Short Introduction and History
The Trost
organ of Waltershausen, with its 47 stops and 6 transmissions, is the biggest
baroque organ in Thuringia. It is largely preserved in its original state of 1730 (a good 70% of
the pipe material was built by Trost) and therefore is an invaluable reference
when performing organ music by J. S. Bach and his contemporaries. Today this
organ is viewed as the most authentic "Bach organ".
The organ
was built in 1724-30 by Tobias Heinrich Gottfried Trost, but due to several
specification changes and severe conflicts between Trost and the Waltershausen
parish, it was not completed until around 1755, probably by the organ builder
Johann Heinrich Ruppert. The instrument has survived without major changes, and
was brought back to its 1730 state by Orgelbau Waltershausen during the years
1994-98.
It is a
typical instrument of the Thuringian organ building school with ranks such as a
Violonbass, mixtures containing
thirds, Sesquialtera, and Viola di Gamba, etc. This, and the
richness of well-blending stops allowing endless sound combinations, already
anticipates the romantic organ of a century later in a fascinating
way.
Trost's
outstanding and innovative concepts using unconventional and extreme pipe
measurements in stops like the Geigenprincipal,
Flauto traverse, Vagarr, but likewise stops with a delicate sweetness preferred by
Bach, such as the Flauto dolce, Flöte dupla and Nachthorn etc., also support the upcoming gallant style. The firm
ground tone (German "Gravität") demanded by Bach is realized by three 16 foot manual ranks, a 16
and 32 foot Posaune in the Pedal, no less
than 12 eight foot flue stops in the three manual divisions, rich mixtures as
well as two Sesquialtera stops. The
instrument has an extremely rich plenum sound, while never forcing the sound.
The organ
facade, designed by Johann Eberhard Strassburger, the architect of the
Anna-Amalia library of Weimar, and the console are of unrivalled
beauty. Even the manuals are original.
Although we
don't know for sure, it is likely that Bach played this organ. We do know that
he expressed his highest appreciation for the beautiful sound
and good craftsmanship of Trost's organs while visiting the Trost organ of
Altenburg in 1739.
The church
architecture, which apparently was a predecessor of the Dresden Frauenkirche,
was designed by Wolf Christoph Zorn of Plobsheim. This special architecture,
uniting altar, pulpit and organ, perfectly realizes the Lutheran liturgical idea.
Therefore the organ is located above the altar (also found in the Frauenkirche
Dresden).
The church room has semi-dry acoustics with about 2.5 seconds of reverberation.
Recording technique
The organ was recorded in July/Aug. 2008 with 48 kHz, 24 bit, multi-channel for
Hauptwerk 3, using the multi-release technique introduced by OrganART.
The
stops were recorded with multiple release levels
for short, medium and long key attacks
for optimal acoustical mapping.
All manual reed ranks and Oberwerk ranks were additionally recorded with
the original tremulant sound.
Thanks
I would like to thank the
parish of Waltershausen
for supporting this project.
Special
thanks are due to main organist Theophil
Heinke for local assistance as well
as Orgelbau Waltershausen
for a lot of helpful
information and discussions!
Last
but not least special thanks to my wife,
who assists all projects and is responsible
for the photo documentation.
