Latin America

The construction of organs in Latin America has been influenced by Iberian organs at first; the overseas export of instruments from Europe also played a significant role. In the course of time, however, in the Jesuit reductions in the interior of the subcontinent (for example in the area of today’s Paraguay or Bolivia) also developed own distinct organ building styles modelled by organ builders trained in the country, though only little is known. A typical feature of Latin American organs is also the extremely rich and colorful design of the cases and often also of the pipes, which is not found anywhere else in this form and splendor and represents a separate chapter of the appropriation and handling of the organ. Military events and climates not favouring a long duration of the instruments led to the fact that not many baroque organs from the rich organ culture in Latin America have been preserved.