St. Stephen’s Basilica Pipe Organ Restoration Begins
Renovation of Budapest’s St. Stephen Basilica Organ Underway
Organ builder István Süveges and his team have been hard at work since November last year on the renovation of the organ at Budapest’s St. Stephen Basilica. This historic instrument, built almost 120 years ago, has undergone several rebuilds over the years, but previous changes were never fully integrated, according to kultura.hu.
The organ was originally constructed in 1905 by the renowned Hungarian organ builder József Angster, who trained in France under Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a pioneer of the romantic era French organ building. At the time of its construction, the original 65-register, three-manual organ was the largest in Hungary. Subsequently, Angster added a fourth manual, and in 1938, the Rieger organ factory undertook a complete rebuild of the instrument.
Mr. Süveges has noted that the organ displays signs of water damage, likely stemming from World War II when the window above it was likely shattered. Glass fragments are still being removed, and the wood shows traces of water damage. During this period, electricity was introduced to the instrument, replacing the original pneumatic mechanism.
“The pneumatic system had a significant flaw,” Süveges explains. “When an organist pressed a key, it would take a few tenths of a second for the sound to be produced, resulting in a noticeable delay. The conversion to an electrically controlled organ in the 1930s eliminated this delay.”
Although the instrument was repaired during the nearly 20-year restoration of the basilica that concluded in 2003, it has not undergone significant work since. The last major restoration was nearly 30 years ago.
Currently, the team is addressing various issues, including cleaning parts that have not been accessed for 125 years, replacing deteriorated leather components due to a tanning error, updating the entire internal electrical system, replacing outdated textile-insulated wires, restoring mechanical parts, conducting complete intonation and tuning of the pipes.
István Süveges and his team are working closely with András Gábor Virágh, the basilica’s chief organist, throughout the restoration process. Progress seems to be going well, with the restoration expected to be completed in another year.
For more information visit kultura.hu and view the featured images on Wikipedia.
Via kultura.hu; Featured Image: Wikipedia
