Italy: Music Year 1985

In 1985 all member nations of the European Union were encouraged to issue stamps honoring the "music year." Many did, including Italy with this pair of stamps (Scott 1640-1641) featuring composers and tenors. The 500-lira stamp shows Pertile and Martinelli; the 600-lira stamp shows Bellini and Bach. The background of both includes a representation of what may be imaged as organ pipes. The 600-lira stamps honors "composers." Bellini is best known for his operas, though there is an organ sonata listed in his oeuvre. Bellini 's father and grandfather were both organists and music teachers. The 500-lira stamp honors "tenors."  Aureliano Pertile was a famous tenor who lived in the later 1800's through the 1950's. Giovanni Martinelli was another vocalist who lived during the same time frame. All the persons represented have a birth or death year which is a multiple of -85.

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.

Rwanda: Schweitzer

Like several other African nations, Rwanda holds a special affinity for the medical doctor and musician, Albert Schweitzer. In the year that would have marked his 101st birthday, 1976, Rwanda issued set of stamps to mark World Leprosy Day. A year later the exact same set of stamps was re-issued with an additional text overprint for the same commemoration. The four stamps shown were part of the set of 8 stamps issued in 1977. Two show Lambarene Hospital and two show Schweitzer's residence. Two pictured below show a piano keyboard and a musical score (Bach's famous D Minor Toccata), and the last two in the set are above. The image includes random organ pipes and the first few notes from Bach's Fantasy in G Minor, not as famous or as well-known to as many people as the Toccata, but quite well-known to organists.

Maldive Islands: Beethoven, part 2

This is a follow-up to my original post on the Maldive Islands stamp that features Beethoven and the Court Organ at Bonn.

In the August 2013 issue of The American Organist (TAO), the journal of the American Guild of Organists, there is a review (pp. 72-73) of a recently published book on the history of the organ in the Schlosskirche zu Bonn. The compelling review mentions a few tidbits that are helpful in understanding the content of the Maldive Islands stamp. The most recent work on the organ was completed in 2012 by the Klais firm of Germany. The organ in the Schlosskirche during Beethoven's time was by Riedler. The specification of that instrument is not known. Beethoven was the second court organist, serving from 1784 when he was age 14, for 8 years. The Schlosskirche provides quite a bit of helpful information about their Klais instrument on their website, including the specification.

Malta: Francesco Azopardi

The island nation of Malta issued this stamp in 1985, the European Music Year, as part of a set of two stamps honoring Maltese composers. The low-value of the set features Nicolo Baldacchino. The present stamp of Azopardi includes organ pipes in the background. Azopardi (1748-1809) was a composer and music theorist. He was musician at St Paul's Cathedral, Mdina after study in Naples, and later added music leadership at St John's Co-Cathedral in Valletta to his bailiwick. Azopardi has at least one chamber work which includes organ in the instrumentation. I have not done enough exploration to know if there are other organ works by him. The organ in the cathedral was begun in 1774 by Domenico Antonio Rossi. Restoration work beginning in 2003 was by Robert Buhagiar. He has helpful information on his firm's website. It is difficult to discern if the pipe faces shown on the stamp are indeed from the cathedral organ or not.

Austria: Brahms

Austria issued this stamp in 1997, commemorating the 100th anniversary of the death of Johannes Brahms. This is no organ, pipework nor console included on the stamp, not the selvage. But Brahms is a rather important composer of works for organ. Thus I felt this stamp merited inclusion in this blog. I am actually practicing the Chorale-Prelude and Fugue on O Traurigkeit by Brahms for an upcoming concert.