Fortuna desperata: Orgelmusik aus Gotik und Renaissance

Featuring

Daniel Beilschmidt
Veit Heller
Christine Mothes
Anonymous
Guillaume de Machaut
Philippe de Vitry

Adam Ileborgh
Antoine Busnois
Johannes Buchner
Leonhard Kleber
Paul Hofhaimer
Heinrich Isaac
Sethus Calvisius

Did you know?

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Recording & Production

This recording celebrates the arrival of a new organ, the Metzler swallow's nest organ, at the Leipzig University.

Interpretation

Much of the early organ music, both performed and notated, was improvised, with written notations serving everyday use rather than documentation for later generations.

Historical Context

The foundation aims to restore the University Church of St Paul, which was destroyed by the SED dictatorship in 1968, as an intellectual, spiritual, and cultural center.

Recording & Production

The 'St. Pauli University Church in Leipzig' foundation raised over 195,000 Euros for the construction of the swallow's nest organ and covered all production costs for this debut recording.

Instruments

The Metzler swallow's nest organ at Leipzig University is historically built as a late Gothic and Renaissance instrument, offering a sonority not experienced for centuries.

Performer Biography

Daniel Beilschmidt, the university organist, covers a wide repertoire from the earliest organ music to 20th and 21st-century works, with a focus on Renaissance music, Bach, Messiaen, and improvisation.

Instruments

The current Metzler organ has seven playable stops, corresponding to a late 15th-century instrument, with plans for a second phase to achieve the full tonal variety of Renaissance and Early Baroque organs.