Los órganos Forster & Andrews en Chile: identificación de un corpus patrimonial clave y perspectivas sobre su relevancia social y cultural
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Dentro de las preocupaciones por el patrimonio musical de tipo material o monumental, el tamaño importa. Los órganos de tubo, habitualmente encontrados en iglesias, han sido considerados por largo tiempo como objetos musicales individuales, que por dicha individualización pueden ser considerados patrimonio. En Chile, de hecho, se conservan más de 100 órganos históricos, y un número importante de estos hoy está registrado como Monumento Nacional, lo que refleja que, por su tamaño y costo, pueden ser fácilmente identificados como muebles con calidad de inmueble. Sin embargo, en Chile no se ha hecho una discusión profunda al respecto de dichas consideraciones: ¿Qué es lo que define a un órgano como objeto patrimonial? ¿Su tamaño, su valor, su precio, su antigüedad, su fabricante, su estado de conservación? Este artículo, plantea una discusión de este problema en Chile, ofreciendo una alternativa metodológica, por la cual se considera holísticamente un universo de instrumentos como patrimonio en base a una diversidad de razones históricas. Mi estudio de caso es la identificación de un corpus de órganos patrimoniales en Chile: aquellos fabricados por la firma Forster & Andrews en Inglaterra hacia 1900. Dado que la gran mayoría se conservan en Valparaíso, y que fueron principalmente construidos para comunidades anglófonas y protestantes, se realiza una comprensión compleja de su carácter colectivo como patrimonio en base a su materialidad, pero también uso y conservación. Para esto, se utilizan como una fuente importante, hasta ahora no conocida, los documentos de la propia firma Forster & Andrews, lo que permite dar un sustento historiográfico a la propuesta patrimonial, e identificarles como un grupo complejo de objetos con características de patrimonio musical.
Among the concerns about what classifies as musical heritage, size has always mattered. Pipe organs, usually found on churches, have been considered for a long time as individual musical objects, and thus able to be identified as material heritage. In Chile, for example, there are more than 100 historic church organs, and a number of them have been registered as National Monuments. Because of their size, and cost, they can easily be defined more as buildings than objects. However, there hasn’t been any systematic discussion about what makes a pipe organ, in the Chilean context, an object that could be perceived as heritage: What defines its status? Its size, value, cost, antiquity, maker, conservation? In this paper, I want to discuss the issue of identifying organs as heritage in Chile, proposing a more holistic approach based on historical reasons. My study is focused on one corpus of pipe organs: those made by the Forster & Andrews workshop in England around 1900. Since most of them are preserved in England, and many were built for anglophone and protestant communities, I describe a complex collective character for them as heritage. For this, I use original sources from the Forster & Andrews company, giving historiographical substance to the proposal. Key Words: Historic Organs; National Monument; Forster & Andrews; heritage proposal
Among the concerns about what classifies as musical heritage, size has always mattered. Pipe organs, usually found on churches, have been considered for a long time as individual musical objects, and thus able to be identified as material heritage. In Chile, for example, there are more than 100 historic church organs, and a number of them have been registered as National Monuments. Because of their size, and cost, they can easily be defined more as buildings than objects. However, there hasn’t been any systematic discussion about what makes a pipe organ, in the Chilean context, an object that could be perceived as heritage: What defines its status? Its size, value, cost, antiquity, maker, conservation? In this paper, I want to discuss the issue of identifying organs as heritage in Chile, proposing a more holistic approach based on historical reasons. My study is focused on one corpus of pipe organs: those made by the Forster & Andrews workshop in England around 1900. Since most of them are preserved in England, and many were built for anglophone and protestant communities, I describe a complex collective character for them as heritage. For this, I use original sources from the Forster & Andrews company, giving historiographical substance to the proposal. Key Words: Historic Organs; National Monument; Forster & Andrews; heritage proposal
Description
Keywords
Órganos Históricos, Monumento Nacional, Forster & Andrews, Propuesta patrimonial, Heritage proposal, Historic Organs, National Monument