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Guest Andrew Butler

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A picture

of the partyhorns (copyright Kölner StadtAnzeiger).

 

BTW. they seem to be a private donation.

Schön, na?

 

Most interesting. This clarifies the diagram on the Cologne Cathedral web site (which I quoted earlier).

 

I would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how the two stops differ in sound. I am dying to know Klais's perceptions of how to represent the Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter using tubas. As someone said earlier on this thread, I wonder which one is the fatter! (No disrespect intended, of course).

 

John

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This is all quite astounding.

 

Presumably the only use for this rank is to herald the arrival of a visiting monarch or dignitary - due to the spatial separation between it and the other two instruments, even antiphonal playing would be somewhat taxing. As for a certain piece by Purcell (or Clarke), one wonders how far in advance of any accompaniment it would be necessary to play the solo part on this stop....

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Indeed - but it is also considerably colder in Cologne Cathedral in the winter than it is in St. Paul's. I wonder how they propose to keep their shiny new party-horns in tune?

 

Shouldn't be much of problem: there isn't any heating there (or is there?), so temperature changes might go slowly. But tuning a regular trumpet can be anoying to the ears, let alone such a 100 inch powered hooter ...

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Shouldn't be much of problem: there isn't any heating there (or is there?), so temperature changes might go slowly. But tuning a regular trumpet can be anoying to the ears, let alone such a 100 inch powered hooter ...

We German organists tune our own reeds, you know - every week, if need be. I would imagine that Klais has thought out a way of making them reachable.......

 

On the other hand, Bonn is just down the road; the Klais-man could come over on the tram.

 

No, there is no heating.

 

 

B

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A picture

of the partyhorns (copyright Kölner StadtAnzeiger).

 

BTW. they seem to be a private donation.

Schön, na?

 

==================

 

I don't know what it means, but one of the words in the caption to the photograph seems to sum those party-horns up perfectly.

 

I think they should re-name them "Windfangs"

 

B)

 

 

MM

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Incredible!

 

I really must try to get over there again and hear them.

 

Barry - I know that there is no heating in Cologne Cathedral (I discovered this in about February 2000!), but I wondered why. Would you surmise that this is due to the fact that the building is considered to be too large to heat? Or are our German friends more hardy than us?

 

Do they still have parts of the remains of the Three Wise Men buried there? (I believe that it was they who were supposed to be interred in the cathedral, in a chest near the high altar.)

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Incredible!

 

I really must try to get over there again and hear them.

 

Barry - I know that there is no heating in Cologne Cathedral (I discovered this in about February 2000!), but I wondered why. Would you surmise that this is due to the fact that the building is considered to be too large to heat? Or are our German friends more hardy than us?

 

Do they still have parts of the remains of the Three Wise Men buried there? (I believe that it was they who were supposed to be interred in the cathedral, in a chest near the high altar.)

 

We have no heating either here in Magdeburg. Something to do with the shortage of money, I suspect, as it is all over the east. Cologne is something of a one-off in the West; they compensate for it by being very catholic and getting everything over with pretty smartly in the winter. There is something to be said for that. Most cathedrals / large parish churches in our neck of the woods move into somewhere smaller for the winter. The Marienkirche in Lübeck has no heating either, though. I imagine that at the time these places were being rebuilt after the war there didn't seem any real possibility of getting them warm enough for it to make any difference for an affordable amount of money. And protestant churches in Germany aren't used much, so why bother? Different for the catholics.

 

As to the three wise bears, I'm not really sure. They aren't buried there, they just have some relics........we, on the other hand, have half the lower jaw of the whale that swallowed Jonah. The upper one is in Halberstadt.

 

Cheers

Barry

 

PS A Windfang is a porch designed to "catch the wind", i.e double-doored. But I like the other interpretation better too.

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  • 5 weeks later...
I would be grateful if anyone could enlighten me as to how the two stops differ in sound.  I am dying to know Klais's perceptions of how to represent the Archbishop and the Cathedral Chapter using tubas.  As someone said earlier on this thread, I wonder which one is the fatter!  (No disrespect intended, of course).

 

 

As no-one here seemed to know, I contacted Klais. Their response:

 

"The two Tubas in Cologne are different in tone color. One is rather on the dark side like an English Tuba - in the direction of a dark Willis. The other one is much brighter, rather like a bright Skinner. The two high pressure reeds in the transept organ are again brighter than the two new horizontal ones. So we have four Tubas in the entire instrument ranging from very dark to very bright."

 

So far, so good. Now, what does a 'bright Skinner' (tuba) sound like - compared to English tubas? The only American sounds I am familiar with are what I hear on The Simpsons!

 

John

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It's surprising how obsessed contributors are with tubas! Even though they only have a role in pieces like Willcock's Christmas hymns.

 

Anyway, I recently read that Daniel Roth said the best romantic organ in the US is at the Woolsey Hall, Yale. So I bought the Thomas Murray JAV124 recording. The organ is an enormous Skinner. This recording is a really interesting and approachably presented. There are 2 CDs: one explains the stops on the organ with lavish examples (hear the strings!!! ;)B) ), the other plays a selection of music.

 

Coming to the point, there is a Tuba Mirabilis and a Trumpet harmonique on the Solo, both on 25" wind. These are illustrated separately.....

and ....... ;)together!! ;)

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It's surprising how obsessed contributors are with tubas! Even though they only have a role in pieces like Willcock's Christmas hymns.

 

Anyway, I recently read that Daniel Roth said the best romantic organ in the US is at the Woolsey Hall, Yale.  So I bought the Thomas Murray JAV124 recording.  The organ is an enormous Skinner. This recording is a really interesting and approachably presented. There are 2 CDs: one explains the stops on the organ with lavish examples (hear the strings!!!  ;)  B) ), the other plays a selection of music.

 

Coming to the point, there is a Tuba Mirabilis  and a Trumpet harmonique on the Solo, both on 25" wind.  These are illustrated separately.....

and ....... ;)  together!!   ;)

 

====================

 

What better than Wagnerian Tubas? Get out the ear-defenders for this one.

 

Try the following link for a whole selection of Skinner Tubas, from "mf" through to "ffffffffffffffffffff-ew" ..... all from the Skinner at Woolsey Hall, Yale University.

 

http://pipedreams.publicradio.org/listings/0312/

 

 

Wagner - Entry of the Guests/Grand March, fr Tannhaüser - Thomas Murray

(A selection of Tubas!) starting at 5m 53sec

 

 

Just for added pleasure, in view of the "Sticky out party horn" theme under "chamades" here can be heard, on the same programme, the State Trumpet at St.J-the-D, New York.

 

Especially interesting is the background to the recording, for it seems that this was "playing by committee" with many pairs of hands playing simultaneously!

 

Ride of the Valkyries -Anthony Newman @ St. John the Divine 1hr 19m 00sec

 

MM

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Given that the spaciousness of the place is quite overbearing (as I was assured by a German last week), perhaps the cathedral is trying to emulate St Paul's?

According to this news article, it would sound like it. Translation:

 

 

=======================

Kölner Domorgel mit neuen Pfeifen

(Cologne Cathedral organ with new pipes)

http://www.ksta.de/html/artikel/1144908096069.shtml

 

Cologne - during the festival mass on Easter evening, two new stops in the organ of Cologne Cathedral were played for the first time. The new "Tuba episcopalis" (Tuba of the Episcopacy) and "Tuba capitularis" (Tuba of the Cathedral Chapter) are installed over the west door of the cathedral and are on extremely high wind pressure according to a communication by the diocese on Tuesday.

 

 

Like the Royal Trumpets in St. Paul's Cathedral, London the high pressure stops in Cologne Cathedral will only continue to be heard in large services. The American organist and composer Stephen Tharp composed the "Easter fanfare" for occasions like this.

 

(Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 13th April 2006)

=======================

 

1143989727006l.jpg

(For anyone who missed the picture: a great shot with the new pipes on the right. Source: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger, 13.04.2006)

 

Having spent a few years learning German I did that translation without the aid of Babelfish so it might be a bit wrong in parts.

 

Dave

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  • 1 year later...

Went to Cologne yesterday to hear Colin Walsh play french (iron) repertoire (Langlais, Frank, Tournemire, Dupre, Durufle, and Bridge).

 

Having arrived at the Dom half an hour before the concert, nearly all seats were taken, which seems to be 'immer so'; at 20.00 is was a full house (imagine the size ...), people even bringing there own chairs.

 

The whole ensemble is awesome, the 'vox balanae' is somewhat terrifying: like a major earthquake ...

Not sure which of the partyhorns was used, but the at the end of Durufle's 'Soissons-fugue' the used tuba sounded rather 'normal'; very loud, ok, but a civilised tone.

There's not much (audible) timelag between the organs, both organs were used much in tutti passages (and alternating, to great effect), but the tutti is in no sense 'unpleasant' to here; it is a very loud, very large sound, but no screechy mixtures or reeds, still rather 'polite'.

 

If you have a chance, go hear it.

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