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Anonymous: “Tribularer”
From the album Ein Konzert an der ältesten spielbaren Orgel der Welt (2004)
“A concert on the oldest playable organ in the world,” proclaims the title of this remarkable recording, released in Germany in 2004. The instrument in question is the “Gothic organ” of the Church of St. Andreas in the town of Ostönnen in the German region of Westphalia. Previously located in the nearby town of Soest, the organ was moved to its current home in 1721.
The keyboard of the St. Andreas organ
The dating of the organ, carried out in conjunction with its restoration from 2000-2003, was an extremely complicated process, involving the study of inscriptions on the instrument’s metal pipes and dendrochronological tests on the wood used in the organ’s console and windchest. (This process was complicated further by the fact that many of the instrument’s numerous parts had been replaced over the course of centuries.) Ultimately the date was determined as circa 1430, making this organ among the oldest preserved specimens of its type, and the single oldest that is still playable.
This anonymous “Tribularer” is thought to be an intabulation of a four-part motet, though the voices are remarkably independent. The score comes from the library of the Monastery of the Holy Ghost in Krakow. It was written in 1548 in German letter notation. Little else is known about this piece.
I was surprised (and perhaps a little disappointed) at how good the instrument sounds. No doubt the quality of its tone has everything to do with the extensive restoration work that has been lavished on the organ over the years. Any remaining strangeness can be attributed to the organ’s tuning, which is a compromise between Pythagorean and mean-tone temperament derived from Arnolt Schlick’s Spiegel der Orgelmacher (1511).
The frontispiece to Schlick’s treatise
Played 40 time(s).
May 25, 2011, 11:20am
