right. If one then

plays this organ, the experience deepens: here is an instrument which, far from simply being a tool for the player

to realize an already formed musical idea, has its own distinctive personality, a specific behavior which challenges

and leads the player to new perspectives.

The organ in the litt le parish church of Störmthal, near Leipzig, was built by the same person who built the Naum-

burg organ, Zacharias Hildebrandt. Despite its diminutive size – it has only one manual – it has a peculiar capabil-

ity to arouse much the same kind of response as its larger and younger brother in Naumburg. Although this organ

has only fourteen stops, its tonal world is both varied and complex. When listening to this organ, one can become

even more aware of the three-dimensional character of a single set of pipes: here the sound of a single pipe has

not only length (a pronounced beginning, a sustained sound that seems to be in motion, and an elegant release)

and height (a balanced structure of harmonics reinforcing the fundamental tone), but also depth: the sound has

a physical character to it, as if it were a column of sound that you could wrap your arms around. It is this sense

of the third dimension that distinguishes superior instruments from those which are merely fine, and at Störmthal

one gets the impression that the organ is in a real sense a living organism.

4

Introduction

I t i s ne i ther nos ta lg ia fo r the pas t nor the aura l equ iva len t o f rose-co lo red g lasses tha t account fo r such

reac t ions . The ins t ruments o f H i ldebrandt , the wonder fu l l y inc is ive ins t ruments o f h is mentor, Got t f r ied

S i lbermann, and a hos t o f o ther o rgans f rom the same per iod are ind isputab ly a l i ve , and the i r spec i f i c

charac ter and behav io r have an a lmost mag ica l way o f an imat ing the mus ic p layed upon them. Such in -

s t ruments a re a lso in a cur ious way democra t ic : one does no t need to be among the most sk i l l fu l p layers

in the wor ld in o rder to make memorab le mus ic on these organs . They respond bo th to the seasoned ar t i s t

and to the v i l lage organ is t , and everyone who p lays them sounds be t te r than they wou ld sound on most

o rgans . These are no t o rgans on ly fo r the spec ia l l y g i f ted , bu t ra ther they are organs o f such surpass ing

qua l i t y tha t they a l low a t ranscendent mus ica l exper ience to be the norm ins tead o f the except ion .

Such mus ica l ins t ruments we l l re f lec t the overa l l goa ls beh ind the concept o f the Conste l la t ion Center,

where the qua l i t y o f the mus ica l env i ronment – i t s p ropor t ions , mater ia ls , v isua l and acous t ica l p roper -

t ies , a long w i th the ins t ruments p laced in i t – i s to be g iven h ighes t p r io r i t y. These organs w i l l a lso show

us the way to bu i ld new ins t ruments o f comparab le qua l i t y, i f we pay a t ten t ion and learn f rom what they

have to say to us . They w i l l be our gu ide , and they w i l l he lp us ach ieve the v is ion o f rea l i z ing in ins t ru -

ments ye t to be born the qua l i t ies tha t move us so a t Naumburg , S törmtha l , and in o ther p laces where

Johann Sebast ian Bach worked and – one may dare to say – was s imi la r ly moved.

Lyn Larson

74

Solo Chamber

8’ Brass saxophone (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Oboe horn (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Brass trumpet ((Page xxx, yy)

8’ Orchestral oboe (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Kinura (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Gemshorn (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Gemshorn celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Horn diapason (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Krumet (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Muted viol (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Muted viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Salicional (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Voix celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Vox humana (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Solo tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Solo string (15”) (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Tuba mirabilis (Page xxx, yy)

16’ English horn (Page xxx, yy)

Main Chamber

8’ Clarinet (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Quintadena (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Viol celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Dulciana (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Viol d’orchestre (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Concert flute (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Flute celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Gamba celeste (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Gamba (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Dolce (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Trumpet (style D) (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Musette (Page xxx, yy)

8’ Dolce celeste (Page xxx, yy)



8’ Tibia clausa (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Diaphonic diapason (Page xxx, yy)

16’ Tuba horn (Page xxx, yy)

Percussion

Piano (Page xxx, yy)

Marimba harp (Page xxx, yy)

Vibraharp (Page xxx, yy)

Xylophone (Page xxx, yy)

Glockenspiel (37 notes) (Page xxx, yy)

Cathedral chimes (Page xxx, yy)

Tuned sleighbells(Page xxx, yy)

Chrysoglott (Page xxx, yy)



Tower chimes (24 notes) (Page xxx, yy)

SPECIFICATION AT A GLANCE ( Opus 1942 )

Solo Chamber



















Main Chamber



















Percussion













75

Solo Chamber



















Main Chamber



















Percussion













ConstellationCenter

161 First Street

Cambridge, MA 02142-1207

Tel 617.939.1900

Fax 617.576.0914

constellationcenter.org

wisdom and beauty

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