Lithuanian Historical Organs

Girėnas POVILIONIS

The Late Baroque Organ Building Art in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania
Vilnius: Centre for Lithuanian Organ Heritage, 2013. – 384 p. : illustr., Summary in English. UDK 681.81(474.5)(091) Po-254, ISBN 978-609-95485-0-0.

Scientific review carried out by: Prof. Dr. (hp) Aleksandra Aleksandravičiūtė, Dr. Liudas Jovaiša.

The Vilnius Late Baroque Organ Building School dated from the second half of the 18th to the first half of the 19th century played an important role in the history of Lithuanian organs. The heritage of its representatives – organ builders – holds an important place in the history of the art of organ building in Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia and Poland. The organs of the school that functioned for about a century were distinguished by original late baroque features and a stylistic conversion from baroque-style instruments (a combination of a baroque instrument and baroque facade) to a combination of baroque instrument and classicist facade. For a long time, the stylistically unique organ building school of our country was analysed inseparably from the heritage of the Königsberg organ masters as a marginal expression of the region on the territory of our country.

This monograph sums up research that was carried out over a period of over 15 years. The starting point is the first archival testimony about organs in Lithuania, dated 11^th April 1408. The author describes the influence of neighbour countries and provides the archival data about organ masters in the 16th–the first half of the 19th centuries. The monograph establishes the definition of Vilnius Late Baroque Organ Building School and presents the original features of old Lithuanian organs (composition of organ facade, aspects of decoration and ornamentation, specifics of music instrument). Povilionis makes a classification of Lithuanian organ facades and analyzes authentic organ sketches, dated the end of 18th c. The last chapter raises the arguments of hypothetical reconstructions of the organ facade and instrument that are used in the discussion of authorship of two famous Lithuanian baroque organs in Vilnius St. Johns’ church and Vilnius Cathedral Basilica.

 Monograph Summary

Where to buy, contact:
Centre for Lithuanian Organ Heritage, Director Dr. Girėnas Povilionis, phone +370-614-76738, email girenas@vargonai.com  

Fragments of the monograph (in Lithuanian)

Content  Foreword | 5 Chapter 1. Origins and formation of Vilnius Late Baroque Organ Building School  Organs in Lithuania till the middle of the 18 th c. | 14 Organs in Lithuania from the middle of the 18 th c. Establishment of Vilnius School. Masters Gerhardt Arendt Zelle, Joachim Friedrich Scheel, Nicolaus Jantzon | 24  Other masters (not attributed to Vilnius School) | 62 Chapter 2. Vilniaus mokyklos vargonų prospektai: ištakos ir tipologija  Hamburg, Gdansk and Konigsberg organ facades | 76  Type of Vilnius School organ facade | 93  Organ facades by Nicolaus Jantzon | 102  Classification of Vilnius School organ facades | 107  Analysis of Vilnius School organ sketches (18th c.) | 133 Chapter 3. Organ decoration  Typologies of organ decoration | 154  Baroque and rococo decoration (1760s–1780s) | 158  Transtition rococo decoration (1790s – beginning of the 19th c.) | 163  Classical decoration (1790s – the 1st half of 19th c.) | 166

Chapter 4. Aspects of Originality of organ instruments  Organ instrument as an object for research| 170  Disposition features in the organs of Vilnius School. Typical dispositions for 1 and 2-manual organs | 172  Specific stops in the organs of Vilnius School – Jula, Unda maris, Flet travers, Sedecima, Salcinal, Trompete, Vox humana| 188  Additional organ equipments – Cymbelstern, Pauke, Carillion | 197  Table of stop names in Lithuanian and other languages | 204 Chapter 5. Reconstructions of organ facades  Problem of Authorship | 208  Reconstruction of organ facade in Vilnius St. Johns’ church | 212 Reconstruction of organ facade in Vilnius Cathedral Basilica | 221  Afterwards  Literature, archival sources, index of names, index of places  Illustrations | 265

© VšĮ „Vargonų paveldo centras“ (Centre for Lithuanian Organ Heritage), 2013

© Girėnas Povilionis, 2013

ISBN 978-609-95485-0-0

Supported by Culture Support Foundation and Department of Culture Heritage. Part of the research was made under the Postdoctoral Fellowship at Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, funded by European Union Structural Funds project ”Postdoctoral Fellowship Implementation in Lithuania” within the framework of the Measure for Enhancing Mobility of Scholars and Other Researchers and the Promotion of Student Research (VP1-3.1-ŠMM-01) of the Program of Human Resources Development Action Plan.