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REXBURG
– With the completion of the Ruffatti
organ, the Ruth H. Barrus Concert Hall in the Snow
Center for the Performing Arts
at Brigham Young University-Idaho has reopened for concerts and
recitals.
To
celebrate its completion, Salt Lake Tabernacle organist Clay
Christiansen will give the inaugural recital Friday,
Sept. 10, at 7:30
p.m. Tickets are $6 for the general public and $2 for BYU-Idaho
students. They are available at the Ticket Office by calling 496-2230 or
online at www.byui.edu/tickets.
Christiansen
was appointed a Tabernacle organist in 1982 and frequently accompanies the
Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
Francesco
Ruffatti, co-owner and son of one of the founders
of Frattelli Ruffatti
in Padua, Italy,
came to BYU-Idaho in mid August to complete the finishing touches on the
organ.
Although
it is impossible for him to do this for all Ruffatti
organs, he says he only comes out to personally finish the most important
ones.
“This
particular organ features a very natural sound with a great singing quality,”
he said. “I would say that is the feature that makes it stand apart
from other organs.”
Ruffatti also said he enjoys working in the Barrus Conert Hall.
“The
acoustics of the hall are quite good. It has a perfect balance between the
needs for an organ and the needs for acoustic instruments. It’s not
overly reverburant and has such a clarity of sound,” he said. “The sound
travels so well that it’s a joy to work in here.”
The
Ruffatti organ was originally installed in the Barrus Concert Hall in 1983. It was designed to have four
keyboards, but funds at that time only permitted three. With recent funds
becoming available, the fourth keyboard was installed this summer along
with 1,500 more pipes.
Darwin
Wolford, an organ instructor at BYU-Idaho, said: “It has been such a
blessing to be able to finally add the fourth and final row of keys to the
organ.”
This
past summer, workers dismantled the organ to clean, repair and reinstall
all of the original pipes. Many of the new pipes are located in giant
wooden chambers that sit along side the original pipes.
Having
worked on installations from his teen-age years, Francesco Ruffatti specialized in the tonal aspect of organ
building and became a reed and flue voicer. He
studied economics at the University
of Venice and became a partner
in the company at the age of 23.
Today,
he is the tonal designer for the company and personally performs the tonal finishings on many new Ruffatti
organs. He also finishes most of the historic restorations performed by the
Ruffatti company and is known internationally as
a lecturer on the subject.
The
Fratelli Ruffatti Co.
uses a technique that comes from a long line of organ builders dating back
to the mid 1700s.
Padua,
as well as the entire Venetian area of Italy,
has always been famous for its pipe organ building. By the 1700s, a unique
school of organ building had emerged in Venice,
founded by Pietro Nacchini,
a monk who built more than 300 organs in his lifetime.
One of Nacchini's successors, Gaetano Callido, built more
than 400 organs in his own lifetime and became even more famous than his
predecessor.
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