Share this page:



A small pipe organ in an American church




This wonderfully ornate baroque organ is located in St Wenzel church, in Naumburg, Germany. It was built by the famous organ builder, Zacharias Hildebrandt, in the years 1743-46. This organ was once played by the great composer and organist, Johann Sebastian Bach.






Organist at the keyboard of the organ




The Ecstacy of St. Cecilia (1516-17), an oil painting on canvas (originally on a panel) by Raphael.

In her hand, St. Cecilia is depicted carrying a portative organ.

Percy Shelley, the English Romantic poet, described this painting as follows:

"The central figure, St. Cecilia, seems rapt in such inspiration as produced her image in the painter's mind; her deep, dark, eloquent eyes lifted up; her chestnut hair flung back from her forehead - she holds an organ in her hands - her countenance, as it were, calmed by the depth of its passion and rapture, and penetrated throughout with the warm and radiant light of life. She is listening to the music of heaven, and, as I imagine, has just ceased to sing, for the four figures that surround her evidently point, by their attitudes, towards her; particularly St. John, who, with a tender yet impassioned gesture, bends his countenance towards her, languid with the depth of emotion. At her feet lie various instruments of music, broken and unstrung."







César Franck at the console of the organ at the Saint Clotilde Basilica, Paris, 1885, a painting by the artist Jeanne Rongier.

César Franck (1822-90) was a great Belgian-French composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher.


Share this page:


Author: David Paul Wagner
(David Paul Wagner on Google+)


Note: This picture gallery page features photos (photographs) of organs, plus drawings, paintings, diagrams, images and illustrations of them.