picture: The 1746 Hildebrandt organ in St Wenzel, Naumburg – restored in 2000, and played by Bach
This month’s pin-up is the wonderfully frilly Hildebrandt Organ at St Wenzel, Naumburg, Germany. Many thanks to Andrew Benson-Wilson for sending me this picture, after he played the organ on a trip earlier this year.
Andrew told me “Bach and Silbermann approved the organ, running up an enormous bill for food, alcohol and tobacco during their five-day stay in Naumburg. The stops knobs are original, along with their central paper stop names (which Bach must have touched), but organists are obviously discouraged from touching the paper. It is a remarkable instrument, and can teach us a lot about the sort of organ that Bach would have liked to have played in Leipzig. In particular, the ability to combine different stops (for example, variations of all four 8′ stops on the Ruckpositive), typical of Central German registrations at the time of Bach. One fascinating stop added by Hildebrandt to the contracted specification is the Princ.und.mar on the Hauptwerk which beats with the Principal.”
More information, and the specification, here.
