[ jump the menù ]

New Organ

Ahrend's Renaissance organ in San Salvador: the account of a donation


Jean Jaquenod		  

When a gift is the matter, a gift intended for everybody's sake, it is only right to describe with the utmost clearness the gesture both of the giver and of the receiver. We are talking about the new organ that master Jean Jaquenod wants to donate to San Salvador's Church, in order to have a place in Venice where Renaissance organ music can be played and listened to.

The meeting

The first meeting of master Jean Jaquenod with San Salvador's parish priest took place on January 28th 2004. From that moment a correspondance began, leading them to know each other and share the end and meaning of the project. At the same time, with the experts' help, the contracting parties definied the terms of legal agreement under the form of preliminary draft.

A wide and wider approval

From the beginning the Venice Patriarch H. E. Cardinal Angelo Scola has been kept informed about the matter. Once the agreement with the donor had been defined the parish priest presented a formal request to the Diocese Council for economic affairs and, in January 2005, organized master Jaquenod's visit to the Vicar-general Mon. Beniamino Pizziol and to the Vicar-moderator Curiae Mon. Antonio Meneguolo, receiving their explicit appreciation for the pastoral and cultural meaning of the project. After the news were published on the parish website, the Guestbook page has registered an increasing number of praising and encouraging messages, particularly from experts music lovers. Among the supporting contributions a letter sent by Gustav Leonhardt stands out.

The project

 
Jean Jaquenod and Don Natalino

The necessary relationship with the Venice Monuments and Fine Arts Service gradually develops along with the defining of the different aspects of the project, considering evaluations and proposals:

  • the report on the first survey to estimate the conditions of the material of the 18 th -19 th century organ dates back to the beginning of February 2004
  • some months later the historical report on what happened to the organ in the last two centuries is ready
  • the request and the authorization to dismantle the ancient organ for safety reasons is granted as early as August 2004 and confirmed a few months later
  • the first interview with the Monuments and Fine Arts Service officers takes place in February 2005, attested by a letter, where a preliminary positive opinion is requested
  • between April and May the Committee for the preservation of artistic and historical organs surveys the choir and the sound devices of the old organ, the Fine Arts Service receives its opinion and the specifications about its advisory character
  • in July 2005 a report on the survey carried out by J. Ahrend together with F. Zanin and M. is drawn up
  • between the end of July and the beginning of August 2005 the letters presenting the project are delivered: it includes both fitting the Ahrend organ in the 16 th century case and replacing the 18 th -19 th century organ in the inner side of the façade.
  • at the beginning of February another meeting with the Fine Arts Service officers is requested.
  • between September and October both an extimate for the restoration of the 16th century organ case and the request of a similar extimate for the stone choir are presented.
  • From April 2005 to the present the news of master Jaquenod's donation have been spreading on the media.

Awaiting

From the September meeting at the Fine Arts Service offices to the present no answer to the request has arrived. We just keep on waiting, with a sense of urgency now after Jaquenod's last letter.

Why Venice should loose such an opportunity?

[ top of page ]