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Home > Music > Organs > Brombaugh > From Robert Parkins
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by Robert Parkins, University Organist, 1997
The significance of the new Brombaugh organ in Memorial Chapel
extends far beyond that of a purely functional instrument to accompany
services, although it will most certainly do that. Like the Flentrop
organ installed in Duke University Chapel in 1976, it is an organ
of national, even international, importance. Among a mere handful
of modern meantone organs at American colleges and universities
(including Berkeley, Oberlin, and Wellesley), the Brombaugh is
further distinguished by its early Italian orientation. Moreover,
the Chapel is one of the very few settings in this country that
could be considered architecturally and acoustically ideal for
this kind of instrument.
As a complement to the Chapel’s Flentrop and Æolian
organs, the Brombaugh will specialize in music written before
the age of J. S. Bach. Keyboard literature of the 16th and 17th
centuries is rich and varied, embracing a wealth of liturgical
and secular music in a number of national styles. To be sure,
the core of this instrument is a modest though complete organ
in pre-18th-century Italian style, but a judicious expansion allows
for the performance of late Renaissance and early Baroque repertoire
of other schools — most notably the southern European countries
— without disturbing the instrument’s integrity.
Although thoroughly new, this organ sounds “old,”
for in using the kinds of techniques and materials employed by
the ancient builders, John Brombaugh has created an instrument
that emulates the sound of antique organs. The sensitive mechanical
action, flexible winding, low wind pressure, and historical pipe
scalings all contribute to producing with crystalline clarity
the kinds of sounds that would have been recognizable to composers
like Cabezon, Frescobaldi, and Pachelbel.
However, there is one aspect in particular most likely to be
perceived by the attentive listener as noticeably different: the
historical meantone tuning. The pure thirds (and nearly perfect
fifths) in the major triads will sound sufficiently comfortable,
even inducing an uncommon sense of repose at final cadences. On
the other hand, the low leading tones and the unequal semitones,
most dramatically demonstrated in chromatic passages, may require
some aural adjustment for 20th-century musicians and audiences.
(We should remember, of course, that just a few decades ago even
the now familiar sound of the harpsichord demanded a similar adaptation
from those accustomed to hearing the music of Bach played only
on the piano.)
Meantone temperament, an admittedly “undemocratic”
system antedating the increasingly egalitarian currents of the
18th century, strongly favors certain intervals, chords, and keys
over others. Consequently, some tonalities occurring in later
music are rendered unusable in exchange for the purity of the
commonly used “good” keys, bringing the balance of
consonance and dissonance, central to the ethos of Renaissance
and Baroque music, back into bold relief. Strict 1/4-comma meantone,
the tuning system employed in the Brombaugh organ, is especially
striking as it highlights the contrast between harmonious and
discordant sonorities. Early keyboard music, often perceived as
banal when filtered through the more homogeneous tonal palette
of modern equal temperament, suddenly springs to life when the
appropriate tuning system is restored.
Similarly, other ostensible limitations imposed by such a specialized
period instrument are conducive to a more authentic musical performance.
The dimensions of the manual keys, placement of the pedal keyboard,
and fastidious attention to other historical details discourage
anachronistic playing techniques and specious interpretations.
As a corollary, the sensitive musician learns from direct experience
with a historically based organ in a way that “armchair
expertise” alone can never provide. Thus, the Brombaugh
will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable teaching tool as well
as a beautiful musical instrument.
According to the precepts of historical performance practice,
the appropriate instrument is a crucial element in translating
the notated score — at best, an incomplete blueprint for
the imaginative and thoughtful player — into an authentic
musical performance. Enlightened scholars and performers regard
it as axiomatic that no single organ can adequately reproduce
the entire spectrum of a literature spanning more than six centuries.
Duke University is now blessed with three remarkably different
organs under one roof, collectively capable of handling a substantial
segment of that literature. The Brombaugh, an exquisite addition
to the Memorial Chapel, becomes one of the few organs in this
country able to reproduce earlier music with uncompromised integrity
and cogency, retrieving the lost sounds of well over 300 years
ago.
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