France: Evreux Cathedral

This cover is from the Cathedral in Evreux, France. The postage is printed on the envelop and shows the reliquary of St Taurin, bishop 375-425 AD. The cathedral has a long and complex history. The cachet on the cover shows the interior of the cathedral facing the west gallery, including the organ. This site includes a stoplist. The instrument was completed in 2005. Elements of the cathedral date from the 11th century. There was a re-furbishment which was completed in 1896. Bombing during World War II destroyed stained glass which was replaced by 1953.

France: Mechanical Instrument Museum

Les Gets is a city in western France surrounded, peninsula-like, by Switzerland. There is a museum of mechanical musical instruments there.  The cachet on this cover commemorates that museum. The cachet shows a figure holding one the more important holdings at the museum, a portativ organ. There is also some scenery from the area. This is a piece of postal stationary: the postage is printed on the envelop, rather than the user having to apply postage. The image on the stamp is the "Marianne" rendering first used in 1997 (with "La Poste" in the LL corner) and redrawn in 2003 with RF in that corner. The cover is non-denominated, so it could be sold for a longer period of time despite rate changes. Scott catalogs do not list foreign postal stationary so I do not have a number for this item. Presumably the museum purchased a quantity of the envelops and had their cachet added, and then sold them in their boutique/store at the museum.

Austria: Dostal and Bruckner

This cover is interesting in a couple of ways. Primarily, it has a nice Bruckner commemorative postmark that includes some organ pipes. But curiously the stamp (Scott 1687) is commemorating a composer known for his operettas, which was issued in 1995 (September 15), while a stamp for the 100th anniversary of the death of Bruckner was issued a few months later on 26 April 1996. I am reminded of a scene in a television show in which a character tries to get a famous person's signature on an item not at all related to said person, for the curiosity factor, to confuse future generations. That's what this cover does for me. I've discussed Bruckner and the Austrian stamp related to him in other posts.

Salzburg: Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Stille Nacht Church

This cover marks Christmas 1982 in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, and a new organ for the St. Nicholas Church there. The church is most famously associated with the creation of the "Silent Night, Holy Night" Christmas carol. However neither the church of that era (1818) nor the organ of legend exist now.

In 1982 the church got a new organ built by the Rieger firm. It is this organ which is commemorated on this cover from that same year. The new pipework was installed in casework from an earlier instrument of 1912. The stamp on the cover (Scott 1228) shows a creche scene from 1630 found in Vorarlberg.

Obviously this is not the instrument was is part of the "Stille Nacht" legend. A church in Oberndorf is first documented in 1160. However a fire in 1769 destroyed that church along with many other buildings. Reconstruction began right away in 1770 and was completed in 1798. Because of problems with river flooding over the next several years plans were made to demolish the church and move it to higher ground. This was done finally in 1906. Whatever organ was in the church at the beginning of the 1800's, by 1821 the Tyrolian builder Karl Mauracher declared it was mostly useless. This is just a few years after the Christmas Eve debacle (non-playing organ in 1818 which led to the creation of the famous Christmas carol). The instrument was sold off and ultimately discarded by the new owners, and replaced at St. Nicholas Church in 1825 by an instrument built by Mauracher. Franz Gruber, organist in 1818, was able to play this instrument during the latter part of his tenure (1816-1829).

Austria: Millstatt Organ Music Week

The town of Millstatt, Austria is probably best known for its Abbey. The Abbey in turn is highly regarded for its emphasis on arts appreciation and music appreciation. Since 1981 it has sponsored a series of music weeks including an Orgelmusikwochen. This cover includes a postmark that celebrates the organ music week in 1981. The postmark includes a row of organ pipes. One of the instruments available for concerts in Millstatt is an 18th century "chororgel." A section of its facade may have been the inspiration for the postmark's design. The abbey church's construction was begun in the 12th century; the onion domes were completed in 1670. The stamp itself is fairly common, from a series issued 1973-1978. This one (Scott 963) shows the Bishofmuetze area near Salzburg.