Verheijen and Philbert, a meeting with consequences (two parts) by Victor Timmer

by Victor Timmer | Het ORGEL | Year 105 | (2009) | Issue 3

Victor Timmer Verheijen and Philbert, a meeting with consequences (two parts)
Het ORGEL 104 (2009), nr. 3, 28-39 [summary]

In 2006 and 2007 Het Orgel published articles on the activities of the French diplomat and organ expert Charles-Marie Philbert. The series is continued in two articles dealing with Philbert’s relations with the Amsterdam organist Jos. A. Verheijen (1837–1924), who in the decades around 1900 occupied an important place in Dutch musical life. He organized the Nederlandsche Organisten Vereeniging (Dutch Organists Society), of which he was then the chairman for 30 years. Verheijen was also organist of the Adema organ in the Mozes-en-Aäronkerk in Amsterdam, the instrument that was built in 1871 partly thanks to Philbert. Verheijen’s and Philbert’s association did not begin in 1871, as has been thought, but already in 1859 in Den Helder. Verheijen got to know Philbert’s organ in Den Helder, but he was also the organizer and director of the choir Cecilia, and in this position he was Philbert’s predecessor.
The research underlying this article studied not only this period and its possible implications, but also Verheijen’s young years and the beginning of his professional career (from 1862) in Gouda. He was musically active there on various fronts in and outside of the church, before he was appointed in Amsterdam in 1871. Philbert was possibly one of the people who about 1860 brought Verheijen to choose a musical career. In any case Verheijen was indebted for the greatest part of his organological knowledge to Philbert. Thanks to the French diplomat Verheijen became a warm advocate of the modern French organ in the Netherlands.

Article of Jos A. Verheijen ‘Aristide Cavaillé-Coll – In Memoriam’ uit Sempre Avanti.