A mini-recital on the organ at the Thomaskirche

[jbuck919]

I have occasionally mentioned the friend who joins me for the conventions of the Organ Historical Society. He is not a systematically trained organist but has worked his way in through the cracks so that he can do this, that, and the other thing. Like this:

Hi John,
I hope this post finds you well. I'm like a kid with a new toy. I've got to tell some one about it and I thought of you. My hands have stopped shaking enough to type this out. Today I played a half hour mini recital on the new Bach 4 manual pipe organ at St. Thomas Kirche, Leipzig, Germany! What a thrill. Fortunately the organist was with me to manage registrations. The organ is on a side balcony and I couldn't see down to the nave. But Christine was below in the aisle on her scooter [Bob's wife suffers from MS--JB] . She told me when I started, the people began to take seats to listen. When they found out she was my wife, some gave her money for the organ fund ( or maybe so I could take some lessons).
We gave the church several hundred euros. All in all, it was an experience of a lifetime for me. And I learned that flat, straight pedalboards are nasty to adapt to. But what a wonderful time it was. There. The kid told someone. Tomorrow we're on to Wittenberg [Bob is a Lutheran pastor--JB]

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You will understand why I chose green as the font color. I thought I was lucky when I was in Leipzig just to have the church all to myself as a tourist in the morning and then be able to return in the evening for a cantata (unfortunately one of Bach's very few weak ones).