Bach's schematic, as it appears on the page
LaripS.com, © Bradley Lehman, 2005-22, all rights reserved.
All musical/historical analysis here on the LaripS.com web site is the personal opinion of the author,
as a researcher of historical temperaments and a performer of Bach's music.

Taylor & Boody Opus 41

This tuning is installed in the Opus 41 organ by Taylor & Boody Organbuilders, Staunton Virginia USA. See their photo gallery and the specification.

The organ is part of Rieth Recital Hall at the Goshen College Music Center, Goshen Indiana USA. Reverberation is approximately three seconds, when the hall's optional acoustical baffles are removed from one side of the balcony.

Goshen College has a feature page about this and the college's other instruments. There are more photos from the installation process... [6 Dec] [7 Dec] [13 Dec] [15 Dec] [15 Feb]

  • An article "Bridging traditions: organ music connects generations of worship" by Anna Groff introduced this organ to the campus community, in the March 2005 issue of the Goshen College Bulletin.

    There was a front-page feature article 22 March 2005 about this organ, by Marilyn Odendahl in The Elkhart Truth. The story has been picked up in Louisville and Indianapolis on March 22, and Fort Wayne on March 23 and March 25.

    This organ is the featured cover story in The Diapason, May 2005.

    See also the organ's own page at the Goshen College Music Center web site.

    Recording

    The recording sessions for the CD set took place 11-13 March 2005, by Bradley Lehman with engineers Matthias Stegmann and Todd Hershberger. The recording is released as of January 4th 2006, a co-production by Goshen College and LaripS Recordings. The recorded repertoire includes music by Bach, Brahms, Pachelbel, Sorge, Fischer, Erbach, Zachow, Böhm, Walther, and others.

    Order this recording through the Goshen College Music Center
    (Phone: (574)535-7361) or through Bradley Lehman, bpl@umich.edu


    3-CD set: $30.00 plus shipping.

    Dedication recitals and ceremonies

    The organ's dedication week included:
    • 30 April to 8 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Pipe Organ Dedication Week at Goshen College. Concerts by Craig Cramer (Sunday), Christine Thögersen and Rosann Penner-Kauffman (Tuesday), Bradley Lehman (Thursday), Mark Herris (Friday). [Schedule...] [Press release about the week]
    • 1 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Organ dedication service, played by Christine Thögersen. Mozart sonata K245 (with two violins and cello); Bach prelude and fugue in G BWV 550; Krebs Toccata in E major.
    • 1 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Organ dedication recital, played by Craig Cramer. Buxtehude Praeludium in G minor, BuxWV 148; Pablo Bruna Tiento; Bach Neumeister chorales BWV 1092, 1100, 1114; Bach fantasia and fugue in G minor BWV 542; Johann Christoph Bach Aria with 15 vars (A minor); Dandrieu two Noels; Mendelssohn F minor sonata.
    • 2 May 2005 - Elkhart IN: Elkhart Truth review of the organ dedication service
    • 3 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Duo recital, played by Roseann Penner Kaufman and Christine Thögersen, with "Stabat" (13-member men's chorus singing the chorales). Bach program: Prelude and Fugue in E-flat BWV 552; chorales BWV 645, 650, 607, 608, 615, 605, 686, 618, 627, 651.
    • 5 May 2005 - WVPE-FM, Elkhart IN: Radio feature, "New organ and secret Bach tuning debut at Goshen College" by Beth Graham with Bradley Lehman.
    • 5 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Lecture/demonstration by Bradley Lehman, organ and harpsichord. Repertoire: Bach Pastorale BWV 590 (two mvts); Toccata in D BWV 912; Erbarm dich mein settings by Zachow and Bach (BWV 721); Fischer preludes and fugues in c# minor, E, f minor, A-flat (from Ariadne musica); Bach Kyrie BWV 671; the four Duetti BWV 802-805; Brahms Herzlich tut mich verlangen; Hönig Larghetto; Lehman atonal fugue; Bach Allein Gott BWV 715.
    • 6 May 2005 - Goshen IN: Organ recital by Mark Herris. Praetorius Nun lob, mein Seel, den Herren; Bach partita Sei gegrüsset BWV 768; Prelude and fugue in C BWV 547; Schumann fugue #1 on the name of BACH; Mendelssohn C major sonata; Mozart Andante in F K616; Hampton "Everyone Dance" from "Five Dances".
    • 8 May 2005 - Goshen IN: St Joseph Valley Camerata vocal program directed by David Seitz, with organists Christine Larson Seitz and Christine Thögersen. Music by Brunk, Britten ("Rejoice in the Lamb"), Lugge, Vaughan Williams, Stanley, Monteverdi, Brahms, William Monk, Bach (BWV 118), Seitz, John Ness Beck, American folk/Wilberg.


    Rieth Recital Hall

    In November 2006 I was invited by the acoustician TALASKE to provide remarks about the acoustical qualities of this room, and the experience of making music in it. Here is my report for their portfolio:

    Rieth Recital Hall at Goshen College - an appreciation....
    The acoustical excellence of Rieth Recital Hall is obvious, upon first entering the room. Rieth just feels like a place where special things are meant to happen. My daughter had barely turned two, in her first visit there, and she made some random vocal sound. Surprised, she stopped, listened to the room's startling presence, and carefully ventured a few more syllables and notes. She listened closely to herself in those, too, as the hall compelled her to do: exploring her improvised expression, and receiving the inspiring feedback to keep going. It quickly became a delighted monologue, and turned into an onstage dance as well.

    My own work in Rieth has been more extensive, as a visiting harpsichordist and organist: several days of practice sessions, two lecture-recitals, a solo recital, sight-reading for fun, four six-hour days of recording, and months of close attention to the results for CD production. Our two CD sets recorded in Rieth demonstrate the instruments and their acoustical home; but, more importantly, they demonstrate that music is play. Rieth has been one of the easiest and most inspiring venues in which I have ever worked. Or played. It gives energy back, instead of draining it. I also have explored this space with my voice, experimenting alone as my daughter did, or singing in informal groups: all for the pleasure. It is simply enjoyable and refreshing to be there, participating in whatever the room will do. Two or three hours go by, seeming like fifteen minutes.

    Rieth makes its music perfectly lucid, yet also warmly resonant. This aids the musical interpretation to be natural, unproblematic, and intuitively obvious. Just listen and perform and listen. The space tells one how to play well, without having to over-project the details. This is true both from the stage's end of the room, and from the organ in the opposite balcony. The work becomes so easy that it is play. As Bach quipped about musicianship: merely hit all the right notes at the right times, and the music plays itself. It is that simple art of listening, and reacting, to sense what "the right time" is. The room tells us what that is.

    The Taylor & Boody organ in Rieth is the first in the world to incorporate my research: using what I believe to have been a preferred keyboard tuning method notated by Bach. The organ is perfectly voiced to this room, such that the whole space speaks at once. I was in the audience for its dedication recital by Craig Cramer, hearing the music from a seat in the side balcony. The absolutely compelling sound of it all left me in tears at many moments. It invited me in willingly as a listener. One does not strain to hear anything, or feel aggressively put upon. Just enjoy it, in all the perfect balance of time, pitches, tone, and resonance. During such music, nothing else matters. Is that not what music is meant to do?

    - Bradley Lehman, 16-Nov-2006


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  • Bach's schematic, rotated for use