A Look into the History of the Goršič Pipe Organ in the Church of St. Stephen in Vipava

In 1892, as his 57th project, Franc Goršič crafted a new organ for St. Stephen’s Church in Vipava. This organ featured a mechanical cone windchest and 20 registers distributed across two manuals and a pedal.

On September 18, 1892, the new organ was blessed. Renowned organ expert Hugolin Sattner (1851-1934) praised it. Hugolin Sattner published a report in the publication Cerkveni glasbenik (CG 1892, No. 10, p. 78), providing insights into the disposition, organ case, bellows, mechanics and pipes of the new Goršič organ.

In 1966, the organ in Vipava was renovated, enlarged and rebuilt by the dean Slavko Podobnik. It was upgraded with a pneumatic system and some additional registers (II/24). While the old organ had about 1000 pipes, the new organ already had 1630.

In 2005, the Goršič organ in the Vipava church was replaced by a new instrument from the Orglarstvo Močnik (II/33). The exterior design was created by the architect Marko Lavrenčič. The preserved metal and wooden pipes of the old Goršič organ were bought by the Orglarstvo Močnik and stored in their warehouse.

The metal pipes of the Goršič organ were made in the German organ workshop Gebrüder Link. In September 2021, the preserved pipes were inventoried and documented, revealing that the data obtained did not entirely correspond with the publications in the aforementioned report by Hugolin Sattner. One notable difference was found in the details concerning the transitions between the wooden and metal pipes. It turned out that when the Goršič organ in Log pri Vipava (Op. 64, 1897) was rebuilt, the Oboa 8′ register was replaced by the Oboë 8′ register from the organ in Vipava. The original register is still stored in the Orglarstvo Močnik warehouse. The pipes of both registers have a beating reed, as in the Ursuline organ in Ljubljana (Op. 56, 1891), but the reed from Log pri Vipavi differs in the construction of the shallot. The Oboë 8′ from the Ursuline organ posesses a soldered shallot, while the Oboë 8′ from Logo pri Vipavi features a compressed shallot.

Organ disposition

From Vipava to Šentvid pri Stični

The intention was to reuse 13 registers from the former Goršič organ from Vipava in the new organ for the parish of Šentvid pri Stični. Among them is a 16′ Bombarde pedal register with half resonators, wooden boots (two wooden blocks, c and cis) and free reeds, which were originally made by the organ builders Chwatal & Sohn, Merseburg (the inscription can be found on the C tone shallot). This company, which specialised in the manufacture of organ parts, was founded in 1884 by Carl Otto Chwatal (1848-1902).

Similarity between the organs in Vipava and Smlednik

Similarities with the Vipava organ can also be observed in Goršič’s organ in Smlednik (Op. 34, 1881), which also has a Bombarda 16′ pedal register with half resonators, metal boots and free reeds, but was made by Schiedmayer Pianofortefabrik, Stuttgart (the inscription can be found on the C-note shallot).