The Church of St. James in Ljubljana was first recorded in 1383. Over two hundred years later, in 1597, the Jesuits arrived to Ljubljana and took over the management of the church, which over time underwent a significant change in its appearance. In 1774, the church was severely damaged by fire. The organ was also damaged by the fire, but it was repaired and remained in the church until 1853.
What do we know about the organ in St. James Church? A lot can be found in the Historia annua Collegii Labacensis, the yearbook of the Jesuit College, which is held by the Archives of the Republic of Slovenia. The first mention of the organ dates from 1600, and the last mention of the organ in the Jesuit College yearbook is in 1637, when the organ on the choir was restored with donations.
The Archdiocesan Archives in Ljubljana preserve a contract between Janez Jurij Eisl (1708? – 1780) and the presbytery of St. James for organ with 18 registers, two manuals and a pedal. There is a possibility that the two side cases of the present organ are the same as Eisl’s organ cases from 1780. At the same time, the organ builder intended to make a larger organ for the Ljubljana Cathedral, but unfortunately, he died before he could do it. On 18 November 1780, his funeral was paid for by the presbytery of St. James, and the rest of the money for the organ was given to his widow Apolonija. In 1782 Apolonija married Jožef Kučera (1755-1826), who took over Eisel’s workshop and made the organ for the Ljubljana Cathedral.
The parish chronicle reveals that in 1853, the dismantling of the old organ began with the aim of installing a new instrument, a three-part organ with 23 registers. Unfortunately, no contract between the presbytery of St. James and the organ builder, Andrej Ferdinand Malahovski (1813-1887), has been found so far. Two years later, Malahovski made the organ in the branch church of the parish of St. James, at St. Florian in Gornji trg (1855, 10/I + P).
Malahovski was a Polish-born organ builder who had a workshop in the Ljubljana suburbs, and was known for his intonation and technical innovations.
On 16 March 1882, the organ at St. James was inspected by the well-known Slovenian organ builder Franc Goršič in the presence of the experts Leopold Belar (1828-1899), then Regens Chori, and Anton Foerster (1837-1926). Goršič’s offer has been preserved, as well as the contract between the organ builder and the parish priest Janez Rozman for the construction of a new organ, which is preserved in the Archdiocesan Archives of Ljubljana. From Goršič’s contract, we learn about the partial disposition of Malahovski’s organ, as it states which old registers would be reused and which new one would be added. Goršič placed the organ in an old organ case. It had 22 singing registers, manual (II-I) and pedal couplers (I-P), and two fixed combinations. The organ was a success, as evidenced by contemporary reports in the publication Cerkveni glasbenik (CG 1883, No. 7, pp. 54-55).
Photo: Historical Archives Ljubljana
In 1915, the desire for a new organ was again traced in the publication Cerkveni glasbenik (CG 1915, No. 10, p. 122), as Goršič’s organ was already in a poor condition and in need of major repairs. The then parish priest of Berle handed the work over to the diocesan music commission and the organ builder Anton Dernič (1879-1954). World War I brought the project to a halt, and it was not revived until 1960 when the current organ in the choir of the Church of St. James was built by the organ builder Franc Jenko (1894-1968).
Today, the organ operates according to the pneumatic system and has 42 registers, 36 of which are singing, divided into three manuals and a pedal. Jenko also placed them in the old organ case and added a third case between them. In ten registers we can trace the use of old pipes, which have been adapted to the new sound design.