Shen Yuan
Text | Shen Yuan
On December 31, 2021, the newly inaugurated Zhengzhou Grand Theatre ushered in the premiere of the organ, and the author and the Zhengzhou Philharmonic Symphony Orchestra held a New Year's Eve concert to bid farewell to the audience in Joseph Rongen's Symphonic Concerto 2021. The new organ of the Zhengzhou Grand Theatre has 70 pegs and 4886 pipes, which was built by the Austrian Riegel Organ Company, ranking among the top ten large organs in mainland China in terms of construction scale. Tickets for that night's concert sold out a week in advance, and the popularity of the audience of "one ticket is hard to find" also reflects the epitome of the development of the organ in China today.
Zhengzhou 2022 New Year's Eve Concert and Organ Inauguration Premiere. The Organ of Zhengzhou Grand Theatre will be completed in 2021 and will be built by the Austrian Riegel Organ Company
Due to the huge cost and extreme difficulty of the construction of the organ, the organ instruments in China are mostly the state-owned assets of the provincial and municipal concert halls, and the medium and large organ costs 10 million to 30 million yuan, which is built by the government. According to incomplete statistics, the mainland has more than 64 organs so far, of which 26 large organs (more than 60 pegs) and 12 medium-sized organs (more than 40 pegs) built in concert halls, plus organs built in various conservatories and universities, the mainland has built about 900 million assets of organs.
From the reform and opening up to today, the construction and use of the organ in the mainland has undergone earth-shaking changes, from idle and uninhabited to today's symbol of the high standard of musical and cultural life in every city. In these more than 30 years of experience and process, which successful cases are worth promoting and learning from? What construction misunderstandings should be avoided and corrected?
Does China really need an organ?
"Huge, expensive, magnificent, complex, but rarely heard playing the organ," this may be the first impression chinese audience has remembered the instrument in the past few decades. In 1986, the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts and the Hong Kong Cultural Center built two Austrian Riegel organs, and in 1990, the Czech Riegel-Klaus organ built in the Beijing Concert Hall became the first large-scale pipe organ in the mainland after the reform and opening up, and since then the organ has gradually become the standard of the concert hall.
The current situation of the organ in Beijing Concert Hall, which was built by the Czech Rigel-Klaus organ company in 1990
But at this time, two doubtful voices gradually emerged in the audience, and the first layer of doubt was: "The cost is huge but the usage rate is not high, does China really need to play the organ?" ”
The answer is yes. The organ is not only the core of Western music, but also a living fossil of world music. The currently recognized history of the invention of the organ instrument in the world dates back to the third century BC, 2300 years ago. Many European scholars and authors have also reached a consensus on the academic concept of "the organ originated from the Chinese national musical instrument Sheng", and it can be said that the organ as a large-scale comprehensive instrument carries too much human civilization.
Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng unearthed paint Sheng Sheng Dou (left), replica (right)
Hydraulic pipe organ excavated from the ancient Roman city-state of Akuncum (left), replica (right)
In terms of musical composition, the organ is praised by Mozart as the "king of musical instruments", from ancient times to the present, Francisco Barty, Buxtehude, Bach, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Liszt, Frank, Messian, Rigeti, Gupperduna... Composers of each era left their mark on the organ; in terms of construction, the organ also became the crystallization of human wisdom, as the ancestor of all keyboard instruments, in the mature construction concept of the organ, the ancient piano, piano and other keyboard instruments were born, until the invention of the telephone in 1877, the organ was "the most complex machine made by mankind". The 1330 pipe organ score Roberts Blatz Codex is the oldest keyboard score ever found in the world. Today, the organ is also progressing with the times, incorporating a large number of high-tech and modern elements, and its creation is not limited to serious music, composers will also use the deep sound of the organ to express the vastness of the universe in the music of science fiction movies such as "Interstellar".
Europe's largest organ, the Cathedral of Pashaw in Germany, with 4 separate organ areas scattered in the building, this picture shows the main organ (left), and the mechanical recital table (right)
There are 4 separate pipe areas (from left to right) in the Cathedral building in Pashaw, Germany: the Gospel pipe area in the front left, the Echo pipe area above the ceiling, the Choir pipe area, and the Import pipe area in the front right
The Cathedral of Pashaw, Germany, 4 separate consorts and the main organ can all be played through an electronic recital table, creating a dialogue between the sound and the music
A second level of confusion that is common among audiences is: "Is the organ only a Western religious instrument?" ”
The author's answer is no. The long-standing stereotype of the organ as a "religious instrument" has prevented mainland audiences from fully viewing the organ as an instrument with an independent personality. The organ needs huge construction space, European and American countries often build it in concert halls, churches and other most magnificent buildings in the city, but in addition to this organ is also built in railway stations, stadiums, theaters, amusement parks, shopping malls... It's not hard to see that when people want to fill up the huge space with music, the first idea that comes to mind is to build an organ. After the French Revolution, Europe set off a wave of "creating organ symphonies for the people".
In addition, organist is a musical position, not clergy even in The Church of Europe and America. When I studied abroad at the Berlin University of the Arts, my lectures focused on organ culture and playing techniques, rather than instilling religious ideas. My Dutch friend, a Buddhist and avid lover of Chinese culture, won the position of organist at a well-known cathedral in Berlin with his superb organ performance, and no one from the Berlin city government to the church people objected. All of the above phenomena show that we should focus on the artistry of the organ instrument, and the rich artistry can make the organ meet the artistic and cultural needs of different national conditions.
The world's largest pipe organ that can be played in its entirety today, the Wanamaker pipe organ of philadelphia department store in the United States, is distributed on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 7th floors of the building, with 28,750 pipes, 464 sound plugs, 6 layers of hand keyboard, 11 strong and weak pedals and a large number of percussion plugs
Chinese organ after the reform and opening up
The organ's first entry into China dates back to the middle of the Yuan Dynasty, and the oldest preserved organ in mainland China is the Kimball pipe organ (under restoration) built in 1921 in the Hall One of Peking Union Medical College. However, today' real role in enriching the people's cultural needs is still the newly built organ in the concert hall after the reform and opening up - the Hong Kong Cultural Center in 1989, the Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall in 1998, the Zhongshan Park Concert Hall in Beijing in 1999, the Shanghai Oriental Art Center in 2005, and the Hangzhou Grand Theater in 2006. In 2007, the National Centre for the Performing Arts built a new German Claris organ, and under the influence of the Beijing Olympic Games, concert halls and organs were vigorously built everywhere, and the annual growth of organ construction soared by about 3 times.
National Theatre, built in 2007 by the German Claris Organ Company
Conductor Karajan once said: "Concert halls without organs are football fields. "On the one hand, the construction of the organ is a gratifying phenomenon in China. But on the other hand, in the past decade, the construction and use of organs in the mainland seems to have entered a strange circle: concert halls around the world are worried that the lack of organs will lead to incomplete hardware equipment, but also lack the confidence to plan organ-related concerts. As a result, the 2 to 4 large organs born each year usher in the same fate - idle and broken.
Normal organ interior (left one), compared to the idle pipe inside the pipe pipe is damaged and dusty (center, right one)
Of the 38 medium and large pipe organs in China, I have personally repaired 20 of them. Repairing the organ before a concert is not a matter for the performer, and it can also add a lot of extra physical exertion to the performance. The number of organ maintenance personnel in China has increased in recent years, but it is still not in the state that every city and every organ has a resident professional maintenance personnel. Before this day comes, the organist should take responsibility, using the principles of the instruments learned to complete the repair and tuning before the concert to ensure the smooth holding of the concert.
The author repairs the tuned pipe organ (from top left to bottom right): Guangxi Culture and Arts Center, Hangzhou Grand Theatre, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Ordos Grand Theater, Zhongshan Park Music Hall
Fortunately, with the efforts of organ colleagues, with the increase in the number of organists who have returned from studying abroad, music planning and education are on the right track, and many music conservatories have set up organ majors to study. The organ music festivals held in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and other places will also invite world-class performers to China to share throughout the country, which has comprehensively promoted the rise of China's organ music industry.
Today, the activity of organ concert planning in cities across the mainland is polarized. Cities where organ premieres were unsuccessful, it was difficult to rekindle the audience's confidence in the organ for a long time afterwards, and the whole city gradually lost interest in organ music and planning motivation; There are also concert halls in some cities that neglect to manage the organ of the country's large-scale inherent assets, neglect the annual maintenance, resulting in major organ failures, inability to play, and not a single organ concert has been held for several years.
On the contrary, other cities present a virtuous circle of prosperity, taking the Beijing Zhongshan Park Concert Hall, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Hangzhou Grand Theatre, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall as examples, these concert halls have been planning organ concerts for many years and have rich forms, from the academic "Bach Special Concert", "Mozart Special", "Keyboard Music 600 Years Series Concert", "Chinese Organ Originality", to the "Into the Big Mac - Organ 'Unbox' Concert" into the public" Organ Animation Concert", "National Day Red Organ Concert" and so on. The performance form is no longer limited to a single solo concert, and various forms and repertoire such as organ concertos, chamber music, and jazz orchestras have been developed in large quantities; The music content has also expanded from the previous performance of traditional Western organ music to Chinese original music, Chinese ethnic music, red classic music, etc. Under the long-term continuous exploration and experimentation, the concert halls of many cities in mainland China have gradually understood the audience's expectations for the organ, showing the "independent hematopoietic" ability of the organ music planning, and the instrumental status of the organ has also been improved in continuous use.
Take the attendance rate of the author's organ concert as an example (from top to bottom): National Centre for the Performing Arts, Zhongshan Park Concert Hall, Guangzhou Xinghai Concert Hall, Guangxi Culture and Arts Center, Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall
Removing the audience's stereotype of organ instruments and creating a concert repertoire belonging to Chinese audiences, organ music planning is gradually entering the right track in the mainland, accelerating on the way forward with fresh vitality.
Looking forward to the future of organ construction on the mainland
The construction of the organ is undoubtedly the lifeblood of the development of this musical art, which greatly affects the development of organ music creation, performance and education. Historically, Bach oversaw the construction of organs in many cities of the time as an artistic advisor, and Frank also provided a large number of revolutionary proposals for the Romantic organ for the famous luthier Kabayekol. Strictly controlling the quality of organ construction and leading the artistic fashion of the times is the responsibility of every organ player.
The author has served as the acceptance judge of many organs, through careful observation and analysis, combined with the experience of playing the organs of most concert halls in China and personally repairing more than 20 of them, comparing international standards in the same field, summarizing the phenomena in the construction process of organs in mainland China, and proposing the following suggestions. With gratitude to my colleagues in the past and hope for the next generation of organs, I look forward to the improvement of the following phenomena in the design and construction of organs in the future.
1. At the beginning of the design of the concert hall and organ, the organist is invited to participate in the project planning, and the organ is accurately positioned for the style and musical personality of the era, which will change the single situation of the comprehensive organ
Most of the surviving organs in mainland China belong to the comprehensive pipe organs. In the history of the European organ, the German Baroque era and the French Romantic era, these two organs have a distinct musical personality of the times, the construction concept is completely different, and it has greatly affected the composer's creative style, and these two types of organs have become the main directions for new organs in the world in recent years.
Organ of walterhausen Cathedral, Germany, built by Trost, German Baroque style (left)
World Heritage Organ of the Basilica of Saint-Sulpice, France, built by Cabaye Cole, French Romantic style (right)
In addition, the Italian Renaissance organ, the French Baroque, the German Romantic, the American symphonic organ, these organs are relatively niche in construction style, but today there are many new historical reproductions built internationally, paying tribute to a specific era. Looking at other Asian countries horizontally, Japan and South Korea began to build organs in the 1960s and 1970s, and on the basis of building a large number of comprehensive pipe organs, began to shift to targeted construction of organs with the character of the independent musical era. The integrated pipe organ means that although any style can be played on an organ, it may not be professional in any style.
This phenomenon gradually improved in China, and the Nantong Grand Theater in Jiangsu province built the first pipe organ focusing on the French Romantic style. Compared with the sonorous and bright sound of the common organ in China, this organ in Nantong pursues more majestic and strong, which complements the acoustic design of the concert hall.
The organ of nantong grand theater adopts the french romantic symphonic sound plug design scheme
It is expected that in the future, at the beginning of the design of the organ in the concert hall, all localities will work with the organists to "tailor" the exclusive organ style for the urban culture according to the cultural character of the city, the interaction of international sister cities, the design concept of the concert hall, etc., and also add more rich colors to the construction of China into an organ garden.
2. Break through the boundary of appearance and let the organ "grow wildly" towards the future
Internationally, the exterior styling of modern organs has also shown a trend of personalization in recent years. The pipe organ of the Disney Concert Hall in the United States arranges the pipe diagonally and staggered, and the explosive modeling effect shows the moment of artistic inspiration; the pipe organ of the Tokyo Arts Theater in Japan can rotate front and back, the front is a Baroque pipe organ, the reverse is a Romantic pipe organ, and two pipe organs with a clear style in one concert hall to achieve the goal of covering the entire historical style of the organ, such a design concept is more worthy of respect than the comprehensive pipe organ; The Helsinki Music Centre bends conventional cylindrical tubes to shape branches and vines to remind people of their relationship with nature and to promote environmental awareness.
Organ at Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, USA
Double-sided organ at the Tokyo Arts Theatre in Japan, built by Marc Garnier, France. Baroque on the front and romantic and modern on the back. There are two independent bands on both sides, two completely independent organs
Organ flipping process
Helsinki Music Centre. This large pipe organ has 123-tone stops and 10,000 pipes. In order to create a better effect of strength and weakness change, but also to highlight the shape of the surface sound tube branches and vines, most of the sound pipes are built in the body of the piano box, and the volume change effect is created with strong and weak door panels
In addition, there are also huge organs scattered in the four corners of the concert hall, using space to create stereo surround and dialogue; pipe organs with lotus flowers, sailboats, and palms as the shape of the pipe organ emerge in an endless stream, showing the whimsy of modern visual art; there are also designers who build the organ off the wall to express the reverence of the cosmic celestial body, and hang the concert hall in a spherical design. The artistry of the organ not only stays in the auditory sense, but also the continuous innovation in visual art will make the organ continue to grow into the future and become an instrument with the vitality of the times.
Palm styling - Alpdiez, France, German organ manufacturer Detlef Kleuker (left)
Sailing boat modeling - Le Prigang, France, French organ manufacturer Cattiaux (right)
Spherical Celestial Design - Lewis Clark University, USA, suspended in the middle of the ceiling. Manufactured by Canadian organ manufacturer Cassavon Corporation
3. Make good use of technical concepts, deepen the design with organ manufacturers, and eliminate the excessive number of shared sound plugs and treble pipes
Saving manufacturing costs may be the goal that every manufacturing industry is pursuing. However, the manufacturer of the organ should be an artist, not a businessman, and the artistic aspects of the organ in terms of auditory, visual, and architectural aesthetics should be designed with the goal of creating a work of art.
But unfortunately, in the many pipe organs built in the past on the mainland, there are still problems of too many common sound plug designs and too many treble tubes. The ratio of the pipe plug to the pipe is simple: a plug is a sound, and each note on the keyboard plays a pipe (except Mixture). The hand keyboard is usually 5 octaves, and one tone plug corresponds to the 61 tones of the keyboard on one layer, that is, 61 sound tubes; The foot keyboard is usually 2 and a half octaves, and one stop corresponds to 30 or 32 tubes, which can be converted according to the keyboard's range. However, in several pipe organs in China, there is still a phenomenon of multiple tone plugs connecting the same row of pipe pipes in the pipe organ, which will only make the pipe organ stage look complex and numerous in appearance, but in fact, there are not so many pipes that can be sounded, and the sound cannot be achieved with a grand sound, rich color, and distinct layers.
The normal design should be that each stop is connected to a separate row of audio tubes (left)
The shared stop is designed as multiple stops connected to the same row of tubes, which only makes the number of stops on the stage look large in appearance, but the actual performance effect is very thin (right)
Internationally, there are many pipe organ buyers due to the limitation of space, take the initiative to use a shared sound plug, and then the organ builder to design the layout for them, but the proportion of shared sound plugs should not exceed three percent of the entire pipe organ. In the mainland, the author was surprised to see that some organs share the sound plug to reach thirty percent, sixty percent, in the case of sufficient internal space of the organ, the author does not know at the beginning of the construction of the common sound plug program is our side or the outside party, if it is the foreign party, then the design plan is suspected of deception. Let's make an analogy, each light switch in the room should control a separate light bulb, but if the decoration team designs dozens of light switches but only connects the same light bulb, not only the brightness of the light in the room can not be reached, just see such a design concept, we will also ask ourselves whether we are deceived?
In addition, too many treble pipes are also a common way for a small number of bad pipe organ builders to save costs. Some cities explicitly require how many stops and how many pipes to build when bidding for organs, but they did not hire organ players to negotiate a deepening design plan for the list of pipe plugs with organ builders, and ultimately failed to escape the "smart design" of the other side. According to the convention, the high-frequency, medium-frequency and low-frequency plugs of the pipe organ should be designed to be balanced and the sound distribution should be even. The pipe organ pipe is made of tin-lead alloy or wood, the world's largest bass tube can reach a height of 7 floors, the ordinary treble pipe is smaller than a pencil, and the difference between the trefer pipe and the bass pipe in the cost of construction materials is obvious, not to mention the technical cost of finishing and debugging timbre. If only the number of pegs and tubes is required but the pitch and timbre are not standardized, a small number of bad pipe organ builders may also drill loopholes in the bidding documents by building a large number of treble or chorus plugs (Mixtures) in order to save costs.
Schematic diagram of the proportion of pipe length and pitch (left)
Schematic diagram of a treble and bass tube (right), with an adult man holding a treble 1-foot tube compared to a bass 32-foot tube, and the organ's lowest tube is a lower 64 feet
We can prevent these problems by hiring organists to participate in the bidding process and deepen the plan. The above cases of organ failure are a minority, and unscrupulous pipe organ builders are even more rare. I believe that most of the organ builders for their own reputation and credibility, but also hope to work with the performers, construction bureau, under the clear requirements of the organ playing style art, to complete the proud instrument artwork.
4. The integration of the hall attaches importance to the decisive influence of the acoustic design of the concert hall and the interior construction space on the organ
The interior of the organ should be reserved for reasonable maintenance space in order to facilitate the tuning and maintenance of a pipe organ. There are now several organs in China that are in completely damaged condition, and some organs can only be regrettably demolished and rebuilt, because their original design was that "no one in China can play or tune this organ.". For example, the author has repaired one, the internal space can only allow the repairer to touch fifty percent of the sound pipe, the entire pipe organ seems to be built from the inside to the outside, there is no passage and space to go to the inside, and fifty percent of the pipe and lever machinery inside can never be tuned and repaired.
In terms of the rationality of the internal space of the organ, we can look at the excellent cases of the Concert Hall of the Xi'an Conservatory of Music and the Shanghai Oriental Art Center, the interior of these organs is spacious and clean, and each pipe can be easily adjusted and repaired, so that the organ can be in a good state of performance at all times. Sufficient internal space also allows the organ to produce a clear sound in its entirety, reducing interference between the tubes.
In terms of concert hall space and acoustic design, let's take the violin as an example, although the player plays with a bow and vibrates the strings, but it is the wood and craftsmanship of the body and the board that determine whether the sound is beautiful. If the organ is likened to the strings of a violin, then the acoustic design of the entire concert hall is determined by the beautiful sound and quality. The overly dry, clear reverberation fails to integrate the multi-layered sound of the organ, making it impossible for the organ to sing a rich and powerful sound, and can only emit an embarrassing roar. Internationally recognized by international performers as the most suitable concert hall shape for the organ is the "Shoe Box" concert hall, such as the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Concertgebouw in Berlin, etc. Such designs are also common in China, such as the Wuhan Qintai Concert Hall, the Guangxi Culture and Arts Center, the Zhengzhou Grand Theatre, etc., which can perfectly present the organ while also making other music such as symphony not too cloudy. We do not have to be limited to the "shoe box type" concert hall, I believe that the combination of organ design and acoustic design concepts will bring excellent artistic effects to the concert hall.
A typical example of a shoe box-shaped concert hall – the Musikverein in Vienna
Common concert hall sound designs
Many times, it is the music professor who educates a performer, but more often it is the piano that "awakens" a performer. Each landmark organ has become a business card of the city's culture, and "traveling the world in the name of the organ" is not only a romance belonging to the performers, but also a new goal for today's fans to punch the pipe music mecca. If Sheng, which has a history of more than 4,000 years of musical instruments, is one of the origins of the organ, then we can proudly say that the past of the organ is in China. But compared with these, the author is more looking forward to the fact that we can make full use of the existing organs in the mainland, strictly control the construction of the future organs, tell the Chinese story with the international voice of the organ, and confidently and firmly say: The future of the organ is more in China!
Source: Music Weekly