Dispozicija orgel >>

The idea of installing an organ in the Great Hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic is old and goes for many decades back into the past. During the last decade, it was especially Dr. Mirko Cuderman, the conductor of the Slovenian Chamber Choir, who made many an effort to bring about the realization of this project. Fortunately, when planning the tercentenary celebrations of its noble predecessor, the Academia Philharmonicorum Labacensium, the management of the Slovenian Philharmonic took up the challenge and brought this demanding undertaking to a happy ending.

The contract concerning the new organ was made with the Diocesan Organ Workshop in Maribor, in December 1999. The initial technical groundwork regarding the planning and purchase of the new instrument was carried out by Dr. Edo Škulj, who lectures on organ building at the Academy of Music in Ljubljana. Organists Maks Strmčnik, Tone Potočnik, Dalibor Miklavčič contributed additional opinions, and so did the organ tuner Tomaž Močnik. The outer design of the organ case was a joint task of architects Jurij Princes and Štefan Kacin of the Biro 71, Ltd Ljubljana, and of Brane Košir from the Diocesan Organ Workshop in Maribor.

The making of the organ has been fully adapted to the spatial possibilities of the former stage, rather limited as regards its depth, whereas its ground plan is neither symmetrical nor rectangular. Behind the organ, a corridor, not visible from the hall, has been preserved. All this caused considerable trouble in the draft and planning stages of the new instrument. Because of the lack of space between the sections of pipes, it has been often mentioned jokingly that this organ is intended for slim organists only, though, for the same reason, room has been made use of on both sides of the organ. Two huge bellows, together with an electrical ventilator, are placed in a special compartment above the passage on the right-hand side of the organ. Those are the “lungs” of the organ, supplying necessary air for 2614 different pipes that compose 40 registers. The biggest pipes are nearly 6 metres long, the shortest only a few millimetres. The volume of the longest pipe is over 450 litres. The registers, i.e. groups of pipes of the same kind and timbre, form four different sections of pipes that are connected with three manuals and the pedal on the organ desk. Thirty-nine registers were agreed upon and ordered, whereas the fortieth is a jubilee present of the Diocesan Organ Workshop to the Slovenian Philharmonic. The organ desk or rather the console is attached to the base in the middle of the organ case. Because of lack of space the idea of an additional, movable console had to be abandoned.

The front pipe arrangement shows the set-up of registers in the case. Exactly above the console, there are the registers of the IIIrd manual, the so-called continuo, which is both appropriate and necessary for the performance of vocal and instrumental baroque compositions. Behind them, on the same level, are the registers of the Ist , main manual. The 14 registers of the IInd manual are a floor above the main section of pipes, “confined” within the double walls of a massively made case. On the front side of the latter, special shutters enable the organist to change the volume of sound while playing. The pedal registers are divided into two parts (C and C-sharp side), placed on both sides of the organ case. As regards its specification (choice of registers) the new organ in the Great Hall of the Slovenian Philharmonic is a universal instrument, which means that it enables the performance of works of various music styles, from the Baroque era to the present.

The connections between the keys and the pipes are mechanical; therefore, we are actually dealing with a mechanical action organ. Only this kind of action, which is nowadays standardized, enables the organist to have influence on the tones that are being produced in the pipes. However, the register action is electric, with a wide electronic memory regarding combinations, which is of great practical importance, especially at concert performances.
With the new concert organ in the Great Philharmonic Hall, Ljubljana is approaching a rounded-off image of a true city of organs, which are a symbol as well as an essential hallmark of European civilization and culture. The organ was also a symbol of the Academia Philharmonicorum Labacensis. As one can learn from the Rules of the Academy, it was not the aim of its members “to divert themselves at times through harmonious playing, but in doing so to bring to their pious memory all that is celestial and is to last eternally: thus, as an academic symbol, the organ of the Virgin Cecilia has been chosen, whose pipes have been sending down to earth only pleasant harmonies, while raising everyone to heaven, under the motto: “REPOSES AND DEMONSTRATES IMMORTALITY TO THE SPIRIT”.

Brane Košir
Diocesan Organ Workshop Maribor
Master Organ Builder 

translated by Andrej Rijavec