The Chilean Pipe Organ Site
(preliminary english version)

organ listing by preferred use

Catedral de La Serena

 

Organ of the Cathedral of La Serena church

Louis Debierre organ (1842-1920), Nantes (ca. 1908). Two keyboards. Mechanical action.

(Note from the author of this article: Mr. Luis Glonzález Catalán)
"Unfortunately I don't remember when we made the recovery work on that organ, which had place before Mgr. Piñera handed over the diocese to his successor Francis Joseph Cox Hunneus, who unfortunately rejected the repair project of the Carlini organ of the sanctuary of Our Lady of the Rosario of Andacollo.

The last time I touched the organ of the Cathedral was on August 10, 1996, day of the episcopal ordination of the current archbishop Manuel Donoso.

I read on the internet that this instrument was tuned recently with a baroque temperament (!) for a Argentine organ builder.


Some history.

In relation to the organ of the Cathedral Church of La Serena, Don Miguel Castillo Didier affirms the following:

"Before referring to the (organs of Aristíde) Cavaillé-Coll, we will remember the largest organ in the northern Chile and one of the most beautiful, built at beginning of the (20th) century by the organ builder Debierre, Nantes.

The destiny of this instrument has been singular.

Commissioned to Debierre for the cathedral of Ancud, on the island of Chiloé at the southern end of the country, in 1908, for reasons unknown to us, it was installed in the Cathedral of La Serena, 1,500 kilometers north of its original destination.

It was the most beautiful instrument in the northern area, with its 21 registers, and pride in the city and its Cathedral.
In 1928 Oreste Carlini placed a electric fan.

Pipe conservation It was extraordinarily good and is still remembered its beautiful sound.

This wonderful organ was victim of the most incredible act of barbarism, among the many that have been committed in the country against the organs.

In 1953 (as bishop D. Alfredo Cifuentes), with reason for the restoration of the cathedral of La Serena, The architects discovered that their walls were made of ashlar stone and decided to expose the two first columns, on which the organ loft.

This was made of wood and was added to a small semicircular stone choir.

The organ was brutally massacred for the sake of intended restoration and without the authorities ecclesiastics will raise their voices.

The beauty was torn off console destroying its mechanics because, by reducing the surface of the tribune, it would have been floating in the air.

The great bellows were torn off reservoir and the two smaller bellows that fed that. Today they lie abandoned on the scales of the tower.

The console was lowered into the sacristy, where remains to this day, showing the splinters of the were its mechanical transmissions, beautiful and patient work of craftsmanship.

Other elements of the organ, such as the sides of the expression box and the doors of access, they also lie scattered in the hallways of tower.



The beautiful flat façade of the instrument, quite well preserved, it could hide the crime, if it weren't for the fact that a large loudspeaker corresponding to the "organ" electronic installed below.

Here is what was the composition (registers) of the instrument: N.R.(The composition of its regitrers is omitted because it is what appears in the technical sheet). Don Miguel Castillo follows:

It is worth highlighting the battery of 16, 8 and 4 (feet) on the Récit (second keyboard), which could transmitted to the Bottom Bracket through the Tirasse (coupling) respective.

Of his 21 games (registers), 5 belong to the pedal keyboard, which which constitutes an important proportion in relation to the generosity of the pedal keyboards that exist in the country.

Furthermore, among those games there is one of four feet, which is also rare.

In the same Cathedral of La Serena, next to it left of the altar, lie the remains of an organ Carlini from a manual, also destroyed with similar barbarism (N.R. Taken to Huamalata?)."

Organic Panorama in Chile - Organs Section French in Chile - published by the Magazine Chilean Musical, Number 131, year 1975, pp. 21 and 22).


In the Guide to the Church in Chile 2006-2007, find this interesting quote:

"The archdiocese of Our Lady of the Rosary of Andacollo de La Serena was erected as a bishopric by the bull 'Ad Apostolicae fastigium', by Pope Gregory XVI.

By the Bull 'Quo Provinciarum', of May 20, In 1939, Pope Oius XII elevated her to the rank of Archdiocese.

In 1946 Copiapó was dismembered as apostolic administration, today a bishopric, and in 1960 he was created the prelature of Illapel, ceding the archdiocese what was the department of Illapel de the (former) province of Coquimbo.

It has had 7 bishops and 4 Archbishops; their shepherds have been: (several names follow). Mr. Ramón Ángel Jara Ruz* (1909-1917). Mr. Bernardino Piñera Carvallo (1983-1990). etc."

(Guide to the Church in Chile 2006-2007, page 70).


*Don Ramón Ángel Jara was bishop of Ancud since 1898 until 1909 (Guide cited, page 304). A chronicle confirmed indicates that originally the organ Dèbierre was commissioned for the cathedral of Ancud, but upon being notified of his appointment as bishop of La Serena, Don Ramón Ángel Jara would have taken the instrument with him.

Another scope that needs to be done: The instrument has 16 true pipe rows, and not 21, as my Dear friend and colleague Miguel Castillo Didier.

To the write his article Don Miguel, he only had his reach the information that appeared on the console, and could not verify that in fact the registers that listed as belonging to the pedal keyboard were actually transmission of registers corresponding to the first keyboard.

The Dèbierre organ has 6 real registers and 392 pipes on the first keyboard called the Great Organ. He second keyboard, called expressive because its pipes enclosed in a box with blinds that the organist manipulates at will by means of a lever on the console, it has 9 registers, which account for a total of 14 rows of pipes, and a theoretical total of 736 pipes.

The calculation of the pipes is done by multiplying the number of rows of pipes times the number of notes in keyboard. The result of this operation gives 392 pipes for the first keyboard (seven rows of pipes for 56 notes). In the case of the second keyboard you must deduce an octave (12 pipes) in the register called Voix Céleste, and we must deduce from the mixture the pipes that do not exist, from the factory, in the first two octaves. According to my red notebook, the mixture is progressive, from 3 to 5 rows. If so, the mixture It does not have 56 x 5 pipes (280 pipes) but only 244 pipes since in the first octave 24 pipes are deduced of the five rows, and in the second octave they deduce only 12 pipes (560 minus 36 equals 244). In Consequently, the total number of pipes in that organ is 392+736= 1,128 pipes. The pedalboard has no registers own.

From now on I tell you that I have made these calculations based on the notes in my red notebook, which was revised by John Moir, organ builder American who lived in Chile between 1971 and 1978.


An effective count would allow us to verify what following:

  • If the Voix Céleste is indeed two-row of pipes, and
  • If the mixture is effectively progressive from three rows.


I hope that these data, which are part of my doctoral dissertation called "Pipe Organs in Chile: An Historical Overview and a Catalog", which I hope finishing soon at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, are useful for your work.

I wish to give credit to Don Miguel Castillo Didier for his pioneering work.

Luis González Catalán PhD.




   Site Map
   Back
Builder ....   Louis Debierre, Francia
Built ....   1908?
City ....   La Serena
Class ....   Cathedral Organs
Location ....   Catedral de La Serena
Photograph ....   Eduardo P. Pérez E., Hinrich Huber (2003)
Restauration ....   Dr Luis González y sus hermanos, 1985-1986
Information ....   Miguel Castillo Didier -- Dr Luis Gonzalez Catalán
(I) Grand Orgue (56 Keys)
1 -  Violone 16'   
2 -  Bourdon 16'   
3 -  Montre 8'   
4 -  Flûte Harmonique 8'   
5 -  Flûte Harmonique 8'   
6 -  Prestant 4'   
7 -  Doublette 2'   
(II) Recit Expressif (56 Keys)
1 -  Violoncelle 8'   
2 -  Voix Celeste II 8'   
3 -  Flûte Traversiére 8'   
4 -  Cor de Nuit 8'   
5 -  Octavin (segun M.Castillo 2'   
6 -  Cor de Nuit 8'   
7 -  Plein Jeu III-V   
8 -  Bombarde 16'   
9 -  Trompette 8'   
10 -  Clairon 4'   
(P) Pedalale (27 Keys)
1 -  Violone 16' (del G.O.)   
2 -  Bourdon 16' (del G.O.)   
3 -  Basse 8' (Montre G.O.)   
4 -  Dolce 8' (Bourdon G.O.)   
5 -  Flûte 4' (Prestant 4´ G.O.)   
Couplers:
          I Super - I
          I - II
          I - P
          II - P