ORGAN
TOUR IN CENTRAL SPAIN
SEPTEMBER 2002
After
successfully getting up at 5 a.m. on the morning of
September 2nd and catching the 6.05 a.m. to London
Victoria hauling a suitcase containing a lot of Spanish
Organ Music (among other things) I became one of a group
of organ enthusiasts who met at Heathrow Airport for the
11.45 a.m. flight to Barcelona. Upon our arrival there we
discovered, after nearly an hour’s wait at
“Baggage Reclaim” that our luggage had not
arrived. Having given our baggage numbers to the Clerk at
the information desk we proceeded to join the coach which
was to be our mode of transport throughout the tour. We
met Nick Watson who lives in Spain, speaks fluent Spanish
and was to be our guide throughout the tour.
Our first stop-over was at Zaragoza
for three nights, during the first of which Nick spent
much time negotiating with Barcelona Airport, eventually
locating the luggage which arrived at 11.30p.m. the
following night. Nick was marvelous. Going “above
the call of duty” is to put it mildly! Unfortunately
two people’s luggage never did arrive and I have yet
to find out how they have fared.
3rd
September found us at the Old Aljafaria Moorish
Palace, a very interesting building, somewhat smaller
than the Alhambra at Granada. We visited, and played, the
organ of the Church of San Pabloin the old city. This was
my first real experience of playing a Spanish Organ, with
its 8 studs for pedals, divided keyboard, and short
octave, the notes downwards being, B A# A G# G F# F E
sounding B A# A E G D F C — a little confusing until
one realises that the bottom three notes overlap like the
front truck of a goods train which has been detached at
points, the points changed, and the truck shunted
backwards so that the rear half of it is level with the
front half of the next truck. I had no music and so I
improvised a Tiento in the style of Cabazon.
After a walk in the city and a look at the Basilica
del Pilar and the Cathedral, Nick took us to the
Monastery of Sto Sepulcro, which contains a
portable processional organ with just three stops, 4ft,
2ft, & 1ft. Claudio & Christine Rainolter, who
organized the tour from the Spanish end, had rescued this
instrument from the boiler room where it was to be broken
up and scrapped. It was, however, restored. I improvised
a Himmo (Hymn). The Rainolters (German) have been working
tirelessly to restore many organs in this region.
4th September took us to
Daroca. In the Colegiata de Santa Mariade los Sagrados
Corporales there is a 15th century organ case
containing only show-pipes. It was suggested that the
only way to restore this would be to build a replica,
using these pipes, and to make replica pipes to fit the
old case. It was Francis Chaplet’s visit to
Covarrubias and his recording of the organ there
(specially restored) that has boosted the interest in
Spanish organs, the State now paying for many
restorations. The next organ we were to play is that of Santo
Domingo (1734). On to Paniza. Here, in the church of Nuestra
Señora de Los Angeles there is a “new” old
organ; new, in that the only parts which are old are the
pipes, dating from 1595, all except the clarions which
are new, built in 2001. This instrument provided the
enthusiasm for research into the Tudor organ in England,
thus resulting in the two “Tudor” organs, one
in East Anglia and the other at Tudely here in Kent. Then
it was on to Almonacid de la Sierra. Here and at one
other lunch stop on the tour we all dined together
sampling the local Tapas. Up to seventeen dishes were
passed along the table, we helping ourselves to small
portions of each. Plenty of wine too! After sleeping off
the effects of the meal (and the wine) we visited our
next organ, in the church next door, that of Nuestra
Señora de la Asuncion (1740). On to Carinena, to the
church of Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion with an
organ dating from 1741.
5th
September saw our departure from Zaragoza, visiting
the Preceptorate (a monastery for the military) in which
Nick and a friend live, having recently purchased and
were renovating, intending to use it as a guest-house for
groups and/or individuals. Then we headed for El Burgo de
Osma, arriving just as the Cathedral was closing for
lunch break. Not to be out-done, we lunched on Chorizo
and Tortilla, Coca-Cola and Coffee, then, on to a Convent
where there is a French organ which the sisters had
purchased whilst in France. It is in very bad condition.
Claudio had effected what repairs he could, although it
stood up well to my performance of Widor’s Toccata,
although the action was so heavy my fingers were nearly
dropping off long before the end! Then it was on to Salamanca
where .…..
6th
September….. I was to have what I describe as a
great honour bestowed upon me. I was selected from the
twenty-one members to play the Epistle organ at the
Cathedral, dating from 15th century. The keys were so old
that my fingers bedded themselves into them, concave as
they are (the keys, that is). Colin was selected to play
the Gospel organ, a more modern and much larger
instrument dating from c1800. We were asked not to record
this so I’m afraid it is a case of “memory
only”. After some free time in the city we gathered
at the Convent de las Dueñas, a closed order, where
there is a reed-organ having divided keyboards, which are
divided by a central key cheek. Each keyboard consists of
about one octave of numbered “carillon” type
keys and there are six left and right pairs rising up
like a six-manual console with a row of six stop knobs at
the top. The keys, and the music, are marked with numbers
indicating a numerical tablature. We climbed to the
museum and into the roof-space over the chapel to see how
the moulded plaster roof is built inside the original.
Neither the organ nor the chapel is accessible and one is
left wondering whether the pipe organ is playable. We
think not, because there is what seemed to be a reed
organ covered over, standing next to it.
To be
continued…………
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