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Investigation of construction history and acoustic cultural heritage

Investigation of construction history

You have a historically significant organ and would like to know just what historical material it contains and what this material is worth. Or you just suspect that your organ contains historical material and would like to confirm or disconfirm this suspicion. Or you may wish to know if the historical materials are of such importance that it’s worthwhile carrying out a restoration on this basis, or if the materials present are such as to prompt restoring the organ in a particular way.

An investigation, and careful documentation, of your organ’s construction history can clarify all these questions. “Often we do this in a restoration project, but sometimes as an independent commission as well.

Doing the historical documentation of an organ is a very exciting experience. You will experience aspects of the instrument that neither you nor anyone at all perhaps, knew existed. You will enter undiscovered country.

Documentation with a view to restoration

Documentation on the basis of historical facts carried out when the client decides to opt for restoration.

Documentation as commission

Documentation of our acoustic cultural heritage and investigating the history of the organ’s construction.

A careful establishing of our acoustic cultural heritage

The historical documentation of an organ is important not only for any restoration that might be planned but also because it goes to establish our acoustic cultural heritage.. You may wish, after your own organ has been damaged by fire or some other accident, or been destroyed completely, to have it reconstructed so you can hear it play again as it did before. It’s not just been since the fire in Notre Dame that this has become, for owners of organs, an important argument for documenting these instruments to better preserve them for posterity.

"Of all our cultural heritages, our heritage of sound stands out as special. We can no longer exactly establish how something, long ago, smelled or felt to the touch. But we can most likely establish how an organ, some 600 years ago, sounded."

How we proceed when carrying out a documentation

Cooperation / Sound agreements

In consultation with the client, we establish just what is to be documented and how this is best approached.

Clarity of procedure

On-site documentation can take from a few weeks up to a few months. It is carried out by one or more of our own employees.

Internationally transferable data

Presentation results according to international standards, transferable to organ-builders and specialists.

Comprehensible report

Informative text, images, drawings and tables, and occasionally a 3-D model. There may also be a live presentation on site.

Featured projects

Doing the historical documentation of an organ is a very exciting experience. You’ll be able to see just how the organ was constructed, hundreds of years ago. This is an awe-inspiring thing, from which very much is to be learnt. So that the organ – be it restored or just repaired – can go on playing for centuries still to come.

Rijksmuseum

Dismantling and documentation organ cases Harenkarspel (ca. 1550) and Scheemda (1526).

Torrlösa

Investigation construction history organ case and historic pipework, with elements Johann Lorenz (17th Century) and Frobenius (1962).

Lüneburg

Investigation construction history of the Niehoff/Dropa organ, of the quantity of historical material contained in it, and its current state.

"In Mölln we actually held Gothic pipes from the year 1436 in our hands. Who else can say that? Something like that is spectacular. It gives one an unbelievable amount of pleasure."

Contact

Our team regularly carries out historical documentations of organs all around the world. We do so for organs in churches, concert halls, universities and private individuals.

Interested in having your organ historically documented? Feel free to contact us!

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