Office for church music, Peutinger street 5,
86152 Augsburg

 Cath. parish office "St. Martin" Batzenhofen
Martin street 6

86368 Gersthofen

Logo Office for church music
 
Telephone (0821) 3166-851            
fax (0821) 3166-859             

Augsburg, 20. June 2002      

 
 
Cath. church foundation "St. Martin" Batzenhofen

here: Organ of the parish church

to the local meeting of 12.06.2002
 
 
 
 
Dear Reverend Mr. Priest Walser, very honored members of the church administration!

Accordingly to your wish, on 12.06.2002 I examined the organ in your parish church. It is a is a cone valve chest instrument with pneumatic action, build as opus 58 approx. 1920 by the organ building shop of Julius Schwarzbauer / Mindelheim. The work is behind a very beautiful five sectioned later baroque casing on the second (upper) west loft of the church. Both manual wind chests are arranged vertically in the casing. The console is located separately in front of the organ. The view of the player is in direction to the altar. The recently renewed blower engine is under the roof of the church, the organ wind is sucked in from the church room. The engine supplies large double bellows, which are located in a simple, partial open wooden hut.

The disposition of the organ is as follows:

1st Manual:
C-f'''
 
Bourdon 16'
Principal 8'
Gedeckt 8'
Flute 8'
Salicional 8'
Octave 4'

2nd Manual:
C-f'''
(swellable)
Geigenprincipal 8'
Lieblich Gedeckt 8'
Salicional 8'
Aeoline 8'
Voxcoelestis 8'
Flute 4' build as Transverse flute
Quinte 2 2/3' (Inscription on the stop rocker 1 1/3')
Piccolo 2'

Pedal:
C-d'
 
Sub bass 16'
Stillgedeckt 16' wind swell
Violin bass 8'
Cello 8'

Normal couplers, Sub- and Super couplers II/I FP and release; p, mf, f, Tutti and release


 
 
 
 
 
The technical conception of the instrument is built very confine and hardly accessible. The work actually shows many malfunctions. The wind supply is completely insufficient despite the new blower, as the magazine bellows in the attic still hardly opens - probably due to existing holes in the gussets. The sound of the instrument and the intonation of the stops are insufficiently, expressionless and pale compared to other instruments of the later romantic epoch although the different pipe rows show a relatively good technical condition. The console is meanwhile completely used up and shows often faults. Furthermore the work is severe dirty. Panels and wooden pipes show signs of Anobium (woodworm) attacks.


A general overhaul of the existing organ work is to be advised against for several reasons:
 
1st Due to the confine design also after a general overhaul the instrument remains unfriendly to maintain which will result in further faulty behavior.
2nd Current large weaknesses of the instrument like e.g. the insufficient effect of the swelling flaps of the 2nd manual and the rather poor intonation will remain.
3rd For an adequate general overhaul the technical system of the console would have to be renewed completely. This is connected with very high costs, which highly question the expenditure for such an overhaul.
The recommendation is therefore a general technical and tonal new conception of the instrument, where the pipe material of the current organ, which has quite intonating reserves, the organ casing, the blower engine and the bellows can be reused.
 
For such a renewal of the work two concepts present themselves:
 
1st Build an organ with so called change loops for the manual wind chest, i.e. all stops are alternatively playable on the first or second manual.
 
Disposition proposal:

Manual:
C-g'''
Bourdon 16' old
Principal 8' (new casing pipes,
      interior pipes possibly old)
Flute 8' (old)
Lieblich Gedeckt 8' (old)
Salicional 8' (old)
Vox coelestis 8' (old)
Octave 4' (old)
Flute 4' (old)
Quinte 2 2/3' (old)
Piccolo 2' (old)
Terz 1 3/5' (new)
Mixtur 2' (new)
Trumpet 8' (new)

Pedal
C-f'
Sub bass 16' (old)
Violin 8' (old)


attached console, mechanical play and stop actions, normal couples
 
 
 
 
2nd Build an instrument in the style of a smaller organ of the later French romantic. This concept is based on a relatively small number of stops but nevertheless very colorful in sound.
 
Disposition proposal: :

1st Manual:
C-f'''
Bourdon 16' (old)
Principal 8' (partly. new s. a.)
Flute 8' (old)
Gamba 8' (partly. old from Cello)
Octave 4' (old)
Mixtur 2 2/3' (partly. old from
  Quint 2 2/3' and Piccolo 2'
  from the current organ
  complemented with according choirs)

2nd Manual:
C-f'''
(swell work
in new swell chest)
Lieblich Gedeckt 8' (old)
Salicional 8' (old)
Vox coelestis 8' (old)
Flute trav. 4' (old)
Tromp. harmonique 8' (new)
Oboe 8' (new)

Pedal
C-f'
Bourdon 16'(Transmission)


attached console, mechanical key actions, electrical stop actions, normal couples, Sub and Super couple II/II and II/I, cancel button (Appel) for Trompette harmonique 8' , Octave 4' and Mixture 2 2/3'.
 
With the organ construction you should assign a quality-conscious organ building shop, having the appropriate "know how" for the concepts mentioned above.
 
If you have further questions, I am gladly to your disposal.
 
Yours sincerely

P. Stefan U. Kling - official organ expert

 
Translated to the best of knowledge and belief by Franz X. Koehler
 

 
Start