Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd, 2000

Restoration

Organ built by
Peter Hötzel, 1796
Windchests
slider chests
Key action
mechanical
Stop action
mechanical
Inauguration
26.11.2000
Expert
Walter Brauneis, Wolfgang Kreuzhuber, Karl Schütz, Siegfried Adlberger
Voicing
Raymond Petzold


www.orgelbau.ch/ope=801140

Adlwang

I/P/14

Austria, Upper Austria
Kath. Wallfahrtskirche

© pictures Orgelbau Kuhn AG, Männedorf

Kuhn Organ Builders Ltd, 2000

Restoration

Organ built by
Peter Hötzel, 1796
Windchests
slider chests
Key action
mechanical
Stop action
mechanical
Inauguration
26.11.2000
Expert
Walter Brauneis, Wolfgang Kreuzhuber, Karl Schütz, Siegfried Adlberger
Voicing
Raymond Petzold

We organ builders cross frontiers....

...and travel through organ «landscapes» in which we are frequently confronted with new types and styles of organ. As restorers we have the pleasant task of acquainting ourselves with characteristic features of a region. For this reason we particularly looked forward to our work in the Austrian village of Adlwang.

As an organ restoration is a complex matter, and therefore all the more fascinating, at Kuhn Organ Builders we always begin our work on a restoration project with a meticulous analysis of the instrument in question. To re-establish an historic organ of artistic value to its former state is not only a matter of preserving an «ancient monument». It is also important that the instrument fulfils the requirements of day-to-day use. Combining both aims is where the challenge lies.

With fourteen stops shared between one manual and pedals, the organ in Adlwang is somewhat on the small side for the size of this church - the oldest in lower Austria and an important place of pilgrimage. However, in 1796 the organ builder Peter Hötzel created a masterpiece with a wonderful sound which exploits the good acoustics of the church to full advantage. However, two hundred years of intensive use and a number of inappropriate modifications had taken their toll. It is therefore surprising, that almost the complete pipework of the manual and the technical systems could still be used in our restoration. We reconstructed the pedal organ and wind system using the example of a «sister organ» in the region. Two multi-folded wedge-bellows were reconstructed in the manner of the organ of St. Johann am Tauern and set up for a manually-operated blower. As an alternative, an electric blower was also installed, which pumps air into the bellows by means of a motor. When the bellows are full, the Kuhn wedge-bellows control breaks the connection to the blower. Then the connection to the windchests is opened and the wind - exactly as with the manual blower - is supplied to the organ.



www.orgelbau.ch/ope=801140