A new Merten organ for the Gnadenkirche
Wachtberg – Pech near Bonn
The first step was to design an organ which is suitable to the
small and closely church. 4 different concepts, 3 of them with only
few modifications, were shown to the presbytery. One concept was
remarkable because of its strict sand symmetric lines. At the first
sight, you got the impression that the roof slopes did not have a
relation to the body, although the cupola had been designed in the
same angle. The towers, mirrored and placed in different altitude,
give the impression of a "breakup" of the lines, and the eye of the
viewer turns from one side to the other. So the whole body seems to
be slight and slender although it is similar
to the other designs.
The attentive observer will remark the relation to our organ in
Alfter-Wittschlick. This analogy is accidental, because the
presbytery has chosen this design. The organ in Pech only has a
mechanic action for the playing and the register action. The
playing action has been built as hanging action with single-armed
keys. This means that the keys at the manual keyboard are hanged at
the valves of the windchest.
By this you achieve a direct relation between valves and key and
this produces an accurate, sensible art to play the organ. By
fixing the tracker with the console and the bar bottom and applying
a clamping advice fort he angle beams the tracker will regulate
itself, if there are changes in distance.
To take the playing organists out off the routes of the christians
coming to church, we built an organ which is played from the side
(as many organs in the 19th century have been built). These organs
have their stop knobs above the music board. We designed the
register control in the same style, but with the exception that
each stop knob has 3 positions. The position in the middle = off,
the attracted position is for the 1st manual and the pressed
position for the 2nd manual.
| I. Manual | II. Manual | Pedal |
|---|---|---|
| Prinzipal 8' | Subbass 16' | |
| Salicional 8' | *Salicional 8' | (Gedackt 8') |
| Vox coelestis 8' | *Vox coelestis 8' | |
| Bordun 8' | *Bordun 8' | |
| Octave 4' | *Octave 4' | |
| Rohrflöte 4' | *Rohrflöte 4' | |
| Quinte 2 2/3' | *Quinte 2 2/3' | |
| Doublette 2' | *Doublette 2' | |
| Terz 1 3/5' | *Terz 1 3/5' | |
| Mixtur 3-4 f. | *Mixtur 3-4 f. | |
| Oboe 8' | *Oboe 8' | |
| Tremulant |
Tonumfang: Manual C – g''' Pedal C – f''
Koppeln: II – I , Sub. II - I I – Ped. , II – Ped. , Sup. Ped.
Die Register mit einem * wurden aus dem I. Manual entliehen und als Wechselschleife gebaut.
Der Tremulant wirkt auf beide Manuale.
Außer dem Prinzipal 8' stehen sämtliche übrigen Register in einem Schwellkasten was die Verwendbarkeit der gesamten Orgel weiter erhöht.
The organ has been inaugurated in May, 2006.