New article (ENG): "Johann Gottlob Meinert and his organ from 1782", in: "The Organ”, No 397, August-October 2021

Dodano 7.8.2021

Szostak Michał, "Johann Gottlob Meinert and his organ from 1782",
in: "The Organ”, No 397, August-October 2021, Musical Opinion Ltd, London, ISSN 0030-4883, pp. 18-35.

Abstract:
In the following essay, I shall describe the history of one particular organ, which was also the first instrument on which I started to play. This fact determined my musical education and inspired me to grow as a musician. My love for this particular organ also led me to explore its history, which to my great astonishment revealed a treasure hidden under many layers of rebuilds and additions. Playing for almost ten years on a cone-valve organ, I never thought its history would bring me to 1782 and to a 500-km (300-mile) small village lying at the current border between Poland and Germany. We will encounter beautiful and sad moments in this story - as in real life - with many unexpected twists and turns. The 18th century saw archaic solutions confronting more modern ones: an age of inventions and discoveries, which - consciously or not - we use to this day. So it was in these times: the importance of knowledge and reason began to be appreciated, as evidenced by the publication of a series of encyclopedias; the first - the Encyclopedia of Denis Diderot (1746), or the Scottish Encyclopedia Britannica (1780); Benjamin Franklin constructed a lightning rod that kept people away from the danger of unexpectedly losing all their possessions as a result of a raging storm (1752); the first steam vehicle was constructed - a tractor for fieldwork (1771); based on a court judgment in Glarus (Switzerland), the last “witch” was burned at stake (1782); the paving of pavements began in Paris (1782); the first steam weaving machines appeared, which revolutionised and rapidly accelerated the pace of development of the textile industry (1785).

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