iohio

THE RESTORATION OF THE HISTORIC PIPE ORGAN
IN THE CHURCH OF SAN MATÍAS JALATLACO, OAXACA

 

 

 

ABOUT THE ORGAN

Construction date: 1866

Organbuilder: Pedro Nibra (Oaxaca)

Characteristics: 8´stationary organ with seven registers on either side of the keyboard; 56 note chromatic keyboard divided c’/c#’; 382 flue, reed, and wooden pipess; pitch 396 Hz.; height 4.46 m, width 2.91 m, depth 1.15 m.

DISPOSITION

Left hand: 25 notes C – c’
1. Clarines (Bajoncillo) 4´
2. Flautado mayor 8´
3. Octava 4´
4. Docena 2 2/3´
5. Quincena 2´
6. Tapadillo 4´
7. Trompeta real 8´

Right hand: 31 notes c#’-g’’’
1. Clarines 8´
2. Flautado mayor 8´
3. Octava 4´
4. Docena 2 2/3´
5. Quincena 1° 2´
6. Tapadillo 4´
7. Quincena 2° 2´

THE RESTORATION OF THE JALATLACO ORGAN

Restoration of the case: Usanza company, Eric González Castellanos (Oaxaca), director.

Restoration of the organ’s mechanism and sound: Gerhard Grenzing Organ Company (El Papiol, Spain), Andreas Fuchs, project director.

Project initiative and organization: Instituto de Órganos Históricos de Oaxaca (IOHIO), Cicely Winter, director.

Financing: Fundación Alfredo Harp Helú Oaxaca (FAHHO), the Pro-Organ Committee of the Jalatlaco community, and the IOHIO.

Ecclesiastical support: Francisco Reyes Ochoa, the priest of the Jalatlaco church.

Institutional authorization and overview: Coordinación Nacional de Conservación del Patrimonio Cultural (CNCPC) del Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historía (INAH).

Main challenge: repair the woodworm damage to the case and interior components; replace the cancelled rank of horizontal reed pipes, other missing pipes, and pipe feet in the façade.

Reinauguration: July 16, 2016, exactly 150 years after Nibra finished the instrument on July 16, 1866 (confirmed by inscriptions inside the case); this significant date was celebrated by a mass followed by two concerts presented by Horacio Franco, José Suárez, and Cicely Winter; a follow-up concert took place February 10, 2017, to honor Don Alfredo Harp Helu and Dr. María Isabel Grañen for their support of the project.

Ongoing activity: The organ is played regularly for masses (including weddings, baptisms, quinceaños, and special religious festivities), and concerts; it is maintained by the IOHIO

 


The Jalatlaco organ before its restoration (2015)

 

PHASE 1: RESTORATION OF THE CASE

December 2015 – March 2016

  

                   

Dismantling the organ: removing the pipes

     

  

Removing the wind chest and the roller board

        

Removing the moldings and the"hip"

  

Fumigation and superficial cleaning

      

 

Removing the layers of grime to restore

the original color of the organ

 
Cleaning the damaged “hip”
 

   

Attaching and reconstructing pieces of the moldings

  

Final details: touching up the paint

The organ case is restored

 

PHASE 2: RESTORATION OF THE ORGAN´S MECHANISM
AND SOUND

 

Dismantling the bellows (Oaxaca organbuilder David Antoio Reyes)

 

Dismantling and storing the pipes

 

Dismantling and cleaning the wind chest

     

 
Dismantling the pallet box
 
Repairing the pallets
 

  

Repairing the wind chest

  

Repairing the roller board

  

 
Dismantling the keyboard
 
Repairing the keyboard
 

                             

  

Assembling the trundles

  

Assembling the bellows

     

          Calibrating the keyboard  
The finished keyboard (the initials
“PN” in the central medallion refer to
The organ builder Pedro Nibra)
 

   

Voicing and assembling the pipes

   

 
Tuning the reed pipes
 
New back doors
 

The finished organ