Romantic Swedish organs

[Stentor]

I work as an organist and organ consultant in Sweden. Recently I was responsible for a restoration of a wonderful organ in the city of Jönköping on which I probably will record a CD this year.

The organ was built in 1912 by Åkerman & Lund in Stockholm. It is a tracker organ an has the following specification:

Manual I:

Principal 16´
Borduna 16´
Principal 8´
Dubbelflöjt 8´
Gamba 8´
Octava 4´
Kvinta 2 2/3´
Octava 2´
Cornett 4ch
Trumpet 16´
Trumpet 8´

Manual II:

Gedakt 16´
Principal 8´
Flûte harmonique 8´
Dolce 8´
Gemshorn 4´
Flûte octaviante 4´
Rauschquinte 2ch
Corno 8´
Clarinette 8´ (free reed)

Manual III:

Fugara 16´
Basetthorn 8´
Rörflöjt 8´
Violin 8´
Salicional 8´
Voix celeste 8´
Gamba 4´
Ekoflöjt 4´
Piccolo 2´
Eufon 8´ (free reed)

Pedal:

Kontrabaseffekt 32´
Principal 16´
Violon 16´
Subbas 16´
Ekobas 16´
Kvinta 10 2/3´
Violoncell 8´
Borduna 8´
Octava 4´
Kontrabasun 32´
Basun 16´
Trumpet 8´

 

[Frederik Magle]

Welcome Stentor!

From the look of the stop list it seems like a very interesting organ! A tracker organ of that rather large size from 1912 is also uncommon, or not? At what point did Åkerman & Lund start building pneumatic or electro-pneumatic instruments? (like I believe basically every organ-builder did at some point, at least after the World War I and through the 1920s) Obviously lather than 1912 - or is the Jönköping organ a rariry in that regard?

Please let us know when the CD is released.
This is an organ I'd like to hear one day.

(btw, feel free to "formally" introduce yourself in the "Introduce Yourself Forum" if you like

)

 

[Stentor]

The rooseveltchest was introduced in Sweden by Åkerman & Lund in 1890 and was used by almost all organ builders throughout the romantic period. The tracker action was common together with a barker level but tubular pneumatic action was used after world war one. Many builders continued to build tracker action in the 30ies though. The big organ in Linköping cathedral, Setterquist & son 1929, has tracker action. This is not very common outside Sweden, I think.

 

[Frederik Magle]

That's interesting to know. It seems the organ development in the romantic and late romantic was somewhat different in Sweden from Denmark, especially in regard to the use of tracker action. Only through the "orgelbewegung" was the tracker action (re)introduced in Denmark, and most aspiring instruments of the new style was build with electro-pneumatic action during most of the 1930s. I think even most tiny organs (10 voices and less) were pneumatic up until the late 30s/beginning 1940s.

Ah, organ history. A fascinating subject

(though I'm not an expert or historian by any means)

 

[Soubasse]

That's looks rather nice and I'd be interested in hearing it. I was in Uppsala some years back and Andrew Canning let me loose on the cathedral organ. Beautiful instrument which felt (and largely sounded) like a C-C. It was therefore not that big a surprise when Mr. Canning told me that Akerman was once a voicer with C-C. Someone may like to verify but that's what I heard. Wonderful memories of that city - and the folk there.

MPA