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The organ of Usurbil blows again

2006/10/01 Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

Next year will be one hundred years of the construction of the Mutin/Cavaillé-Coll organ in the parish of Salvador de Usurbil, and that 87 instruments brought to Usurbil. The years do not pass unnecessarily and, despite being a well-kept instrument, the passage of time is seen in mechanical elements, wind and sound.
The organ of Usurbil blows again
01/10/2006 | Kortabitarte Egiguren, Irati | Elhuyar Zientzia Komunikazioa

(Photo: R. R. Carton)
The restoration of the organs is carried out following a series of criteria based on the study of their elements, their history and their modifications. In the case of Usurbil, for example, over the course of these hundred years there have been changes in some organ records. Although the changes were carried out with the best will, they do not conform to the current criteria of restoration of the organs and, in general, of the works of art. It is fitting, therefore, to keep records as they were initially.

To do this, experts reflect on the changes that can be introduced in the improvement of the organ with which they play this instrument, organists. For the good development of the work, collaboration between organists and experts with extensive experience and knowledge in restoration is essential.

The organ manufacturer selected for the restoration of the organ of Usurbil --DLFO (Manufacture d'Orgues) - is a company with extensive experience in the restoration of French romantic organs. The main objective of the process is to return to the original organ - that is, the sound and technical contributions of Mutin, adapted by Fernand Prince in 1920-, and incorporate new and adequate sound possibilities to the organ style, without prejudice to its structure.

It is a long process. They will be approximately 10,000 hours of work. This is a team of seven people who began to disassemble the organ on September 13. The head of the project is Denis Lacorre, who, for example, after the complete disassembly of the organ, takes several weeks to think and decide the way forward in the restoration work, to explain to the organists what they will do and consult with them different questions. According to him, "restoration work has several stages and at the same time we have more than one job in order not to interrupt work."

Special features Special features

Frenchman Denis Lacorre is an expert in the study, restoration and reconstruction of romantic and symphonic organs.
R. R. Carton Carton

This organ has two important origins, which are more important. It was basically a room organ. However, his transfer to the church of Usurbil suffered various transformations, becoming an ecclesiastical organ. Although it currently preserves some of the characteristics of the room organ, the objective is not to recover that origin.

Objective XIX. It is about recovering his French symphonic style at the beginning of the twentieth century, always maintaining the character of Cavaillé-Coll. Among other things, it is intended to carry forward the front handrail (approximately one meter or a half meter) and turn the contour. In this way, it would remain as it was in its day, that is, the organist would head towards the organ and the relationship between the director and the organist would be narrower.

Likewise, the Usurbil organ has original and peculiar technical characteristics, which are not only similar in our environment but in the rest of the State. The hand keyboards have 64 notes and the pedals 34. In Spain there is no organ that has the same keyboard extension as that of Usurbil.

Likewise, the five original adjustable combinations of Mutin are elements of great interest to all organists and organists. If the organist wants to change sonority while playing the organ, pressing a pedal change the prepared combinations and the sounds change.

The 64 note keyboard was disassembled on the first day. However, in a previous visit with organist Juan Luis Atxega, we were able to hear several pieces.
R. R. Carton Carton
This option has other organs, but the organist needs an assistant to change these combinations manually. Therefore, the organist who will act in the organ of Usurbil has some freedom in this sense. All these features make Usurbil a unique instrument. But he will soon turn a hundred years and it is time to give him a "stir."

Until emptying the inside of the organ

The organ has been dismantled piece by piece. Until leaving the box empty. Undoubtedly, they know that it is a unique manufacturing organ. However, they have seen that some elements of wood are eaten by pipes, so you have to renew them. In addition, Denis Lacor did not think the pipe would get so deep, "but we are very used to this problem."

It seems a complex work, but the disassembly of the organ is relatively simple, as long as the instrument itself is well known. In general they follow a methodology. French expert Denis Lacorre learned this methodology with other organisers and, in short, highlights that it is something that you learn to do and do. "Today it seemed to me a reflection". There is no doubt that attention must be paid to the characteristics of each instrument, but, with the custom, it affirms that the work is done almost spontaneously.

Inside the organ there are numerous elements, each of them of large size. First of all, all the essential elements (bellows, mechanical parts, wind boxes, expression boxes, pipe and consolo) will be cleaned from top to bottom. All parts of mechanics and bellows must be dismantled and renewed.

Shooters of the five combinations. In the Usurbil organ they could be changed semi-automatically.
R. R. Carton Carton

The organ box is the only element that will be practically intact. It is of oak and structure of pine carrasco (fir with red threads, very hard). They will remove dust from the body of organs and structure, giving them an antipolyl and mold treatment. Cabinetmaking, on the other hand, is a nourishing liquid. A solid wooden ceiling will be manufactured to protect the central organ, the pedal and the sound of the most homogeneous games.

The restoration of wind boxes or secrets is perhaps the most important part for the proper functioning of the organ. To make the wind boxes reliable, it is necessary to completely renew them. And it is that the organ works by the wind. Therefore, it is essential to provide at all times enough wind to produce sound. The scarce or unstable supply of wind can cause serious problems. For this reason, the wind power systems have progressively been improved to improve their supply and achieve a continuous and stable flow. On the one hand, they collect atmospheric air and compress it to distribute it properly. In short, it is a system of capture and storage of air.

The secrets direct the compressed air to the tubes. In the secrets there are many tubes to which everything has to be very well calculated for the wind to arrive. That is, it should not have any wind leaks. These secrets have never been opened, someone knows what they will find in them. These secret tubes are made with special skin, such as kid's skin. When the goat is germinated, an abortion occurs so that the skin of the kid does not have hair.

Denis Lacor believes that each secret will take about 600 hours to restore. After opening and restoration, these oak boxes are closed with a special glue. They use, among other things, the tail made with bones and nerves of cows or rabbit leather. They use organic tails instead of synthetic.

This aspect was prior to the disassembly observed in the upper image of the interior of the organ.
R. R. Carton Carton
The metal tubes, on the other hand, will be cleaned by a compressor in the place where they are, that is, several tubes will not be driven to France, except very deteriorated games. Then it is recommended to re-tighten all these metal tubes. The bodies lose hardness with the passage of time and cannot withstand the strength of sound. Then the tube sounds bad, vibrates and becomes too long. This is easily noticeable in harmonic flutes.

Do, re, mi...

In the restoration of an organ, perhaps the most complex work from a technical point of view is the final delight to get the best out of the instrument. This usually lasts a lot and usually leave these definitions for the end. And it is that experts must reflect with organists and with those who really know the organs of the house.

As far as harmonization is concerned, Prince did an excellent previous work, which traced and harmonized the instrument of Usurbil. As a result, the 1920 organ has been preserved almost entirely. It has an aesthetic of Cavaillé-Coll and not the sound of the Mutines of the 1920s -the timbres were hard and disproportionate. The size of the tubes, carving and materials provide a noble and deep sound. As Prince himself said, the best sound is obtained after passing the organs by the hands of the harmonist.

They will clean all the pieces from top to bottom and leave them as if they were new.
R. R. Carton Carton

Once the dismantling and restoration work has been completed, all this must be traced back. According to the French expert, the reconstruction is somewhat more complicated. In fact, each instrument is different and they have to find their limits to get the best result. "The control of the limits of each instrument is fundamental for a better sound and keyboard touch".

The process is long, but once the work is finished, some changes in the organ will be observed. Among other things, there will be no wind leaks, so the sound will be cleaner, that is, sweeter and homogeneous throughout the record. Likewise, they want to enrich the organ with different games of symphonic style, the XIX. Late twentieth century To host a wide repertoire of great composers from the beginning of the century. To do this, they will incorporate games of great power and the organ will be stronger. Its timbre is more round and offers a wider range of games. It will take approximately two years to listen to the pieces played in the organ of Usurbil, but it will be worth it.

Chronology of the organs of Usurbil
The first news about the existence of an organ in the Parish of Salvador de Usurbil dates back to 1572. The Juan Prize appears in the will of the old priest.
This organ had a conflicting history. At that time, priestly/organist functions were not distinguished and there were no salaries for the organist. Consequently, conflicts of power arose in Usurbil between an organist priest and not an organist. In order to avoid being repeated in the future, the graduate Miguel de Urdayaga decided to found a chaplaincy in the seventeenth century. in the third decade of the twentieth century. The capital of this chaplaincy was exclusively for the organ, and Urdayaga established a series of conditions of convergence for its use, but instead of calming the conflicts intensified. They lasted years until they saw the need to build a new organ.
The second organ, built between 1666 and 1668, was placed next to the epistle of the high choir of the church. The instrument was small and at first had serious manufacturing defects.
In the image, the console and the façade of the organ. The organist looks at the organ, and he will do so also in Usurbil, once the works are finished.
(Photo: Parish San Salvador de Usurbil)
From 1801 to 1811 there was another small organ in the village. Subsequently, in 1844, the oñatiarra organ José María Ugarte was commissioned to build a new organ, according to the registry. Between 1847 and 1849 various repairs were made. This new instrument cost R$ 29,500 plus the old organ.
XIX. In the second half of the twentieth century many municipalities of Gipuzkoa (Azkoitia, Ordizia, Bidania, Loiola, Errezil, Tolosa, Bergara, San Sebastián...) imported large bodies from France. The tendency to purchase French organs dates back to the twentieth century. It remained until the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1920 a group of usurbildarras, driven by this new fashion of the French organ and with the aim of being no less than other municipalities of the area, decided to buy a new organ. Guillermo Arana, then parish priest of Usurbil, signed the contract for the acquisition of the current organ Mutin Cavaillé-Coll, built in 1907.
The Cavaillé-Coll organs enjoyed great fame. From 1855 to 1884 Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was the first and only French organero to work in Euskal Herria. He built about twenty organs.
Organ of Usurbil in the initial location of the castle of the Baron de l'Lawnée. At the bottom of the image you can see the date when the photograph was made, in 1920, and a group of nurses, since at that time the building was used as a hospital.
(Photo: Parish San Salvador de Usurbil)
Cavaillé-Coll died in 1898 and the workshop was handed over to Charles Mutin. For a long time, Mutin had been directing. Under his direction, Mutin/Cavaillé-Coll built and repaired more than 700 instruments in many countries of different continents. However, the instruments of higher quality and prestige are those built in the first years of the company. To this time belong the monumental organ of the Imperial Conservatory of Moscow or of Usurbil (1907). The latter was initially a room organ in the castle of Ilbarritz (in the area of Biarritz), with three hand keyboards and a pedal.
That castle belonged to the rich, eccentric and melodious Baron de l'Espée. Baron liked to improvise and his works focused on stories of love, revenge, mystery and death. The baron invited his sessions to the upper class of Biarritz and Paris and the famous organists to enjoy the sound of the organ.
Today, organists from all over the world, especially the French, continue to attach great importance to the instrument currently existing in Usurbil.
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