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Woldingham School Chapel, formerly a gymnasium, has become an oasis of peace within the bustling academic community. While the low roofline and somewhat dry acoustics initially posed challenges for optimizing the sound of the new digital organ, we successfully overcame them.

Physis Plus Demonstration
Music by Johann Philipp Kirnberger (1721-1783) - Choral Prelude “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König”
Organist: Maestro. Stefano Guaiana
Organ: Viscount Physis Plus Domus P33 (EU standard layout - Baroque pipe set)
This short Chorale Prelude on "Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König" is entirely played on the Great with a single Blockflöte 4' stop. We are sure the listener will appreciate, in an extremely clear manner, how Physis Plus recreates and recalculates the sounds in real time each time a key is pressed. The instability of the airflow over the upper lip during the attack transient, creates variable resonances and aeolian tones which are always 'new' and “alive”. This phenomenon that happens in a real organ every time the air goes through a pipe, gives an extraordinary beauty and naturalness to the attack chiff which only the modelling technology can digitally reproduce. Physis Plus takes each organ pipe from a physical-spatial dimension to a modelling-computational one, while maintaining its behaviour and character.

Installation and 1st voicing of the Regent 356 at Dauntseys School

Played by Jonathon Kingston. This month’s hymn, “Tell Out, My Soul”, is a Christian hymn paraphrasing the Magnificat written by Timothy Dudley-Smith (1926 – ) in 1962. In the early days this hymn was paired to a tune by Michael Baughen but it was later paired and greatly enhanced by the sweeping music of Walter Greatorex’s (1877 – 1949) grand tune, Woodlands.

The tune’s title refers to one of the schoolhouses at Gresham’s School, Norfolk, where Greatorex was director of music. Timothy Dudley-Smith is an English hymn writer and now retired bishop of the Church of England. Born in Manchester, United Kingdom, he was educated at Tonbridge School and Pembroke College, Cambridge before he studied theology at Ridley Hall. Dudley-Smith is a prolific writer of texts for hymns and a member and honorary vice-president of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland. In 2003, he was appointed an OBE “for services to hymnody”

Played by Jonathon Kingston. The hymn tune of the month this time is “Passion Chorale” which was originally composed by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612). The most common text associated to this hymn tune is “O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” which is a Christian Passion hymn based on a Latin text written during the Middle Ages. Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676) originally wrote a German version “O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” that was then subsequently translated many different times to English. Many other composers have since written organ music based on this tune.
Hans Leo Hassler, born in Nuremburg, was a German composer and organist of the late Renaissance and early Baroque eras. He came from a family of famous musicians, receiving his early education from his father, with his elder brother Jakob Hassler also being an accomplished composer. Hans later studied in Venice with Andrea Gabrieli where he learned the polychoral style which he brought back to Germany. Hassler served as organist and composer in Augsburg, then director of town music and organist in the Nuremberg, and finally as court musician in Dresden.

For this month’s hymn we have appropriately selected the Christian Easter hymn, “Jesus Christ is Risen Today”. The author is unknown but early manuscripts suggest that the hymn was written in Germany in the 14th century. The hymn is most frequently set to the hymn tune “Easter Hymn” which was composed in the Lyra Davidica in early 18th century by William Henry Monk.
Although little is known about the origin of “Jesus Christ is risen today” it brings together the two great themes of Holy Week and Easter, the Cross and the Resurrection and celebrates the message of Holy Week and Easter – Christ crucified and risen.