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Organ of the Cathedral of Solsona

 

The cathedral of Santa Maria de Solsona has a magnificent organ, which, despite retaining much of its original elements, is far from performing properly, due to the lack of in-depth intervention.

Only the patrimonial importance of this instrument  already justifies an intervention, this is the last great historical organ in Catalonia that has to be restored but the growing interest in the organ by society, cultural activity with festivals as the AIMS have again put on the table the need to restore the cathedral organ.

Both the Bishopric headed by Bishop Xavier Novell, the Cathedral Chapter headed by his dean Mn. Lluis Grifell, as various organizations and people in the town of Solsona, promoted the Solsona Cathedral Organ Commission, an entity that has requested several restoration projects, and is chosen by the organ master Albert Blancafort to carry out this recovery.

The organ of the Cathedral of Solsona is an exceptional instrument for many reasons:

Because it is the last great Catalan school organ to be built and the only one left to restore.

Because it is one of the only Catalan historical organs with romantic and baroque sounds in the same instrument, which gives access to a wide range of organ works.

The organ of the Cathedral of Solsona has 41 records and 3174 tubes distributed in three manual keyboards and a pedal.

It is the work of the prestigious organist Gaietà Vilardebó, who built it in 1853, in the same space and taking advantage of previous organ elements built by the Boscà organists, and especially the Bordons family, master organists originally from Solsona.

A later extension at the hands of Juan Florenzano emphasized the romantic character.

The restoration of this organ is based on maintaining the instrument with the disposition that it has arrived to our days, doing a disassembly, revision and, where appropriate, restitution of all the pieces using materials and techniques of the construction time.