«Making Organ Sound Visible» On the problems of appearance, instrument and space

[organforumadmin]

KMD Burkhart Goethe



In the heyday of classical organ building the exterior of the instrument
was, in most cases, designed by the builder himself, whereas in the beginning
of the 19th century repeatedly architects and master builders interfered
in the styling of the organ. This might or might not have been of
profit in every case. A general accordance about the architectural style
and the ornamentation ended no later than with the Art Nouveau.
The new objectification in the design of the organ appearance around the
mid-20th century often revealed deficits in configuration and led to a blossoming
of historicism around 1980. At the beginning of the 21st century,
the design of organs is increasingly caught between client, architect and
organ builder. This area of tension often leads back to a similar decoupling
of sound, technology and design as already observed around 1900

[David Pinnegar]

Burkhart Goethe
Burkhart Goethe was born in 1948. After
high school (Gymnasium) he learned
organ building at the Orgelbauwerkstatt
Alfred Führer in Wilhelmshaven
(Germany), and became an itinerant
organ builder. He studied church music in Esslingen
from 1973-1978 and organ with A. Heiller, J. Langlais,
M.-C. Alain and F. Tagliavini. Since 1987 he has
been full-time organ consultant for the Evangelical
Reformed Church (Evangelische Landeskirche). He
has taught organ building at the Freiburg University
since 1992, and in 1994 became Director of Church
Music at the St. Katharinenkirche in Schwäbisch Hall.
Since 1978 Burkhart Goethe has designed more than
80 organs, in among others St. Marien in Lübeck, Dreikönigskirche
in Dresden, St. Sebastian in Magdeburg,
the Nikolaikirche in Leipzig (102 registers, five manuals),
in Leiria and Porto (Portugal) and in Hämeenlinna
in Finland.

Notes: (hurried and incomplete - corrections and augmentations welcome)
A lightning tour of organ cases

First non ornamental case was by Gray and Davison for the organ at Crystal Palace for the Great Exhibition of 1851 followed by Jardine in 1869

Art Nouveau was criticised by (???) in ???1907???

The contour of organ cases used to symbolise the acoustic lengths of the pipes, the visual physics of the sound.

Uncased organs started to be fashionable in the 1920s by Klais and Sauer in 1932 - favoured more (illegible)

Expressionists - favoured dummy pipes providing a neat exterior with chaotic arrangement behind.

The Martial style was developed by the Nazis - organ builder Fuhrer, architect Albert Speer - front pipes in wide castellated outline made of distressed copper.

Bayreuth - Steinmayer

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Organ Reform - Markussen brought back slider chests 1940 - Denmark became the leader
- Helsinger 1969 (He... illegible)
Walcker 1969 Munster
Lubech
Witten ?Anna? Fuhrer 1968 Ercosenkirche sported a traditional case with elliptic upward curves

Organ builders were now talking internationally.

Pipes of equal length ignore nature.

It used to be joked that large families have children like organ pipes in height.

Clone children are organ pipes all of the same length . . .

(end of note taking before end of talk :-(   conclusion not noted)