Prague's Stunning 700-Year Old Cathedral Displays Magnificent New Organ in a Mass of Blessing with Orchestra
Symbolically, on the feast of St. Vitus, on Monday, June 15, 2026, all the pipes and stops of the organ from the workshop of the Spanish organist Gerhard Grenzing sounded for the first time during a festive service. Donors contributed to them in a nationwide collection.
You can Watch a recording of the entire service here: https://www.ceskatelevize.cz/porady/14741205385-bohosluzby-v-ceske-televizi/22656221453/
At the beginning of the service, the organ was blessed by the emeritus Archbishop of Prague, Jan Graubner: "Remember all those who built and protected this temple over the centuries - including the generous benefactors of this instrument, and especially those who did not live to see its completion and today's blessing. Accept their work and sacrifices and grant them a share in the heavenly harmony that never ceases."
The organ gradually woke up after the call of the current Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl, after which eight organists demonstrated the delicacy, power, depth and height of the new organ in their improvisations:
Awake, organs, sacred instruments, and sing praises to God, our Creator and Father.
Organ, sacred instrument, glorify Jesus, our Lord, who died for us and rose from the dead.
Organ, sacred instrument, sing to the Holy Spirit, who animates our lives with the breath of God.
Organ, sacred instrument, elevate our songs and our prayers to Mary, Mother of Jesus.
Organ, sacred instrument, lead this assembly of believers into thanksgiving to Christ.
Organ, sacred instrument, bring the consolation of faith to those in tribulation.
Organ, sacred instrument, support the prayer of Christians.
Organ, sacred instrument, proclaim glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
During the service, the Czech Philharmonic, together with the Prague diocesan organists, played the Luzan Mass in D major, Op. 86 by Antonín Dvořák.
The organ will also be played during some services in the cathedral. The spiritual program in the cathedral can be found here: https://www.katedralasvatehovita.cz/bohosluzby/
Sermon of Archbishop Stanislav Přibyl:
Dear and dear,
Prague is a picturesque city rising from the banks of the Vltava River. An important part of the panorama of the capital city is the Prague Castle, standing on a promontory above the river. In the middle of the Castle stands the cathedral, to which we have been raising our gaze from afar and up close for many centuries. When we enter this church, our gaze is constantly drawn upwards, this time to the magnificent Parléř vaults and beautiful stained glass windows. When we then turn from the altar to the western facade of the church, we look up again to the cathedral nave, to the rose window, which is surrounded by the St. Vitus organ. It is a great work of skilled artists and craftsmen, the materialized idea of its initiator, Cardinal Dominik Duka, and many of his collaborators, who helped him in his efforts to crown the main church of this diocese and the entire Czech Republic with this instrument.
Our hearing will now join our gaze upwards. It will carry our attention to the heights, where the tones that will sound from this magnificent instrument rise. This upward direction is symbolic for us Christians: we turn our attention to the one who is on high, in the heavens, we raise our voices in singing and prayer to God, of whom we say that “he is above us”. That is why we have the organ, that is why we rejoice in it – it leads us to communion in prayer, liturgy and in the music itself towards the Creator.
The biblical readings chosen for this solemn service speak in the first reading from the book of Revelation of the Apostle John of the vision of Mount Zion, that is, the place of God's presence, where the Lamb, the symbol of Christ, stood, and with him all the righteous. And those righteous sing a new song before the throne and the Lamb, that is, they praise the Lord in a new and unique way. It is a beautiful image of the fulfillment of God's gift, God's grace: these people join in the song of praise. Like the creators of this instrument, as well as the composers and performers. They certainly include the multitude of those who participated in this magnificent project with a gift - some for the beauty of the cathedral, others for the praise of God. Together we have created a treasure that now sings a new song with us.
In the psalm we heard a list of various musical instruments that are to praise the Lord. However, the pinnacle of those instruments is not the organ, but a person, a living person, his voice. In the last verse we heard “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord” – we can say with the psalmist: everything that lives. In the old Lutheran German, which was set to music in one of the cantatas by my favorite composer Johann Sebastian Bach (and many others), it sounds very beautiful: Alles was Odem hat, lobe den Herrn. Breath represents life, the presence of the spirit. In this, the organ resembles a person. As long as they have no breath, as long as air does not flow through them, they are a dead object without a soul and life.
At the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, we were able to experience the ceremony of “awakening the organ,” when the bishop calls upon the organ and calls upon it to awaken and fill the space with music. This requires the cooperation of three people: the organist, the composer, and the organist, and in improvisation, the composer and the organist become one and the same person. Only when these people come together in their art and the instrument is filled with air does the music sound and the organ awakens. It is the moment when the instrument resounds with praise to God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. The organ can rejoice, cry, calm, and stir our hearts, expressing the emotions that are within us. We look at beauty, we listen to beauty, and our world of faith, emotions, and the spiritual reality that we experience here connects. This awakening of the organ is a dialogue. First, a word is spoken—a call—and the response is music. It is a beautiful picture of the relationship between God and man: when God speaks to us, He evokes a reaction in us, in which man responds to God. Sometimes the response is a word, sometimes silence, tears, laughter, but then also deeds that are manifested in the whole of human life. However, music and singing transcend the boundaries of words – and are realities that cannot even be expressed in words – and we can approach them precisely through music and singing. Our new instrument will also serve this purpose: liturgy, prayer, uplifting and delighting the human spirit, for example during a concert. The organ will become an instrument for the materialization of beauty, because music has the property of coming, sounding and soon fading away, leaving. And we must constantly reawaken and revive it by singing or playing musical instruments, such as this beautiful organ – so that the music is with us, so that it can be heard, so that we are not asleep to the beauty of this world, to the desires of our hearts, or even – for us believers – so that we are not asleep in our faith.
I have already spoken about the fact that organs need an organist, a composer and an organist. But above all, they need air, which is a symbol of life, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit who animates the world. It is He who made all living things in creation, it is He who accompanies us through the entire history of the salvation of the human race. We have experience here, because when we want to describe something that elevates a person, we say that it “has a spirit”. May this organ also have it.
Let all their pipes sound in harmony, let them create new colors of sound, let them complement the colorful brightness of the stained glass windows and make the stones of this magnificent building resonate, as indicated by the Gospel just read, where Jesus says that if people did not testify about him, even the stones would have to cry out. The organ is not a solitaire, an instrument that would exist independently of the space in which it is located. It is intoned to a specific space, which actually becomes a part of it. So when we hear this organ, it is not just them playing, but the entire cathedral, literally every stone, playing.
Dear friends, the blessing of the organ is also a reason for gratitude. I mentioned this at the beginning, and now I would like to conclude this reflection with an expression of gratitude. First of all, I would like to remember with gratitude Cardinal Dominik Duka, who initiated the construction of the organ, and I firmly believe that it will remain his best legacy for many years, perhaps for centuries.
I would also like to express my gratitude to all those who participated in this work: the organists, the artists, the patrons, the administrators of this extraordinary project, and everyone who contributed in any way. Let us remember and pray for those who are not alive today. Let us pray that they may share in the eternal harmony of heaven, so that they may sing that new song. May we one day be able to join them.
Amen.
Source - https://apha.cz/novinky/nove-svatovitske-varhany-uz-zneji-naplno/
Image Photo by Lucie Horníková, Man and Faith
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