Mátyás II Pipe Organ Samples

Key features

• The organ
  • the 1909/1984 Rieger-Kloss symphonic organ of the Notre Dame of Buda (Matthias Church), Budapest, Hungary
  • 110 stops, 5 manuals (with 58 keys) and pedal (with 30 keys)
  • 2 tremulants (tremolos)
• The recording 
  • All stops were sampled chromatically
  • Advanced Pipe Organ Measurements (APM)
• The sample set 
  • 48 kHz / 24-bit format
  • Natural sound image — the samples authentically preserve all spatial information
  • Multiple loops and releases per sample/keystroke
  • Sampled tremulants
  • One-click assignable keyboards to divisions supporting your console configuration
  • Optional organ engine sounds and noises
  • Touch-sensitive keyboard noises
  • Dynamic KeyboardMass™ functionality 
    • simulates and controls the weight and inertia of organ keyboards and action independently using a dynamic model
    • allows you to adjust the weight of the keyboards in real-time while you play
  • Original impulse response reverb of the acoustic space in true stereo format for Hauptwerk V+
  • Multiple pages and touchscreen-optimized for 4:3 landscape displays
    • 4K resolution landscape and FHD portrait graphical interface included for 16:9 displays

Details

Mátyás II Pipe Organ Samples is a fully playable, freely configurable, intuitively manageable and MIDI-controllable virtual pipe organ for the Hauptwerk™ virtual pipe organ software, for PC and Macintosh computers, delivering the sound of the 110-stop Rieger-Kloss symphonic-style pipe organ of the Notre Dame of Buda (Matthias Church), Budapest, Hungary, to your computer.

The sample set

The real pipe organ has been entirely virtualized, including all sounds of all of its pipes and all functions. With the KeyboardMass™ functionality, the inertia of the mechanics of the key action is modeled. By providing the additional feature of adjustability the response speed of the pipe speech when a key is released can be changed to your taste. Thus you can make the keyboards feel very heavy by increasing the slider values, or extremely responsive by decreasing.

Sample format

The final sample set has been made available in 48 kHz / 24-bit. Multiple lengthy loops were carefully selected for each sound sample.

Acoustics - multiple perspectives and adjustability

The natural room acoustics representing the recording conditions are embedded in the samples with multiple release sample layers; the acoustics heard in the sample set corresponds to the sound heard in Notre Dame of Buda. The sample set is recorded in a way that it is also fully compatible with dry acoustic spaces and additional convolution reverberation.

The organ sound recorded closer to the instrument supports the semi-dry recording approach, meaning that it is perfectly applicable for professional installations in both dry and reverberant places.

Multiple release samples and multiple loops

Multiple loops and release samples are provided for each sample. Triggered to play back randomly, this elaborate looping results in sustained notes of unmatched realism. The loops were calculated in a well-planned way, yielding both shorter and longer loops for each sample. Multiple release samples provide realistic, note-off-triggered pre-recorded reverberation for different lengths of notes. For example, a short note, with sound not fully developed will produce a different reverberation than a long sustained note. This quality is preserved in the sample library by providing multiple release sample layers.

Sampled tremulants

Stops with the tremulant engaged were recorded separately on this pipe organ. This model is providing the real tremulant sound of the organ of Notre Dame of Buda, Budapest.

Advanced Graphical User Interface (GUI)

The graphical interface of this organ was carefully modeled by employing hundreds of photographs and measurements in full 3D and the interface was implemented in a non-orthographical, perspective console view that is fully photo-realistic and operational at the same time. The keys move while you play, and every button responds appropriately to your actions. Both multiple- and single-screen operation is possible: the large number of stops can be operated conveniently from a wide choice of interface pages displayable on multiple touchscreens. Alternatively, 4K resolution landscape and FHD portrait graphical interface provided for 16:9 displays in Hauptwerk 5+.

Availability and shipping

Mátyás II Pipe Organ Samples is available in a downloadable version.

The organ and the church

Notre Dame of Buda (Matthias Church)

The first Church of Mary in Hungary was founded by Saint Stephen, later known as the Church of Saint Steven. The first evidence of the Church of Mary in the Buda Castle dates back to 1247, although researchers admit there had been a village on the Castle Hill of Buda before the Mongolian invasion, too. In fact, it is very likely that this church is mentioned in the legend of Gellért in "Pesth minor" (the name of Buda in the Middle Ages) where bishop Saint Gellért was buried temporarily, having killed on the hill named after him in 1046.

The Mongolian invasion resulted in a major loss in Hungary's population and towns, and Pest, possibly including the first Church of Mary, was also destroyed in the winter of 1242. A certificate dated 1247 establishes jurisdiction of the Bishop of Veszprém over the first Church of Mary which is the first direct evidence of its existence.

King Béla IV founded the city of Buda between 1245 and 1255, and the construction of the Our Lady's Church was completed - in two stages between 1250 and 1270. Cistercian craftsmen constructed the main chancel, the false transept, the "Bridal" portal, the south side aisle and the northwest gate, while later, a second group of craftsmen finished the church characterized by northern French influences.

During the following centuries, the church served a key role in nominating kings (Louis the Great and Sigismund of Luxemburg, for example). Coronation ceremonies took place in Székesfehérvár, but kings returned to Buda to make a pledge to keep up the privileges and show themselves to the public: Przemysl Vencel (1301-1305), Bavarian Otto (1305-1307) or Anjou Charles Robert (1309-1342).

Louis the Great (1342-82) reconstructed the church in Gothic style, resulting in the building of the southwest "Mary" gate, and raising of vaults of the side aisles. In 1384, during service, the belltower collapsed, possibly because, during the course of the reconstruction, its static structural integrity had been compromised.

There were no injuries according to the Windecke chronicles. The first picture from 1493, a woodcut in the Hartmann-Schedel World Chronicles, shows the church without the tower being intact.

King Sigismund of Luxembourg (1387-1437) extended the church eastwards. The tradition of introducing elected kings continued with Albert (Habsburg, 1438), Wladislas I (Jagelló, 1440) and Mátyás Hunyadi in 1458. In 1455 St John of Capistrano spoke in the church to promote participation in the campaign against the Turkish occupation. Not much later, in March 1456, Pope Callixtus III approved the transformation of the Buda Castle Parish into a collegiate church. Previously, Buda belonged to the territory of the Veszprém bishopric, but the Buda Castle Church of Mary became under the direct jurisdiction of the Archbishop of Esztergom.

In 1458, elected king Mátyás (Matthias) Hunyadi (1458-90) came directly from Prague to the Buda Church of Our Lady to hold a Thanksgiving service to God and the Virgin Mary, and swore an oath to respect ancient rights. The nation accepted Matthias as King, but the coronation ceremony only took place in 1464 in Székesfehérvár. Both of his weddings with Czech princess Katalin Podjebrád and - after becoming a widow - with Beatrix of Aragonia took place in the church in 1461 and 1476, respectively.

From 1461 to 1470 the southern belltower was partially reconstructed. As a woodcut from 1541 shows, the tower except of its roof was finished. In 1497, Pope Alexander VI granted the title of Arch-presbyteratus to the parish, and Arch-presbyter (prelate) to Pál Wam parish priest, including a right for him and his successors to bear the pontifical badge. This privilege, forgotten during the Turkish occupation, was reinforced by Pope St Pius X in 1908.

King Wladislas (Jagelló) II in 1515 presented a votive statue of Mary to the church, to duly commemorate his unhurt escape from an attack on his life. After the 1526 Mohács offensive, Buda was occupied by the Turkish for the first time. Sultan Suleyman II burned the city down, including the church. Some of the artifacts of the church were loaded into ships and transported to Bratislava, when the first news of the defeat at Mohács arrived. After the Buda Castle had been captured, the Turkish transformed the church into a mosque within mere hours: the altars and statues were thrown out; walls whitewashed and covered with carpets, so that Sultan Suleyman could celebrate his victory here. The Church of Our Lady became the central mosque of Buda for 145 years. The Turkish pulled down the southern chapels and the Matthias royal oratory, in order to have enough stone to rearrange the building.

In 1626 Cardinal Péter Pázmány initiated the recovery of the remainder of the church artifacts from the Bratislava city council. The Army of the Sacred League, united and financed by Pope Innocent XI, approached and recaptured Buda in 1686. The king ordered the church to be given to the Jesuits. From Easter Sunday of the year 1688, the choir and orchestra of the church were working again, but the Béla tower remained to be used as gunpowder storage for a while. In 1690 Palatine Pál Esterházy ordered a new Baroque main altar to be built in the sanctuary. The Jesuits built a college on the north side and a three-story tall seminary to the south side of the church.

In 1696, the Matthias tower’s top was an onion-shaped dome rather than the original Gothic roof and three side chapels were built on the north side, and in front of the south facade. A fire in 1723 burned down the bells and caused other damages, and in 1748 the church was hit by lightning resulting in having to pull down the Esterházy style Baroque main altar. The new main altar was completed between 1758 and 1760. At that time, the roof was covered with new clay tiles. In 1773, Pope Clement XIV surrendered to the pressure of the French, Spanish and Portuguese royal courts and dissolved the Jesuit order. As a consequence, the flourishing of the parish came to an end, the college was closed, and the Buda Castle Church was handed over to the City of Buda (later Budapest capital). Until 1945, the city magistrates elected parish priests and provided for the maintenance of the church. The Jesuit order played no further role in the life of the parish church, even after it had been reinstated in 1814.

The outside of the church was renovated and plastered in 1789, including the tower, but the Baroque onion dome of the Matthias tower remained in place until 1840. In 1841 it was replaced with a flat temporary roof.

Following an 1867 agreement between Austria and Hungary, Cardinal and Prince-Primate János Simor crowned King Francis Joseph I (1867-1916) and his wife, Elisabeth with the Hungarian Sacred Crown, and thus the Austrian-Hungarian Monarchy was established. Ferenc Liszt's Coronation Mass was played for the first time. In 1873, the King ordered the reconstruction of the church from the baroque style back to the original Gothic. Major reconstructions took place between 1874 and 1896 under the supervision of Frigyes Schulek. This was the time when the present image of the church was created.

Schulek had the neighboring buildings pulled down so that the church could stand alone again as before. Also, in order to reconstruct the original walls, the church itself was pulled down in several places.

Where Schulek found no hints for the reconstruction of the original architecture, he inserted sections of his own design: he built an atrium in front of the Mary gate, constructed the new St. Steven chapel where the destroyed Gara chapel had stood before, and reconstructed the Baroque chapels attached to the north side aisle in Neo-Gothic style, based on historical illustrations. He also renovated the crypt, which had been built in 1870, in free Neo-Gothic style, to accommodate the two coffins of Béla III and his wife, brought here from Székesfehérvár. Internal decoration works, as well as the manufacture of altars and furniture were not only supervised by Schulek, but also Bertalan Székely and Károly Lotz. They found traces of medieval, carpet-like decorative painting on the church walls which inspired the unique interior seen today. Their work was also based on ancient Hungarian tendril patterns and contemporary secession style. Székely and Lotz painted the frescoes themselves. Altar pieces on the St Imre altar were painted by Mihály Zichy.

By 1896, millennium celebrations of the Hungarian land conquest, the main coronation church regained its former glory, if not its exact former historic architecture. With the 1898 relocation of the bodies of Béla III and Anna (Chatîllon) of Antiochia the Church of Our Lady came into the full legacy of the destroyed Székesfehérvár royal cathedral.

On 30th December 1916, Cardinal Prince-Primate János Csernoch crowned King Charles IV and Queen Zita with the Sacred Crown.

Since there was a quick deterioration in the stone material, in 1936 János Schulek - son of Frigyes Schulek - began renovation works starting with the bell tower roof and reconstructing the spiral towers. During the course of the renovation, Prime Minister Pál Teleki initiated the replacement of the stones on the outside of the church, which started in 1941, but the process was only finished on the south side, as World War II interrupted the works. In the 30’s, all interior ornaments of the church were repainted.

After the Treaty of Trianon, the church preserved its formal glory for some more decades, but during the Soviet siege between 1944 and 1945, the church property and its belongings were seriously harmed: its roof was burned down; the arches were damaged and the pipe organ was muted. In the crypt, the German army built a temporary camp kitchen; later on, Russian soldiers kept horses in the chancel, the Loreto chapel was used as a latrine and church attire was tarnished; several pieces of artwork had disappeared. The building was declared dangerous and condemned to be pulled down by the authorities under communist influence, together with the nearby Church of Mary-Magdalena. No one knows even today who has saved the Buda Castle Church from complete demolition.

Cardinal Prince-Primate József Mindszenty, who was working on healing people's souls in a country of ruins, announced a festive year for Mary with countless events and pilgrimages. At the beginning of the pilgrimage, Cardinal Mindszenty delivered his keynote speech at the church. At Christmas time in 1948, Cardinal Mindszenty and his court priest Dr. János Fábián were taken by the communist secret police (ÁVO) and sentenced to prison, marking the start of an open and violent persecution of the Church.

The Catholic Church had been stripped of all its property. Necessary maintenance (1946-49), and war damage reconstructions (1950-70) were commenced by the Hungarian government. The south bell tower and interior painted ornaments and frescos were renovated. The general reconstruction, which had been interrupted by the war, however, did not continue. Unsolved technical problems led to a rapid deterioration of the condition of the building in the 90's.

On 19th August 1991, Pope John Paul II visited the church. On 24th June 1994, a bomb exploded above the gate of the crypt, resulting in serious damage to the chancel, the royal oratory and the stained glass windows of the St Steven chapel. The restoration was made by the Esztergom-Budapest Main Church District by public donations.

On 15th August 2000, the church community celebrated the 1000th anniversary of the founding of the Hungarian State with a pilgrimage. In 1000 A.D., Pope Sylvester II had sent a crown to St Steven, and St Steven left his crown and his state to the Virgin Mary, thus creating the Country of Mary: Regnum Marianum. Pope John Paul II blessed a duplicate of the Sacred Crown, made for this special occasion, on 5th July in Rome, and believers from the Main Church community brought it on foot from Rome to Esztergom.

The rapidly deteriorating condition of the Matthias Church building has been documented in the late 1990s. The scope of ongoing diagnostic examinations initiated by the Parish in 1998 had to be expanded in light of the heavy deterioration. As a result, it became evident that one of the most important religious monuments of the country and its number one tourist attraction desperately needs comprehensive reconstruction and facility modernization. Findings of the examination finished in 2001 contained the opinions of experts and professional companies as well as the concept of reconstruction.

In 2002 several debates were held in the Hungarian Parliament concerning the funding of the reconstruction of the Matthias Church. It was not until December 2003 when funds for the World Heritage church, after suffering several really serious issues such as stone-falling, were said to be allocated, but in 2004 it turned out that due to economic reasons the funds were still unconfirmed. At that time several parts of the church were already life-threateningly unsafe because of falling stones and unstable parts for example. The cultural minister of that date, following a personal visit initiated by the invitation of the church, promised that reconstruction would commence in mid-2005 and until then life-threatening problems will be funded to be mitigated. In September 2004, full reconstruction plans were initiated; in October 2004 the reconstruction was formally announced. In December 2004, the reconstruction plans were ready and implementation started in mid-2005 with an approximate budget of HUF 4 billion (US $25 million / EUR 15 million) and a planned completion date of 30 June 2010. The restoration aims at least a hundred years of undisturbed operation after completion.

Archeological excavations revealing more than 600 medieval graves, wall drying, tower and other reconstructions have started. In late 2007, Zsolnay began to re-manufacture the pyrogranite roof covers. Several other works continued in parallel, but in late November 2007, the reconstruction costs were re-estimated to HUF 7.75 billion (US $43 million / EUR 29 million) and the completion date was pushed back to 30 June 2012. The church remained operational, allowing visitors’ ticket revenues to support the expensive reconstruction. In September 2008, one of the most challenging parts – the reconstruction of the gates – has started.

The restoration of Hungary’s most frequently re-built church has been recently completed.

The Organ

While King Matthias had organ builders in his court, and thus the church was likely to have an organ installed already that time, the first organ we have records of was built in 1688: Esztergom archbishop György Széchényi donated a positive organ worth 100 forints. A mere seven years later, palatine Pál Esterházy had the choir of the church extended and probably a bigger organ built.

This pipe organ was destroyed in a fire in 1723. A new one was soon made by an organ builder named Márton and an even larger one was started in 1768 but then later it was sold.

After the long restoration of the church, a new organ was built yet again, the case of which was also designed by Frigyes Schulek. Unfortunately, it soon turned out that the instrument did not meet the musical requirements of the space in which it was intended to perform.

In 1909, Francis Joseph (Franz Joseph) donated a new organ for the church to celebrate the 40th anniversary of his coronation. It was built by the Rieger manufacture in Jägerndorf. The instrument was built in a late romantic style, using the plans of Viktor Sugár, and had electro-pneumatic action with 4 manuals and 77 stops. The organ case was designed in 1893 by Schulek himself, with a central angel figurine resembling the features of Ferenc Liszt.

According to the fashion of the time, the pipework of the fourth manual was put in the attic of the church and their sound was directed to the church aisle via a 14-meter-long wooden tube.

In 1931, again using the plans of Sugár, the Budapest manufacturer Rieger company extended the ‘Royal organ’ to 85 stops, and, for the first time in Europe, equipped with a Setzer-combination. The pipes were brought down from the attic and the inner construction of the organ was changed – unfortunately, for the worse. During the 1944 Soviet siege, the instrument was damaged badly and was rendered mute. It was temporarily restored after the War, but the condition of the organ turned worse and worse.

In 1979, a committee was created to design the new instrument with the cooperation of Ferenc Gergely, István Koloss, István Baróti and titulaire organist Bertalan Hock. They designed a symphonic organ that uses the valuable pipes and the action of the old instrument that could be saved and combined romantic and baroque style ranks of pipes.

In 1982-83, the organ was completely taken apart and then reassembled under the supervision of church organist Bertalan Hock in the Jägerndorf (Krnov, Czechoslovakia) workshop of the Rieger-Kloss organ factory. The renovated organ was sanctified on 25th January 1984 by Cardinal-Primate László Lékai dr.

Their excellent work resulted in a new, five-manual, 85-stop organ with electro-pneumatic action (Rieger-Kloss Op. 3541). After finishing the grand organ, a two-manual, 18-stop choir organ Fernwerk was built. This instrument can also be played from the console of the grand organ at the organ loft, but it can also be used independently during liturgy or as an accompaniment to the concerts in the church. The Rieger-Kloss organ was extended in 1999 and the number of Setzer combinations was increased from 8 to 798 using a dedicated computer. Another stop, a Chamade 8’, was built into the organ. The 5-manual 85-stop organ has slider and cone wind-chests with 6875 pipes. Together with the choir organ on the ground floor and the Chamade 8’, 104 stops were available.

The new, five-manual, 85-register was used in 80-90 concerts every year, besides regular liturgical use. Every Sunday at 10 o'clock there is a choir church service, often with the participation of the orchestra. Key pieces in the history of music were first played here including the Coronation Mass by Ferenc Liszt, and the Buda Castle Te Deum by Zoltán Kodály. The organ loft is also the place for the church choir and orchestra, the oldest orchestra in Hungary operating without interruption since 1688.

In March 2009, as part of the major reconstruction work of the church, a public tender for reconstructing the symphonic organ was published, and pipe organ work is planned to be completed. The organ is restored by the Pécsi Organ Building Manufacture who co-built for example the Palace of Arts Budapest 92-stop symphonic organ and had countless historic organ restoration projects and experience in restorations of all scales.

Inspired Acoustics have recorded the very last state of the pipe organ as it sounded in March 2009 for the first Matyas Pipe organ sample set. In only a couple of days after the recording sessions were completed, the pipe organ was dismantled and removed for its rebirth.

In September 2019, Inspired Acoustics returned to the Matthias Church to start the recording process of the Mátyás II pipe organ sample set.

Specification of the Rieger-Kloss symphonic organ of the Notre Dame of Buda, Budapest

Specification of the choir organ of the Notre Dame of Buda (continued)

Specification of the choir organ of the Notre Dame of Buda, Budapest

System requirements and recommendations

It is intended (and required) that the Mátyás II Pipe Organ Samples be operated within Hauptwerk, a virtual pipe organ host software application (purchased separately). The Mátyás II Pipe Organ Samples work with Hauptwerk VII and later, and a valid license for Hauptwerk is required to load the organ.

The Trial Edition requires the presence of an iLok key with a valid license for Hauptwerk VII.

For further information, please refer to Hauptwerk's detailed requirements on Hauptwerk's website.

Detailed RAM and polyphony guidelines

Hauptwerk loads all samples in the computer's RAM, with several loading options available according to your computer's specifications. For wet sample sets offering built-in long reverberation, most of the RAM usage is due to the release samples. If you have convolution or other reverberation technology available, less RAM and polyphony will allow you to load and play the full organ. If you have more RAM, you can load the full organ with the release samples and enjoy the original sound. We recommend using Hauptwerk's built-in lossless memory compression to reduce the loading size. Below we have summarised the RAM requirements with their corresponding quality options.

RAM requirements for the Mátyás II organ
Edition	Loading setup	Bits	Loops	Acoustics	Releases	Required RAM	Computer RAM*
Professional Edition
Recommended	Full organ, 110 stops	24	all	2-channels	all	59,6 GB	96 GB
					single	46,4 GB	64 GB
For convolution reverb					250 ms (all)**	38,5 GB	48 GB
	Full organ, 110 stops	16	all	2-channels	all	39,2 GB	48 GB
					single	32,8 GB	40 GB
For convolution reverb					250 ms (single)**	28,5 GB	40 GB

*The Required RAM column above is the memory requirement that also includes Hauptwerk™'s own memory consumption, so this represents the RAM the sample set and Hauptwerk™ together will use, but some additional RAM may be required for the operating system itself, (not included in these figures). The measures were obtained on a Windows-based computer. The Computer RAM column shows a recommendation on the amount of RAM your computer should have as a minimum for a given loading setup assuming that some additional RAM is used by the operating system. This value might be different for each case so we recommend the maximum possible amount of RAM installable in your computer for this sample set, except if you are working with external reverberation or in a dry acoustic environment. Also note that on the Mac you may require more RAM in the computer than the value indicated above, due to the Mac OSX RAM allocation behaviour. Also note that Windows is capable of loading more content than your available RAM, loading (paging) the additional sample data to your hard drive, reading it once the sound is needed (played). In some cases, this will cause glitches in the sound when played in real time since the hard drive is slower to access than the computer's RAM, but makes the full library usable in offline music composition and recording even if you do not have the required amount of RAM.

**Even when loading the pipe organ release samples in truncated mode (Simulated dry, long decay, 2'C @250ms) for convolutional reverberation, it is recommended to load the release samples of the 4_064 Glocken rank in Normal (full release samples) mode in order to achieve the most natural sounding experience.

Licensing

Hauptwerk VII and later platform

• iLok account and license are required for the operation of the sample set
• Internet connection required for license activation (one-time only)
• Activation Code issued by Inspired Acoustics upon your purchase to redeem and activate the sample set license via the PACE iLok License Manager software
• Downloading and installing the latest licensing package file from Milan Digital Audio

This sample set comes in an encrypted format compatible with Hauptwerk v7 and later and requires a PACE iLok license for the operation of the sample set.

For download delivery products, Inspired Acoustics will automatically and instantly set up the download access to your product after your purchase, and assign you a unique Activation Code that you can locate under My Products. Enter this Activation Code to the PACE iLok License Manager to redeem your license.