Johann Nepomuk Kuhn, 1878
New organ
www.orgelbau.ch/ope=100360
II/P/15
Switzerland, Saint Gall
Kath. Kirche
The cross-denominational church - a peculiarity of eastern Switzerland
Up until 1965, what is today's Roman Catholic Church in St. Peterzell served both the Catholic and the Protestant communities of St. Peterzell as a so-called «Simultankirche» (cross-denominational church). The church belonged to both faiths and the administration and upkeep of the building was also a shared responsibility. From the 17th century until well into the 20th century this type of cross-denominational use of churches was particular to the cantons of St. Gallen and Thurgau and meant that oecumenical worship was being lived on a daily basis long before the term itself became commonplace. Unfortunately, just as more attention was beginning to be paid to the idea of oecumenical worship, this tradition in the two cantons began to wane: during the second half of the 20th century, one or the other of the two denominations decided to build a new church, leaving the old church to the other. In St. Peterzell it was the Protestant community and the earlier building, complete with organ was left to the Catholics.
After this necessary piece of religious history we now come to the organ itself. The cross-denominational church had been in possession of a house organ since 1818. Although it actually belonged to the Protestant community, which had received it as a gift, the Catholic community was permitted to use it in return for meeting half of the costs of its upkeep. After 1870, this instrument was no longer able to meet the changing and increasing musical demands. After some swings of opinion, both denominations eventually voted for the construction of a new, larger organ. The project, or, to be more specific, the suggested stoplist, was drawn up by the St. Gallen Cathedral organist Johann Gustav Eduard Stehle (1839-1915). An agreement was made in which the Catholic community would pay 5/8 of the cost of the new instrument and the Protestants the remaining 3/8; the later service costs would, as had previously been the case be shared equally between the two communities.
The commission for the construction of the new organ was given to Johann Nepomuk Kuhn in Männedorf. The contract of 28th/30th January 1878 and Stehle's report on the handover of the instrument dated 4th December 1878 are still to be found in the Catholic archives of St. Peterzell.
From the beginning this cone-chest organ included 15 sounding stops, shared between two manuals and pedal. For this relatively small instrument, no Barker aids were necessary for the mechanical action, even though the console was free-standing. The case appears to have been designed by Kuhn himself, as he requested the return of his drawings. The instrument was constructed for its current location, on the west gallery. Apart from a few small details, in particular the raising of its overall pitch, the organ remained unchanged.
Friedrich Jakob, 2006
Translation: SJR