Pedal-Exercitium
BWV 598 performed by Matthias Havinga
St-Bavokerk, Haarlem
Behind the music
Story
Story
Extra videos
Extra videos
Credits
Credits
Footwork
Winged feet penetrate the ears of the listeners like a bolt of lightning
The “miracle of Leipzig” (Lipsiae miraculum), was the name bestowed on the organist Johann Sebastian Bach by Constantin Bellermann. Bellermann was the headmaster of a provincial school and had heard Bach testing a renovated organ in Kassel – probably in 1732. He was clearly very impressed, saying “If this man so chooses, he can use only his feet (solo pedum ministerio), while his fingers do nothing or do something else, to produce miraculous, quick and exciting harmonies on the church organ, such as those you see others produce with their fingers”.
This pedal fragment notated by Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel, above which one of Johann Sebastian’s pupils wrote Pedal Exercitium and ‘Bach’ in the 1730’s, fits Bellermann’s description of Bach’s pedal technique perfectly. It is a showpiece of quick broken chords, big leaps and unexpected chromatic notes. Eyewitness accounts like Bellermann’s also make it clear that father Bach really could play this sort of passage as quick as lightning.
For example, Bellermann writes about Bach’s visit to Kassel that he “ran over the pedals so quickly that his feet appeared winged, with a thundering fullness of sound, and penetrated the ears of the listeners like a bolt of lightning”, and that he “was admired in amazement” by Prince Frederick van Hessen. The prince removed a jewelled ring from his hand on the spot and gave it to Bach. If he had earned that just with the speed of his feet, wondered Bellermann, what would the prince have given him if Bach had used his hands as well?
We do not know exactly why Bach wrote this fragment of 33 bars. As it has survived in the hand of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, it could well be that it was an exercise devised by father Bach for his son.
Organ
This recording was made on the famous Müller organ in the Great or St. Bavo Church, in Haarlem. It is a very special instrument from 1738. Both Georg Friedrich Händel and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart travelled to Haarlem to play this organ! Händel was particularly delighted by the unusual Vox Humana register. The organ has over 5000 pipes, divided over 64 registers, with three manuals and a pedal.
- BWV
- 598
- Title
- Pedal-Exercitium
- Instrument
- organ
- Genre
- organ works
- Year
- after 1725
- City
- Leipzig
- Special notes
- This piece is unfinished.
Extra videos
Vocal texts
Original
Translation
Credits
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- Release date
- 21 July 2017
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- Recording date
- 21 September 2016
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- Location
- St-Bavokerk, Haarlem
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- Organist
- Matthias Havinga
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- Organ
- Christian Müller, 1738
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- Director
- Bas Wielenga
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- Music recording, edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman, Bastiaan Kuijt
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- Music edit and mix
- Guido Tichelman
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- Camera
- Bas Wielenga, Jeroen Simons
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- Lights
- Gregoor van de Kamp
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- Interview
- Onno van Ameijde, Marloes Biermans
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- Producer
- Jessie Verbrugh
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