Romania: Madrigal Choral Ensemble

This cover is distinguished by the presence of an organ in the cachet/illustration, and in the postmark. The cover seems to have been produced by the Music-Lovers Study Circle of the Bucharest Philatelic Association. The postmark includes the dates 1965 and 1 October 1990. I am supposing that the cover was issued on the latter date. The cover celebrates the national choir of Romania, the National Chamber Choir. The ensemble was established in 1965 (or rather 1963 according to their website. The founding conductor was Constantine Marin. The cover marks the 25th anniversary of the choir.

The stamp on the cover is Romania Scott 3619, issued September 8, 1990, marking the Romanian-Chinese Philatelic Exhibition in Bucharest. No connection to the musical aspects of the cover other than the proximate dates of production/issue. The cover illustration shows a somewhat dated picture of the choral ensemble (notice the television camera at right) in their primary performance space, the George Enescu Hall in the Bucharest Athenaeum. That hall got commemorated in 2017 with its own mini-sheet of stamps that I have written about here. George Enescu instigated the building of the organ which was completed in 1939. This cover was a gift from Mark Jameson.

Here is the text included on the cover and a rough translation:
asociatia filatelistilor bucuresti
cercul bucur grupa muzica
corul madrigal
dirijor marin constantin
ziua internationala muzicii
25 ani de la debutul international al corului


the philatelist association bucharest
circle enjoy group music
the madrigal choir
conductor marine constantin
the international day of music
25 years since the international debut of the choir

Lithuania, Coat of Arms

Lithuania has issued several stamps which feature the coats of arms of various regional areas. In 1999 the post issued a set of three. The high-value in this set of three was the coat of arms for Rokiskis. This town of some 16,000 is in the northeast of the country. The arms on Scott 644 is comprised of 4 sections, three of which represent ruling families in the history of the area. The LL quadrant features an organ, specifically that in the St Matthias Church in Rokiskis. The instrument in the church doesn't look much like the representation on the stamp.

This site for Lithuanian organs does not have a listing for Rokiskis (yet).

I was able to find this information about the Matthias Church, including the organ:

The church was finished in 1877, but the interiors. Soon count Tyzenhauzas died. His sister Marija/Marry continued financing and supervising the works. She decided to slightly rebuild the church from the outside too - to make it even more grandeur. She met an Austrian architect Werner Georg from Tyrol, then an architect of Vienna, who prepared a project. The main altar was made in Paris in the workshop of French P. Puossielgue – Rusand. Wooden canopy was made in Belgium, the workshop of Goyers. Much of other altars were too made by Goyers and P. Puossielgue – Rusand workshops. The organ was made by Germans Walcker, workshop in Ludwigsburg, Württemberg. Czech from Austria - Rudolf Liehmann (a son of Antonín Liehmann - the teacher of Antonín Dvořák) was invited to play the organ. With him, more Czechs came to Rokiškis and the musical school was was opened in the town, an orchestra started, that played concerts every weekend. By the way, R. Liehmann married in Rokiškis and stayed to the end of his life there. He is buried in Rokiškis cemetery. 

Romania: Concert Hall

Romania issued this mini-sheet in 2011. It comes after the scope of my Scott catalog, so I don't have a catalog number. There are three stamps in the sheet. The top one depicts Enescu as conductor; the second a musical score; and the bottom stamp shows the exterior of the concert hall facility. The stamps include a "tab" which can be separated from the stamp itself. Each tab shows a picture of Enescu at three ages during his lifetime. The selvage shows the interior of Enescu concert hall, including the state and the organ at the rear. The mini-sheet was issued to commemorate the 20th Enescu International Festival and Competition in 2011.

I found this information at Hans Timmerman's site:

Rechts onder het Walcker-Orgel in de muziekzaal van het Atheneum in Bukarest
Gebouwd in 1939,Opus 2654,III/P 52 registers en 4 transmissies SW-Ped
In 1964 uitgebreid met 2 registers in SW.
De laatste restauratie was in 2007 en uitgevoerd door Gerhard Walcker/Kleinblittersdorf.

With that clue (it's a Walcker Organ) I was able to find more information at the GE Walcker site. This page includes a remarkable reflection on the hall and organ.


Here is wiki-information on the hall:
The Romanian Athenaeum (Romanian: Ateneul Roman) is a concert hall in the center of Bucharest, Romania and a landmark of the Romanian capital city. Opened in 1888, the ornate, domed, circular building is the city's main concert hall and home of the "George Enescu" Philharmonic and of the George Enescu annual international music festival.

The building was designed by the French architect Albert Galleron, built on a property that had belonged to the Văcărescu family and inaugurated in 1888, although work continued until 1897. A portion of the construction funds was raised by public subscription in a 28-year long effort, of which the slogan is still remembered today: "Donate one leu for the Ateneu!"

On December 29, 1919, the Atheneum was the site of the conference of leading Romanians who voted to ratify the unification of Bessarabia, Transylvania, and Bukovina with the Romanian Old Kingdom to constitute Greater Romania.

Extensive reconstruction and restoration work has been conducted in 1992 by a Romanian construction company and restoration painter Silviu Petrescu, saving the building from collapse.

 

Another mini-sheet has been issued by Romania in 2013, commemorating the 125 anniversary of the hall itself. I don't have the stamp yet, but will create a post on it when I track down an example for myself.

Austria: St. Stephen's

Issued on 12 December 1946, this stamp is from a set of 10 semi-postal stamps. The additional price paid for each stamp aided in the reconstruction of the St. Stephen Cathedral in Vienna. There are actually currently three organs in the Dom: a choir organ from the 1950's; the west gallery instrument most recently updated in the 1960's, and a large instrument from 1991 in the nave. The instrument shown on this stamp is an older version of the west gallery organ, originally built in the 1880's by Walcker.  The organ is located in the west gallery and was re-built by the Kauffmann firm in 1960.
Shown at the bottom is the nave organ built by Rieger.