Organ Works

Ringgenweiler, St. Stephanus

Restaurierung der Franz-Xaver Späth Orgel (1907) | II/10 | 2017

Ringenweiler forms part of the Horgenzell district and lies 13 km west of Ravensburg (Oberschwaben). There, in 1907, the second generation of our organ building firm, Franz-Xaver and his brother Albert Späth, built an organ. The free-standing console looks out into the church and is connected to the organ by pneumatic action. Manual 1 stands behind the case front. Directly behind, and with no intervening passage board, is Manual II. The Pedal stands against the rear wall of the church. Both divisions have pipes arranged diatonically with basses in the centre, making all the stops accessible through side doors for tuning. The Ringweiler instrument was built with pocket chests (vertical pockets). All surviving Späth organs from around 1907 used this system with typical Späth double relays.

In late 1903 our firm advertised an interesting innovation in a specialist journal: a pneumatically operated ‘Transposer’, operated by a lever or wheel at the console, which moved the pitch up or down by several semitones. This device was incorporated in the original Ringweiler instrument and reconstructed in 2017 following alterations in the 1960s.

Other changes in the 1960s were reversed, thereby returning the instrument almost entirely to its original state:

- Reconstruction of the front pipes requisitioned in the First World War and replaced in zinc

- Return of the Mixture from 1 1/3 to 2 2/3 basis

- Reconstruction of Fugara 4

- Return of Salicional 8 and Gedeckt 8 to their original sliders

- Reinstatement of the transposer

 

The church decided to forego the return of the Gambe 8 (in place of Prinzipal2) on grounds of cost.

Disposition

I. Manual C-f3

  1. Prinzipal 8’
  2. Gedeckt 8’
  3. Oktav 4’
  4. Prinzipal 2’
  5. Mixtur 3f. 2 2/3’

II. Manual C-f3

  1. Salicional 8'
  2. Flöte 4'
  3. Fugara 4'

Pedal C-d1

  1. Subbass 16'
  2. Oktavbass 16'

Koppeln: II/I, II/I Sub, II/P, I/P
Spielhilfen: Auslöser, Piano, Mezzoforte, Tutti, Transponiervorrichtung (-4HT/+2HT)