A new Merten organ for the Jesus-Christus-Kirche
Alfter-Witterschlick
Very important for planning and designing this organ was the
specification of a 2 keyboard organ with pedal, combined with the
wish that the new organ should not dominate the sanctuary. Usually
these 2 specifications disagree and we had to plan very carefully
to fulfill these two demands.
Technically this organ/instrument is a windchest for two keyboards.
This means, every register (except for Principal 8‘) can be
played with keyboard I or II. You predefine the manual by the
position of the register. The result is a variety of combinations,
although you do not see a difference in the console trackers (the
mechanical alliance between keys and valves). The challenge was to
realize his kind of organ in extremely confined space, but with
service-friendliness. Take a view in the inner organ and you will
see it.
Designing the prospect and giving the front a lean but complex
appearance was another challenge. We solved this problem with 6
asymmetrical towers with plunged down tops and rising foots.
Important for the sound of an organ is not only the design and the
mensur of a register, but as well the choice of material. To
improve the different sound characters, we chose different
components.
The principal tunes of the main organ were made of 70 % (inner
tunes) to 87 5 (prospect tunes) tin. The repetition flute 4‘
with 5% tin and 95 % lead. all the bodies of the metal flutes had
been thinned out with a drawing knife. This production method
(following a french tradition and used by experts as Aristide
Cavaille-Coll and Gottfried Silbermann) improves the resonance
characteristics. From a length of 2 2/3‘ the flutes had be
cutted by tone.
| I. Manual | II. Manual | Pedal |
|---|---|---|
| Prinzipal 8' | Subbass 16' | |
| Salicional 8' | *Salicional 8' | (Gedackt 8') |
| Gedackt 8' | *Gedackt 8' | |
| Octave 4' | *Octave 4' | |
| Rohrflöte 4' | *Rohrflöte 4' | |
| Doublette 2' | *Doublette 2' | |
| Terz 1 3/5' | *Terz 1 3/5' | |
| Larigot 1 1/3 | *Larigot 1 1/3' | |
| Tremulant |
Tonumfang: Manual C - g''' · Pedal C - f''
Koppeln: II - I · I - Pedal · II - Pedal · Sup. Pedal
Those trackers with a * will be lent from the I.manual and therefore built as changing slides. to conserce an autonomy in the pedals the soubass was built with a super-octave coupler. If you treat this, the organ will sound one octave higher than gedackt 8'. Those trackers with a * will be lent from the Hauptwerk.
Coupler: I- Pedal · II- Pedal · Sup.Ped. · II- I · Sub.II-I