Listening to JS Bach´s Organ Music in St Andreas, Braunschweig.

 

The organ in St Andreas, (St Andrew´s Church) Braunschweig.

 

During the summer months, many of the churches in Braunschweig, including the Cathedral, present a series of concerts, free of charge, but asking for a donation on leaving.  Last Friday late afternoon,  I went to St Andreas to listen to an organ recital given by the church organist Rüdiger Wilhelm.  The audience was small in number, but what we heard was some wonderful music by Michael Praetorius, 1571-1621, written at a time when he was Kapellmeister at the court in Wolfenbüttel, a town not far from Brunschweig.  Also on the programme, and best of all to my ears, were two works by my favourite man, JS Bach.

 

I was vaguely familiar with the first work, a trio, "Honour God alone on High, Allein Gott in der Höh sei Ehr" BWV 664, but very much more familiar with the second,  the famous "Toccata and Fugue" in D Minor BWV 565, much performed. and a work most people seem to know. 

 

It was to wonderful to listen to the work live, and to watch the organist perform the impossible task of playing with two hands, while his feet moved in different directions playing the bass notes on the pedals.  The sound was amazing as it reverberated around the high arches of the church, and gave me goose bumps in the process.

 

St Andreas and the Old Weigh House, reconstructed after its destruction in WWll.

 

My camera has flecks of dust on the lens that I cannot remove, so I am sorry for the quality of the above photo.  Normally I take photos of landscapes that contain little sky, where I can align the dust spots in distant trees and bushes, but when it comes to an expanse of sky, the picture quality is awful!  

 

The photo shows the tower of Andeas, which can be climbed on certain days of the week, and to the left, the Old Weigh House, which is now a school, and was rebuilt in the 1990´s after its total destruction during the bombing of Braunschweig in October 1944, when 90% of the city´s half timbered houses were destroyed.

 

The church font with the stained glass windows reflected in the water.

 

I was trying to be clever, and snap the colours of the stained glass in the water, but it did not work as well as in Salisbury Cathedral.  As I was taking the photo, a German couple spoke about what a good idea it was, and they too tried to photograph the reflections in a gold bottomed font.  I told them about the huge font in Salisbury, which has a black bottom, and reflects the stained glass and ceiling arches in high definition.  The lady mentioned that she had visited Salisbury as a student, but many years before the new reflecting font was installed.

 

What a small world.