St. Mark's Church, Upper Town, Zagreb
MUSIC TRADITION IN ST. MARK'S CHURCH
Tightly connected to Zagreb's history, the Church of St. Mark at the Upper town is one of Zagreb's oldest and most beautiful buildings. It was probably built during the 13th century, and the first documents mentioning musicians on Gradec date from the second half of the 14th century. Thanks to the court files from the year 1359, we find out about Nikola, a parish church organist who used to live with his wife very close to St. Mark's Square. This document, which is also the first mention of organs in Croatia, marks the beginning of a lasting musical activity connected to the parish church of St. Mark. In 1443, for instance, the name of the organ player Matija Judas appears, but also the one of Stjepan Bertun, who was sentenced to death by hanging for stealing organ pipes in 1472. In 1691 the church also had four singers who were paid by the City municipality and in 1740 the Zagreb clergyman Juraj Rees got the parish church of St. Mark a new organ with 22 registers, for which our respectable organologist Ladislav Šaban said to be the second largest instrument in the whole Croatia at the time, right after the one at the Zagreb Cathedral.
From 1876 to 1882, following architectural designs by the Viennese architects Friedrich Schmidt and Hermann Bollé, a renovation of the entire church began: the well-known rooftop with enameled rooftop and coat of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia and the City of Zagreb date also from this period. During this renovation, the earlier mentioned Rees organ was removed and a new organ loft was built. Later, in 1890, Ferdinand Heferer placed a new mechanical organ there. Not long afterwards, another thorough renovation followed, led by the parish priest Dr. Svetozar Rittig, and, during the period from 1923 until 1937, it included active collaboration of the sculptor Ivan Meštrović, painters Jozo Kljaković and Ljubo Babić. The old organ loft was replaced by a new, smaller one, and in 1936 a new pneumatic organ was placed on it. New organ kept the pipes from the previous instrument, but the original organ case was widened because of the new, larger disposition that mostly followed the sound conception characteristic for the Caecilian movement. The organ was built by Augustin Faullend – Heferer, based on the new disposition designed by Franjo Dugan, the principal organist of the Zagreb Cathedral and conductor of the Oratorio Choir of St. Mark's Church.
There were many reasons for developing a project for construction of a new, modern instrument in 2009, that would be placed in a historical organ case, and the building the new instrument was entrusted to Wolfgang Eisenbarth, based on a disposition designed by Ante Knešaurek. New instrument is a truly special in the organ landscape of the City of Zagreb, enriching it with a new, up until now (for Croatian organ landscape) rather unknown sound of the French organ building school. From a technical point of view, instrument is equipped with state-of-the-art additional accessories and constructive solutions, providing the organist with numerous possibilities for performing liturgical and concert repertoire.
Back to INTERNATIONAL ORGAN CONCERT SERIES @ ST. MARK'S CHURCH 2014
Tightly connected to Zagreb's history, the Church of St. Mark at the Upper town is one of Zagreb's oldest and most beautiful buildings. It was probably built during the 13th century, and the first documents mentioning musicians on Gradec date from the second half of the 14th century. Thanks to the court files from the year 1359, we find out about Nikola, a parish church organist who used to live with his wife very close to St. Mark's Square. This document, which is also the first mention of organs in Croatia, marks the beginning of a lasting musical activity connected to the parish church of St. Mark. In 1443, for instance, the name of the organ player Matija Judas appears, but also the one of Stjepan Bertun, who was sentenced to death by hanging for stealing organ pipes in 1472. In 1691 the church also had four singers who were paid by the City municipality and in 1740 the Zagreb clergyman Juraj Rees got the parish church of St. Mark a new organ with 22 registers, for which our respectable organologist Ladislav Šaban said to be the second largest instrument in the whole Croatia at the time, right after the one at the Zagreb Cathedral.
From 1876 to 1882, following architectural designs by the Viennese architects Friedrich Schmidt and Hermann Bollé, a renovation of the entire church began: the well-known rooftop with enameled rooftop and coat of arms of Croatia, Dalmatia and Slavonia and the City of Zagreb date also from this period. During this renovation, the earlier mentioned Rees organ was removed and a new organ loft was built. Later, in 1890, Ferdinand Heferer placed a new mechanical organ there. Not long afterwards, another thorough renovation followed, led by the parish priest Dr. Svetozar Rittig, and, during the period from 1923 until 1937, it included active collaboration of the sculptor Ivan Meštrović, painters Jozo Kljaković and Ljubo Babić. The old organ loft was replaced by a new, smaller one, and in 1936 a new pneumatic organ was placed on it. New organ kept the pipes from the previous instrument, but the original organ case was widened because of the new, larger disposition that mostly followed the sound conception characteristic for the Caecilian movement. The organ was built by Augustin Faullend – Heferer, based on the new disposition designed by Franjo Dugan, the principal organist of the Zagreb Cathedral and conductor of the Oratorio Choir of St. Mark's Church.
There were many reasons for developing a project for construction of a new, modern instrument in 2009, that would be placed in a historical organ case, and the building the new instrument was entrusted to Wolfgang Eisenbarth, based on a disposition designed by Ante Knešaurek. New instrument is a truly special in the organ landscape of the City of Zagreb, enriching it with a new, up until now (for Croatian organ landscape) rather unknown sound of the French organ building school. From a technical point of view, instrument is equipped with state-of-the-art additional accessories and constructive solutions, providing the organist with numerous possibilities for performing liturgical and concert repertoire.
Back to INTERNATIONAL ORGAN CONCERT SERIES @ ST. MARK'S CHURCH 2014
