Dear Mr. Beeken:

 

Contact your local American Guild of Organists chapter--

you can find them online through Google--they are sure to

know who among their membership either owns a portatif

or works at a church or college that has one.

 

Best wishes for your performances.

 

 

Cordially,

 

Thomas Sheets, D.M.A.

Adam:  Thomas' suggestion is excellent, but let me ask, do you really mean a portatif, of the medieval kind, with a very limited range and pipes sounding at 4' or even 2' pitch, or do you simply mean a small and TRANSportable organ with a limited number of stops but a bass range using 8' stopped pipes?  We had one of the latter at Indiana when I was there back in the '70s, and it got a lot of use.

 

But in a week, I have a performance coming up of the Pergolesi Stabat Mater on which (with two keyboard players) I'm using BOTH harpsichord and a true portatif organ, and the bass notes on the organ (which don't exist!) aren't necessary because they're covered by the stringed instruments and the harpsichord.

 

Probably your best bet would be one of the colleges or universities that has an active Collegium program.

 

All the best,

 

John

 

 

As my colleague and I looked at some more options, I think technically what we are looking for is a continuo organ.  So far we haven't hit any homerooms, but we will keep looking.