Spielereien: The Baroque Organist's Playthings

Franz Haselbock - Spielereien: The Baroque Organist's Playthings

performed on Gabler Organ at Basilica of Weingarten

Collection of organ pieces from the Baroque period (approximately from 1600 to 1750) emphasizing accompaniment by devices such as a Zimbelstern, Glockenspiel, Tremulant, organ stops that imitate calls of the cuckoo and nightingale and more.

Zimbelstern - The Zimbelstern is a musical instrument which rings small bells at random as an accompaniment to organ music. The Zimbelstern (also called Cymbalstern) has been used for centuries in devotional music.

The word Zimbelstern means "cymbal-star". In fact, the original Zimbelsterns were made in the shape of a star with small bells at each point. The star was turned, either manually or pneumatically, and the bells were struck by stationary clappers mounted around the star. Modern Zimbelsterns are electrically operated. The bells do not rotate. Instead, a rotating device in the center strikes the bells.

On organs of the Baroque period (1550 to 1750), Zimbelstern was also a mixture stop. This would cause the organ to "break back", or repeat every octave. The higher harmonics produced in this way sounded like small bells. (from The History of the Zimbelstern)

Glockenspiel - A percussion stop whose tone resembles the orchestral glockenspiel. It is formed of dish-shaped bells, spiral rods, bars, or tubes made from steel, copper or bronze, and struck by hammers actuated by a pneumatic or electric mechanism. It is usually of short compass. Skinner gives it resonators, and considers it synonymous with the Celesta, and with the Harp, but pitched an octave higher. Grove dates it from around 1720, in Swabia, Silesia and Saxony, but the earliest known example dates from 1709 (see below). According to Maclean, on theatre organs the Glockenspiel sounds a single stroke each time a key is pressed, and Bells is the same stop with a reiterating action. (from Encyclopedia of Organ Stops)

Tremulant - A device on a pipe organ which varies the wind supply to the pipes of one or more divisions (or, in some cases, the whole organ). This causes their pitch to fluctuate, producing a vibrato effect. A large organ may have several tremulants, affecting different ranks (sets) of pipes. Many tremulants are variable, allowing for the speed and depth of tremolo to be controlled by the organist. The tremulant has been a part of organ building for many centuries, dating back to Italian organs of the sixteenth century. (from Wikipedia)

Nightingale - A stop which imitates the warbling of birds. Most sources describe the construction of these stops as consisting of two or more small metal pipes whose ends are immersed in a vessel of water or light oil. [Peter] Williams, however, writes:

"The usual distinction is between small pipes twittering when the stop-knob admits wind to their miniature chest (Uccelli, Vogelgesang), stopped pipes a third apart and successively blown, thereby creating a cuckoo (Kuckuck), and small open pipes suspended in a metal dish of water, the pipes and dish of one construction (Nachtigall, Rossignol, Usignuolo - ‘nightingale’)."

He also states the the Vogelgesang might be “a very high Zimbel or Flageolet (Adlung), repeating or only slightly varying in pitch from note to note”. Grove dates these stops from at least 1450. According to Williams, they were found mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries throughout Europe, and as late as the mid-19th century in some parts of Spain, Italy and southern Germany. (from Encyclopedia of Organ Stops)

Cuckoo - A “toy” stop which imitates the call of the cuckoo bird using two pipes pitched a major or minor third apart and blown successively. It was, according to Williams, found mainly in the 16th and 17th centuries throughout Europe, and as late as the mid-19th century in some parts of Spain, Italy and southern Germany. (from Encyclopedia of Organ Stops)

Tracklisting:

Side 1

1. Capriccio, "Cuckoo" {3:52}
composed by Johann Kaspar Kerll; uses Cuckoo and Nightingale

2. Carillon {1:44}
composed by Louis Couperin; uses Big Glockenspiel

3. "In dulci jubilo," Chorale prelude, BWV 751 {1:41}
composed by Johann Sebastian Bach; uses Zimbelstern

4. Echo {2:07}
composed by Gerardus Scronx

5. "Lasst unns das Kindelein wiegen," per imitationem Cuculi {5:31}
composed by Franz Xaver Murschhauser; uses Zimbelstern, Cuckoo and Nightingale

6. "Chanton de voix Hautaine," Noel {5:30}
composed by Jean Francois Dandrieu; uses Zimbelstern

Side 2

1. Les Cloches {2:22}
composed by Nicolas Lebegue; uses Big and Little Glockenspiel

2. Ballo della Battaglia {2:54}
composed by Bernardo Storace; uses Drum

3. Echo ad manuale duplex, forte et lene {4:32}
composed by Samuel Scheidt

4. Three Pieces of the Glockenspiel in Salzburg {1:20}
composed by Michael Haydn

5. Pastorale {2:56}
composed by Giambattista Martini; uses Tremulant and Nightingale

6. Nova Cyclopeias Harmonica/Aria-Ad alleorum ictus allusio {6:02}
composed by Georg Muffat; uses Zimbelstern and Little Glockenspiel

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