Transposing Sounds: the unique organ at Sønderborg Castle Chapel, Denmark

The Danish town of Sønderborg in Southern Jutland, which was once part of Germany, has one of the most beautiful Renaissance castles in Denmark. Originally built from 1170 by King Valdemar the Great (1154-1182) as a medieval fortress to watch over the sea, it expanded over the centuries. In 1550 it became a Renaissance castle upon request of King Christian III (1503-1559) and his wife, Queen Dorothea (1511-1571). The Reformation was introduced in Denmark in 1536 by King Christian III. The Queen, who moved in to the castle right after her husband’s death in 1559, established a Protestant chapel according to the new ideas of Martin Luther (1483-1546). The castle chapel, known as the Royal Chapel or Queen Dorothea’s Chapel, is considered to be one of the best preserved Lutheran castle chapels.

The chapel was provided with an organ commissioned to Hermann Raphaëlis (ca.1515-1583), a Dutch organ builder active in Germany and Denmark, where he had already built the organs for Roskilde Cathedral (1555) and the Royal Chapel in Copenhagen (ca.1557). The new organ at Sønderborg Castle was completed around 1570 and installed on the ground floor of the chapel, right under the gallery. When the chapel was restored in 1626, the organ was moved to its present position. Entering the chapel from the court, the organ is suspended inbetween the two galleries on the left, opposite the main altar. The organ builder Bartholomeus (?) enlarged the instrument in the 17th century, most probably adding the positive division placed in the basement of the organ. The instrument, considered rather old-fashioned, was abandoned and doomed to more than 300 years of silence.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, the castle was used as a hospital and a prison. It is during this period that the organ was vandalised and deprived of all its pipes, probably used to make weapons. Since 1921 it is home for the Sønderborg Castle Museum, with war collections from the 14th century to the modern age. A restoration project carried out by the expert organ builder Mads Kjersgaard (1944) consisted of rebuilding the instrument as it must have been after Bartholomeus’ enlargement after 1626. The rebuilding project was completed between 1994 and 1996. The peculiarity of this organ is that it represents the world’s only surviving example of a transposing organ: the organ, in fact, is tuned a fourth above, and when playing C it plays instead F. The present pitch is a1=625Hz and the temperament is meantone. This kind of organ was quite common during Renaissance but fell into disuse when the organ was needed to accompany choir singing and ensemble playing.

I visited Sønderborg Castle twice to give two organ recitals in May 2014 and September 2015. Although it was early May 2014, I experienced the most cold weather here when an extremely cold wind from the sea blew with furious rage around the castle. The instrument sounds lovely and shows Mads Kjersgaard’s exceptional expertise about early organs. There is no pedalboard and the stop levers hang out from the main organ case. The two keyboards, very comfortable to play, have two different compasses: the upper keyboard, corresponding to the Great (or Oberwerck), has 38 keys (F-a2 without F#, G# and g#2); the lower keyboard, corresponding to the Positive, has 44 keys (C-a2 with short octave and without g#2, with sub-semitones for d#, d#1 and d#2). There is a manual coupler and a tremulant to the whole organ. The disposition is as follows:

Upper Manual: Principal 6, Grob Gedact 6, Qverpfeife 6 (treble), Octava 3, Nachthorn 3, Super Octava 1 ½, Sedecima ¾, Mixtur II, Trompet 8.
Lower Manual: Octav Flöite 4, Super Octav Flöite 2, Qvint Flöite 1 ½, Zimbel I, Regal 8.

A recording with a selection of music by Tallis, Tomkins and Frescobaldi from the concert on September 1st 2015 is available on my YouTube channel.