The Cathedral of St. Nicholas in Ljubljana was designed in its present form by the Jesuit architect Andrea Pozzo (1642-1709). It was built between 1701 and 1706 and consecrated on May 8, 1707. In 1841, under the direction of the builder Matej Medved from Cerklje, the church dome was built. The interior of the church was completely renovated in 1859, at which time the organ was also repaired. On the occasion of its 200th anniversary, the church received new windows and pews, as well as a new organ, which was installed in the old Baroque cabinets by the organ builder Ivan Milavec.
The art of the organ in Ljubljana Cathedral can be traced back at least to the 16th century. Even before the Baroque cathedral, there were two organs in the side choirs. Their history was studied in detail by Jožef Smrekar (1842-1910) and Franc Kimovec (1878-1964).
The image of the organ horn at Ljubljana Castle, where it was moved from the cathedral bell tower in 1611 and painted on the Ljubljana cityscape by Janez Vajkard Valvasor (1642-1693), is the oldest depiction of a organ in Slovenia, according to the information known so far.
Around 1730, a choir on marble columns was added to the west wall of the church, and in 1734 Janez Frančišek Janeček (c. 1697-1778) installed a new organ there. It had 22 or 23 registers for two manuals and pedals, which were placed in three cases. More information about the Janeček organ can be found in two descriptions by the organ builder František Ksaver Križman (1726-1795), who in 1762 installed a single-manual Italian-style organ with 32 registers in the cathedral choir. In doing so, he enlarged the middle case, which had previously housed the positive, giving the organ a 16-inch front. As early as 1780, the Ljubljana organ builder Janez Jurij Eisl (c. 1708-1780) submitted an offer to the Ljubljana Ordinariate for a new organ, which he intended to build after completing the organ at St. James in Ljubljana. Unfortunately, he died earlier. His workshop was taken over by Jožef Kučera (1755-1826), who made the organ for the Ljubljana cathedral (II/25) in 1781. In 1830, Johann Gottfried Kunath (1787-before 1859) moved the middle case towards the wall and redesigned the front, back and lower parts. He also strengthened and repaired the two side cases and installed a new organ (II/32). This organ was enlarged and more thoroughly rebuilt in 1860 by Ferdinand Malahovski (1813-1887). It was the largest organ in Slovenia at the time, with 34 registers on two manuals and a pedal. It remained in the cathedral choir until 1911 when it was replaced by a new organ by Ivan Milavec (1874-1915).
Photo: Organistica
In 1906, Jožef Smrekar published “Spomenica o orglah ljubljanske stolnice” in eight issues of the Cerkveni glasbenik publication. Smrekar describes in detail the history of the Ljubljana Cathedral organ, its problems, and the shortcomings of the construction of the cathedral choir. He compares the ratio between the volume of the church and the number of organ registers with those of larger foreign churches. He discusses the necessary or minimum square footage required for each register and highlights the general lack of space in the choir of Ljubljana Cathedral. This is followed by a discussion of the various possibilities for air inflow and the then-novelty on our soil – the electric blower. He presents his proposal for the disposition, the mensuration of the individual registers and their intonation. He addresses the problem of wind pressures and their influence on the sonority of the instrument. He concludes with a discussion of the materials, tracker and windchest system of the new organ, and raises the question of the choice and competence of the organ builder who will be entrusted with the construction of the organ.
Photo: Organistica
In 1911, Ivan Milavec installed the organ with 52 registers on three manuals and a pedal in an old baroque case as his 26th and largest work. He dealt quite successfully with the dampness in the cathedral choir, the weathering of the old baroque cases, which had been reported by Franc Goršič (1836-1898) as early as 1867, and the lack of space. The new organ was blessed on Sunday, February 11, 1912, and the consecration took place on Wednesday, February 14, 1912. Two official reports by Fr. Hugolin Sattner (1851-1934) and Franjo Dugan (1874-1948) report on the praise and criticism the new instrument received. Particular praise was given for the intonation, the pneumatic system, the size of the wind channels, and the quietness of the new electric blower. However, the main criticism was that the pedal was too quiet and too enclosed in the organ’s side cases. The last written record of maintenance work on the cathedral organ can be found in 1931 in the publication Cerkveni glasbenik (CG 1931, No. 3-4, pp. 57-59). At that time, the organ was thoroughly cleaned and tuned. The work was carried out by the organ builder Franc Jenko (1894-1968).
Photo: Organistica
