Welcome
Welcome to the Internet pages of Europe’s oldest magazine on Organ Art: het ORGEL [i.e. the ORGAN]. het ORGEL is a magazine of Dutch origin. This Internet site contains English summaries of articles published in het ORGEL. Every second month we will add the newest summaries. The site also contains a survey of which festival is happening where in Europe, and an extensive collection of links to other interesting organ sites throughout the world.
In the latest issue
Number 4 of volume 115 (2019) opens with the third part of Jan Smelik’s series ‘Orgelgebruik in de protestantse kerkdienst tussen 1886 en 1938’ (The use of the organ in protestant church services between 1886 and 1938). He treats the accompanying of congregational singing. What was the consensus about accompanying of congregational singing, what were the problems and ideals, and what was done in practice?
In his series on modern organ façades Auke H. Vlagsma writes about the Metzler organ in the Stadtkirche in Biel, Switzerland.
The organ in St.-Andreaskirche in Ostönnen (Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany) challenges the imagination, not least due to the great age of the instrument. Léon Berben & Koos van de Linde write about this 15th-century organ and its history.
Aart van Beek dove into the history of the organ that is now in the Hervormde Kerk in Ootmarsum, built in 1781 by Eberhard Berner. His research provided a number of new insights, among other things concerning the maker of the 8’ Dulciaan.
In the series ‘Een eeuw geleden’ (A century ago), which includes reports taken from Het ORGEL of 100 years ago, there is a report of the Prix d’ Excellence exam on 14 June, 1919, of Anthon van der Horst. The report contains interesting information about the examination.
Frans Jespers looked for an explanation of how the organ builder Joseph Binvignat after 1800 could have been influenced by organ building in Rheinland. A recent discovery in Aachen in combination with a music-historical approach makes it clear that Binvignat had a concrete reason and a source of inspiration, halfway through his career, to alter the style of his instruments in a certain way.
The issue contains three reviews: Auke H. Vlagsma reviews vol.35 of Acta Organologica, Hans Beek reviews Herman Zandt’s book about Fried Schmidt-Marlissa, and Jan Hage discusses the publication ‘Dvě Fantasien op. 32’ van Miloslav Kabelàč.
The issue concludes with the series ‘De achterplaat’ (The back page), in which Frits Zwart draws attention to the famous Rotterdam organist Hendrik de Vries (1859-1929).
New articles
KVOK
Royal Dutch Association of Organists and churchmusicians
The publisher of het ORGEL
The paper edition as well as the Internet edition of het ORGEL are published by the “Koninklijke Vereniging van Organisten en Kerkmusici” (Dutch abbreviation: ‘KVOK’). This Association was founded on 16 January 1890, and later became the publisher of het ORGEL; the first issue of het ORGEL was published in 1886.
Do you want to support the work of het ORGEL?
You can support het ORGEL and the Royal Dutch Association of Organists and churchmusicians by becoming a member of the Association. Membership fee: EUR 70,- (Europe) and EUR 75,- (Outside Europe) a year in the Netherlands. Membership is for one year and will be automatically renewed if not terminated at least one month before the end of the calendar year.
Once you’re a member, you will receive the paper edition of het ORGEL 6 times a year and the organ newspaper de ORGELkrant 11 times a year. It is also possible to receive the publications without being a member of the society.
If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send an e-mail to the board of the Association
