Bachfest – Prelude, pipes and pedals - International Online Organ Festival 2022

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Bachfest - Prelude, pipes and pedals

Organ music from Bach's festival churches

Price: 6,00 €

Artists: amarcord - Ullrich Böhme, Sebastian Heindl, Ton Koopman Sächsisches Barockorchester - Gotthold Schwarz sjaella - David Timm

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Ladegast Organ in St. Nikolai Church, Leipzig © Thomas Hurtrich

The Nikolaikirche in Leipzig has the largest organ in the Free State of Saxony. with its 103 stops. The core of the organ goes back to the instrument built in 1862 by the famous organ builder Friedrich Ladegast from Weißenfels with 83 stops over four manuals and pedal. The organ was extended and rebuilt in 1903 by the firm of Wilhelm Sauer from Frankfurt (Oder), and further Neo-Baroque alterations were carried out in 1934 and electrification in 1988. In 2004, the instrument was technically rebuilt by the Eule company. The 103 stops are divided between the Hauptwerk (I), Oberwerk (II), Schwellwerk 1 (III), Schwellwerk 2 (IV), Echowerk (V) and Pedal. A special feature of the organ is the console from 2004, which was designed by the automobile manufacturer Porsche in a modern stainless steel look with wooden elements. The usual console displays for the crescendo roller, Swell and wind pressure are designed in the look of a Porsche dashboard.

The Thomaskirche, barely five minutes’ walk from the Nikolaikirche, had become the most important the second half of the 19th century, it had become Leipzig’s most important venue for the Bach’s sacred works. It was only in the course of the far-reaching neo-Gothic remodelling that the church received a new III/65 organ from the Wilhelm Sauer company in 1887, which was which was increased to III/88 in the course of Karl Straube’s appointment as St. Thomas organist. Both the pneumatic action with numerous playing aids, as well as the disposition were both the organist Carl Piutti and his successor Straube considered it the ideal basis for the for the interpretation of organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach and contemporary composers. composers. Closer to the Central German organ sound of the 18th century is the organ built in the “”Bach-Bach Year”” 2000 by Gerald Woehl, Marburg an der Lahn, on the north gallery. The case is modelled on Johann Scheibe’s organ from the University Church in Leipzig, which was tested by Bach in 1717. Leipzig University Church. The stoplist, on the other hand, follows the design Bach’s uncle Johann Christoph Bach for the Georgenkirche in Eisenach, which was built by Georg Christoph Stertzing from Ohrdruf built in 1696-1707.

Sauer organ in St. Thomaschurch, Leipzig

Sebastian Heindl © Kilian Homburg

Sebastian Heindl has already made a name for himself in the organ world. In 2019 he won 1st prize at the Longwood Gardens International Organ Competition (USA) and in 2017 at the Northern Ireland International Organ Competition. He has won audience prizes at the International Orgelwoche Nürnberg (2018) and at St. Albans (2019). Heindl received a sound musical education at the Thomanerchor Leipzig and studied at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Academy of Music in Leipzig. His own YouTube channel reveals virtuosity and joy of playing and his albums bear witness to original programme concepts. Concert engagements have already taken him all over Europe and North America.

Michael Schönheit was appointed Gewandhaus organist in 1986. He had already been associated with Leipzig, the city of Bach, through his studies at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Academy of Music. In 1984 he was also a prizewinner of the International Joh.-Seb. Leipzig. In addition to Leipzig, Schönheit is musically active above all in Merseburg: He is the cathedral organist and director of the Merseburg Organ Festival and also founded the Merseburg Court Ensemble. The Merseburger Hofmusik, which plays music from the 17th to the 19th century on instruments with historical scales. Michael Schönheit himself is a specialist for the historical fortepiano. As an organist and ensemble leader he maintains an active concert schedule and has made important recordings. 2015 he was awarded the Order of Merit of the State of Saxony-Anhalt.

Ullrich Böhme

In 2021, Ullrich Böhme ended his 36-year tenure as the as organist of St Thomas in Leipzig. During this time he initiated the the restoration of the romantic Sauer organ in St Thomas’s Church and designed the concept for a new baroque Bach organ, which was built in 2000 by organ builder Woehl. Böhme studied from 1972-1979 at the church music school in Dresden and at the Mendelssohn-Bartholdy-Hochschule in Leipzig. Since 1994 he has been himself an honorary professor at the tradition-steeped Kirchenmusikalisches Institut and also gives interpretation courses at home and abroad. For recordings on Silbermann organs Böhme and colleagues received the German Record Critics’ Award in 2003.

Since 2019, Ton Koopman, one of the world’s most Bach experts worldwide has been president of the Leipzig Bach Archive since 2019. Since the founding of the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra in 1979 and the Amsterdam Baroque Choir in 1992, Koopman has been one of the leading personalities of historically informed performance practice. His complete recording of all Bach cantatas 1994-2005 has received many awards. In addition to Bach, Koopman devotes himself intensively to the works of of Dietrich Buxtehude. In 2006 he received the Bach Medal of the City of Leipzig, 2012 the Buxtehude Prize of the city of Lübeck – among many other awards. As an organist and harpsichordist, Ton Koopman has performed in the the world’s most prestigious concert halls and has played the most beautiful historical instruments in Europe. As a guest conductor he is invited to orchestras in Europe, North America and Japan. Ton Koopman is professor emeritus of musicology at Leiden University, regularly publishes and edits music editions.

Ton Koopman

Toccata und Fuge d-Moll BWV 565 ● Präludium und Fuge a-Moll BWV 543
"Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten" BWV ● 691 "Ach wie flüchtig, ach wie nichtig"
BWV 26 "Air" aus BWV 1068 Transkription: Johann Gustav Eduard Stehle ● Sinfonia D-Dur mit obligater Orgel BWV 29
"Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme" ● BWV 140 Fantasie G-Dur BWV 572

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