Stralsund, St. Marien, Stellwagen Organ

Stellwagen organ, St. Marien, Stralsund (1655-1659)

The organ of St. Marien church in Stralsund (DE) was built by Friedrich Stellwagen (1603-1660). Today, the organbuilder is an iconic figure in German organbuilding and this organ with 51 stops on 3 manuals and a pedal is his largest preserved instrument. The organ replaced an older instrument that was destroyed by fire. During the construction of the organ, Stellwagen set up his workshop directly in the church, in the tower halls. Construction began in 1655 and was completed by October of 1659. Stellwagen died a year after that in 1660.
 
Numerous carved and painted figures, flames, grimaces and other elements decorate the 20-metre-high façade. In the centre stand a statue of King David playing harp, surrounded by music-making angels. The sun, moon, stars, and a winged globe crowning the organ just below the cathedral vault are also among the rich decorations. Below the case hangs an angel playing a trumpet. All these motifs went on to be characteristic of North German organ case style.
 
Two of the angels include the Stellwagen family coat of arms (a carriage frame) and the inscription "M. Friederich Stellwagen has performed this work. Anno 1659". On the highest crown of the façade stands an angel on a globe, holding an instrument with his right arm and a banner with the inscription "S. Dominus Deus Sabaoth" with his left arm. The central case houses the Hauptwerk and the Oberwerk. On either side are monumental pedal towers, and an equally impressive positive organ case sits in the balustrade of the organ gallery.
 
The organ is positioned quite high in the church, making its sound rather distant on the floor of the nave. Combined with the extreme reverberation of the building, recording this instrument was unusually challenging.
 
One of the most surprising features of this instrument is its very narrow scaling. The sound is clear and unusually rich in overtones. The organ was "progressive" at its time, inspired by the then-modern ideas expressed by Praetorius. For example, the Trumpet is narrow at the bottom, and wide on top, which makes the overall sound of the stop especially suitable for ensemble playing because of its good balance across the compass for polyphonic pieces. The bass is not too loud and the top is not too weak. We suspect that neo-baroque organbuilding of the second half of the 20th century took a lot of inspiration from this organ, which is why this particular instrument is so important to the history of organ building.
 
The instrument was changed significantly at numerous times during its history, and only a small part of the original material by Stellwagen has survived. However, Stellwagen pipes were available for many stops of the organ (550 pipes altogether). Therefore, restoration was possible, and it happened between 2004-2008 by the Wegscheider firm. When necessary, Stellwagen stops from other existing organs were studied in order to recreate stops for this monumental instrument.
 
Notes:
 
The OW Plockflött sounds at 8', according to the original contract when the organ was built. Some sources erroneously suggest this stop was a 4' stop.
 
The Sifflit was made a 1 1/3' stop during the restoration by Schuke (1952-1959). The Wegscheider restoration returned the stop to the original 1' pitch.
 
The Dultz Flött 4' is voiced to be very slowly overblowing. As the result, the stop is to be used paired with an 8' stop, it is not suitable sounding alone.
 
The temperament of the instrument is meantone.

 

Further reading:

  • wikipaedia
  • http://www.stellwagen.de/html/gdo_bau.htm
  • Evangelische Kirchengemeinde St. Marien Stralsund (Hrsg.): Die Stellwagen-Orgel in Sankt Marien zu Stralsund. Eine Bestandsaufnahme, Chronik und Dokumentation. Verlag Organum Buch, 2006.
  • Evangelische Kirchengemeinde St. Marien Stralsund (Hrsg.): Die Stellwagen-Orgel in der Marienkirche zu Stralsund. Festschrift zur Wiederweihe der restaurierten Orgel. Stralsund 2008.

Features

Encryption

The samples are offered in 48kHz/24bit resolution. The multiple releases have three levels: short, mid and long. Hauptwerk v7 and higher supported. The sample set is offered encrypted using the Hauptwerk native encryption. iLok licence necessary.

Reverb time

The reverb time is ca. 8 seconds.

Keyboards, pedalboard

The original compass of the keyboards is 49 keys (low C# missing), extendable to 51 keys via a mixer switch. The original compass of the pedal division is 30 keys (but low C# missing), extendable to 32 keys via a mixer switch.

Tremulants

All ranks of the Werck and Oberposidiff were recorded with and without tremulants for the most convincing tremulant behavior. It is possible to select to use the artificial tremulant instead if desired (the switch is located on the mixer tab).

Requirements

RAM consumption: 6-channel surround

16-bit, other settings default:  34 GB

20-bit, other settings default: 54  GB

24-bit, other settings default:  62 GB

Screen resolution 1280x1024 px or more.

Polyphony of 8.000 voices recommended for the full suround.

Surround format

The sample set is offered in a Surround variant (6 channels). There are direct channels, diffuse channels, and rear channels.

To reproduce the surround format, an audio card with at least 4 output channels is required, dedicating the direct and diffuse channels for the front speakers, and other two channels for the rear speakers.


 

I Stimmen in rückpositiff. CD–c3
1. Gr.Quintadeen 16′
2. Principall 8′
3. Gedact 8′
4. Quintadeen 8′
5. Octava 4′
6. Dultz Flött 4′
7. Feltpfeiffe 2′
8. Sifflitt 1′
9. Sesquialtra II
10. Scharffs VI–VIII  
11. Zimbell III  
12. Dulcian 16′
13. Tröchter Regal 8′
14. Sup. regal 4′
II Stimmen in werck. CD–c3
15. Principall 16′
16. Bordun 16′
17. Octava 8′
18. Spitz Flött 8′
19. Hollquinta 5 1⁄3′
20. Superoctav 4′
21. Holl Flött 4′
22. Flachflött 2′
23. Rauschpfeiffe II–IV  
24. Mixtur VI–X  
25. Scharffs IV–VI
26. G.Trommet 16′
III Stimmen in oberposidiff. CD–c3
27. Principall 8′
28. Holflött 8′
29. G.Plockflött * 8′
30. Octava 4′
31. Kl.quintadeen 4′
32. Nasat 2 2⁄3′
33. Gemshoren 2′
34. Scharffs IV–VII  
35. Trommet 8′
36. Krumhoren 8′
37. Schalmey 4′
Pedal Stimmen in bas. CD–f1
38. Gros.principall.Bas 32′
39. Principall Bas 16′
40. Gedact.undersatz 16′
41. Octaven Bas 8′
42. Spitzflött Bas 8′
43. Superoctav Bas 4′
44. Nachthoren Bas 4′
45. Feltpfeiffen Bas 2′
46. Mixtur Bas IV  
47. Posaunen Bas 16′
48. Trommet Bas 8′
49. Dulcian Bas 8′
50. Schallmey Bas 4′
51. Cornet Bas 2′

 * Plockflött sounds at 8' or 4' via a dedicated switch on the mixer tab.

Accessories

Coupler III/II, Ventil zum Rückpositiff, Werckventil, Ventil zum Oberposidiff, Ventil zum bas.

Vogelgeschrei, Glocklein, Zimbelstern, Trommell.

Tremulant (working on Werck and Oberposidiff).

 

 

Screenshots

 

 

Console view:

this is the general console view. It serves to define the keyboard MIDI inputs for all the divisions. The only active part of this view are the manuals and the pedals. Specifying the MIDI inputs is done by right-clicking on the desired manual or pedal. All the other screen components are image-only.

 

 

 

Mixer view:

The output levels of the direct, diffuse, and rear ranks can be adjusted here. Also the blower and tremulant noises can be adjusted.

The pipe coupling and pipe detuning features can be adjusted. The sound gets somewhat mistuned with higher settings, giving the "chorus" effect to the overall sound, often found pleasingly "floating".

The mixer settings can be stored, retrieved, reset. 3 different mixer settings can be stored/recalled any time.

The switches:

Select the sampled (real) tremulant or the artificial (Hauptwerk model) tremulant.

Select the mixtures sounding as recorded (casually mistuned) or purely tuned.

The compass extension allows for the top most added keys to be heard.

The Plockflött switch serves to change the pitch of the stop from 8' to 4' and vice versa.

Blower switch must be always on (to give virtual air into the organ, allowing it to speak).

  
 

Left+Right Jambs view:

for dual touch screens, split jambs were created. They allow for portrait or landscape orientation, according to the orientation of the touch screens.

 

 

 

Left + Right Jambs Vertical view:

the dual stop jambs offer vertical (portrait) orientation as an alternative.

 

 

 

 

 

Simple Jamb:

simplified version of a single jamb to allow for more readable version of the stop names on small LCD touch screens. There are two variants: landscape and portrait.

All the stops of the organ can be found here.

Physical pistons or draw stops can be assigned to a virtual button on screen by right-clicking on the button.

The indicators for BW swell shutters show the actual position of the pedals.

 

Single Jamb:

All the stops are available on a single screen.

 

 

 

  1. Stralsund, St. Marien, Stellwagen Organ, Vol.1

    Stralsund, St. Marien, Stellwagen Organ. Direct, diffuse, rear channels. 14 sounding stops. Minimum Hauptwerk version: 4.2. (Also works in all higher versions.) No encryption. Free volume.
    Price: Excl. Tax: €0.00 Incl. Tax *: €0.00 Excl. Tax

    Detail & order

  2. Stralsund, St. Marien, Stellwagen Organ, vol.2

    Stralsund, St. Marien, Stellwagen Organ. Together with vol.1 forms a complete sample set (51 stops, direct, diffuse, rear channels). Also install vol.1 for a complete sample set. Vol.2 is encrypted, usable only in Hauptwerk 7 and higher.
    Price: Excl. Tax: €780.00 Incl. Tax *: €943.80 Excl. Tax

    Detail & order