L`organo `portativo` a canne di legno di Giorgio Questa - Intervista al Prof. Flavio Dassenno

Girolamo Frescobaldi (1583-1643) Fiori musicali, Toccata avanti la Messa degli Apostoli. Organista: Maria Grazia Amoruso. Intervista al prof. Flavio Dassenno, docente di Organologia al Conservatorio di Brescia. Riprese e montaggio video: Vittorio Bedogna. A unique intrument The Giorgio Questa organ is a rather singular instrument: it can be assembled and taken apart in just a few hours and is easily transported. In this sense it is a little like the old ”portative” organ, though, despite its apparently small dimensions, its phonic structure is that of a common Italian organ of the sixteenth century. The instrument is entirely in wood and completely mechanical. Giorgio Questa built it himself, piece by piece, following the same craftsman methods as the old master organ builders. It consists of 491 pipes in pine and chestnut. The keyboard, to which a pedalboard is added has four octaves. Its stops (Principal in pine, Octave, Fifteenth, Nineteenth, Twenty-second, Fiffaro/Cornetta, Night Horn in VIII, Wood Flute in XII, Twenty-sixth, Twentyninth) are the ones that are typical of Italian organ art in the classical period. Two small accessories, ”passero e passera” imitate birdsong, following ancient organ traditions. The squirrel tail reminds us of the ancient ”fox tail” that overhangs the organist, with the curious addition of a lever inscribed ”noli me tangere”. A pulley pedal enables free combination of the stops.