Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd, 2024
Restoration
www.orgelbau.ch/ope=801750
II/P/30
Austria, Vorarlberg
Kath. Pfarrkirche St. Jodok
Restoration to the original state
Following the recent overhaul of the organ in Dornbirn, we had the opportunity to work on another Behmann organ in the beautiful village of Bezau in the Bregenzerwald. This time, it was restoration work, including restoring the original acoustics of the organ, which was built in 1910 with 30 stops on two manuals and the pedal.
A particular challenge we faced during the restoration work was the reversal of an attempt made in 1984, which had aimed at giving a Baroque sound to the Romantic instrument. At that time, six stops were replaced and the superoctave extension was removed from several stops. In the church attic, we were lucky enough to discover three stops that were still practically intact. On the basis of comparison with other instruments, it was possible to reconstruct all the other missing stops.
In addition to cleaning work, we also renewed the leather of the bellows, all membranes, Barker motors and leather pouches and overhauled the lead conveyances.
Finally, all the pipes were voiced and tuned - thus restoring a uniform tonal scheme as intended by the original builder.
Due to the large amount of original material preserved in this instrument, we believe it is an important testimony to Austria's early 20th-century organ culture, now restored to ist original state and preserved for posterity.
Translation: RS 2024