Harmonia Organica - Ochsenhausen Organ Book

The pipe organ is the world’s largest musical instrument and was one of the most technically complicated devices of any kind before the Industrial Revolution. This is a unique collection of Upper Swabian Baroque organ music consisting of 45 anonymous works selected specifically to be played on the organ built by Joseph Gabler for the Benedictine Abbey in Ochsenhausen, Germany. Each composition is beautifully illustrated by a colored drawing of the Ochsenhausen organ’s keyboard indicating what stops are to be drawn and where the organist is to place their right and left hands. A note in the paper manuscript dates it to January of 1735, placing it in the Late or High Baroque period of Western music. The important works is one of the most important sources for the performance of historical pieces of music and a rare example of an 18th century codex that has been written and illustrated by hand.