That organ, Shrovetide and carneval are not mutually exclusive was proved by an organ study trip to Mallorca over Shrovetide from the 12th to the 16th February 2010.
40 church musicians, organists, musicologists, organ-builders, organ-music lovers and organ experts from Germany set off on an exhausting tour and were richly rewarded. In 5 eventful days we discovered that Mallorca is not only a beautiful island but also rich in historic organs. We also discovered that is some places the awareness thereof and the consequent responsibility for the preservation and maintenance of these organs is totally absent.
In the manner we are accustomed to, the trip was planned and run by „www.ORGANpromotion.org – Management für die Orgel“ under the direction of Michael Grüber and Miriam Jedele. We were splendidly accommodated and looked after in the Hotel Bahia del Sol in Santa Ponça. From here we set out to view organs in Alaró St. Bartomeu (New-build Grenzing 2006, Casing 1758), Sencelles Sant Pere (Matheu Bosch 1746), Sa Pobla St. Antoni (Damia Caymari 1717), Banyalbufar Església de la Nativitat de Maria (Fra Vicenç Pisà, 17th century), Deià (Anonymus 1861), Fornalutx Parròquia de la Nativitat (1584, 1638 und 1668, Reconstruction 1756 by Damià Caymari), Palma Sant Geroni (Matheu Bosch 1746), Palma Sant Francesc (New-build Grenzing 2009, casing 16./17th century), Palma Església dels Socors (Damià and Sebastia Caymari 1702/1703, extended by Bosch) and Santanyi Sant Andreau (Jordi Bosch 1765). The organs were expertly introduced and demonstrated by the Mallorcan organists Miquel Bennàssar and Arnau Reynés. Natalie Grenzing, daughter of Gerhard Grenzing, whose workshop in El Papiol near Barcelona had restored almost all of the above-mentioned organs, was a well-versed guide and seamless translator. With her charming manner she helped provide consolation when the organ in Banyalbufar only brought forth dismal howling because rats or martens had been eating at the leather of the bellows.
A special high point was a midday piano recital with Juan Moll in the two cells of the former Carthusian monestary of Valldemossa, where George Sand and the seriously ill Frédéric Chopin spent a winter. Juan Moll was story-teller, presenter and interpreter with a masterly touch of the compositions of Chopin written in this creative period on Mallorca, at first happy then in a deep depression.
In the Mallorcan villages we kept having confrontations with carneval whereby the Spanish street musicians tried to out-do the organists in volume, giving the trip a further delight.
The weather was just as it was when Chopin and Sand were sojourning there: wet and cold. Not until the day we were due to come home did the ever good-humoured party experience sun-shine and warmer air. Spring seemed to announce itself – the almond-blossoms were discernable.
KMD Michael Saum, Gruppenbacherstr. 14, 74074 Heilbronn