Academia de organo en Andalucía

IR A PÁGINA PRINCIPAL

MARCHENA
Church of San Juan Bautista, left side

Built by Juan de Chavarría Murugarren in 1765.
Restored by Gerhard Grenzing in 1997.

Master Juan de Chavarría Murugarren came to Seville from Cuenca together with his uncle, the organbuilder Sebastián García Murugarren, who had in charge the construction of one of the organs in Seville cathedral. When the organ was finished, in 1744, García Murugarren returned to Cuenca and Juan de Chavarría remainded in Seville as an organbuilder and tuner at the cathedral. He built some organ in Seville, Cádiz and Córdoba.

The provenence of Juan de Chavarría can explain the fact that some elements existing at this organ in Marchena are related to the organbuilding school of Cuenca. Specially, the manner in which the windchest for the positiv is made.
The Chavarría organ was in an excelent condition before it restoration. The mechanic, keyboards, windchests and pipes came from 1765. Only the “dies y nobena” and the mixtur of the positiv have pipes coming from the 17th century. They were incorporated in the second half of the 19th century, as one hundred pipes are described to be missing in a report of 1797. The reeds of the trompeta real were also reconstructed by Gerhard Grenzing as they had been transformed by Blas Beracoechea around 1910-20.

The instrument has two keyboards with 48 keys (C,D – c’’’) and a pedalboard with eight notes (C,D,E,F,G,A,B,H), without any stop or tirasse. All the stops are halved between c’ and c#’.

Organo Mayor

Pedal

MARCHENA
Church of San Juan Bautista, right side

Built by Francisco Rodríguez in 1802.
Restored by Gerhard Grenzing in 2002-2004.

Francisco Rodríguez can be considered a direct pupil of Jorge Bosch, the most important organbuilder in 18th century Spain. Bosch had in charge the construction of a new organ at Seville cathedral in 1779. The work was not finished until 1793. That time can be considered the origin of a dinasty of organbuilders that were activ in Andalucia until the middle of the 19th century. Members of this dinasty were:
- Juan Debono, born in Malta, brother-in-law and skilled workman of Jorge Bosch;
- Francisco Rodríguez, a native of Asturias;
- Antonio Otín Calvete, el mayor, a disciple of Juan Debono;
- Antonio Otín Calvete, el menor, a son of the precendent; and, probably,
- Antonio Pilat, a native of Germany, very activ in Cádiz, Seville and Córdoba during the first half of the 19th century.

The destruction of the organ built by Jorge Bosch in Seville cathedral in 1888 doesn’t allow us to enjoy of one organ that was considered unique in his time. Nevertheless, many of the technical and sonorous novelties to be find in the organ at the church of San Juan in Marchena are the direct testimony of the experiments carried out by Bosch in his work.

Before the restoration, the instrument was preserved in his integrity. Only three pipes had to be reconstructed, together with the 16’ flautado at the rear façade. Rodríguez had never installed the pipes of this stop, even if it was included in the original project. Nevertheless, the original windchest and the conducts were made as to allow the pipes to be installed without problems.

The instrument has a windchest for the main organ having 240 cm in depth, with a double ventil for each note. The reconstruction of the flautado 16’ at the rear façade bring out the reconstrucción of a third ventil on the same windchest. This triple ventil system was also foreseen by Rodríguez but never made on this organ. In fact, this seems to be the unique case of a windchest and mechanic having three ventils for each note existing today, even if the organ in Cádiz cathedral, built by Antonio Otín Calvete el menor, had once the same system.

The organ has two keyboards of 54 keys (C – g’’’) and a pedalboard of 12 notes (C-H), without tirasse to the manual. All the stops are divided between c’ y c#’.

marchena