Organ-websites:
http://www.silbermann.org
City-websites: http://www.freiberg.de
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Today we took the train to Dresden. We splurged and had a
lunch on the train...the rail system was run by the Hungarian
train line and the opportunity to have real Hungarian Goulash
made by a sweet old Hungarian cook was too much to pass up.
The game plan was to rent a car when we got to Dresden and
then to drive to Frauenstein where our hotel was waiting.
Unfortunately there were no rental cars available in Dresden
until tomorrow (noon on the 21st) so I called the hotel and told
them we would be a day late (at least that’s what I THINK I
said). The we got a room for the night in Dresden.
Actually I had intended on spending some time in Dresden
anyhow, since it is the home of the largest and last organ
Silbermann built, so Adam and I split up and I hit the churches.
I went to two protestant churches and the Dome. The old üart
of Dresden is basically a fortress with a palace, gardens and
shops all built behind a huge wall. The church was built in to
part of the palace complex. The fortress is situated on top of a
hill over looking the Ulm River. Beautiful town. The wall itself is
large enough to have a pedestrian walk, shops and
restaurants on top. Most of the city was bombed during the
war so much has been reconstructed. Here again there is
construction happening all over town.
Regarding the organ, I got there in time to sit through a
rehearsal session by the organist. The organ is not as large
as those I saw up north but the sound was more vibrant and
brilliant than any I have heard. Interestingly enough, they made
the decision to move the organ in 1943 to protect it from
bombings. They removed all the internal workings of the
organ, all the pipes etc, and hid them in another location. The
only part of the organ left in the church was the shell when the
Dresden bombings occurred. Because of that decision, it was
the only organ of the three in town made by Silbermann to
survive the bombings. The church was nearly destroyed, but
the organ was safe. They began reconstruction of the church
in the 60s and put the organ back together with plans they
saved from Silbermann’s original drawings. The reconstruction
of the organ was just completed in 2003.
We had a light dinner and settled into a cute little room run by
Ibis Hotels... kind of like a dorm room, bare bones, but with
everything you need.
21 July 05
Got up and headed to a cafe for a light breakfast. Now I am at
the Internet cafe next to the train station. At noon we’ll get our
rental car and head out to Frauenstein.
Adam and I rented a car in Dresden, a Mini Cooper. What a
great little car! The trip to Frauenstein took approximately 45
minutes. The scenery was mostly rolling hills and winding
roads. Very green pretty and wet... yes its been raining off
and on here. After the scenic part of the trip we arrived in
Frauenstein. Small town so it didn’t take long to look around.
The focal point of the town is a small church and the
Silbermann Museum that is located in a castle here. In the
town center is a statue of a set of organ pipes with a kioske
that plays pipe organ music and has a narrative about the
Silbermann family (in Deutsche of course.) We had some time
to kill before the hotel was open so we went to the museum. It
is probably under whelming for the non-musician to see this
museum, but to the organist it is like the discovery of the Holy
Grail. Truthfully I would have gotten more out of it if I could
read German, but even so it was interesting to see the models
of his workshops and pictures and sketches of the organs he
built. There was also a display of the tools he used to craft the
pipes and a working model of one of his organs with a model of
the mechanisms used to create the unique sounds of his
instruments. Also there was mention of the organs that he
made which were played by J.S. Bach. He made 46
instruments during the 40 years of his career, and 31 of them
survived, despite the bombing of most of Germany.
Adam rested while I went to the church
across the street from the hotel. One of the
surviving Silbermann organs is in the
church, and fortunately the church was
open and the organist was practicing.
Beautiful church, smaller than any we have
seen, and the organ wasn’t as grand. Still it
had a nice clear, bright tone. It was a
beautiful church.
We had supper at the hotel. Adam had a
pork roast smothered with mushrooms and
gravy ... he donated the mushrooms to me.
He certainly isn’t the picky eater he used to
be. I had potato soup, excellent, and the
specialty of the house, pork tongue with
potatoes and peas. It came with green
bean salad. After the concert we went to
the organ recital in Freiberg at the Dom.
There was a detour in route so we were
late. There are three Silbermann Organs in
Freiberg. Two of these organs are in the
Dom. I’ll share more about it tomorrow.
22 July 05
After a breakfast at the hotel we went to the
Dom this morning then back to Freiberg. It
is still raining and it was difficult to find a
place to park, but we packed our raincoats
and a small umbrella, so we braved the
weather anyhow.
Like I said, there are two Silbermann organs
in the Dom. The smaller one is upstairs in a
self-contained wooden case above the
alter. The larger one is in the back of the
church. They use both in worship. The
smaller one is used for mass each weekday
and the larger one on Sundays. The organs
are both beautiful, not only in sound but the
Baroque decor adorning them is absolutely
unbelievable... ornate all in gold and a bit
gaudy... in fact the whole church was
ornate. The ceiling had decorations with
kind of green leaves. The pulpits were
amazing... both on a tall circular stairway,
one ornate wooden one and the other
sculpted of stone. They didn’t allow any
pictures, so just took photos of the outside.
We will eat lunch and then head back to
Frauenstein for a relaxing evening... it is
raining hard now so we won’t try to find the
other organ... besides we hear one in
Leipzig on Sunday.
