The organs of St Thomas, Leipzig

St Thomas, dating back to the 13th century, is a musical landmark for the city of Leipzig, in which renowned composers like Gustav Mahler, Richard Wagner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy worked. Johann Sebastian Bach was the Thomaskantor (Thomas Cantor) here from 1723 to 1750, the world-famous Thomanerchor (St Thomas’s Boys Choir) sings motets here every Saturday, and here resounds the wonderful music played on the instrument Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart once declared the “Queen of Instruments” and about which the poet Honoré de Balzac said, “The organ is without a doubt the greatest, boldest and most magnificent of all instruments. It is an entire orchestra from which a skilled hand can demand everything.”

St Thomas, Leipzig, houses not one but two organs within its walls. In 1889 Wilhelm Sauer built the organ, named after him, in the west choir loft. On the north gallery, the Bach Organ has stood since 2000. The Sauer Organ has over 88 stops, and the Bach Organ, whose façade is adorned with the seal of the famous Thomaskantor, has 61 stops. “Soli Deo Gloria” – Glory to God alone – is the motto by which Bach wrote his music. Even the organ music in the church services, motets and church concerts, which fills the nave architecture of the St Thomas, reflects this proclamation. On the CD “The Organs of St Thomas, Leipzig”, Thomasorganist Ullrich Böhme plays works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Léon Boëllmann, Dieterich Buxtehude, Johann Ludwig Krebs, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy und Carl Piutti.

Ullrich Böhme