Metzler organ sounds as it should again

Keeping an organ in good condition is a difficult task. Thanks to the individual pipes, every church organ has a certain sound character and it is important to maintain this. Especially if it dates back to the Baroque period, as is the case with the Metzler organ in the parish church of Braunau St. Stephan. The Metzler organ was installed in the church in 1995. The middle organ case dates from the Baroque period and, like the organ pipes, was professionally restored.

Mozarteum provides training for this

For almost 30 years, magnificent organ sounds have been heard in the church, not only during services but also beyond. For example, when students from the Mozarteum in Salzburg learn to play the organ on it or take exams on the well-known Metzler organ. Or when well-known organists from far beyond Braunau’s borders play on it.

But an organ is also getting old and needs to be renovated after around 30 years of use in Braunau. However, because the interior renovation of the parish church has become urgently needed, the Metzler organ has not yet been subjected to a complete overhaul, which would cost around 130,000 euros, but only the most necessary work has been carried out. The partial renovation cost an impressive 13,000 euros. These were carried out by Andreas Metzler from Switzerland and Martin Ter Haseborg, who came to Braunau for this purpose. They cleaned the inside of the organ, vacuumed it, repaired the deformed trombone pipes and all of the organ pipes. Then it was re-voted.

This work has now been completed and the Metzler organ can be played in the usual quality.

First organ concert on Friday

One person who will be convinced of this is the well-known organist, pianist and conductor Andreas Jetter. He will play on the organ in the Braunau parish church on Friday, May 17th, from 7 p.m. The cathedral music director at Chur Cathedral in Switzerland, who is also giving concerts in St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, Hamburg Cathedral and Munich this year, is playing works by Johann Sebastian Bach and Franz Schmidt in Braunau. Tickets are available at the box office from 6 p.m.

Save Braunauer Steffl: The parish church of Braunau-St. Stephan needs to be completely renovated and the parish relies on donations. Tax-deductible donations to the Federal Monuments Office with first and last name, address and promotion code A331 to IBAN: AT07 0100 0000 0503 1050; Donation folders are available in the OÖN editorial team.