Jodi Bosch organ in the Cathedral of Seville

The **former epistle organ of the Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See in Seville** was built by the esteemed Spanish organbuilder Jordi Bosch y Bernat in 1779. A larger Gospel organ was later built by Valentin Verdalonga in 1831. The instrument was the second largest instrument in the Iberian peninsula and was renowned for being both very innovative and very versatile, unlike any other in the region. The organ had 3 or 4 *[see the Historical discrepancies section]* manuals of 56 notes and a pedalboard of 12 notes and 106 stops which were spread across 6 divisions, all of which (except the pedal) were divided between bass (bottom C - middle C) and treble (middle C#- top G). The organ was unfortunately destroyed in an earthquake on 1 August 1888.

## History

In the year 1779, the organ builder Jordi Bosch was summoned to Seville in order to survey the organs. The former epistle organ from the 16th century *[citation needed]* was to be restored by Bosch, but was scrapped in favour of Bosch's proposal - the largest instrument in the entirety of the Iberian peninsula. Julian De Orden, another organ builder who was deeply impressed by Bosch's work in Madrid, was originally considered for the project. After Bosch stared construction of his instrument, Orden went on to build the sizeable organ at Malaga, where Bosch was considered for the project. Orden's instrument in Malaga remains the closet organ to Seville in size and magnitude.

The organ remained the main instrument of the Cathedral until it's destruction. The Verdalonga organ, built much later in 1831, did not take over this role, as it is known the organ was not in the best shape due to disuse at the time of the earthquake. After this event, what remained of the Bosch organ was most likely sold for scrap, and the remains of the Verdalonga , who survived relatively unscathed, was reused in the organ of the Sacrament chapel. This work was done by Juan De Bono, Bosch's brother-in-law.

## Description

 It is well known that the organ was very large, 106 stops in fact. The size and innovations of this organ is what brought people flocking to it. However, it is known that the cathedral staff were very protective of the instrument, not allowing people to photograph the organ up close. As a result, photographs of the organ are rare and it often appears in the background of photos of the cathedral. This is still enough to judge how the organ looked.

The case of the Bosch organ was very similar to the current cases that have stood over the choir since 1903, but not identical. The main difference lies in the placement of the horizontal reeds. Unlike the main case, they were elevated higher up, to be right below the principals of the façade, and they followed the contours of the towers and flats of said façade. As a result, one can see 3 distinct "fans" of reeds, named for their shape, shooting out from the 3 towers of the façade, in addition to larger pipes suspended horizontally in the flanks, another difference. On the current cases, the flanks consist of 4 pipes on a flat that curves into the flanks of the case, that are recessed a small amount. In the photo, one can see the case flanks are still recessed, but the pipes, 3 instead of 4, are recessed with them and do not curve out to meet the main case. In addition, the mouths of the flue pipes were gilded.

While no recordings of the organ exist, obviously, the organ most likely had a similar sound to the organ in the royal palace of Madrid. The organ was made directly after the completion of that instrument, and the organ has many of the same stops as the organ in Madrid. The main difference would be the volume; the cathedral of Seville is a massive space, the largest gothic church in fact, so the organ was probably much more powerful. The reeds on the *Echo* of Seville were probably as powerful as those on the *Organo Major* at Madrid.

Looking at the disposition below, it is very clear that the main power of the organ comes from the *Organ Major,* as it is the only division, minus the positive on the back side, that has a open *Flautado* chorus. Both the *Echo* and the *Caderta coro* are based on the quieter, stopped violon choruses. As with madrid, these could have been voiced in the german style, giving the organ a sound unlike the other organs of the reigon, with thier thin stringy principals, raspy reeds, and massive cornets.

A feature of the organ was its sheer amount of sound possibilities. In addition to the normal Iberian stops, the organ has both a cornet and a quint based on the 16' pitch. In the reed department, many sounds were available at the same pitches, with 2 or 3 different types of Clarins at 8' pitch, in the bass and treble respectively. In addition to the typical Trompeta real, the organ had 16' and 32' trumpets mounted vertically inside the case, the latter of whom being only available in the treble, and both of wood. Also present is 4 stops of regal-like short resonator soloist reeds, although 2 are only available in the treble. The pedal is very expanded compared to other iberian organs. In addition to the stopped wood contras pipes at 16 and 8, a 4' octave of open metal plays with them. The real power of the pedal comes from cornet of reed pipes, based on the independent Trompeta real. The 16' Trompeta bastarda was most likely analogous to the half length, wide scale bajoncillo on the Mexico city cathedral organ.

## Technical details

The most commonly known technical detail of the organ is the wind chests, specifically the one of the *Organo Major.* This chest had 3 pallets per note, "to allow the pipes to speak boldly". Bosch had used twin pallets before, first in the bass half of the santanyi organ, and then upgraded to using them on the full compass of the *Organo Major* on his his organs at Granada and Madrid, but never 3 before. It is not known if any of the other divisions had more then one pallet per note, but it is very possible the *Echo* division did, especially since it had 2 sub-divisions, one of whom was in a swell box. Bosch's letter says this box had 4 doors and was controlled by a expression slider with the right foot. This design was also used at Madrid, albeit on a smaller scale. In both cases, the swell boxes are much more analogues to the modern swell box with multiple louvers mounted on a side of the swell box, as opposed to the old style of Iberian swell box, in witch the ranks are literally in a wooden box who's lid is closed on top of the pipes by a pully system to mute them.

The key action of the organ is suspended tracker. The great wind chest is obviously at the level of the façade, with distribution blocks and tube-offs to feed the pipes in the façade and the horizontal reed battery. The echo wind chest is located 4.5 varas (12 feet) above, near the top of the case The action for this manual most likely is similar to the organ in Madrid that has the same layout- the trackers travel laterally to the back of the great chest, at a slight angle to gain some elevation. When they pass the great chest, they ascend vertically to the echo high above. The *Caderta lado coro,* or the positive on the rail facing in towards the choir stalls, most likely has a simple action going under the console to the chest. Its twin, the *Caderta lado Antiqua*, is on the complete other side of the case, so its very possible that this division used a form of early pneumatic action used successfully on the gospel organ of Mexico cathedral to eliminate long tracker runs. The pedal division was most mounted between the great and echo elevation wise. Its trackers probably followed a similar path to those of the echo, and could have had a coupler (possibly perminate) to the organo major.. The whole of the tracker action most likely had spring-based noise cancelation, like Madrid.

For the most part, the stop action was probably a simple system of levers connecting knob to slider for the *organo major* and the *Cadertas.* For the *pedals* and *echo,* located high up, most likely had Bosch's anti play stop system. This used 2 levers for each stop, moving it opposite directions, joined at the knob and slider. since one lever is always being pushed against gravity, there is no false play from it effecting the long vertical stop levers.

The organ had a exceptional wind system. In his letter, Bosch states, "[the organ has] seven bellows of extraordinary magnitude, with a new machine to give air with both quality and duration". We know the pumps were powered by a man walking back and forth on a balanced board that moves back and forth, pumping the pumps. This structure was installed under the organ case. Organ builder Gerard Grenzing suggests that these those 7 bellows may have had parallel folds, explaining their incredible wind holding ability. The wind system was so strong, it supposedly could play for 15 minutes on one full pumping! This is probably due to a mixture of the high-capacity wind system and the low pressures Spanish organs traditionally use.

## Historical discrepancies

It is unknown whether or not the organ had 3 or 4 manuals. Bosch does not specify in his letter what manuals the two *Cadertas* play from. The debate over 3 or 4 manuals is mostly over whether or not the cadertas would be split into two manuals or together on one. An alternate theory to both of these is that the  *Antiqua* would play from the same manual as the great, as Bosch did specify that the horizontal reeds on the back façade played from here.

Interestingly, the pedal division stops are grouped to be a combination stop, as in the 16 8 and 4' contras are grouped under one stop in the disposition. The same applies for the 3 middle pitches of the reed cornet. It is unknown whether or not this was just a way of compounding the disposition and are different stops or are truly combination stops. At madrid, the contras (16 and 8) are separate stops, and in addition, Gerard Grenzing says that the pedal reed cornet has "each component has its own slider and draw stop". This makes sense as in the compound stop, the 4' pitch is not available alone, something that could be useful to use with just the 16 and 8' reeds. While evidence suggests these compound stops are just ways of making the stop list shorter and are actually separate stops, but the truth is lost to time.

Two stop lists exist for this organ. One is from Bosch himself in his letter, another featured in in the British text “The Organ: Its History and Construction - A Comprehensive Treatise on the Structure and Capabilities of the Organ” from the late 1800s, that is very different. Attached below is the Bosch stop list, as it comes from the builder himself. A possible expiation for the differences is that the organ had been altered sometime before the British authors surveyed the organ in the 1850s, or it was partially or completely confused with its twin organ.

## Disposition

*NOTE: all stops of the organ are divided treble and bass with 2 stop knobs to cover the full compass, unless it is listed as bass or treble only under the stop's notes.*

***ORGANO MAJOR***

***ECHO** +in swell box*

***Caderta Coro***

***Caderta Antiqua***

***Pedal***

 Trompeta bastarda
 Trompeta real
 Trompetas
 Trompeta 17

\*see historical discrepancies section