History
The first organ at Christ Church was installed shortly after the completion of the original part of the building in 1907. This was a small two manual instrument with a hand cranked bellows. An electric blower was installed in 1913, with the bellows retained in case of power outages. According to records this instrument was substantially refurbished in 1941.
The contract for construction of a new organ for Christ Church was awarded to South African Organ Builders Limited in 1961, as part of the larger project to complete the church building which was then underway. The completed instrument is still in use at Christ Church today, and has undergone two major restorations, one in the late 1980s, and another in 2010.
From records it is evident that some pipes from an older instrument were integrated in the current organ, but it is not known if they were taken from the original organ, or another instrument elsewhere.
The organ is comprised of three divisions, and is housed entirely on the organ loft above the East transept. It is playable from a two manual electric console located next to the West quire.
Specifications
| Great | |
|---|---|
| Open Diapason | 8' |
| Rohr Flute | 8' |
| Gemshorn | 8' |
| Dulciana | 8' |
| Octave | 4' |
| Fifteenth | 2' |
| Mixture | IV |
| Trumpet | 8' |
| Couplers | |
| Swell sub-octave to Great | |
| Swell to Great | |
| Swell octave to Great | |
| Great octave | |
| Swell | |
| Gedackt | 8' |
| Gamba | 8' |
| Celeste | 8' |
| Principal | 4' |
| Flute | 4' |
| Nazard | 2 2/3' |
| Saube Flute | 2' |
| Terz | 1 3/5' |
| Sesqualtera | II |
| Oboe | 8' |
| Couplers | |
| Swell sub-octave | |
| Swell octave | |
| Tremulant | |
| Pedal | |
| Wood Bass | 32' (Resultant) |
| Bourdon | 16' |
| Diapason | 8' |
| Bass flute | 8' |
| Flute | 4' |
| Trumpet | 16' |
| Couplers | |
| Great to Pedal | |
| Swell to Pedal | |
| Swell octave to Pedal | |
Audio Samples
Baroque chorale prelude
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O Mensch, Bewein' dein' Sünde Gross, BWV 622
Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 - 1750)
Nicol Viljoen
Live performance on Good Friday 2011.
MPEG Audio Layer 3, encoded at 320kbps
Modern French organ repertoire
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Excerpt from Apparition de l'église éternelle
Olivier Messiaen (1908 - 1992)
Nicol Viljoen
Live performance during the choir procession on Easter Day 2011.
MPEG Audio Layer 3, encoded at 192kbps