The mighty Würlitzer

The Museum of Musical Instruments houses a huge Würlitzer cinema organ, built in 1929 to accompany films. It is played on Saturdays at noon, so we went along to hear it today. It looks quite small, but this is the tip of a huge iceberg. The organ is phenomenal, with over two hundred stops, and housed in the gallery above, there are over a thousand pipes, numerous bells and a large room full of percussion which are operated electronically from the organ console. It is the largest cinema organ in Germany and used to play in a 2000-seat cinema, but according to the organist, the largest Würlitzers are five times as big! You can see a little of the room which holds the pipes and so on above the Christmas tree. (The vertical vents are the swell box of the organ, and they open and close to gradually change the volume.) It can make a vast range of sounds including a glockenspiel, sleigh bells, church bells, scarily-deep bass notes, an old-fashioned telephone and bird song (achieved with oil-filled tubes 5 metres long).

Notice the little gift-wrapped grand piano and guitar under the Christmas tree!

The concert included Christmas music, classical, and film music, starting with the Mozart “Sleigh Ride” ( “Papa Haydn’s dead and gone, but his melodies linger on”), with sleigh bells and birds. Then “Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht” and the more bells, atmospheric and slow, including the gentle tinkle of hand bells. The music was chocolatey-smooth. The organist’s feet were sliding and dancing as he worked the pedals. Above me I could hear the flaps of the swell box opening and closing. Next, he played “In Dulci Jubilo”, very slowly, loud and sonorous, but surprisingly delicate, and I could feel my bones vibrate. He achieved a multi-layered effect playing George Michael’s “Last Christmas”, with sounds coming from across all the three large windows above me. A blast of sound and an enveloping swell heralded “The James Bond Theme”. He gave a delicious, orchestral rendition of the “Hogwart’s Hymn”, and a beautiful, spooky and expressive performance of the “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter. Then he raised the roof with excerpts from “The Battle” from the film “Gladiator”. Lots of flicking to change stops, and he played “Amazing Grace”, which listened to with my eyes closed was like a massage at first, then irritatingly tinkly bells, smooth again, booming basses, feet vibrating and bagpipe-like with drone. Never a dull moment! His final piece,  from San Saens’ “Carnival of the Animals” exploded into delightul animal sounds, scattered with birdsong and percussion, a great showpiece for the wonderful instrument.

There are other cinema organs here in Berlin at the Babylon cinema in Rosa Luxemburg Platz and at the Film Museum at Potsdam. A silent movie is being shown with organ accompaniment on 29 January 2012 at the Museum for Musical Instruments in Berlin. Sadly, I can’t go.