The Pipe Organ in China Project Website: Updates for January 2021

30 January 2021

Several updates relating to organs installed in Beijing by the German firm, Oberlinger, have been made this month:

The first is, that we are finally able to post the specs of PEK2005a. The Project believes that these specs are substantially the same as those of the other, and slightly smaller organ built by the same firm in 2005 (PEK2005b) for another newly-built TSPM church in Beijing, although we would like some day to eventually confirm this with a site visit.

The second Oberlinger we have to report on, is a II/11 practice instrument, installed at CCOM (Central Conservatory of Music) in Beijing back in 2013. Reports of this organ had come to us, but it was only this month that we actually saw some photographs of it, and were able to confirm its existence (it is apparently located on the 14^th floor of one the Conservatory’s newer buildings.) This instrument has been given the Census identifier PEK2013. The Project would like to thank Prof. Shen Fanxiu for her assistance.

We have also learned of a 3½ stop stock model positive by Oberlinger, installed around 2003 in a private location in Beijing, of which we had not heard earlier. Research into this organ is ongoing.

A link has been added to Links for the new website of the Taiwan AGO Chapter.

Minor fixes have been made to the pages for PEK1989 and PEK2014.

A number of main photos of organs were again been found to be mysterious tipped 90^o out of line. Some of the Hong Kong installations were affected, and these have now been fixed. We still do not know why this is happening from time to time.

English-Chinese Glossary of Organ Terms: this long-awaited development undertaken by the Project was posted in an initial form earlier this month. This is based on a list prepared by organ enthusiast Peter Cheung Pei-tak (張彼得) for his 1975 book, Pipe Organs, Electronic Organs, and Church Organists (Hong Kong: E.C.F. Sheng Tao Press, 1975). This slim book also includes Cheung’s account of seeing an organ with bamboo pipes in Fuzhou in 1931 (FCW1931), possibly one of the small bamboo organs built in Shanghai by François Ravary and Léopold Deleuze in the 1850s and 1860s. (see Keys to the Kingdom, p. 272, and What’s New for 11 September 2018.)

Lunar New Year begins on 12 February this year, which will be the Year of the Ox. We wish all of our visitors

gung hei faat choi!         gong xi fa cai!       恭禧發財!

Organs in the Census: 193

One year-to-date hits: 12,699

Hits since launch (June 2108): 25,418