Addenda to my articles (2000–current) on subsemitones in organs

Addenda to my articles about split keys

(as of October 2020)

See detailed bibliographical information in my list of published articles, here, and

a complete list of historical organs with subsemitones here.

• "Subsemitoetsen bij historische orgels tussen 1468 en 1721." (Het orgel, 2000)

• "Subsemitoner i historiska orglar. En överblick över utvecklingen mellan 1468 och 1721." (Tidig Musik, 2000)

• "Subsemitonien in historischen Orgeln. Ein Überblick über die Entwicklung zwischen 1468 und 1721." (Concerto 2000)

  • "Organs with Split Keys or Added Keys fewer than 17 tones per octave (but more than 12)." http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tuning/message/20120 (2001).

  • "Subsemitones in organs built between 1468 and 1721. Introduction and commentary with an annotated catalog." (GOArt Research Reports, vol. 3, 2003).

  • "Pipe Organs with Subsemitones, 1468-1721." and "Historical Organs with Subsemitones, 1468-1721: Appendix B." (The Mathematical Theory of Tone Systems, 2004)

• Die Praxis der Orgelstimmung in Norddeutschland im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert und ihr Verhältnis zur zeitgenössischen Musikpraxis (The practice of organ tuning in North Germany in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries and its relationship to contemporary musical practice).

• PhD Diss. Göteborg: Göteborgs universitet, Dept. of Musicology and Film Studies, 2004. (315 pages).

• Revised version 2007 online

  • – Chapter 7 Subsemitonien im Orgelbau Norddeutschlands und angrenzenden Gebieten

  • "Subsemitonium." (Lexikon der Orgel, 2007)

• "Subsemitonien und Aufführungspraxis." In Die älteste Orgel Wiens. Die "Wöckherl-Orgel" (1642) in der Wiener Franziskanerkirche, hrsg. v. Wolfgang Kreuzhuber. Wien: Institut für Orgel, Orgelforschung und Kirchenmusik an der Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst, 2011: 184–189.

  • "Gottfried Frietzsch [Fritzsche] and the Subsemitones in the Large Organ of Hamburg, St. Catherine's."

    • Click on the following link to find Corrigenda and Errata.

• "Gottfried Frietzschs Orgelbau in Hamburg: St. Katharinen und die Subsemitonien."

• Ars Organi [Germany, ISSN 0004-2919] 68, no. 3 (2020), p. 146-156.

  • • This is a substantial update of the original article "Gottfried Frietzsch and the Subsemitones in the Large Organ of Hamburg, St. Catherine's" which was published in 2019 in the A Festschrift for Prof. Kerala J. Snyder (translated by the author. In: A Festschrift for Prof. Kerala J. Snyder, ed. by Johann Norrback, Joel Speerstra, and Ralph Locke. Göteborg: University of Gothenburg [Göteborg Organ Art Center], 2019, 13 p.

      • = GOArt Publications, vol. 4.

    • The latest update in German contains even additional information in comparison with the enlarged second version, "Gottfried Frietzsch en het grote orgel in Hamburgse St.-Katharinen. Het aantal manualen, hun omvang en subsemitoetsen" (translated into Dutch by Jan Smelik. Het Orgel 116, no. 2, 2020, p. 20-27. Abstract in English and Dutch.)

    • Click on this link to find an outline of the updated information.

According to a positive review of my 2003 article (in: GOArt Research Reports 3) by Pier Paolo Donati in Informazione Organistica XV, no. 3, 2003, p. 256-7) six instruments from Italy can be added to the list of organs with subsemitones

• 1484 Lucca, San Martino Domenico di Lorenzo,

• (organ builder not known)

• 1506 Pistoia, Santa Maria del Letto,

• Andrea di Nanni

• 1551 Pieve Santo Stefano (Lucca),

• Onofrio Zeffirini

• 1567 Ravenna, Cathedral/Duomo,

• Benedetto Schiaminosse and Baldassarre Malamini

• 1597-1600, Pisa, Cathedral/Duomo,

• Giorgio Steiniger and Francesco Palmieri

• 1648, Mesagne, Collegiata,

• Tomaso Mauro di Muro

One instrument in North West Germany can be added according to information in

Rolf Hallensleben: "Was nicht im 'Kaufmann' steht." [part I, concerning the Reformed Church in] Ostfriesland. Zeitschrift für Kultur, Wirtschaft und Verkehr, no. 2: Das Steinhaus in Bunderhee. (1978): 36-37.

• 1709 Eilsum (Ostfriesland, Lower Saxony),

• Joachim Kayser

Dorothea Schröder found in 2005 documents proving the existence of subsemitones in the organ of St. Peter's in Hamburg:

Dorothea Schröder: Gloria in excelsis Deo. Eine Geschichte der Orgeln in der Hauptkirche St. Petri.

Hamburg. Neumünster: Wachholtz 2006.

• 1634 Hamburg, St. Petri,

• Gottfried Fritzsche

• [rebuilt and enlargement: subsemitones d#, ab and a# in all three manuals]

New evidence for the (most likely) first known organs with subsemitones in the very South of Germany stems from a recent article by

Franz Körndle: "Paul Prescher, das Subsemitonium und der Denkmalschutz."

In: Beitragsarchiv zur Jahrestagung der Gesellschaft für Musikforschung Halle/Saale 2015 – »Musikwissenschaft: die Teildisziplinen im Dialog«, ed. by Wolfgang Auhagen and Wolfgang Hirschmann. [http://schott-campus.com/gfm-jahrestagung-2015]. Mainz: Schott 2016 [Schott Campus, urn:nbn:de:101:1-201609083185].

• 1638–1642 Rothenburg/Tauber, Stadtkirche St. Jakob,

• Hans Leonhardt Schannat

• Subsemitones d#, ab and a# in the "Ober Manual", and eb in the Positiv

• 1669 Nördlingen, St. Georg,

• Paul Prescher

• Subsemitones possible and probable

• before 1683 Wettenhausen, monastery (until 1802-03 Imperial Abbey of Augustinian Canons, Dominican since),

• Paul Prescher

• The existence of subsemitones is possible, though somewhat doubtful. As Körndle explains the existence of subsemitones for d# and a# can be explained by the two keyboards (one on the front, one on the back side of the organ) which were a whole tone apart (compare with Brixen, s. below).

• 1683 Niederschönenfeld, parish church Mariä Himmelfahrt (former Cistercian monastery/nunnery),

• Paul Prescher

• The existence of subsemitones is possible, though somewhat doubtful. As Körndle explains the existence of subsemitones for d# and a# can be explained by the two keyboards (one on the front, one on the back side of the organ) which were a whole tone apart (compare with Brixen, s. below).

Matthias Reichling kindly provided me with a number of instruments with split keys in the former Habsburg lands and Bavaria:

Literature:

Alfred Reichling and Matthias Reichling: "Beiträge zur Orgel- und Musikgeschichte der Kollegiatkirche Unsere Liebe Frau im Kreuzgang zu Brixen".

In: Die Daniel-Herz-Orgel der Frauenkirche in Brixen, ed. by Franz Comploi and Kurt Estermann (eds.). Rum/Innsbruck: Helbling, 2010 (= vol. 2, Tiroler Orgelschatz), p. 238-297 and p. 416-431.

Reichling, Matthias: "Der Orgelbauer Hans Weckherl."

In: Die älteste Orgel Wiens. Die "Wöckherl-Orgel" [1642] in der Wiener Franziskanerkirche, ed. by Wolfgang Kreuzhuber. Wien, 2011, p. 144-183.

• 17th century, unknown provenience, windchest today in Oberpettnau (part of Pettnau near Innsbruck, Tyrol, Austria), Filialkirche St. Josef.

• Unknown organ builder

• The organ (1887) built by Franz Weber contains an old windchest from the 17th century with 49 channels. The subsemitones were e^b°/d^#°, g^#°/a^b, e^b1/d^#1.

• (Reichling & Reichling 2010, p. 253)

• Early 17th century, (today in) Natters (Tyrol, Austria), Parish Church (Pfarrkirche)

• (originally possibly: 1629 Innsbruck (Tyrol, Austria), Imperial Court church [Hofkirche], positive organ

• Leopold Rotenburger)

  • This organ came in 1811 into the Parish Church in Natters (Tyrol). The façade pipes of the Principal 4' contained as of 1983 extra pipes for d# and g#.

  • (Reichling & Reichling 2010, p. 253).

• 1634 Vienna, Hofburg (Imperial palace), positive organ

• Hans Weckherl (autograph spelling; in the literature even Wöckherl,Wöckerl).

• The positive was donated to Páty (Hungary) later in the 18th century. The windchest is preserved. 52 channels: 45 pallets for the ordinary keys (compass CDEFGA-c³?) plus 7 subsemitones.

• (Reichling 2011, p. 172-174).

• 1648/1649 Brixen (ital. Bressanone; South Tyrol, Italy), Kollegiatkirche Unsere Liebe Frau im Kreuzgang, church organ

• Daniel Herz

• The extant organ has two manuals and a small pedal. The two manuals serve to provide different pitches: Chorton (manual II) and Cammerton (manual I) respectively. Manual II, the Chorton manual has subsemitones that serve whole tone transposition. Compass (manual II): CDE-c³ (47 keys) plus 15 subsemitones for all upper keys ("sharps") from c#° onwards:

  • • c^#°/d^b, e^b°/d^#°, f^#°/g^b°, g^#°/a^b, b^b°/a^#°

• (Reichling & Reichling 2010).

• 1653 Sammarei (near Passau, Lower Bavaria), Pilgrimage Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (Wallfahrtskirche Mariä Himmelfahrt), church organ

• Georg Paur

  • The extant organ has 52 pallets of which 7 are not in use today. The position shows that the seven pallets served for the subsemitones

  • B^b/A^#, e^b°/d^#°, b^b°/a^#°, e^b1/d^#1, b^b1/e^#1, e^b2/d^#2, b^b2/a^#2

  • (Reichling & Reichling 2010, p. 253)

In December 2020 I found in the literature that the "Oberwerk" (i. e. Hauptwerk) of the organ built by Joachim Zschugk (ca. 1580–ca. 1640) in the Stadtkirche St. Wenzel in Naumburg in 1613–1616 had three "enharmonic keys".

• 1613–1616 Naumburg, Stadtkirche St. Wenzel,

• Joachim Zschugk

• Subsemitones ("enharmonische Tasten") in the "Oberwerk" (i. e. Hauptwerk) of the organ (III/P 38). Since two of the three manuals could be coupled, it might be that either the Brustwerk or the Rückpositiv also had the three subsemitones.

• Distribution: d#°, d#¹, d#²

  • • Cf. Ulrich Dähnert: Der Orgel- und Instrumentmacher Zacharias Hildebrandt. Sein Verhältnis zu Gottfried Silbermann und Johann Sebastian Bach. Ed. by Institut für Denkmalpflege Dresden. Leipzig: VEB Breitkopf & Härtel, 1962.

    • December 10, 2020: Zschugk was a probably former apprentice of Johann Lange (1543–1616), who again was a former apprentice of Hans Scherer the Elder (ca. 1535–1611). As even Gottfried Frietzsch probably was a former journeyman of Johann Lange, a possible influence of Johann Lange on the interest of Frietzsch and Zschugk in "enharmonic" keys may be considered.