Netherlands

Today we left Germany, and that was rather sad. 4 of us traveled to the Netherlands where we will remain until June 9. We are staying with some friends of one of the guys in my program. This host family is amazingly nice, and vegetarian, so I ate a wonderful meal. The dessert was amazing.... little pancakes with ice cream, fresh cranberry sauce, and the sweetest richest whip cream I ever had in my life. We went to an organ recital this evening and then to see the North Sea.... and as you can tell from this pic that was taken at 10:15 PM, the sun does not go down very early in these parts....

St. Marien Kirche

So this church was pretty amazing. It was dates from 1230, and the organ was competed 4 years before JS Bach was born. This organ was one manual, no pedal, and total mean tone, and it was WONDERFUL.

Playing this beautiful instrument.
Behind the alter. Every Lutheran pastor since the time of the reformation was listed out. It gave me chills. Deep history.
Look at these pipes... not even smooth... such an old organ!

My guyLuther on the pulpit!

A lovely little flower growing in the cracks of the stone outside the building.

The building.

The baptismal font that dates from the 12th century. Unbelievable.

The church.

WOW!!!!!

Monday May 25

Today we went out and saw three little organs. I tell you, it's a good thing I have Poco or I would never ever come back to the US. It's just to great here.

First stop was to St. Barholomaus Kirche, Dornum. This church had a Lutheran Kindergarten and the kids were all out playing and talking in German. The organ was pretty great, but not my most favorite. This small German town had a castle, and felt more German because it was out in the country with winding roads, lush gardens, and old German style housing. After playing the organ, we went out and some had real tea with this great German china tea set. So fun.

Kindergarten!

Playing the organ

Organ

Tea party!



Next stop was Ev. Luth. Kirche, Carolinesiel. Again, so tiny there wasn't much info on the building. It was far far north, by the sea, so there were a lot of sail boats in this church.


Organ

Inside

Playing the organ

Our last stop was huge, so putting it in a different post...

A big old update.

Sunday....

I'm going to give you the reader's digest version since I'm behind a few days and very tired...

Today we moved to Norden. Our first stop was St. Marien Kirche, Marienhafe. This church had a lot of palm trees. It had a tower that we climbed up and that was fun. This church was from the 13th century and only part of it remained. It was built between 1230-1270. It originally was much higher and longer but it was not preserved. This church also had a huge tower that had a pirate living in it from 1395-1401. The organ is once of the most original Baroque organs in this area.

The organ

The altar

The view from the tower

At the top of the tower

Playing the organ

Our next stop was Warfriedkirche, Osteel. Don't know much about the church, but they had cool faces on the pipes. Also, we got to pump the organ. Fun stuff.

Building.

Organ

Faces on organ


Playing the organ

Pumping the organ

Then we spent the evening at St. Ludgeri Kirche... an old Lutheran church from the 13th century, chancel was complete in 1455, pews were rented out. We visited this for 3 nights, so pics to come.

Our new hotel...

So we started off bright and early again today. Our first matter of business was to go to the Katherinekirche in Hamburg for a master class with Prof. Peter van Dijk. This church was built in 1250. Yup, 1250. It’s amazing how they could build such a great building like that w/out the help of machines and stuff. Anyway, this is a very important church… first of all, it’s Lutheran and has a big picture of Luther on the wall. Also, several famous organists were here. It was bombed during WWII, and the organ was destroyed. This is a real shame, because it was an amazing organ and J.S. Bach himself played there. Stupid war. Anyway, the building survived the bombings (the walls and pillars remained intact) and 16 ranks were saved. 5 disappeared and we don’t know where they are, but 11 are accounted for. They are reconstructing the organ and currently have the ruckpostiv in. They wisely added this because it is small (hardly small.. This thing is huge!) so that people will think it looks incomplete and continue to donate to get the rest of the organ. The reverb is amazing, and the ruckpositiv is so big you can do quite a lot with it. I did not play in the master class, but here are some pics from that church.

LUTHER!!! This guy is all over. He's my hero.

Church

Close up of altar

Organ

Our next stop was to St. Jakobi Kirche where we saw this amazing Arp Schnitger Organ. This organ was pretty amazing. First off, THE J.S. Bach applied for a job here and was rejected. What a stupid thing for the church to reject him. Imagine what his music may have looked like if he had gotten to work on these Schnitger organs!!! WOW. They took the fascade pipes out in WWI for the war. Then in WWII they took the insides of the organ and hid it. The case was destroyed, but the guts of the organ were safe. How cool is that? Numerous adjustments and changes have been made to this organ over time.

Church

Organ

Heaven on Earth

:)

Also went to a music school to see some organs and to an organ concert and dinner after which was AMAZING.

Tomorrow we head out of Hamburg, so not sure if I'll have internet at the next hotel or not.

Speechless

So we were up pretty early again, and headed to Stade to see St. Cosmae und Damiani Kirche. The church was beautiful and whatever, but the organ WOW. I tell you, I’ve died and gone to heaven. I think I missed half the church because I was to busy drooling over the organ. Seriously. This one was a Hus/Schnitger organ (III/42) with a shove coupler, modified meantone, and pretty much amazing. I’ve never heard meantone in real life, only in recordings, and it was pretty much instant love. I can't even describe the sound. Best advise I can tell you is go see for yourself someday. For now, pics will have to suffice.

The altar

The organ

Now if looking at that picture doesn't make you super excited, there is something wrong with you.

Craig checking it out.. Notice the drawnobs on the console as well as on the ruckpositiv.

In heaven.

Pumping.....

So then we went to St. Wilhadi Kirche and saw another Schnitger organ (III/40) and I once again was unable to notice much of the church, because the organ sucked me in like a moth to a flame. OK, so I totally noticed the Martin Luther stained glass, but hey, I’m a Lutheran girl, what do you expect? This organ was HUGE and more romantic sounding. It was rich and round and full and glorious. When we went upstairs the sound was intensified and you could just feel the power of this sucker. Incredible. I know it sounds like I’m not saying much, but words will never do it justice and I’m at a total loss of where to even begin to try. Seriously. Basically, we got an introduction to both organs today, then had lunch, then split in 2 groups to play and we played and played and switched organs and played some more. It was AMAZING.

The church

Inside

Close up of altar

Martin Luther

You may be seated :)

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Helping the angels hold up the organ. It's very heavy, you know.

This is happy:

Heaven

There are a LOT of pictures on this post... you may need to hit your refresh button a few times to make sure you can see them all... :) Should see 17.


So today was it. Day one of official tour. I was so excited I couldn’t sleep. We left at 8, took the train to Stade, then a little bus to Steinkirchen. Our first stop was St. Martin Kirche. This little Lutheran church was built around 1550, though the congregation itself is older, with records as far back as the 1300’s. This building holds a 1687 Schnitger organ (II/28) and it was AMAZING. Words can not even begin to describe the building and can even less begin to describe the organ. WOW. It’s amazing to think of how many years that building has been used to praise God in worship services, and fun to imagine people long ago coming for worship. The pews all have doors, and the alter is beautiful. The organ… wow. I have never heard anything like it. It poured out this rich, intense sound that left you with goosebumps and wanting more. Below are a few pictures from this stop.

The church



The front of the church

A close up of the BEAUTIFUL altar



No words needed.

One VERY happy girl.

After lunch, our next stop was St. Barholomaus Kirche, Mittelkirchen. This building dated from 1322 and also housed an amazing Schnitger organ (II/32). Also a Lutheran parish, I was thrilled to find Luther’s Small Catechism in German there!!! This was just as beautiful, but bigger. It had gorgeous stain glass on either side of the front, and numerous small balconies. This organ also needed 2 people to pump it, which was totally fun.

The church.


The altar



A view from the organ loft looking down to the rest of the church...



Stain glass window...



A close up of the other window, which was my favorite. You can't see in the picture, but it says "Lasset die Kindlein zu mir kommen" and just made me happy.


The real reason why we're in Germany (Or one of the reasons...)


Craig testing it out....



My turn!!!


Pumping hard. This was just about as cool as playing it!!



The little graveyard outside the church




After that, we went to Grunendeich for a concert.

The organ:
They were rededicating it or something, so their pastor was there. Most of the talk was in German, but I did catch "Martin Luther" two times and got all excited. Also, there was congregational singing, which was super cool.




It was a very good day.