The tubes, the top, the bellows, whose skins were “completely rotten”. These were the main pieces that master Dinarte Machado, the most famous Portuguese organ maker, had to repair in the pipe organ of the Igreja Matriz in Portimão, whose restoration will be «ready» in time for the concert at the Algarve Organ Festival, scheduled for 3 from November.
The restoration of the instrument, built in 1886, started on the 13th of August and was supposed to have been simpler and faster. But, as revealed to the Sul Informação Father Mário Sousa, parish priest of the parish church of Portimão, master Dinarte “found that the intervention had to be more profound”, so “he took some pieces with him to repair them”.
Last Friday and Saturday, master Dinarte and two of his assistants were at the Church assembling the parts that had been taken for repair, in a meticulous work. «Then I only have to come here a few days before the concert, for a final set-up», said Dinarte Machado to our report.
“When I accepted this work, because the organ had recently undergone a restoration, I thought I would find the instrument in much better condition. What was planned was to do some cleaning and tuning. But I wasn't expecting to encounter these problems, which forced us to dismantle the instrument in its entirety,” he added.
«I've been working for 30 or so years and I still face these situations. Let this serve as an example: when an intervention is made, without funds that allow a deep intervention, the little that is done is done well. And that didn't happen here. I even found pieces glued together with glue tape…», lamented Dinarte Machado.
It is not surprising, therefore, that the organists invited by the Algarve Organ Festival to play at the Church of Portimão complained about the quality of the instrument.
«In recent years, Associação Música XXI, in partnership with the Municipality and the Parish, has brought the Algarve Organ Festival to our Matrix. However, organists have always complained (and rightly so) about the condition of the organ. It was a shame to have such an instrument and it wasn't working well,” Father Mário Sousa told our newspaper.
Dinarte Machado explained to Sul Informação that the organ of the Parish Church of Portimão is an “instrument from the second half of the XNUMXth century, of typically English construction, which is normal, due to our great relationship with the English”.
“I don't know if the church had no organ before or if the previous one was replaced. This investigation I leave to the musicologists». It is certain that this instrument brought “a new way of listening, different from a Portuguese organ, closer to the Latin tradition”. The replacement took place throughout the XNUMXth century, in other parts of the country, such as Lisbon, Madeira, Lisbon or even in the south.
“An organ maker is a technician and the objective of his work is to recover an instrument or build a new instrument. An organ is a secular instrument and its recovery is important due to its historical value».
Dinarte Machado added that these instruments with English characteristics were «always or almost always built with entire registers, that is, when the organist pulled the register, there was sound from the entire keyboard. According to national practice, bodies were built using half-registries, which was the case only in Portugal and Spain. This instrument was adapted when it was offered or purchased for this church in Portimão, in order to have such means of registration. This makes it possible for an organ with a single keyboard [as is the case] to look like it has two keyboards».
For the master organ maker, it is a “very intelligent adaptation”, because it “increases the profitability of this instrument in the concert concept”. “Within its characteristics, this organ has an excellent quality”, he guaranteed.
Now, according to Dinarte Machado, the organ had recently been subjected to an “unfortunate intervention”, which “did not improve the instrument, nor did it eliminate its problems. But it made people think that the instrument was in good condition. What is certain is that it was not possible to use the instrument's plenum!». And the organists who have been there in recent years, for the festival's concerts, realized this and complained.
The restoration of the secular instrument is funded by the Portimão Council and amounts to close to 20 thousand euros.
The repair, guaranteed Father Mário Sousa, "will allow the city of Portimão to be placed on the script of organ concerts." The first will be on the 3rd of November, at the opening of another edition of the Algarve Organ Festival. At that time, guarantees the master Dinarte Machado, «the organist knows that he will be able to use the entire registration of the instrument».
Algarve Organ Festival has an «absolutely admirable» role
Dinarte Machado, considered the best organ maker in the country and one of the best in Europe, has been a supporter of the Algarve Organ Festival since its inception.
«I have always supported the Festival, although at first I was afraid that it would not be successful. Patrícia [Neto Martins] bet from the beginning on young organists, who were not yet known, and that was a risk. But today the Festival has become a big and representative event. There is already an audience here and, contrary to what I was expecting, most of them are Portuguese. Culture lives from this plurality and communication».
This Festival, organized by Associação Música XXI, of which Patrícia Neto Martins is the director, «has encouraged locals to have their instruments preserved and to restore them».
The master Dinarte considers that this organ from Portimão “fits the set of instruments existing in the Algarve”.
In addition, it revealed to the Sul Informação, maybe in next year's edition of the Festival a new instrument and concert venue can be added. This is because the master organ maker is «at this moment, almost in the final phase of the restoration of the organ of the Igreja do Carmo, in Tavira. It will be an organ that will allow the organists' repertoire to be expanded, as it has two manual keyboards and a pedal».
«There are more organs in the Algarve, from the XNUMXth and XNUMXth centuries, in addition to those already used in the Festival. Even in Tavira, there are two more bodies in convent churches, which are closed», he added.
For all that, and in the name of defending a musical heritage that only enriches the Algarve, Dinarte Machado highlights the «absolutely admirable» role that the Organ Festival has played.
For the 11th year, Associação Cultural Música XXI organizes the Organ Festival, maintaining an extended geographic coverage. The event will take place in November, with 14 concerts distributed by churches in Faro, Tavira, Loulé (Boliqueime) and Portimão.
The Organ Festival is an event that, since 2007, has asserted itself as an anchor event and has been expanding its scope, conquering both national and foreign audiences. Unique in the Algarve region, it offers the possibility of enjoying historical organs, especially the Sé de Faro cross-border reference.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues | Sul Informação
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