Posted on 08/03/2021 6:43:46 PM PDT by marshmallow
Via Aleteia, here’s another very interesting thing on the musical front. At the beginning of the 20th-century, archeologists working at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem discovered a set of organ pipes and a bell carillion. They have since been kept at the Holy Land Museum run by the Franciscan custody.
According to the musicologist who is working on them, Dr David Catalunya, they had been brought to the Holy Land by the Crusaders in the early 12th century, and then hidden for safe-keeping during a Muslim invasion. They are in a very good state of preservation; Dr Catalunya is now engaged in a five-year long project to rebuild the organ in such a way that it will be playable again.
The next oldest playable organ is more than 300 years younger, an instrument in the church of Notre-Dame de Valère in Sion, Switzerland, which has 12 of its original pipes.
(Excerpt) Read more at newliturgicalmovement.org ...
Cool!
One of my favorite organ compositions, that is, when I’m in the mood for a driving dirge, would be
Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 “Dorian” by J.S. Bach
It’s not for everybody. It’s like a full shot of Gin; with the rocks.
Wow, it is astonishing that they would haul a pipe organ that distance when they are headed off to war. There were lots of privations and food shortages on the journey. I wonder if it went by ship or overland.
“I wonder if it went by ship or overland.”
The first crusade went by ship.
But, they probably had the organ shipped after they won.
Church was donated one. Sat in a storage unit for years until we dumped it.
Kids today won't work.
Could not get any to work the pump to the organ.
My favorite is BWV565.
After God spends the day looking out over His creation, He sticks the CD of this into His celestial CD player, sits on His throne, puts His feet up and His hands behind His head, listens to it and thinks to Himself, “Yeah, that’s it!”
Oh my God! I know that one. Boy is it power packed to the gills. It’s like being electrocuted, disemboweled, then baptized. I love it! It’s a great piece, one that demands a good sound system. I refuse to play it here in my apartment, because I could not turn it up LOUD enough to allow the full strength room to develop.
One of my favorite non-traditional versions of this piece by the Band Sky...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1olfpp-2spw
And, if you like what you hear, an ultra rare video - SKY at Westminster Abbey. It took me over two decades to find a copy on Laser Disk and have it shipped from a used media dealer in Japan. Now it’s on YouTube. Enjoy !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHhZG8Qe60
I might also recommend the “Organ Symphony” Saint-Saëns Symphony No 3 in C, Op 78 on Telarc in SACD format in Youtube 1080P - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDxGQ5t4lvI
Thanks for the suggestions.
There is always something I have never heard before.
I am somewhat hearing-impaired, so I just put headphones on.
Not too loud, I’ll blow up what’s left of my hearing,LOL.
Listening to a pipe organ in a theatre or a church is amazing, all those good vibrations…!
Thanks for posting the story and the link to the video! I hope to see a documentary someday about this organ, and actually here it play.
Very freaking cool!
I’m always looking for antique musical instruments. Just bought a very old basket-case Stella ukulele in LA for $2.
That was energizing! Similar to taking a cold shower, first thing in the morning - outside. Now, I will need to put my CD on, so I can hear the other half, where it changes pitch and goes into this mad fugue.
Operating an organ like that is necessarily a four-limb job.
One uses both hands and both feet to create and maintain the sound.
> Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 538 “Dorian” by J.S. Bach
also here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRY7zrMGCi8
Thanks for the info!
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