The “Apfelregal” (apple organ), which can be seen and heard in this video, was meticulously and lovingly reconstructed by master organ builder Christian Kögler from St. Florian near Linz: He used a woodcut by Hans Weiditz from 1518 as a model, which shows Emperor Maximilian I with his court chapel and his court organist Paul Hofhaimer at the “Apfelregal” during a church service, presumably in Augsburg. As early as 1506, the emperor had this extraordinary reed instrument built for his court organist, who was already highly famous during his lifetime.

The chorally built “Apfelregal” with its gilded bells made of apple wood, which act as resonators for the reed pipes, and its characteristic sound, which is reminiscent of a mixture of shawm, cornett, Renaissance trombone, bassoon and sordun, has the typical Gothic key range “F – a” and enables the stylistically skilled performer to convey the characteristically colorful sound world of the early Renaissance to his audience in a fresh, lively and immediate way, thus musically transporting them to this fascinating, distant epoch.

Music heard in the clip:

00:00 Anonymus (early 16th century ) Expecta ung pauco
01:30 Josquin Desprez (1455 – 1521) Adieu mes amours
03:50 Paul Hofhaimer (1459 – 1537) Nach willen din
05:20 Hans Kotter (1480 – 1541) O Herre Gott, begnade mich