Smecno, 1587 [Haupwerk]
Smecno, 1587 [Haupwerk]
Smecno - history of the organ (ca. 1587)
The renaissance instrument of the Holy Trinity church in Smecno is the oldest preserved and playable organ in the Czech Republic.
The instrument was built around the year 1587. The date of construction may be easily recognized by the heraldry of the donors depicted on the organ chest and from extant archive materials. The organ builder is unknown. It is known that the instrument was damaged during the thirty years war in 1631 when the soldiers of the Swedish army stole the Regal - the only reed stop. There has been one major rebuild during its history: in the late Baroque era, in 1775, a small Rückpositiv was added by Jan Rusch from Litomerice and some stops were changed.
A partial reconstruction of the organ to the renaissance state was done by Dusan Doubek before 1999. During the years 2009-2010, the reconstruction of the organ continued. In our virtual model of the organ, we feature the state of the organ before and after the last restoration. The instrument was recorded before the organbuilders touched it, and after they completed their work. This is where the primary goal our project is achieved: the sound documentation of the given organ in various moments of its history.
This absolutely unique and innovative way of the sound documentation is allowed thanks to the Hauptwerk technology.
Presented to you by Leonart Studio, your authorised reseller for Sonus Paradisi in Switzerland (shipped internationally). Get your digitally sampled historical organs for the use with the Hauptwerk virtual instrument software.
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Specification (stop list)
-
Manual I
The Positiv
Copula 8'
Copula 4'
Fugara 4'
Principal 2'
Quinta 1 1/2'
Octava 1' -
Manual II
Choro primo windchest:
Principale 8' (Prospekt)
Cimbale 2x 1/2'
Mixtura 3x 1'
Superoctava 2'
Quinta maior 2 2/3'
Octava principale 4'
Choro secondo windchest:
Salicinale 8'
Copula maior 8'
Copula minor 4'
Quintadena 4' -
Manual III
Extended version with:
Choro primo windchest
- before the reconstruction
Choro secondo windchest
- before the reconstruction
The Extended version (surround) adds a Regal stop. -
Manual IV
-
-
Pedal
Pedal windchest
Superoctavasus 4'
Octavasus 8'
Subbasus 16' -
Other specification
"m" and "p" stay for the virtually added couplers:
the [m]anual coupler and the [p]edal coupler respectively.
The original instrument itself does not posses any couplers; in fact, the baroque positive and the renaissance organ are split apart, so that it is not possible to play them simultaneously.
History
Smecno - history of the organ (ca. 1587)
The renaissance instrument of the Holy Trinity church in Smecno is the oldest preserved and playable organ in the Czech Republic.
The instrument was built around the year 1587. The date of construction may be easily recognized by the heraldry of the donors depicted on the organ chest and from extant archive materials. The organ builder is unknown. It is known that the instrument was damaged during the thirty years war in 1631 when the soldiers of the Swedish army stole the Regal - the only reed stop. There has been one major rebuild during its history: in the late Baroque era, in 1775, a small Rückpositiv was added by Jan Rusch from Litomerice and some stops were changed.
A partial reconstruction of the organ to the renaissance state was done by Dusan Doubek before 1999. The baroque Rückpositiv was removed and the single manual in the renaissance case was renewed. The original stop names were preserved on the stop jambs and also a large number of original pipes was found inside the organ. This allowed the reconstruction of the special Renaissance sound of the individual stops. However, this reconstruction remained only partial, as the instrument was left at rather high pressure (due to newer pedal pipes - the pedal was not a part of the reconstruction job of Doubek) and therefore the pipes had rather harsh sound.
During the years 2009-2010, the reconstruction of the organ continued. The baroque Rückpositiv is now fully functional, although it remained detached from the renaissance organ having its own keyboard and drawstops opposite to the main case. Organist, therefore, cannot play the two manuals at the same time. Either the renaissance organ can be played alone, or the Positiv alone.
However, the decision was made to correct the wind pressure inside the renaissance instrument together with the necessary voicing adjustments and also a number of minor corrections to the tracker, to the windchest and to the mechanical parts of the instrument was done, so that now the reconstruction of the ancient part of the instrument may be considered finished. We are proud that we were able to sponsor this last part of the reconstruction with the money of the Sonus Paradisi project.
In our virtual model of the organ, we feature the state of the organ before and after the last restoration. The instrument was recorded before the organbuilders touched it, and after they completed their work. This is where the primary goal our project is achieved: the sound documentation of the given organ in various moments of its history. We are able to present both the variants of the sound of the instrument inside Hauptwerk, side by side, so that every ear may hear how exactly the sound of the instrument changed by pressing only a single button which toggles the before/after reconstruction sample sets. This absolutely unique and innovative way of the sound documentation is allowed thanks to the Hauptwerk technology.
The composition of the renaissance instrument
The renaissance single manual is built on two separate windchests. The first contains only the principal choir while the other the flutes. There are ventils allowing either of the windchests to be muted. They may be engaged by drawstops called in italian style "Choro primo" and "Choro secondo". This makes it possible to switch the sound of the organ quickly between the principal plenum and tiny flutes, thus imitating a two manual performance. The table shows how the stops are distributed on the windchests. Before you start to play, please do not forget to pull either the Choro primo or the Choro secondo drawstop to hear any sound at all.
MANUAL
Choro primo windchest
Principale 8' (Prospekt)
Cimbale 2x 1/2'
Mixtura 3x 1'
Superoctava 2'
Quinta maior 2 2/3'
Octava principale 4'
MANUAL
Choro secondo windchest
Salicinale 8'
Copula maior 8'
Copula minor 4'
Quintadena 4'
PEDAL
Pedal windchest
Superoctavasus 4'
Octavasus 8'
Subbasus 16'
It is tuned to the historical quarter-comma meantone tuning. The compass of the instrument: C1 - C5 in Hauptwerk terminology, short low octave.
The baroque Rückpositiv
The composition of the baroque Rückpositiv is very similar to a typical Czech type of the instrument.
Copula 8'
Copula 4'
Fugara 4'
Principal 2'
Quinta 1 1/2'
Octava 1'
The compass is four octaves, the lowest octave is short, i.e. without the semitones. Using our virtual Hauptwerk model, the Rückpositive can be heard on the lowest manual using the "extended" version of the sample set.
Features
The organ was recorded pipe by pipe before and after the reconstruction. Both the versions are available side by side in Hauptwerk, there is a special button to toggle between the before/afer reconstruction sample sets. Hence, the change in the timbre may be compared instantly in Hauptwerk without the need to unload/load the other version.
Smecno - Temperament chart
a dedicated tuning chart was created featuring the Original Temperament of Smecno organ, so you can load it any time and use it in conjunction with the Smecno samples. Its use is recommended. The renaissance organ of Smecno is tuned to 4-ter comma Meantone. The Smecno tuning chart will be installed together with the Smecno sample set. It is strongly advisable to use this temperament chart instead of the "Original Organ tuning" which conserves also all the casual tuning imperfections of the organ at the moment of the recording.
The baroque positiv of Smecno is tuned to the Werckmeister III temperament. This temperament is available in the temperament folder of Hauptwerk by default.
Screen resolution
All the versions of the sample set require 1280x1024 px screen resolution. The original version, if used with a double touchscreen, pivot must be enabled, since the split stop jambs are designed for a portrait view. The extended version does not require the pivot.
Smecno - Original
This sample set is the digital document featuring the current state of the organ together with the state of the organ before the reconstruction. The toggling between the two versions is done by clicking the special button at the left lower corner of the console screen. There was also a difference in volume: the organ before the reconstruction was too loud, after the reconstruction the volume level fits the church dimensions. We deliberately attenuated all the stops of the before the reconstruction portion of the sample set by 3 dB. This makes it more easy to comprehend the change in timbre, rather than to concentrate on the change in volume.
The stops are divided into three windchest groups as shown in the table. It has one manual (keyboard) plus pedal with the lowest octave short (the keys C#, D#, F#, G# are missing).
Smecno - Extended
The sample set expands the divisions of the instrument onto different manuals: the baroque Rückpositive is set to the lowest manual, the Renaissance Great Organ is set to the second manual, and the top most manual is reserved for the Smecno Great Organ before the reconstruction. Again, this is still different view of the before/after reconstruction state of the instrument. By playing on the second and the top manual, you can quickly compare the sound of the organ before and after the reconstruction. The extended stop list may be easily seen from the console screenshot.
The extended version adds a Regal stop to the IIIrd manual (not displayed in the screenshot).
The semitransparent buttons in the right lower corner labelled "m" and "p" stay for the virtually added couplers: the [m]anual coupler and the [p]edal coupler respectively. The organ itself does not posses any couplers.In fact, the baroque positive and the renaissance organ are split apart, so that it is not possible to play them simultaneously.
Please note again, that the added generals are purely virtual. The general labelled "x" stays for the General Cancel combination button.
Requirements
Hauptwerk v.4.2 and higher supported.
The samples are offered in 24bit/48kHz quality, multiple releases (3 levels). Plain wave formant (no encryption). The reverberation time is up to 2.5 seconds for the ambiental versions. The sample set is presented in 3 different versions:
Dry:
close-up recording, the resulting almost dry samples are available in dual-mono (left and right channels). Although recorded close-up, there is always some minor reverberation still present in the samples. This time, we opted to leave these tiny reverberation tiles in the samples, not muting them. For this reason, the sample set is not completely dry, but "moist". The releases may be truncated in the Hauptwerk itself, should the user wish that. The before/after the reconstruction sound comparison available.
RAM consumption:
full load, 16-bit: 3.4 GB
full load, 20-bit: 5.0 GB
full load, 24-bit: 6.3 GB
Wet:
distant recording capturing the original acoustics of the church, standard for Hauptwerk sample sets. The before/after the reconstruction sound comparison available.
RAM consumption - very similar to the Dry set.
Surround: the surround recording uses 4 independent channels for each virtual pipe (for each sample). The sound of the organ pipes is captured by the front microphones, the church response by the rear microphones. The 4 channels are extracted from the recording and assembled to the sample set. The two front channels are used to supply the sound of the organ to the front speakers, while the 2 other channels offer the response of the church. You can use these two channels to feed your surround (rear) speakers. Please note, that at least 4 speakers are needed to reproduce the multi-channel audio. The before/after the reconstruction sound comparison available.
RAM consumption:
full load: 16-bit: 5.8 GB
full load: 20-bit: 8.6 GB
full load: 24-bit: 11.2 GB
The Wet and Surround versions are offered in a single ODF. Please see the rank routing dialog box for details and the figure below for a description
This Hauptwerk Sample Set is presented to you by Leonart Studio, an authorised reseller for the manufacturer Sonus Paradisi in Switzerland (shipping internationally). Enjoy this digitally sampled organ library for the use with Hauptwerk software and start expanding your historical organ collection today.
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