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"L'Orgue
de Jordi Bosch" - Santanyi, Mallorca (1762)
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The two manual organ with 40 divided ranks of Jordi
Bosch is a real gem among the Mallorcan organs. Its monumental and
splendidly decorated facade (by Fra Albert Borguny) resembles the imperial
pomposity of the time and adds to the brilliant sound of its stops. The
organ of Santanyi is one of the best preserved works
of Jordi Bosch. It has a rich "Trompeteria" composed of 9 ranks of
horizontal trumpets, so typical for the Iberian organbuilding school.
It spreads its sound to every corner of the church thanks to
the fan-shaped (radial) spacing of the trumpets: Baixon faces the east, the
Trompa magna the west. The Trompa reial occupies the central position of the
Trompeteria. Above the head of the organist there are two
ranks of horizontally positioned reed stops with short resonators: Regalies
and Dolcaina. The Grand Orgue is built on a wide 16 feet Principal (Flautat
maior) which gives sonorous and warm sound to the pleno. The organ preserves
the largest existing mixture (Ple) in the world, composed of 25 ranks and
1.104 pipes! It is built on a separate windchest and each
tone is fed by its own 2.5 m long wind conduit. One
of the special features of the instrument is its great Cornet (10 ranks)
which was built "elevated" on a special windchest to give "better sound".
The organ positiv (Cadireta) hides Schalmey-like Saboiana, together
with other typical stops like Nasards or Corneta, Flautat tapad (actually a
RohrFloete) and some aliquotes - Dinovena and Siurell. There
are some stops like the Bordo which were used for the first time in the
Mallorcan organbuilding tradition.
The windchests of the instruments are divided to the bass and discant
parts giving to the organist wide range of combination possibilities.
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| Jordi Bosch (1739-1801)
was a renowned Mallorquin organ builder who lived in 18th century. His work
gradually gains the recognition it deserves in the European organ building
tradition. Among his works we find also the celebrated organ of the
Cathedral of Seville (1792) or the organ in the royal palace in Madrid
(1778) where we find many technical innovations like double windchest,
call-ups (later called "appels"), bellows with pressure compensation and
other. Bosch abandoned the pure Mallorcan organ building style in
order to develop an innovatory style and new techniques, getting so some two
generation ahead of the central European evolution. Some researchers
point out Bosch's influences on young Aristide
Cavaillé-Coll who might have
studied Bosch's organ in the royal palace in
Madrid. The Santanyi organ was one of his first works. He built it at the
age of 26 for the monastery of Santo Domingo in Palma. After the Dominican
monastery was abolished in 1837 the organ was translated to Santanyi.
Because the church was smaller than the St. Domingo the organ
was reassembled by Guillem Puig only partially. Later visitors of
Santanyi claim that "the pipes and trumpets were lying in corridors and
elsewhere". Only in 1873 the Cadireta was reinstalled. In the 1888 the great
Corneta was installed. But the organ was still only partially functioning
since in 1932 an article appeared in a local newspaper describing the
deplorable state of the instrument. The visiting organist reports that not
all the stops were present and that there were old labels on the stop jambs
reminding of past drawstops which were no longer there, only holes remained.
From his report we also know that most probably the organ had originally
three manuals. Unfortunately, his report is a bit confused at this point and
no further specifications are given. In 1957 the organ underwent further
alterations (pneumatic action introduced and some new stops). The organ was carefully restored by Gerhard Grenzig in 1984-6.
His report about J. Bosch is
available on-line.
At the end of the article there is even the composition of the 25 rank
mixture listed in a table. (I am indebted to Dr. Stuart Frankel for the link
and for some other details. You should consider reading his article on the
historical registration on the Santanyi organ, listed below!). |
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Special thanks to the authorities of the
Santanyi parish of St. Andreu, especially to Don
Sebastia Salom who gave us tremendous and enthusiastic support during the
recording process! Further reading:
- Stuart Frankel:
A few notes about historical registration on the Santanyí organ,
available on-line.
- Gerhard Grenzig: The monumental organ of Jordi Bosch in Santanyi.
A booklet accompanying the 3rd CD from the series "The Historical Spanish
Organ", published in 1992.
- Antoni Mulet, Arnau Reynés, fotografies de Justo González: Orgues
de Mallorca. Palma de Mallorca: Olańeta, [2001].
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