Baltic Sounds: the Renaissance Organ in Visby
In November 2023, I travelled to northern Sweden to study the famous baroque organ at Övertorneå Church and begin a new research project about northern German baroque organ repertoire. The second chapter of this project has taken me to the beautiful town of Visby on the Swedish island of Gotland in the Baltic Sea. Here I have explored organ music from the Baltic area composed by members of the Praetorius family – as preserved in the Visby Organ Tablature Book – and composers active in Gdańsk. The selected repertoire was recorded at Visby Cathedral on Friday, March 21st 2025. Here follows an in-depth study, enriched by the recordings made during this historically informed performance project.
Gotland has a rich history and cultural heritage. Populated since prehistoric times, its largest town Visby became one of the most important commercial centers during the Hanseatic League period, with an established commercial route to many important towns in the Baltic area including Tallinn, Riga and Gdańsk. Because of its strategical position in the Baltic Sea, Gotland has been invaded many times and has often seen violence and war, such as the civil war of 1288 and the massacre outside Visby of 800 farmers trying defend Gotland from Danish invaders on July 27th, 1361. Despite its violent past, Gotland is now a popular summer holiday destination for Swedes, with its beautiful landscape, picturesque ruins and the charming medieval town of Visby.
Gotland is also known as “the island of one hundred churches” as the island preserves more than 90 churches built before 1350. The largest of them is St. Mary Cathedral in Visby, originally built as a church by the German traders’ community between the 12th and the 13th century. It was consecrated in 1225 and, when the Diocese of Visby was created in 1572, St. Mary became a cathedral, also known today as Our Lady Cathedral.
Some of the oldest documentations about organs in use in medieval Europe come from 14th century Gotland. The Franciscan friars founded their first monastery in Sweden in 1233 in Visby, St. Catherine’s Church, now in ruins. Franciscan friars may have been the first organ builders in Sweden, bringing to Sweden this knowledge from southern and central Europe. The Swedish History Museum in Stockholm houses components of the world’s oldest preserved pipe organ. The organ which once was installed at Sundre Church was built around 1370 by the German organ builder master Verner from Brandenburg (?-?). Only the painted organ case survives today. The museum also houses the so-called Norrlanda organ from Norrlanda Church, built between 1370 and 1430: this precious instrument still shows its original decorated organ case – probably a choir stall originally – and all the mechanical components including the keyboard and the pedals. Only the pipes and the bellows are missing. The museum also preserves several mechanical components from other organs in use in Gotland’s churches during the same period.
The earliest historical record of a pipe organ at Visby Cathedral is from year 1344. It was a blockwerk organ, probably very similar to the examples preserved at the Swedish History Museum. A new organ, bought in 1427, was replaced by a larger organ, built by an anonymous organ builder in 1599. It was a 3-manual organ which was in use until the first half of the 19th century. Dismantled and stored in an attic since 1838, this large Renaissance organ was replaced by a new organ built by the local organ builder Sven Petter Pettersson (1798-1852), in turn replaced by a larger 2-manual organ in Romantic style built in 1891 by the Swedish organ building company Åkerman & Lund from Stockholm, which is still in use today.
Some of the original pipes from 1599 were used in the 1960’s by the company Åkerman & Lund to build a new organ for Lau Church, still on the island of Gotland, where the Pettersson organ had already been moved from Visby Cathedral in the 1890’s. The 1960's Åkerman & Lund organ in Lau Church was dismantled when a new organ was built in 2011 by Tomas Svenske from Vänge. The old pipes from 1599 were restored and used to rebuild the Renaissance organ at Visby Cathedral between 2016 and 2017. The missing pipes and components were rebuilt by the Grönlund organ building company from Gammelstad. The Rückpositiv case, which once hung empty on a wall in the attic, was restored and used as a model for the rebuilding of the decorations of the main case, which was sketched in 1836.
During the restoration process, a painting of the man who probably payed for the building of the organ was found on the side of the Rückpositiv case, showing the name of Hans Klevesadel (?-after 1599), a wealthy Visby citizen. Responsible for the voicing of the new organ – now known as the “1599-organ” – was the expert Danish organ builder Mads Kjersgaard (*1944). According to a list written by Kjersgaard, the organ has 230 old pipes (15,4% of the total pipes). The main concentration of old pipes is in the Hauptwerck, including 39 pipes for the Gedact and 39 pipes for the Quintadena. The Bröstpositiv is completely new.
The rebuilt instrument has 3 manuals and pedal, tuned with a ¼-comma Meantone temperament. Before visiting the organ in Visby it was very difficult to find the correct stop list. Here follows the disposition that I recorded at the instrument in March 2025:
Rückpositief (1st manual, C-a2, with short octave and without g#2): Principal 8, Gedact 8, BlockFlöit 4, Sup:Octava 2, Sedecima 1, Cymbal, Trompet 8, Krumhorn 8.
Hauptwerck (2nd manual, C-a2, with short octave and without g#2): Principal 8, Gedact 8, Quintadena 8, Octava 4, Quinta 3, Sup:Octava 2, SpielPfeife 2, Mixtur, Scharf, Dußanen 16.
Bröstpositiv (3rd manual, C-a2, with short octave and without g#2): Gedact 8, Quintadena 4, QverFlöit 4, Nasat 3, WaldFlöit 2, Harfen Regal 8 [placed horizontally], Singend Regal 4 [placed horizontally].
Pedal (C-d1, without C#1 and D#1): SubBas 16, GedactBas 8, QuintadenBas 4, OctavBas 4, Nacht:Bas 2, BaurFl:Bas 1, Posaun 16, TrompetBas 8, CornetBas 2.
Ventil RP, Ventil HW, Ventil BP, Ventil Ped, Vogelgesang, Tremulant, RP-HW coupler.
Born in Hamburg, Hieronymus Praetorius (1560-1629) was the son of Jacobus Schulte (latinised in Jakob Praetorius “the elder”, ca.1520-1586), organist at St. Jacob’s Church in Hamburg. Hieronymus studied in Hamburg and Cologne before being employed as the organist in Erfurt for a period of around two years. He returned to Hamburg in 1582, first as a substitute and then, from 1586, as the successor of his father at St. Jacob’s Church. He also took over the position at St. Gertruden’s Church in Hamburg and fulfilled his duties as organist in both churches until at least 1625, when he was assisted and substituted by his eldest son, Jakob Praetorius “the younger” (1586-1651).
Jakob studied in Amsterdam as a student of Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621), probably between 1602 and 1603. The young 17-year-old Jakob took the position as organist at St. Peter’s Church in Hamburg in 1603. He also took over the appointment at St. Gertrude’s Church left by his father in 1629 and held both positions until his death in 1651. He was a highly respected figure in Hamburg and took often part in testing new organs. He is remembered for the use of a particular registration when playing a chorale-fantasia for two manuals and pedals, which is known today as “the Praetorian” registration. Johann Kortkamp (1643-1721) writes in his Hamburger Organistenkronik (1718) how the composer Matthias Weckmann (ca.1616-1674) used this very registration during his audition for the position of organist at St. Jacob’s Church in Hamburg: “[…] in the Oberwerck he took the choice of stops which Jacob Praetorius had used at St. Petri: Trommete 8, Zink 8, Nasat 3, Gemshorn 2, Hohlflöte 4; in the Rückpositiv he took for the sof accompanying middle parts Principal 8, Octav 4; in the Pedal he took Posaune 16, Principal Bass 24, Trommete 8, Trommete 4, and Cornet 2 […]”.
The organ at St. Peter’s Church played by Jakob Praetorius “the younger” is described in the second volume (Organographia) of Michael Praetorius’ (ca.1571-1621) Syntagma Musicum (Wolfenbüttel, 1619). It consisted of 42 stops on 3 manuals and pedals:
RückPositiff (lower manual): Principal 8 from F, Quintadehna 8, Gedact 8, Hollflöitte 4, Octava 4, Siflöit (1 1/3), Scharp, Mixtur, Baarpfeiffe, Regall 8, Krumbhorn 8.
OberWerck (middle manual): Principal 12 from F, Quintadehna 12 from F, Octava 6 from F, Gedact 8 from C, Holflöite 3 from F, Rußpipe, Scharp, Mixtur, Zimbel.
Brustpositiff (upper manual): Principal 8 from C, Holpipe 8, Holflöite 4, Nasat auff die Quinta 2 2/3, Gemßhorn 2, Kleinflöit 2, Zimbel III, Trompette 8, Regal 8, Zincke 8.
Pedal: Principal 24 from F, GroßBaß or Untersats 16 from C, Octava 4, Gedact 8, GemsßhornBaß, Zimbel, Mixtur, Bassaune 16, Trompette 8, Krumbhorn 16, Cornett 2.
The organ works of Hieronymus Praetorius mainly consist of Hymns and Magnificat cycles that came to us in a manuscript preserved since the second half of the 17th century in the archives of Visby Cathedral, known as the Visby Organ Tablature Book. The writer of the manuscript is the musician Berendt Petri (?-?), an organist from Freiburg an der Elbe, who signed the book year 1611 the Monday after Holy Trinity […] in Hamburg at the house of Jakob Praetorius. Two choral settings – Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam and Wenn mein Stündlein vorhanden ist – come from another source preserved at the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel. Together with Hieronymus Praetorius works, the Visby Organ Tablature Book contains two works by Jakob Praetorius “the younger” and 41 anonymous organ compositions, some attributed to the later owner Johann Bahr (ca.1610-1670), who was a German organist probably born in Schleswig and active at Visby Cathedral between 1638 and 1670. It was Bahr who took the book to Visby after his studies in Hamburg. The organ works of Jakob Praetorius “the younger” consist of 6 versus cycles, a choral setting and 3 praeambula. The two pieces I have recorded are the only two pieces preserved in the Visby Organ Tablature Book. The other pieces are preserved in other manuscripts in Lüneburg, Wolfenbüttel and Clausthal. A fragment of a large setting of Durch Adams Fall is preserved in the manuscript Lynar B 5 in the Lübbenau Collection in Berlin.
St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk was one of the most important churches in the Baltic area and its organ was one of the largest. The first mention of an appointed organist dates back to 1385. The medieval organ was moved to a side chapel to give space for a new larger organ built in 1509 by Blasius Lehmann (?-?) from Bautzen. A new much bigger organ was built by Julius Anthoni (?-ca.1584/5) and completed by his apprentice Johann Koppelmann (?-?) in 1585. It was an impressive instrument, consisting of 55 stops on 3 manuals (with 48 keys each) and pedals, as described in the second volume of Michael Praetorius’ Syntagma Musicum:
RückPositiff: Principal 8, Holflöite or Holpfeiff 8, Spillpfeiffe or Blockfl. 8, Octav 4, Offenflöite or Viol 4, Kleine Blockflöite 4, Gemshorn, Sedecima, Flöit, Waldflöit, Rauschquint, Nasatt, Zimbel of 144 pipes, Mixtur of 220 pipes, Trommet 8, Krumhorn 8, Zincken 4, Schallmeyen 4.
OberWerck: Principal 16, Holflöite 16, Quintadehna 16, Octava 8, Quintadehna 8, Spillpfeiffe 8, Offenflöite or Viol 3, Spillpfeiffe 4, Viol 4, Sedecima, Rauschquint, Zimbel of 144 pipes in 3 ranks, Mixtur of 1152 pipes with 24 pipes for each key.
Brust- or VorPositiff: Gedackt Stimm 8, Principal 4, Gedact 4, Quintadehna 4, Zimbel, Dunecken 2, Regal singend 8, Zincken 4.
Pedal (main division): GroßUnterBaß 32, UnterBaß 16, PosaunenBaß 16, Trommete 8.
Pedal (small division): Flöiten or Octava 8, Gedact 8, Quintadehna 4, Superoctav, Nachthorn, Rauschquint, Bauerpfeitt, Zimbel of 144 pipes, Mixtur of 220 pipes, Spitz or Cornett, Trommeten or Schallmeyen, Krombhörner.
3 tremulant and a DrumBass.
This was the monumental organ known by 16th and 17th century organists of St. Mary’s Church. I began the Gdańsk program of my project with a Fantasia from the Gdańsk Tablature, a collection of keyboard music dating back to 1591, part of the manuscript Ms.300 R/Vv 123 preserved at the State Archive in Gdańsk. This book contains 17 fantasias, a prelude and 24 keyboard arrangements of sacred and secular songs, all attributed to Cajus Schmiedtlein (also known as Caj Schmedeke, ca.1555-1611). He was born in Northern Germany and worked as an organist first in Husum then in Helsingør and probably Hamburg. He was invited to play for the inauguration concerts of the new monumental organ at St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk on October 18th and 19th, 1585: the church authorities offered him the position as organist which Schmiedtlein held until his death.
His successor, Paul Siefert (1586–1666) was born in Gdańsk in a wealthy family, where his father was a legal officer. In youth, he received a scholarship from the city council to study music in Holland with Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck, which allowed Siefert to stay in Amsterdam between 1607 and 1610. Once back in his hometown Gdańsk, Siefert was appointed assistant organist at St. Mary’s Church, where he did not at first receive the position as successor to Schmiedlein because of his way of playing the organ and his temperament, both very criticised by the church authorities. Siefert had no other choice but to move, first to Königsberg in 1611 (as organist at the Old Town Church), then to Warszaw (as court organist between 1616 and 1623), before returning to Gdańsk in 1623 as principal organist at St. Mary’s, where he worked for more than 40 years until he died on May 6th, 1666. Siefert’s well documented difficult character – it is said he was very arrogant and continuously complaining – costed him some long-lasting conflicts with his colleagues, among others Marco Scacchi (ca.1602-1662), chapel master in Warszaw, Schmiedlein himself - who complained with St. Mary’s Church authorities about his skills at the organ and his personality - and Kaspar Förster (1616-1673), the chapel master at St. Mary’s.
Siefert’s Fantasia 3tij Tonj Ex E.La.Mi. [quarta] is a three-part composition in the Phrygian church tone which comes from a collection of 13 fantasias. The source of these compositions is the manuscript Mus. II 2.51 preserved at Leipzig State Library. A few other keyboard compositions by Siefert are preserved in manuscripts from the early 17th century.
Andreas Neunhaber (1603-1663) was also born in Gdańsk, where he studied with Paul Siefert. He was also a student of Tarquinio Merula (1595-1665) in Warszaw. Neunhaber became a colleague to his former teacher Siefert as in 1637 he was appointed organist at the choir organ at St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk. Only three years later – maybe because of incompatibility with Siefert’s temperament? – he moved to the nearby St. Catherine’s Church where he served as principal organist until his death.
The source of his choral setting Ich ruf zu dir is the Lynar B 8 manuscript preserved at the Berlin State Library. There are some modern editions of this piece and I have compared three of them, trying to perform the piece in the most convincing way. Comparing the modern editions, there are remarkable differences in the 2nd verse, which requires preferably three keyboards and pedal. The older edition (Breitkopf & Härtel, 1987) was edited by Klaus Beckmann (*1935) and shows the very same manual changes as well as in the newer edition (Schott, 2013) edited by Claudia Schumacher (*1963). Even if copied correctly from the only available source, I think that the manual changes for the cantus (indicated in the modern editions with II and III) are quite chaotic and illogical (e.g. bar 23 II instead of III?; bar 31 [and 37] II instead of III as a consequence to bars 12 and 18 which were played on the same manual?; bars 67-75 II instead of 67-70 III as a consequence to bars 37-45 which are indicated to be played on the same manual?). Beckmann, on the other hand, does not report the pedal Cornet as in Schumacher bars 107 (to 111?), 117 (to 121?) and 128 (to 132?). Also bars 97-98 are different between Beckmann and Schumacher concerning the cantus: a2-a2-a3 for Beckmann and a3-a3-a3 for Schumacher. I agree with Schumacher’s edition, considering that the pitch at the end of the phrase is d3. A third publication was recently edited by Armando Carideo (*1944) (Il Levante Libreria Editrice, 2003): it presents the very same manual changes and the pedal Cornet indications as in Schumacher, but bars 97-98 at the same pitch as in Beckmann.
Considering all these aspects, I have decided to perform this piece playing all the cantus entrances indicated with II and III on the same manual (Rp) to avoid discontinuity to the text phrases. It is also important to consider that the only available source of this composition in the Lynar B 8 manuscript is not written by Neunhaber himself but by a later hand and the manual change indications in the three compared modern editions are editorials. I am also convinced by the fact that the continuous alternation of the cantus between right and left hand already presents a substantial change of colour. The pedal Cornet is only used for the passages at bars 107-111, 117-121 and 128-132.
Below are the registrations used for the recordings, now available in a video on my YouTube channel (@gnudiorganist):
Hieronymus Praetorius – Magnificat Secundi Toni
[1. Versus. Tonus] in Tenore: HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, S:Oct 2, Sch, Mix / Ped: GB 8, QdB 4, OB 4, Pos 16
2. Versus. [Tonus] in Discantu: HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, S:Oct 2 / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, OB 4
3. Versus. [Tonus] in Basso: HW: Ged 8, Sp 2 / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, OB 4
Hieronymus Praetorius – Hymnus: Te lucis ante terminum
[1. Versus]: A (bars 1-29): RP: Pr 8, BlFl 4, S:Oct 2 / Ped: Sub 16, GedB 8, OctB 4; B (bars 30-49): HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, D 16 / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, OB 4; C (bars 50-end): HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, Q 3 / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, OB 4
2. Versus. Vp 2 Clauier: RP: Pr 8, BlFl 4 / HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, Q 3, Sch, D 16 / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, QdB 4
Jakob Praetorius – Grates nunc omnes reddamus
[1] Grates nunc omnes – Manualiter: HW: Ged 8, Qd 8
[2] Huic oportet [Manualiter]: RP: Ged 8, BlFl 4
Jakob Praetorius – Magnificat Germanicae
[1. Versus]: HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, S:Oct 2, Sch, Mixt / Ped: GB 8, OB 4, Pos 16, TrB 8
Alio modo. 2.Versus : RP: Pr 8, Cym
Cajus Schmiedtlein [?] – Fantasia Sexti toni
HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, S:Oct 2
Paul Siefert – Fantasia quarta
RP: Pr 8, BlFl 4
Andreas Neunhaber – Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jeu Christ
[Primus Versus] – Auf 2 Clavier [a 3, manualiter]: HW: Ged 8 / BW: QFl 4, N 3, HfReg 8 / Ped: GB 8
[Secundus Versus] – Alio modo. Auf 2 und 3 Clavier pedaliter: RP: Pr 8, BlFl 4 / HW: Pr 8, Oct 4, Sch / Ped: Sub 16, GB 8, OB 4 (+/- Cornet 2)
The organs known by the Praetorius family in Hamburg and the organs of northern Poland were quite similar to the 1599-organ in Visby. Here I tried to use stop combinations as close as possible to the historically documented way of performance. The 1599-organ at Visby Cathedral has a pleasant sound, good action and a wide choice of colours. Unfortunately it was not in the best shape during my recording session, some of the reeds were completely out of tune and some of the pedal reed pipes, especially for the Posaun, did not stay in tune even directly after its tuning (maybe problems with the reed or the wind?). Also the labial stops of the Bröstpositiv showed several tuning problems. Many thanks to the cathedral organist Peter Alrikson for welcoming me to Visby and giving me the chance to explore the 17th century Baltic organ repertoire at this lovely instrument.
Bibliography:
-Beckmann, Klaus. Die Norddeutsche Schule. Orgelmusik im protestantischen Norddeutschland zwischen 1517 und 1755. Mainz: Schott, 2009.
-Beckmann, Klaus (edited by). Choralbearbeitungen des norddeutschen Barocks. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, 1987.
-Beckmann, Klaus (edited by). Hieronymus Praetorius: Complete Organ Works. Masters of the North German School, Vol.1 and 2. Mainz: Schott, 2002.
-Beckmann, Klaus (edited by). Jakob Praetorius: Complete Organ Works. Masters of the North German School, Vol.6. Mainz: Schott, 2004.
-Beckmann, Klaus (edited by). Paul Siefert: Complete Organ Works. Masters of the North German School, Vol.20. Mainz: Schott, 2009.
-Beckmann, Klaus. Repertorium Orgelmusik 1150-2000. A Bio-Biographical Index of Organ Music. Mainz: Schott, 2001.
-Berglund, Kristina. Gotlands landskyrkor. Visby: GotlandsBoken AB, 2020.
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-Frisk, Anna; Jullander, Sverker; McCrea, Andrew (edited by). The Nordic-Baltic Organ Book. History and Culture. Gothenburg: Göteborg Organ Art Center, 2003.
-Harrison, Dick. Hansan: ett handelsimperiums uppgång och fall. Lund: Historiska Media, 2024.
-Grönlund, Catarina. Renässansorgeln i Visby domkyrka. Orgelforum, 1/2017.
-Hülphers, Abraham Abrahamsson. Historisk Afhandling om Musik och Instrumenter särdels om Orgwerks Inrättningen I Allmänhet jemte Kort Beskrifning öfwer Orgwerken i Swerige. Västerås: Horrn, 1773.
-Kite-Powel, Jeffrey T. The Visby (Petri) Organ Tablature. Noetzel, 1980.
-Kortkamp, Johann. Hamburger Organistenkronik. Hamburg, 1718.
-Lundblad, Jonas. Johann Bahr. Swedish Musical Heritage, 2015.
-Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma Musicum. Wolfenbüttel, 1619.
-Rauschning, Hermann. Geschichte der Musik und Musikpflege in Danzig. Gdańsk, 1931.
-Schumacher, Claudia (edited by). 20 Choral Settings of the North German School. Masters of the North German School, Vol.30. Mainz: Schott, 2013.
