Recently Published: ‘Towards the Rebuilding of an Italian Renaissance-Style Wooden Organ’ by Walter Chinaglia

The organ builder Walter Chinaglia has recently published first results of his reconstruction of an early organ. This volume describes his ongoing project to (re)construct an Italian Renaissance organo di legno (organ with wooden pipes), modelled after an instrument at the Hofkirche in Innsbruck. The author creatively combines the use of historical tools and materials, simple geometry and practical rules to reinterpret the original artifact and recover the modus operandi of the anonymous Renaissance builder. Chinaglia’s unique approach to pipe construction, based simultaneously on acoustics and historical research, liberates the wooden pipe from conventional voicing practices, resulting in a historical timbre that sounds surprisingly fresh to modern ears. Numerous images of the construction invite the reader to discover the construction of a historically informed organ and illustrate the traditional woodworking techniques used for components: windchest, keyboard, pipes and the mechanism.

The publication is written in English and available in print and online. Click here for more information.