Leipzig
June 17, 2003

Although we had at one time planned a trip to Halle in the morning, prudence prevailed once again, and we took the opportunity to just be “at liberty” until our appointment at the Thomaskirche in the afternoon. Some of us stepped into Mendelssohn’s apartment for a quick look. We shopped, walked around the city, did our laundry, visited the Musical Instrument Museum, had film developed, visited the Nicolaikirche, and in general enjoyed the day. On the way from our hotel to the Town Square some of us even took a moment to visit Mendelssohn’s apartments, where he lived when he was in Leipzig.

J.S. Bach and American Organists

During all of these activities, however, we never lost sight of our primary reason for being here, and many of us even ate lunch at one of the many cafes in the shadow of the Thomaskirche. Of course, like all such groups of Americans who visit this place, we gathered under the statue of J.S. Bach to have a photo made. It somehow would have been wrong to just ignore that tradition.

Then we went inside. Simply entering this church is enough to give me a very strong “history attack,” and I think I was not the only one to be affected by the site of J. S. Bach’s grave marker in the chancel. We spent a little time just wandering around, soaking in the fact that we were in the church where Bach had written his cantatas and his late organ works. If only those stones had talked to us!

Sauer Organ, 1905

At 4:00 Frau Almuth Reuther met us and talked to us briefly about the two organs now in the Thomaskirche. She then began a demonstration by playing the Sauer organ in the rear gallery. This is the instrument played by Straube during his tenure as Thomaskantor, and the one that is intimately connected with the works of Max Reger. Frau Reuther’s playing of Mendalssohn and Reger on this instrument was stunning, to say the least, and we were all as much taken with her playing as we were with the instrument.

The demonstration continued with performances of works by Bach on the Neue Bach Orgel built by Gerald Woehl and installed in the north gallery. After hearing both of these instruments, we were invited to the gallery for a closer look. One of the fascinating aspects of the new organ is a device that permits the performer to choose either Chorton (a=465) or Kammerton, about one step lower. Frau Reuther demonstrated several specific stops on each instrument for us before we left the church.

Photos