Idea
FESTIWAL ORGANy PLUS+® 2025: SPRING
Events in the world are changing as if in a crazy kaleidoscope, we do not really know whether we are firmly heading forward or blindly retreating. Amid this hustle and bustle, for several years we have been inviting you to stop for a moment, to pause and look at the musical phenomena we have selected, which remind us that Beauty, Goodness and Truth exist, that the human spirit is free and at all times strives for these values, heading towards the Unnamed. We try to musically transport you in time and space as fully as possible, so that we feel a tangible community with our ancestors, so that, strengthened by their experiences and example, we do not succumb to discouragement and bravely resist the adversities of the modern world.
Unnoticedly, together with you, we have entered the second decade of the ORGANy PLUS+® festival, which has become one of the most essential stages in Gdańsk, Pomerania, Poland and the world presenting lively, new and profound interpretations of early music, in which the organ is an important component. This year we have prepared concerts, traditionally divided into five for each edition – spring and autumn, in which 120 artists from Poland, Germany, Austria, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Belgium will take part. There will be continuations of the topics we have undertaken earlier, also, as usual, there will be many premieres and debuts, but there will also be completely new ideas that we have wanted to present for a long time, and this year we will manage to do it for the first time. Among them are Joseph Haydn’s Paris Symphonies and Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas. This year we will also return to the festival roots, because apart from individual outings to the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre and the Salesian Church in Orunia, the vast majority of concerts will take place in the interiors of the Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity, where it all began.
The foundation of our success is the wonderful instruments that have been reconstructed and built in Gdańsk churches in recent years, and the kindness of many parishes, orders and institutions, led by the Gdańsk Franciscans, to whom we are very grateful. The festival would also not exist without our loyal audience, whose numerous presence confirms that the idea of creating concerts in the form of time capsules that transport us to a specific place and era is an exceptionally attractive formula for communing with art. From the very beginning, our idea is that anyone who wants can participate in these events. This is made possible by grants from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, the City of Gdańsk and the Pomeranian Voivodeship, as well as funding from the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation and the Flemish Community – Flanders State of the Arts, which this year was joined by distinguished sponsors – Energa Grupa ORLEN, and Mercor. Without such extensive financial support, this innovative, bold, culture-building and crazy idea, which turned out to be very successful and needed, simply would not have happened. Thank you!!!
Traditionally, we invite you to two editions – in spring and autumn. The leading theme of the spring edition of this year’s ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 festival will be the music of… Johann Sebastian Bach. This is the first time that at our festival we are delving so deeply into the work of this composer, because the opportunity is perfect – we are celebrating the 340th anniversary of his birth. We will hear early, mature and late works. The counterpoint to this character will be the work of two other composers – Johann Ulrich Steigleder, a German composer of the Renaissance, who is completely unknown to us, and the famous Papa Haydn; but let’s take it one by one…
The spring edition of the ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 festival will be inaugurated on Wednesday, May 28 at 7.00 p.m. in the Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity. During the two-part concert called + MAGNIFICAT, we will listen to Renaissance and Baroque arrangements of this Latin hymn in the first part, including works by Johann Sebastian Bach, and in the second part to compositions by the creator from Stuttgart, Johann Ulrich Steigleder, whose 390th anniversary of death the organ world is celebrating this year. The somewhat forgotten Steigleder was the alleged teacher of the famous Johann Jacob Froberger – one of the most important seventeenth-century composers of keyboard music. By recalling the figure of the teacher, we want to show that geniuses do not come from nowhere, but are lucky to meet outstanding artists on their way, who help them soar to the stars. This extraordinarily rich music will be presented by an international quartet of performers, stars of early music, only that they are contemporary – Krzysztof Urbaniak, one of the most important researchers of early Polish organ culture, will play the organ, Marta Wróblewska, a soprano who specializes in early music, will sing, the baroque violin will be played by Veronika Skuplik, a professor from Bremen, whom we already had the opportunity to hear at our festival last year with the Hathor Ensemble, and Simen Van Mechelen, a mainstay of such ensembles as De Nederlandse Bachvereniging, Pygmalion, Bach Collegium Japan, and Collegium Vocale Gent, will make his debut at our festival on the trombone. This will be an unusual premiere of the festival, which should be attended by all lovers of early sounds. The partners of this concert will be the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation and the Flemish Community – Flanders State of the Arts.
On the second day of the ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 festival, we will focus exclusively on Bach’s music. This will be a continuation of the series started four years ago, in which we present chronologically all of the organ works of this master of masters, starting with the earliest. During this year’s concert + BACH IN GDAŃSK, we will move to the years 1703–1704, when the adult Johann Sebastian first encountered the works of Pachelbel and French art. Andrzej Szadejko’s concert will take place on the great reconstructed Merten Friese organ on Thursday, May 29 at 7.00 p.m. in the Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity. Free admission.
On the third day, the time capsule will take us to places that have never been hosted at our festival before. In the years 1760–1790, Franz Joseph Haydn was the court composer of the Hungarian Esterházy family, for whom he wrote countless pieces that are now considered masterpieces at the castle in Eisenstadt, Austria. There were also commissions from outside – this is how the famous 6 Paris Symphonies were created in the years 1785–1786, commissioned by the Parisian musical society Concert de la Loge Olympique. And all these symphonies, supplemented by the organ concert in C major, will be heard for the first time in Gdańsk on old instruments at the ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 festival at the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, on Friday, May 30 at 6.30 p.m. in a concert under the all-encompassing name + HAYDN EXTREME. This will be an exceptional event not only because of the works presented, but also because of the concert formula and performers, because the internationally renowned Krakow ensemble Capella Cracoviensis will perform under the direction of Jan Tomasz Adamus. The artists will debut at our festival and in Gdańsk at the same time, as they have never had such an opportunity in their entire 55-year history. Due to the use of the Elizabethan stage, the number of seats will be limited, so it is worth deciding to buy a ticket in advance.
Cornett is an instrument that accompanies us at the festival from time to time. This is not surprising, because in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries it was a very popular instrument, and even on the beautiful Mannerist organ case in the Holy Trinity Church there is a painted representation of an angel and a bas-relief of a devil playing this instrument. This year we will have two occasions to see whether it is an angelic or a devilish instrument. The first of these concerts, and the fourth in the spring edition of the ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 festival, + CORNETTO I will take place in the best place for this type of music in Poland – in the Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity in Gdańsk on Saturday, May 31 at 7.00 p.m. A duo that has been working together for years will perform for us – both artists are lecturers at the famous Swiss school of early music Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel. Tobias Lindner on the organ and Frithjof Smith on the cornett will present us with a premiere concert presenting compositions by Italians who worked north of the Alps. Some of the presented artists, such as Tarquinio Merula, even travelled to Poland. This will certainly be an extremely sunny musical journey. The Polish-German Cooperation Foundation will also be a partner of this concert.
The spring edition of the ORGANy PLUS+® festival will end with a Bach concert with a Gdańsk accent under the telling title + GOLDBERG. Goldberg’s name is widely known in the public consciousness. Who among music lovers has not heard at least the famous aria from J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations? However, too few people know that Johann Gottlieb Goldberg was originally from Gdańsk and not only became famous for being the first to perform commissioned variations as a student of Bach and a protégé of Count Keiserlink, but also for being a talented composer. Unfortunately, he died of tuberculosis at the age of 29. German organist and harpsichordist Jörg Halubek (Germany), professor at the Academy of Music in Stuttgart, already presented the Goldberg Variations BWV 988 in Gdańsk in its original harpsichord version a few years ago. This time, however, he has prepared his own organ version specifically for our festival. He will present it in the Franciscan Church of the Holy Trinity in Gdańsk on 1 June at 3.30 p.m. This will certainly be a fantastic gift for Children’s Day – the child in each of us. And the only opportunity to hear what this piece sounds like on the organ. Church of the Holy Trinity is huge, there is plenty of space, so everyone can fit in. This is an opportunity not to be missed, we strongly encourage you to participate in this event. With this concert we close the spring edition of the Festival. The exclusive partner of this concert will be hosted by the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation.
The ORGANy PLUS+® 2025 Festival will return to us as usual in early autumn. Let’s hope that the four-month break will not be an entire era in the history of humanity, but will give us a breather and allow us to prepare well for another portion of excellent music selected especially for our Festival. Many premieres and more strong debuts await. Lovers of old Gdańsk culture will have another opportunity to get to know the work of Pucklitz, we will visit the imperial court in Vienna and Graz, as well as the Elizabethan opera. Once again, the trombone will appear in the context of the organ, this time as a leading instrument, and the whole thing will end with a fresh sunny breath of Italian breeze, which will illuminate and warm us for a moment in the twilight of summer.
World-famous performers, original instruments, old performance techniques, the acoustics of the Gothic church of St. The Trinity Church and the extraordinary interior of the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre, the original placement of musicians on the only Lectorium in Poland and on the Elizabethan stage, and finally music that is not played anywhere else in Poland will make us feel like a participant in musical events from centuries ago, or even make us become witnesses of completely new musical events.
We invite you to the Holy Trinity Church and the Gdańsk Shakespeare Theatre!
Details on the website www.organyplus.com
The ORGANS PLUS+® 2025 Festival was financed with funds from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage from the Fund for the Promotion of Culture – a state special purpose fund, within the framework of the “Music” program, implemented by the National Institute of Music and Dance, as well as with funds from the City of Gdansk, the Local Government of the Pomeranian Voivodeship, the Foundation for Polish-German Cooperation and the Flemish Community – Flanders State of the Arts, and with the support of sponsors: Energa Grupa Orlen and Mercor.
Prof. Andrzej Szadejko
Artistic Director of ORGANy PLUS+® Festival
Director
ANDRZEJ MIKOŁAJ SZADEJKO
Born in Gdansk in 1974. Organist, composer, conductor, teacher and organologist. Studied at the Music Academy in Gdańsk (1994-96). Graduated in 1998 from Academy of Music in Warsaw by Joachim Grubich and in 2002 in Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel by Jean-Claude Zehnder where he recived diplomas with honour in organ music. He also graduated with honours in singing by Richard Lewitt and composition by Rudolf Lutz. Other important teachers were Andrea Marcon (harpsichord) and Gottfried Bach (basso continuo). In the years 1
992-2002 took part in over 30 organ, harpsichord and pianoforte master classes and interpretations courses in Poland, Germany, Switzerland and Netherland. In 2021 become professor of arts. Since 2006 he has been teaching organ and basso continuo in Gdansk Music Academy, Poland. He was visiting professor giving lectures, masterclasses and workshops in Poland, Germany, Finland, Lithuania and USA.
He is the finalist and prizewinner of many International Organ Competitions (Rumia/PL, Gdansk/PL, Warsaw/PL, Odense/DK, Brugge/B). Stipendist/scholar of many institutions: Mayor of City Gdansk/PL, Marshal of Pomerania voivodship/PL, Polish Culture Foundation/PL, City of Basel/CH, Doms-Stiftung/CH, Organ Summer Academy in Harlem/NL, Polish Institut of Music and Dance IMiT/PL, Adam Mickiewicz Institut/PL.
Since 1994 over 600 concerts in Poland, most of the European countries, Russia and USA.
Leader, adviser and organ expert in many projects of historical and modern organs, i.e. Merten Friese organ (1618) in Trinity church in Gdańsk/PL, Johann Rhode organ (1761) in St. John’s church in Gdańsk/PL, Eduard Wittek organ (1911) in Orunia/PL, Januszkiewicz & Kalnins organ (2022) in Vilnius/LT.
Since 2008 artistic director of the Project at the Polish Science Academy Bibliotheque of Gdansk – Musical Heritage of City Gdansk – reediting and recording of musical historical manuscripts from bibliotheques of Gdansk. Leader of GOLDBERG BAROQUE ENSEMBLE – vocal and instrumental baroque players (www.goldbergensemble.eu). Recordings (30 CDs) by polish labels DUX, SARTON, ARS SONORA, Acte Prealable and german labels MOTTETE and MDG (leader of the seria MUSICA BALTICA and GDANSK ORGAN LANDSCAPE). 2022 has got the OPUS KLASSIK AWARD.
Composer of organ, choir and chamber music. Publications in polish scientific and music editions. His thesis about organ music by two pupils of Bach – Mohrheim und Muethel has got a prize at the Fair of Scientific Books in Wroclaw/Poland in 2011.
Manager and artistic director of many musical events in Poland: festival ORGANy PLUS+ (www.organyplus.com), Koncerty dla Gdańszczan, ORUŃSKIE KONCERTY, festival Moniuszko in Churches of Warsaw. MONIUSZKO_150 – VILNIUS/BERLIN
Program
Artists
Krzysztof Urbaniak
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Veronika Skuplik
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Marta Wróblewska
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Simen Van Mechelen
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Jan Tomasz Adamus
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Capella Cracoviensis
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Tobias Lindner
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Bork-Frithjof Smith
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Jörg Halubek
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ALINA MĄDRY
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ANDRZEJ SZADEJKO
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BIOGRAFIA
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Places
The Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre
The Gdansk Shakespeare Theatre was built on the site where the School of Fencing, modeled after London’s Fortune Theatre, operated in the 17th century. It was the first public theater in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Equipped with an Elizabethan-style stage and similar to numerous English theaters of the Elizabethan era, it served both for fencing exercises and competitions, as well as for staging performances. English itinerant actors regularly came to the Gdansk theater to perform plays by English playwrights, including Shakespeare. The current theater building stands in the place of the 17th century original. The interior of the Main Hall of the theater is a reconstruction of the former Gdansk Elizabethan theater. Thanks to modern technology, the interior is adaptable, allowing for different types of stages: classical Italian, Elizabethan (protruding towards the audience, where the ground floor audience stands around the stage), arena stages, and others. The retractable roof is another technological marvel that enables performances to be staged in natural daylight, following the Renaissance tradition. The project was designed by Italian architect Renato Rizzi, who placed the wooden interior of the building within a heavy brick structure. The theater was opened in September 2014. The retractable roof, which opens in just 3 minutes, allows performances to take place in natural daylight under the open sky (in „Elizabethan” conditions). The theater has a volume of over 53,000 m³, a total area of over 12,000 m², and a usable area of nearly 8,000 m². The building incorporates technical solutions such as a movable stage and seating system. The interior is adaptable, depending on the stage and seating arrangement, and the theater can accommodate up to 600 people (in a theatrical setup) or up to 1,000 people (in a concert setup).
The Holy Trinity Church
The Franciscan monastery complex is located in the Lower City, in the direct vicinity of the major tourist attractions of the Old Town of Gdańsk.
The complex stands out to view when entering Gdańsk from the south. Its flèche-topped timber roof truss is the dominating element in the southern panorama of the Old Town.
The history of the complex dates back to the 14. century and the beginnings of the Franciscans’ presence in Gdańsk. In the 16. century the post-monastery buildings used to house the famous gymnasium and the first public library. In the 19. century the complex was turned to the natural history museum. After World War II the Franciscans returned to occupy a part of the complex despite oppositions from the communist state authorities, thus closing a certain stage in the history of the site.
The Holy Trinity church is one of the three authentic shrines in Gdańsk which have survived war destruction. This Gothic hall church is made up of two sections: the triple-nave main body and the single-nave presbytery. Both sections are crossed with the choir screen dating back to 1488, which is the only one authentic structure of the type preserved in Poland. The church owes its specific acoustic properties to the Gothic vault over the main body of the church, spanning at the height of 22.65 meters and supported by 10 massive pillars set in two rows every 5 meters. The three naves are 29.1 m wide, while in length the main body of the church (50.7 m) and the presbytery add up to 82 m. The characteristic feature in the church structure is the asymmetric angle of the presbytery axis with respect to the axis of the main body of the church. The organ is installed on two adjacent balconies in the transept, i.e. the crossing of the main church body and the presbytery, on the southern side of the choir screen. There is no other architectural solution of the type in Poland, with just several similar solutions found worldwide.
Church of Saint John Bosco in Orunia
The first wooden chapel was built by the Teutonic Knights in Orunia, probably in the first half of the 15th century. In 1571 it was expanded and converted into a Lutheran church, which burned down in 1577. It was not until 1608 that the construction of a new church was started, and in 1684 a tower was added. As a result of another reconstruction, completed on June 13, 1764, the western and northern parts of the temple were expanded.
On September 3, 1813, the church was set on fire by the Russian army besieging Gdańsk. It was not until 1820, thanks to the personal and financial commitment of Hoene the trade counselor, who was the owner of large areas in Orunia, that the construction of today’s temple was started according to the design of the imperial court architect – Karl Friedrich Schinkel from Berlin. A brick neo-Gothic body of the church was created with a slender tower, topped with a sharp dome with rarely seen, „gothic” vaults made of wood and covered with a layer of plaster forming ribs and consoles supported on 8 wooden pillars supporting also a gallery running along the side walls, connecting above the entrance the main one, where the organ was later placed. The new Orunia’s church was consecrated on October 5, 1823. the owner of the area founded also the main altar, two side altars and the organ.
The church was in good shape until 1945, when the advancing Soviet army destroyed it again. However, despite the damage to the roof, tower and windows, from which traceries and stained glass fell out, the temple did not suffer as much devastation as most of the religious buildings in the city itself.
After the war, the church in Orunia was assigned to the Salesians by the bishop of Gdańsk, Karol Maria Splett, as the rector’s church, and on July 15, 1994, the church became a parish church, separating from the nearby parish in Old Scottland.
Corpus Christi parish church
Corpus Christi parish church – is a two-storey temple, including the lower church, with approx. 1,200 m2 and the upper, with approx. 2,000 m2. The modern block in the shape of a segment of a circle, which converges towards the presbytery, is covered with a roof consisting of four independent parts, covered with Swedish metal tiles. Above the presbytery there is a tower topped with an 18-metre-high cross illuminated at night, with a façade lined with aluminum panels, and granite from the base to the height of three meters, and clinker from the front. The other façades are plastered with white acrylic, and the lower part is clad with clinker bricks. Two huge window areas in the side walls of the upper church with a total area of 260 m2 are framed by aluminum frames, and one of them has stained glass windows already installed.
The place of daily common prayer is the lower church. On the altar wall there is a bas-relief of the Lord Jesus. In the presbytery there is a statue of the Mother of God designed and made by Krystyna Kręcicka, also the author of the Stations of the Cross. There are side altars on the right; from the back: first – with images of St. Padre Pio and the relics of St. Maximilian M. Kolbe and the figure of St. Francis of Assisi; Faustina, the fourth – Our Lady of Perpetual Help with the titular image and the figure of St. Joseph and the last one, by the presbytery – with images of Bl. Fr. Jerzy Popiełuszko and Bl. John Paul II. In the lower storey there are also: the chapel of St. Adalbert with the papal altar and the so-called side chapel.
Sunday Masses are held in the upper church, which can be entered through five doors and further through vestibules, over which the choir balcony with an area of 610 m2 dominates. Through one side door you can also enter the side chapel of the upper church, where there will be a chapel of adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The upper church captivates with its noble elegance, harmony and peace. The special character of the presbytery, raised by several steps, is emphasized by the white marble on the floor and the marble altar, pulpits, baptismal font and candlesticks. It is perfectly complemented by a light, granite floor (Cashmir gold and Cashmir white) – with a discreet mosaic pattern in the nave. The main ornament of the spacious and bright interior are huge stained glass windows, previously installed in the presbytery and the left wall of the church. Corpus Christi Church in Morena is the second largest church in the Archdiocese of Gdańsk. In addition to liturgical functions, it is an excellent venue for concerts.
St. John’s Centre in Gdańsk
The first mention of the existence of a small chapel dedicated to St. John dates back to 1358. From around 1360 to around 1546, construction of a three-aisle Gothic church in the hall style was ongoing. However, the church’s structure was externally reinforced up until the end of the eighteenth century due to unstable statics. Between 1463-1465, the church received starry vaults, and in 1612, one of the largest European stone altars, created by Abraham van den Blocke, was installed and remains to this day. Between 1680-1690, a library funded by Zachariasz Zappio was established on the northern side of the transept. In March 1945, the church burned down. The roof structure, roof, windows, and floor were destroyed, the structure was damaged, and the twin Baroque townhouses on the south wall of the chancel were also affected. After the war, the burned church building was roofed and its valuable vaults were secured. The church itself was designated as a lapidarium and was not included in the planned reconstruction of the Main Town. Most of its equipment was transferred to St. Mary’s Church in Gdańsk. The church was not taken over for religious purposes after the war and deteriorated over the years. It also served as a set for war movies, which further contributed to its decay. In 1960, the evangelical community relinquished ownership of the church, but it wasn’t until 1991 that the church was formally handed over to the Gdańsk diocese.
The Baltic Cultural Centre in Gdańsk, based on an agreement with the Archdiocese of Gdańsk, has managed the reconstruction, conservation, and adaptation of St. John’s Church into a Cultural Centre – St. John’s Centre, since 1995. The reconstruction of the Johann Rohde organs is the most significant element of the second stage of the church’s revalorization and adaptation project. It was co-financed as part of the project „Revalorization and adaptation of St. John’s Church in Gdańsk into St. John’s Centre – stage II”, within the Regional Operational Program of the Pomeranian Voivodeship for 2014-2020, co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund.
Organ
Organ of St. Trinity Church in Gdansk
Organ of St. Trinity Church in Gdansk are unique in design, architecture and music on a global scale. It is one of the most important instruments in Europe, now influencing the whole musical culture of the region. It is the only instrument of this type in Poland and in Europe.
The reconstruction of the organ at the Holy Trinity church is fundamental for the cultural development of the monastery complex.
The purpose of reconstruction of the Merten Friese’s instrument is to bring it back to its shape and style gained after the most recent modifications carried out in Baroque, i.e. in mid-18. century, by Friedrich Dalitz, an organ builder from Gdańsk.
The instrument is being recreated using organbuilding techniques and materials typical for the epoch in which it was originally built. In order to be as close to the original as possible, the recreating team used all preserved authentic elements of the organ casing. The works are based on information and documentation drawn when dismantling the instrument in the times of the Second World War. The physical form and musical potential of the recreated instrument is unmatched in Poland. Its Baroque shape refers to the tradition of organ-building characteristic for the Baltic states. The instrument become an important link in the process of reviving the craft culture of the Hanseatic circle in such cities as Hamburg, Stralsund, Copenhagen, Goeteborg, Stockholm, or Riga.
Reconstruction of the instrument so large and so important for the musical culture of the region and all Poland is unique in many respects. The uniqueness of the project, in view of the organ-building tradition in former Hanseatic cities, stems from the fact that the project concept assumes following of the process of transformations which occurred in organ building in the region over the period of 150 years.
The organ was being put back in its original place, on the railing on the southern side of the presbytery, by the choir screen. This is the only structural solution of the type found in Poland, echoing the style, rare as it is, found in the organ-building art of the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern Germany.
Thanks to the positioning of the organ in the direct vicinity of the choir screen the qualities of the interior similar to those offered by concert halls enable holding musical events for which no other church interior in Poland is suitable, at the same time giving those musical productions an additional value of following the historic musical practice.
There is no other church in Poland with a choir screen so large, able to accommodate both the choir, and orchestra and an organ nearby. Thanks to it, the potential of using the intertior of the Holy Trinity church for artistic purposes is almost unlimited.
The organ is just finished in May 2018 and already serves to liturgy and cultural events as well as educational and scientific purposes.
A brief history of the instrument
| 1616-1618 | – probably Merten Friese built the organ |
| 1697 | – adding Cimbelstern by Georg Nitrowski |
| 1703 | – Tobias Lehmann rebuilt the old instrument and built a new pedal case |
| 1757 | – barock reconstruction by Rudolph Dalitz |
| 1914 | – Total rebuilding and pneumatization by Otto Heinrichsdorf |
| 1943 | – dismantling of organ durin WWII |
| 1960 | – part reconstruction of pedal balcony and prospect with pneumatic organ behind by Ryszard Plenikowski |
| 2008 | – Begin of reconstruction of the historical barock organ by Kristian Wegscheider from Dresden with cooperation with Szymon Januszkiewicz from Niedalino |
| 2013 | – Reconstruction of the first section – Rückpositiv |
| 2015 | – the end of reconstruction of all preserved historical elements of organ cases |
| 2017 | – reconstruction of further divisions – Gross Pedal, Klein Pedal, Brustwerk |
| 2018 | – reconstruction of Hauptwerk – the end of the reconstruction project |
About the organ of Johann Friedrich Rhode
In 2019, 77 years later, one of the most splendid instruments of 18th-century Europe returned to its former place in a reconstructed form, whose modern technological solutions were at that time set by experts as a model for other instruments. The 30-voice instrument was originally created together with the choir in 1760-61 as the second auxiliary instrument for the great main organ, the prospect of which is now in St. Mary’s Basilica. The builder of this most modern instrument in Europe at that time was Johann Friedrich Rhode, probably a student of Andreas Hildebrandt from Gdańsk, an associate of Christian Obuch in Pomerania and Warmia, and Jonas Grena and Peter Strahl in Sweden. The beautiful carving and sculptural setting of the organ prospectus were made by Johann Heinrich Meissner, one of the most outstanding sculptors working on the Baltic Sea. Fortunately, this richly carved and gilded organ case was preserved in its entirety during the evacuation in 1943-44. However, the instrument had to be recreated. The main idea behind this realization was maximum fidelity to the original, which was achieved in almost 100% thanks to the professional work of the conservation company, Mr. Jacek Dyżewski Dart from Gdańsk and the Polish-Belgian consortium of organ-building companies Guido Schumacher from Eupen in Belgium and Szymon Januszkiewicz from Pruszcz Gdański. Intonation and tuning were entrusted to an outstanding organ builder from Latvia – Janis Kalnins. The entire project was conducted by Iwona Berent – the curator of the Church of St. John, who has been consistently managing the revitalization of the entire church for many years, and dr hab. Andrzej Szadejko – the author of research and the concept of organ reconstruction, who supervised the project and is currently the curator of the instrument.
A brief history of the lateral organs at the St. John’s church in Gdańsk
| 1560-64 | – first known side organ built in the south aisle by Hans Behrendt |
| 1642 | – Another instrument built by Michael Fischer. |
| 1688 | – side organ is moved to the northern aisle. |
| 1760-1761 | – new Johann Friedrich Rhode organ with a new choir built to replace the previous instrument. |
| 1912 | – Eduard WIttek’s new 17-voice pneumatic organ built inside the historical case |
| 1943-1944 | – disassembly of the baroque case and organ gallery |
| 1945 | – destruction of the church and pneumatic organs |
| 2017-2019 | – reconstruction of the baroque-classical organ by the consortium of Guido Schumacher and Szymon Januszkiewicz |
About the organ at the St. John Bosco church in Orunia
The history of the smallest festival instrument is very complicated. For a long time the original authorship of the instrument was attributed in the literature to Johann Hellwig from 1611. However, during a recent renovation, it was discovered that the mechanical 20-voice instrument was originally created in 1749 in the workshop of the famous Gdańsk organ builder – Andreas Hildebrandt for the now defunct hospital church, which was rebuilt in 1734 just outside the walls of Gdańsk. On this occasion, on June 8, 1749, during the consecration of the newly built organ, the ceremonial cantata, which has been preserved in the collection of the Gdańsk Library – Saget dank allezeit – by Johann Daniel Pucklitz, a Gdańsk composer, was performed. The church was destroyed again in 1807 by the French army, and the devastated instrument and the case were dismantled and stored by the Gdańsk organ builder, Christian Ephraim Ahrendt. In 1824, using the original elements of Hildebrandt’s organ, Ahrendt built a new instrument in the choir of the Orunia temple, visually adapting it to the neo-Gothic interior design. In the twentieth century, the instrument was rebuilt many times. First, in 1911, Eduard Wittek built a new 17-voice pneumatic organ in a baroque case, and then in 1986 Wawrzyniec Rychert, and in the 2000s, other unauthorized people partially changed the instrument’s disposition and technical parameters, leading to its devastation.
Thanks to the initiative of Father Mariusz Słomiński, the parish priest of St. John Bosco in Orunia, in 2017-18, a project was carried out to renovate and partially reconstruct the neo-romantic pneumatic organs of the Elbląg company by Eduard Wittek, funded in 1911 for the local church by the Hoene family. The program of two-year works included the renovation and conservation of the organ case and the restoration of the original, neo-romantic disposition of the instrument from over a hundred years ago. The works under the supervision of dr hab. Andrzej Szadejko were done by the organ-building company of Szymon Januszkiewicz from Pruszcz Gdański and the conservation studio of Mrs. Jolanta Pabiś-Ptak and their associates. The preservation of the organs was financially supported by the donations of parishioners and by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the City of Gdańsk. Currently, it is the only stylistically homogeneous neo-romantic instrument in the whole Pomerania.
A brief history of the instrument
| 1749 | – new Andreas Hildebrandt organ in the rebuilt Lazaretkirche outside the walls of the city of Gdańsk |
| 1807 | – dismantling of the remains of the organ builder by the Gdańsk organist Christian Ephraim Ahrendt |
| 1824 | – construction of a new instrument with the use of old elements in the church in Orunia |
| 1911 | – Eduard Wittek put a new pneumatic organ in a baroque case. |
| 1986 | – Wawrzyniec Rychert rebuilds the instrument in the spirit of Orgelbewegung |
| Lata 2000 | – devastation of the instrument by self-proclaimed organ builders |
| 2017-2018 | – renovation and partial reconstruction of the Wittek organ by Szymon Januszkiewicz from Pruszcz Gdański |
Project of the disposition of organs for the Body of Christ Church in Gdańsk-Morena
The organs were built in 2023 by the organ-making workshop of Zdzisław Mollin in Odra according to the concept of Professor Dr. hab. Bogusław Grabowski.
Gallery
Organization
Tickets are available one hour before each concert (cash only) or online via Bilety24.
Ticket prices:
28 May – 30 / 50 PLN
29 May – free admission
30 May – 40 / 60 · 60 / 90 · 90 / 110 PLN
31 May – 30 / 50 PLN
1 June – 50 / 70 PLN
Festival pass (all days): 140 / 220 PLN
Contact
Stowarzyszenie Przyjaciół Kościoła Św. Trójcy „Dziedziniec” w Gdańsku
ul. Św. Trójcy 4
80-822 Gdańsk
General and Artistic Director
prof. dr hab. Andrzej Szadejko
info@organyplus.com
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biuro@organyplus.com
mobile phone: +48 728 376 237
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