eingefügt am 11.1.03

WALCKER- organs in Venezuela :

According to my records and prof. Miguel Castillo Didier's investigations, they were imported in the 1950's by the music shop "Ecclesia CA" (Later: "Musikalia").

These Walcker Organs are:

¨      Opus 3108 (built 1953), Santa Ines Cathedral, Cumana, (Sucre State). UNIT-System with solenoid operated cone-pallet action, 26 stops derived from four ranks (Open Diapason, Stopped Flute, Salizional, Mixture III). Functioned in 1980 when prof. Miguel Castillo Didier made its cataloguing.

¨      Opus 3112 (built 1953) San Nicolas de Bari, Porlamar, Margarita Island (Nueva Esparta State). Exactly the same model as Opus 3108. Heavily damaged by several unsuccesful repair attempts.

¨      Opus 3173 (built 1953) Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe Parish church, Caracas. UNIT-System with solenoid operated cone-pallet action, 28 stops derived from five ranks (Open Diapason, Stopped flute, Gamba, Mixture III and reeds). Repaired by Andres Gunther in April 1986. Actually damaged beyond repair by termites.

¨      Opus 3419 (built 1955), Rio Caribe, (Sucre State). Five stops; five ranks, pneumatic tracker system. Specification: Gedakt 8', Salizional 8', Rorhflöte 4', Prinzipal 4', Nachthorn 2'. Damaged beyond repair 1957 by roof leak / Church renovation, later on vandalism. Most of pipework was stolen.

¨      Opus 3522 (built 1956), Priest Seminar IUSI, Caracas. 13 stops, 13 ranks, elektropneumatic tracker system. Rebuilt by Andres Gunther 1988-89, actually in good condition. (See description on technical record)

¨      Opus ? (built 1958), Nuestra Señora de la Regla (Tovar, Merida State). Same model as Opus 3173. Abandoned due to electrical failure.

Sources:

Miguel Castillo Didier, Caracas y el Instrumento rey (CONAC-ILVES 1979)

Miguel Castillo Didier, Venezuela y el Instrumento Rey (CONAC-ILVES 1983)

R. Andres Gunther, workshop records (unpublished).

WALCKER ORGAN

OF THE INTERDIOCESAN PRIEST SEMINAR (IUSI)

CARACAS, VENEZUELA

GENERAL INFORMATION

History and description:

This organ was built in 1956 by Walcker in Germany, and installed in the chapel of the Seminar by the seminarians Bernhard Postmeyer and José Shettino.

The organ has 13 stops, and a german style electropneumatic action. Its facade is made of Salicional and Principal 8' pipes and fake pipes; has no framing, and a fake positive facade is installed at the choir rail.

From the beginning this instrument presented serious inconveniences because it was not well installed. Witness of this is a signature found inside the insrtrument, which says: "Repaired in 1957 by Eugen Opitz."

The main body with the pipework was too close to the external wall of the chapel, next to a rosette. The sun hit the organ during most time of the day, and when several glasses of the rosette broke, dust, humidity, rainwater and insects had free access to the instrument for several years.

The motor and main reservoir were installed at the church roof almost in the open, and absorbed humidity, dust, garbage, and insects every time the organ was started.

The console was installed beside the main altar, over 70 yards away from the pipework. This resulted in serious response delay problems, which caused that the organ never could be used seriously.

After a failed repair attempt by non qualified persons in the mid-1970s the organ remained partially disassembled and was abandoned for almost ten years. The (cardboard) wind channels were broken; the reservoirs had leaks, the pipework had been damaged in several places by the workers who remodelled the chapel in 1987. There was a lot of garbage inside the instrument, and a thick dust layer covered everything.

Specification:

TECHNICAL REPORT OF THE GENRAL REPAIR OF THE INSTRUMENT

(September 1988 - July 1989)

The fact that this instrument could be repaired at all speaks for the quality of Walcker organs.

At first, I put as conditio sine qua non to undertake a restoration of this organ that the console had to be relocated in the choir, beside the instrument.

The organ had to be disassembled. The works I carried out were, in detail:

·        General overhaul of trackers and windchests.

·        Reconstruction of the electropneumatic swell box shutter motor.

·        Move the main body of the organ 50 centimeters forward.

·        Manufacture a swellbox roof and closing pannels in the rear part of the organ.

·        Overhaul of the blower.

·        Manufacture a baffle box for the blower.

·        After a complete overhaul of the blower, it was reinstalled in the choir room at a side of the organ.

·        Reconstruction of the reservoirs.

·        Manufacture a new main reservoir (the original one was damaged beyond repair).

·        Install new wind channels (PVC pipes).

·        Install a new 120VAC / 14VDC "Traktus" power supply.

·        Repair the electric system of the console.

·        Install new wiring and pneumatic conduits.

·        Clean and repair the whole pipework and replace damaged or lost small pipes.

·        Treat some wooden parts affected by termites.

·        Paint the facade pipes.

·        Refinish the case and woodwork.

·        Assemble the whole instrument, adjust the trackers and tune.

I also gave the re-inauguracion recital on July 5^th 1989.

REPAIRS I MADE AFTER 1989:

February 1996:

·        Major repair of the blower (motor rewinding and axle rectification; the blower motor burnt out by negligence)

·        Cleaning, and retouch of tuning and tracker adjustments.

March 1997:

·        Releathering of the pneumatic stop action valves

·        Substitution of pneumatic pouches at the swell trackers

·        Maintenance (cleaning, tuning, adjustments)

  Pictures

Die politsche Situation in Venezuela