Insights into the inner workings of a church organ

Created: 08/07/2022, 08:04

By: Stefan Reich

A clear view of the mechanics and pipes: Matthias Heid, church musician at St. Benedikt, explains the construction of his organ and the individual steps of the renovation that began in July.

© Photographer: Andrea Jaksch

It is actually still in good shape, but the church organ of St. Benedict is now undergoing an overhaul.

For a better sound and more diverse applications.

The conversion allows a glimpse into its inner workings.

Gauting

– Mozart wrote about the organ in 1777 that it was the “king of all instruments”.

That may be a matter of taste.

But it is certainly an awe-inspiring instrument.

It is a goosebump moment to sit at the console at the foot of a church organ for the first time and press a key on the manual.

The sound, which is already impressive down in the nave, makes the layman jump up here.

And a glimpse into the inner workings of a church organ awakens respect for the organ builders of earlier centuries.

"The mechanism of our organ hardly differs from what was already developed in the 17th century," says Matthias Heid.

He is a church musician at St. Benedict in Gauting and is currently accompanying the renovation of the organ there, which he requested after taking office in early 2021 and is now being granted.

In the late 1970s, the Augsburg organ builder Rudolf Kubak created the organ in the gallery of St. Benedict.

The Knöpfler company, which succeeded Kubak, has been taking care of the instrument since mid-July.

Some pipes have already been removed, part of the paneling has been removed.

This gives a clear view of the wooden wind tunnels and the complex rods that open the valves in the organ and allow air to flow through the pipes when a button or pedal is pressed on the console.

All purely mechanical.

So far, only the air flow has been generated using an electric motor.

The 21 registers also work mechanically.

If you pull one or more on the gaming table, perforated templates - the so-called loops - are moved between the wind chamber and the pipes via rods and wooden shafts.

In this way, the organist controls which pipes air flows into when a certain key is pressed.

Hundreds of pipes - with a length of a few centimeters up to two and a half meters and in the most diverse timbres - are installed in the Gautingen organ.

This results in an almost unimaginable number of combinations of pipes sounding at the same time.

Only a fraction of the combinations make musical sense, and you need even less for a concert or a church service.

But sometimes quick changes are needed.

"Song preludes and hymn accompaniment sound different and need different registrations," explains the church musician.

"Therefore, after the prelude to the song, there are often small pauses with more or less loud rattling on the organ."

In order to eliminate this shortcoming, an electrical setting system is now being installed.

The corresponding combinations can be stored in the small computer.

The required registers are then drawn automatically at the touch of a button.

"In this way, works can also be played whose timbres change frequently," says Heid.

But the reason for the conversion was the sound of the organ.

"When it was built, bright, sharp sounds were modern, but organs from that time had little volume and sound foundation." There was a lack of fundamental sounds.

Other organists who played in Gauting had already noted this.

And Pastor Georg Lindl, who came to Gauting in September 2021, has a certain affinity for the topic, says Heid.

As the town pastor in Traunstein, he has already overseen the construction of an organ.

The church administration quite willingly approved the 65,000 euros for the conversion.

Some of the pipes are now being renewed or retuned.

Some of the 21 registers will be recompiled.

In addition, the ergonomics of the gaming table and the volume control are improved.

A first section should be ready in September, so that the organ can be used for the long night of choirs and the 100-year celebration of the Catholic Women's Association.

The renovation will be completed in November.

Until then, Heid will accompany the services on a small chest organ.

“The big organ should be fully operational by Christmas,” says Heid.

You can see the anticipation in him.

For him, the organ is the “king of instruments” anyway – and his own work tool will soon come even closer to his ideal.