France: music boxes

 

France issued a mini-sheet of six stamps in 2015 featuring elaborate music boxes. Among the very creative and fanciful devices is one that looks like a pipe organ and includes a clock. While the design may represent a specific instrument, I suspect it is a generic representation to suit the creator's artistic desires. My copy of this stamp sheet was a gift from Mark Jameson. I have tagged this as "5 ATA" as it may be considered an artistic form of an organ, but I suspect it is essentially non-organic. Each of the music boxes shown on the sheetlet are marvelous works of art and clever machines to boot!

Niger: Handel homage, 2015

 

The African nation, Niger, issued a mini-sheet of 4 stamps in 2015 honoring George Frederick Handel. The four stamps each include a  different portrait of the composer and a varying background. Three of the four stamps identify the background as representative of UR: the opera Ottone; LL, the opera Orlando; LR, the oratorio Messiah. The UL stamp show an unidentified pipe organ facade. Not knowing all the instruments associated with Handel all that well, I cannot identify the organ shown. Indeed, it may be an artist's rendering of a generic instrument. The selvage shows yet another image of the composer, at work on the score of Messiah. My copy of the mini-sheet is unused, a gift from Mark Jameson.

Aland: Jomala Kyrka

This cover is related to the Jomala Kyrka in the Aland Isands, near Finland. The stamp (Scott 8) shows a nice exterior shot of the historic church. The cachet however shows a somewhat enigmatic representation of the church interior. A little digging demonstrated for me that the cachet includes a bit of the organ in this famous church.

There is an annual organ festival in the Alands, I learned. Looking at the program for 2015 and cross-referencing artists and images I found what to me seems to be the organ inside the church shown on the stamp. Important markers for me were the historic crucifix, and the unique light fixture. I wish the photo below included the remarkable ship model hanging from the ceiling shown in the cachet! Lines in the cachet convince me that it includes a portion of the organ.

My friend Mark Jameson gave me this FDC. It's dated August 26, 1988, the day the stamp was issued in Mariehamn, Aland Islands.

The Aland Islands Organ Festival site was quite helpful. Under "ovrigt" near the bottom of the left column click on "orglarna" and scroll down the center section just a bit to get details about the Jomala Church's instrument.

Czech Republic: Jakub Jan Ryba

The Czech Republic issued this stamp in 2015, honoring Jakub Jan Ryba (1765-1815). He spent most of his career teaching music and composing. His most famous composition is a Christmas cantata which is still performed in Bohemia. Using the clue "Rozmital" in the Wikipedia source I have been able to track down a little information about the organ shown. The Church of the Holy Cross in "Old Rozmital" seems to be the locale. It is part of a small group of churches including the other where Ryba was employed, in Nepomuk. The organ shown on the parish website seems to match. Some plowing through Czech websites on the organ (varhany) revealed this information about the instrument: I found a bit of information here, including the original (?) specification from 1751. I have not had a chance to explore other Czech resources yet. The church website devotes quite a bit of space to Ryba and some history of the organ. Reading a translation of the website gives some hint of the information available, but organ jargon doesn't translate well! The site suggests that about 75% of the original Martin Palecek instrument (from 1750-1751) remains to this day.

I have a mint copy and a postally used copy of the stamp. I also have a first day of issue cover for the stamp. The cancellation seems to have Ryba's signature included. The cachet shows a line drawing of the exterior of the Holy Cross church and the keydesk of the organ. The FDC is dated 14 October 2015 which is the date for neither Ryba's birth nor death. 

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.

Aruba, music box

The Caribbean nation of Aruba declared independence from the Netherlands in 1986, shedding the name "Netherlands Antilles" in the process. Their post office issued a set of regular issue stamps that year, and a follow-up set in 1987 filling out missing denominations. The stamps features simple images of items related to Aruban life. Mysteriously this included this small musical instrument. Scott 11 has a deep red background and is denominated 75c. Scott calls it a music box; it has been on the organ topical list since its inception. But I cannot, looking at the stamp closely, agree that it is an organ. The interior parts look remarkably like the innards of a piano: tuning pins and strings, and the (steel) resonator. I had once imagined the strings were pipes, but the pins belie that possibility. The hand crank on the left-front of the instrument is curious, but not in itself indicative of this being an organ of any type. Hans Timmerman includes this stamp in his database, FWIW. He names it a draaiorgel, or barrel organ. These are popular in the Netherlands. But again, looking at that mechanism, I'm just not sure it's an organ. I am including this stamp here for the sake of completeness, but not with any sense that it truly belongs.