Guinea-Bissau: Bach Anniversary

 

Guinea-Bissau issued this stamp in 2010 to mark the 260th anniversary of the death of JS Bach. The stamp is a single high-value stamp, issued along with a set of five smaller stamps of the composer with various musical instrument, in various poses and in various denominations (not shown). There does not appear to be any specific connection between the composer, and anyone related to Guinea-Bissa. The stamp includes an image of the composer in profiles, and a second contrasting image. In the latter, the composer is seated at an organ console.  In the background is a portion of a console-style piano which would not be appropriate for the time period of the composer. There is some manner of crest near the composer; someone more versed in the topic may know if it's accurate or not. 

Poland: Organ Chamber Music Festival

This card was issued to mark the Miedzynarodowy Festiwal Muzyki Organowej Kameralnej w Kamieniu Pomorskim (International Organ and Chamber Music Festival in Kamień Pomorskie) in Poland. The only date I can find on the card is 2005, so I am guessing that it was issued that year. Kamien Pomoski is in the northwest region of Poland on the Baltic Coast. A Roman Catholic co-cathedral serves the region. The St John the Baptist Cathedral serves as the locale for the music festival.

This site provides some information about the music festival and give a bit of information about the organ in the cathedral.

In the years 1669-1672, the monumental organs were built in the Kamienna shrine from the foundation of Pomeranian prince Ernest Bogusław Croy. They belong to the most famous in Poland. The wonderful sound of this extraordinary instrument (47 voices and 3300 pipes) can be heard during the annual International Festival of Organ and Chamber Music, organized throughout the summer. The concerts start at 19.00 always on Fridays, starting from the last Friday of June to the first Friday of September.

The cathedrals website gives just a bit more information about the organ.


1669-1672 Construction of present organs according to Breyer's instructions from Stargard, then built by M. Berigel, repaired in the early 18th and the beginning of the 19th century. A new instrument built in 1888 by B. Gruneberg from Szczecin, keeping the baroque prospectus.

I have not been able to to find a stoplist anywhere yet. The card shows hands playing an instrument with more than one keyboard, representing an organ. There are no pipes nor any other content on the card. The reverse in black, presumably for the card-writer's message. This card was a gift from my friend in Great Britain, Mark Jameson.



 

Mali: Composers, 2012

Mali issued a set of souvenir sheet stamps honoring various European composers (Mozart, Schubert, Wagner, Beethoven, Brahms, Stravinsky, Debussy, Verdi among them). The one of most interest is that of JS Bach. It features a replica of the famous Arnstadt image of Bach at an organ console. the 2000-franc stamp itself is round, with a basic portrait. The selvage includes the console image, along with various other musical instruments and images of musical scores. I do not have the Scott number yet.

I learned recently that in 2012 also Mail issued a large set of souvenir sheet stamps honoring Nobel prize winners. These are curious for the selvage images, which include an organ facade. There are so many of these sheets, and they are so expensive I despair of trying to purchase the lot of them at any point. This will help me remember that they are out there, though. This appears to be the organ in the Oslo, Norway Town Hall, but I have not yet found details of that instrument.

Central African Republic: Composers, 2011

In 2011 the postal agency for the Central African Republic issued a mini-sheet of three stamps featuring three classical music composers. The three are Mendelssohn, Bach, and Brahms. Mendelssohn is shown with a piano-forte, Brahms with a music score, and Bach with the famous portrait of him at the console. The stamps are denominated 1000 francs; two are horizontally formatted; the Brahms stamp is vertical. The background/selvedge of the mini-sheet shows a French horn and the neck of a stringed instrument. Typical of many nations these stamps' topic has no real connection to the people or life in CAR, and this "wallpaper" issue was designed as a cash grab by the postal authority.

Netherlands: Mozart in Netherlands

Netherlands Post issued this stamp in 2016, part of a set of two commemorating the visit of Amadeus Mozart to Haarlem in 1766. While there the ten-year-old music prodigy played the organ in the Grote Kerk. The same instrument had been played by GF Handel when he visited the city in 1740 and 1750. The stamp shows a portrait of Mozart and the console of the organ. (The other stamp shows Mozart and a music manuscript.)

The Mueller organ was completed in 1738 and is generally acclaimed as one of the finest instruments to this day. The last major repairs were complete 1959-1960 by the Marcussen firm. Flentrop now takes care of the instrument. Ninety percent of the original pipework is still in place.

My stamp was a gift from Mark Jameson; it is unused. It pays the first-class postage rate.

Guinea-Bissau: Bach

Guinea-Bissau issued a mini-sheet and a souvenir sheet to commemorate the 260th anniversary of the death of JS Bach in 2010. The mini-sheet featured five stamps, and the souvenir sheet a single stamp in a large selvage. The souvenir sheet stamps feature various renderings of the composer with different (several modern) instruments in the background. The souvenir stamp shows the familiar Bach/console image (reversed) with a silhouette, and a modern piano in the background. The West African nation of Guinea-Bissau issued these (and several other stamps) on 31 January 2010.

Burundi: Bach, 2013

The African nation of Burundi issued this pair of items in 2013. They are part of a larger set that included Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann, Wagner, Schubert, and Verdi. For each composer there is a mini-sheet of a set of 4 stamps, plus a souvenir sheet that includes a single additional stamp. These composers had no direct relationship with the issuing nation. As such their relevance to Burundi is non-existent. Therefore, they fall into the category of "wallpaper," postal items issued simply to make money for the postal administration from collectors who feel compelled to gather items according to their philatelic interests. In my case it's the organ on the stamp from the mini-sheet of 4. The stamp is denominated 1190 francs. It shows Bach at the console of an un-named instrument, a reference to the common image found purportedly at the British Museum.  The other stamps show the composer at various stages of life, in one case playing a stringed instrument. These are so new that my Scott catalog doesn't include them yet.

Togo: Schweitzer

In 1975 Togo issued a set of stamps honoring the 100th anniversary of the birth of Albert Schweitzer, and coincidentally about ten years after his death. He is pictured with a group of children on the regular mail stamp; there is also a group of 3 air-mail stamps: the doctor playing an organ; with a pelican; and at Lambarene Hospital. The present stamp (Scott C259) is oriented vertically as is the "pelican stamp;" the others in the set are horizontal.

Ajman: Schweitzer

Ajman is a Persian Gulf sheikdom that is part of the United Arab Emirates. It issued a few stamps independently in the 1960's, but modern stamps are in the name of the UAE. However, many spurious stamps have been created in the name of Ajman. They are all relatively cheap and are not even catalogued by Scott. This stamp seems to be a photograph of Schweitzer playing at an un-named console. If one knew details about the image, one might be able to determine which instrument it is. As it is, the caption "giving a concert" is not enough to know much more about the stamp.

Canada: Healy Willan

Canada issued this stamp in 1980 in honor of Healy Willan. It was part of a set of two; the other (same denomination 17c) featured singer Emma Albani (1847-1930). Willan was one of the most important Canadian composers of his generation. He was for years (1921-1968) organist at St. Mary Magdalene, Toronto. Without information on the stamp, one might assume that the console shown is that of the organ at St. Mary's from Willan's era. I've played many of Willan's chorale preludes and one or two of the larger works. I have had choirs work on a couple of his anthems. A nice article about the organ can be found here.

I found this humorous tidbit at Wikipedia: People who remember Willan from his time at St Mary Magdalene's like to moderate his somewhat dourly pious public image by quoting him—it was a mainstay of concert talks by Robert Hunter Bell—as to his provenance: "English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption."