Organ of the Basilica of St. Martin (Weingarten)

Façade of the organ

The organ at the Basilica of St. Martin (Weingarten), the monastery church of the Weingarten Abbey was built by Joseph Gabler between 1737 and 1750. In addition to the large organ he also built the small choir organ in 1743, but this has since been renovated or completely rebuilt.

Architectural history

1737-1750 rebuilt by Gabler

The Crown (Kronwerk) section of the organ, where allegedly wind supply was rather poor
The organ console; notice the stop knobs made of ivory
The carillon bells for the pedal, mounted on the arch above the console

On 6 July 1737 the initial contract with Gabler was signed, however, before the completion of the organ it was revised on a number of occasions. In the meantime a fire in the monastery buildings and immense financial difficulties of the abbey made the organ designing and building a very lengthy and grueling process. To make matters worse, Gabler, while an excellent organ builder, was obviously an extremely poor businessman who had neither a sense of money nor had been able to meet deadlines, which meant that he was permanently ruined by this organ. The organ was finally consecrated on 24 June 1750.

The basic problem that Gabler had to solve (with a solution that was deemed downright ingenious), was to build on the west gallery of the church a monumental organ case, without blocking the existing six windows. The Weingarten model was later used by Johann Nepomuk Holzhay to solve an analogous problem in Neresheim in the same way.

The organ has some special characteristics: the principal pipes have generally a narrow scaling, which gives them a restrained dry tone. It has long been puzzling as to why Gabler found it acceptable to scale the pipes considerably narrower than could have been with such a great space to be filled. At times it was thought that Gabler was actually inept as an organ builder as the design had been called into question in his own lifetime, whereas his skills as a carpenter are unanimously considered superior ("... in which he is a paragon master ..."). Today, by contrast, it is assumed that Gabler's designs often favored aesthetics, while scaling of the ranks, he had wanted a more subdued, intimate and gentle sound. In order to give the organ a certain sonorous power and wealth despite the close scaling, Gabler populated the organ with many multi-rank voices, even in the foundation stops. In this way the multi-rank registers (as mixtures) received an unusually high number of pipes. Nevertheless, the organ known for its mild, chamber musical sound that maintains in its fullness a certain introversion.

Also noteworthy is the high number of foundations stops, including many of the string family. Gabler took on a South German Baroque style of organ building (an existing trend) and expanded it into something monumental.

Also worth mentioning is the abundant range of stops which include: Cuculus (cuckoo), Rossignol (nightingale song), timpani, two chimes and the 49-rank mixture "La Force" ("The Power"), although only played by the lowest C in the pedal. La Force was used to signal the beginning of the celebration. While the manual carillon is built into the console, the shell-bells for the pedal are artistically arranged into grape bunches, an appropriate connotation with the monastic name of the Basilica (Weingarten).

The organ is both pure and technically crafted, an absolute masterpiece. The free-standing console, one of the earliest of its kind ever, abounds with intricate inlays and has adorned stop knobs made of solid ivory. The extremely expensive routing of mechanical key and stop action is unmatched, but consequently is hard to play: the keys must be pressed hard to sound the organ due to all the long, heavy mechanisms that must be moved every time a key is pressed.

However Gabler failed at several points of perfecting his ultimately complex concept: the Kronwerk, suspended high up under the vault, was never adequately supplied with wind and was therefore realized only with a greatly reduced disposition. Similarly, Gabler obviously failed in the production of a 32' Bombarde, which was converted by him to a second 16' reed.

The "Vox Humana" legend

There are several legends about the organ, of which the "Vox Humana" saga is probably the most famous:

Gabler had worked for years to imitate the human voice. But despite all efforts failed in all his attempts. He worked on various types of wood and metal mixtures, but without the desired success. Then the devil whispered in his ear one night that he would help him if he will bequeath his soul. Gabler agreed and snuck out of the basilica on a stormy night to the agreed place. The devil appeared and Gabler signed his soul to the devil with his blood and got a piece of metal that he should use to cast pipe.

The pipe was cast as the vox humana and actually sounded as a human voice, but his luck did not last long. The monks in their singing were so confused that they could no longer follow the services with prayer. The abbot got Gabler to come and confess to the crime. It was decided that Gabler should be burned along with the devil's stop, but before that he should make a worthy replacement. At this Gabler succeeded so well that the abbot graciously pardoned his life.

Restoration by Kuhn 1981-1983

In 1983, relatively little was altered by organ restorer Th. Kuhn AG (Männedorf on Lake Zurich) who aimed in the main to return the instrument to its 1750 state. The pedal range was extended from C-g to C-d' and the unequal temperament was 'defused' to make possible a broader repertory.

The organ case=

The seven sections of the organ are distributed thus: The two main towers accommodate the 32' pipes of the Contrabass and the 16' pipes of the Praestant, standing on the lowest levels and divided into C and C# sides, with the Hauptwerk flanked by the Grosspedal. Above them on both sides is the Oberwerk without its own facade pipes. The Kronpositiv is far above, over the middle window, and displays the Octav douce in its facade. The left and right side towers accommodate the 16' pipes of the double Contrabass. In the adjoining 'bridge' is the Mixturbass 8', and in the bridge directly above the console the 49-rank pedal mixture La Force, which only sounds on bottom C. The Echowerk, which is played on the third manual, is put in the cases under the two main towers, and cannot be seen from the body of the church. From the organ gallery one can see in the facade the Hohlflaut of the Echowerk. On the fourth manual the left (as seen by the observer) of the two Positivs is played, with the Principal doux displayed. Here in the so-called Brüstungspositiv is also the famous Vox humana. The right Positiv belongs to the Brüstungspedal, with the Octavbass 8' in the facade.

Specification of the organ

I Hauptwerk
1. Praestant 16′
2. Principal 8′
3. Rohrflaut 8′
4. Octav I-II 4'
5. Superoctav II 2′+1′
6. Hohlflaut 2′
7. Mixtur IX-X 2′
8. Cimbalum XII 1′
9. Sesquialter VIII-IX 2′
10. Piffaro V-VII 8′
11. Trombetten 8′
II Oberwerk
12. Borduen II-III 16′
13. Principal Tutti 8′
14. Violoncell I-III 8′
15. Coppel 8′
16. Hohlflaut 8′
17. Unda maris 8′
18. Solicinale 8′
19. Mixtur IX-XII 4′


II Kronpositiv
20. Octav douce 4′
21. Viola II 4′+2′
23. Cimbali II 2′+1′
24. Nasat 2′
III Echowerk
25. Borduen 16′
26. Principal 8′
27. Flauten 8′
28. Quintatön 8′
29. Viola douce 8′
30. Octav 4′
31. Hohlflaut I-II 4′
32. Piffaro doux II 4′
33. Superoctav 2′
34. Mixtur V-VI 2′
35. Cornet V-VI 1′
36. Hautbois 8′
IV Brüstungspositiv
37. Principal doux 8′
38. Flaut douce 8′
39. Quintatön 8′
40. Violoncell 8′
41. Rohrflaut 4′
42. Querflaut 4′
43. Flaut travers II 4′
44. Flageolet 2′
45. Cornet VIII-XI 2′
46. Vox humana 8′
47. Hautbois 4′
Carillon 2′
Tremulant
Hauptpedal
48. Contrabaß II 32′+16′
59. Subbaß 32′
50. Octavbaß 16′
51. Violonbaß II 16′+8′
52. Mixturbaß V-VIII 8′
53. Posaunenbaß 16′
54. Bombard 16′
55. La force XLIX[1] 4′
Carillon ped.[2] 2′


Brüstungspedal
56. Quintatönbaß 16′
57. Superoctavbaß 8′
58. Flaut douce 8′
59. Violoncellbaß 8′
60. Hohlflautbaß 4′
61. Cornetbass X-XI 4′
62. Sesquialter VI-VII 3′
63. Trombetbaß 8′
64. Fagottbaß 8′
Engraving of the Weingarten organ by Dom Bedos (1766)

Auxiliary stops

Technical information

Console

Action

Organists

Side-view of the organ

Notes

  1. ↑ La force (lit. "the force"); register in which only the deepest pedal note (C) by 49-fold mixture is increased. It is reminiscent in structure and function to a horn-work.
  2. ↑ Glockenspiel for the pedal (C-g) and the manual (f-c3). The bells of the manuals' carillon (shell made of bronze bells) are inside the console, whereas the pedal carillon bells -in the form of grapes (the monastic name of "Weingarten" accordingly)- are mounted on the arch above the console.

References

Recordings / CDs

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weingarten Gabler organ.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Choir stalls of Basilika Weingarten.
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