Organ consultancy: changing perspectives by Jan Jongepier

by Jan Jongepier | Het ORGEL | Year 100 | (2004) | Issue 1

Jan Jongepier Organ consultancy: changing perspectives
Het ORGEL 100 (2004), nr. 1, 22-28 [summary]

On 1 November 2003, Jan Jongepier was awarded the first Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck Prize, for his significant contributions to organ culture, especially in his role as an organ consultant. Jan Jongepier addressed the meeting with a speech, in which he explained how organ consultancy has developed since the 17th century from inspecting new organs to co-deciding how to build and restore them, and how he contributed to that development himself since the 1950s as an autodidact. The stage that organ consultancy has reached nowadays implies that organ consultants should fulfill specific conditions: they have to be educated not just with respect to organ building and organ music, but with respect to managing complex decision-making processes as well.
On the occasion of the prize ceremony, Hans Fidom interviewed Jan Jongepier. Jongepier stated that to him, organ music is an art, and organists are artists. His love for the beauty of organ sound is very strong and determines his artistic impulses with regard to interpreting music as well as to improvising. With this approach to making music, Jongepier strives to encourage as many people as possible to become familiar with organ art.