Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd, 2005
New organ in historical style
www.orgelbau.ch/ope=114090
II/P/23
Austria, Lower Austria
Stiftsbasilika, Chororgel
A new organ in old clothing
When organ enthusiasts think of the Augustinian Canons of Klosterneuburg Monastery, the first thing which springs to mind is undoubtedly the great festival organ built by Johannes Freund of Passau. In the 1980s we had the honour of restoring this famed instrument. It now continues to be maintained by our firm. On this occasion, however, the abbey church's choir organ stood at the centre of our activities. This instrument intended for «every-day» use looks back on an eventful past und is now newly presented, although this is not greatly evident at a first glance.
In 1780 the Viennese organ builder Anton Pfliegler constructed an instrument with 16 stops. The sculptor Christoph Helfer carved the richly ornamented walnut case that we are still able to admire today. The intensive use of the instrument and changes in technical and musical demands led to numerous successive instruments being built in the same «clothing».
Our task was now to construct a new instrument which fulfils the abbey's present requirements, and which is stylistically suited to the Helfer organ case. We decided not to include new elements in the case itself as this would only detract from the optical effect of the original. Apart from this, there still needed to be enough space left for a choir or orchestra. This meant that we had to adapt our design to fit the limited space available. A side door makes it possible to vary the dynamic of the Positiv, whether for the purpose of accompanying the choir or to lead a large congregation. We positioned the now free-standing, new console in an ideal location for the organist and fitted it with stylistically appropriate elements, as is the case with all of the instrument's technical systems. In this way we were able to strictly follow the principles of historical organ building and the project was successfully realised by our restoration team.
