Strasbourg: St. Thomas

Strasbourg
St. Thomas

The Silbermann organ | Original Stoplist | Present Stoplist

Introduction

Located in the old part of the city, St. Thomas Church in Strasbourg is now a Protestant church. The building, as you can see in the photograph above, has a façade that derives from its Romanesque past, and a nave that is Gothic. The single tower above the narthex and the rose-colored stone are characteristic of other Alsatian churches of similar age, while the interior contains the expected monuments and decor of later times, including some particularly fine sculptures.

Silbermann keydesk, 1743Although much of the interior of St. Thomas contains items of the type you might expect to find in any church, there is one feature here that is unique: The original keydesk of the 1741 Silbermann organ has been installed in a free-standing exhibit at the west end of the nave. The manual keyboards and the black stop knobs are original, while the pedalboard and stop knobs in the upper right-hand group date from the end of the eighteenth century and later. One of the treasures of the church, the organ was played by Mozart in 1778, and a copy of a letter from Mozart to his father, in which he describes his experiences in Strasbourg, is framed on one of the doors of the console.

The Silbermann Organ

Silbermann Organ CaseThe organ was built in 1741 by Johann Andreas Silbermann, son of Andreas Silbermann, both of whom were noted organ builders in Alsace. In many ways the organs of Johann Andreas Silbermann contain elements of both French and German organ-building of the eighteenth century. For example, the case has many characteristics one expects in French Classical Organs:

  • Two cases are visible, one main case and a smaller case behind the player.
  • In each case, all pipes stand on the same level.
  • Taller pipes of both cases are placed in towers at the extremes, while a smaller tower is in the center.
On the other hand, the tracery that decorates the outside of the case appears more often in German organs than in French ones.

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Original Disposition

The original stoplist, which follows, has several French characteristics:

  • The choruses of the two primary manual divisions are French.
  • The wide-scale mutations and two Cornets are French.
  • The reeds of the two primary manual divisions are French.
  • The Echo division, with its short compass, is French.
As seen in the stoplist, the primary German characteristics are
  • The presence of both principal and reed choruses in the pedal.
  • The manual and pedal compasses, with no extension to low A in either place.

Original Disposition
Grand Orgue
C-c'''		 Rückpositif
C-c'''		 Echo
c'-c'''		 Pédale
C-c'
Bourdon 16 Bourdon 8 Bourdon 8 Soubasse 16
Montre 8 Prestant 4 Prestant 4 Octavebass 8
Bourdon 8 Flûte 4 Cornet III Quinte 5 1/3
Prestant 4 Nazard 2 2/3 Prestant 4
Nazard 2 2/3 Doublette Bombarde 16
Doublette 2 Tierce 1 3/5 Trompette 8
Tierce 1 3/5 Fourniture Clairon 4
Cornet V Cromorne 8
Fourniture IV
Cymbale III
Trompette 8
Voix humaine 8
Clairon 4
 
Couplers: Rückpositiv to Grand Orgue, Grand Orgue to Pédale
Tremblant

In spite of this essentially French stoplist, the sound of the organ sets it apart from the usual "Parisian" French Classical organ.169

  • The Principals are narrower in scale and voiced more pungently than the usual French Montres and Prestants.168
  • The mixtures are pitched higher than usual French Fournitures and Cymbales.
  • The Cromorne doesn't have the strong, clarinet-like sound of the Parisian stops, but the thinner quality generally associated with German Krummhorns.

Top of Page | The Silbermann organ | Original Stoplist | Present Stoplist

Present Disposition

Like most instruments of its age, the Silbermann organ in Strasbourg's Église St. Thomas has been through a series of alterations. Most recently, Aftred Kern et Fils restored the organ in 1979. They removed some nineteenth-century additions, enlarged the compass of the Echo and Pedal divisions, replaced some of the missing original stops with new copies based on similar stops in other Silbermann organs, and added more stops to the Echo.

One important characteristic of the restoration is found in doors that can be opened to the sides of the Echo division. This allows the sound of that division to be heard more freely in the room, and in effect allows it in its enlarged state to be used as a Brustwerk. Here is the present stoplist.

Present Disposition
Grand Orgue
C-c'''		 Rückpositif
C-c'''		 Echo
C-c'''		 Pédale
C-d'
Bourdon 16 Bourdon 8 Bourdon 8 Soubasse 16
Montre 8 Prestant 4 Salicional 8 Octavebass 8
Bourdon 8 Flûte 4 Prestant 4 Quinte 5 1/3
Prestant 4 Nazard 2 2/3 Flûte 4 Prestant 4
Nazard 2 2/3 Doublette Doublette 2 Bombarde 16
Doublette 2 Tierce 1 3/5 Larigot 1 1/3 Trompette 8
Tierce 1 3/5 Fourniture Flageolet 1 Clairon 4
Cornet V Cromorne 8 Cornet
Fourniture IV Cymbale
Cymbale III Trompette 8
Trompette 8
Voix humaine 8
Clairon 4
 
Couplers: Rückpositiv to Grand Orgue, Echo to Grand Orgue,
Grand Orgue to Pédale, Echo to Pédale
Separate Tremulants for Grand Orgue and Rückpositiv, and Echo

Top of Page | The Silbermann organ | Original Stoplist | Present Stoplist

© 2000 AD James H. Cook