The Organ 2025-4 (November 2025)

The November issue of Het Orgel opens with the conclusion of the two-part series on Petrus Veerkamp, the Frisian organ builder who made his career in France in the nineteenth century. In this concluding part, Victor Timmer and Ton van Eck examine Veerkamp’s significance for the firm Mutin-Cavaillé-Coll, where he worked as technical director.

Rogér van Dijk takes the reader to Nijmegen, where the Assendelft organ stands in the South Chapel of St. Steven’s Church. This historic house organ was restored in 2023/2024 by the organ building collective Elbertse/Van Vulpen/Verschueren. Van Dijk outlines the history of the instrument and the life of the Leiden organ builder Pieter Assendelft (1714-1766), whose sons Johannes and Samuel continued the organ building business. Gerrit Hoving and Wietse Ouwejan add their tonal impressions.

Based on Ton van Eck’s substantial book, Bert den Hertog discusses the Willibrordus organ in the Cathedral of St. Bavo (Koepelkathedraal) in Haarlem. This organ, built in 1923, moved from Amsterdam to Haarlem in 1971. The recent restoration phases (2017-2022) and plans receive extensive attention: the organ will have no fewer than 88 stops and will be the first Dutch organ to have three swell divisions. Sietze de Vries and Bert den Hertog share their tonal impressions.

René Verwer concludes his two-part series on Jean-Jacques Grunenwald. This French composer and organist succeeded Marcel Dupré at Saint-Sulpice in Paris in 1973. Verwer discusses Grunenwald’s organ music from the 1950s onwards, with particular attention to the Diptique liturgique from 1956.

Auke Vlagsma continues his series on French organ cases with the fourth part, covering the period 1631-1690. In his column ‘Schweigt stille, plaudert nicht’, Jos van der Kooy reflects on a problem recognizable to many organists: the tension between organ playing and the coffee conversation of churchgoers before and after the service.

Tjeerd van der Ploeg opens a window onto Portuguese organ music from the period 1540-1834, a repertoire that is still relatively unknown in the Netherlands.

The issue also contains four reviews: René Verwer discusses Félix Raugel’s work on the great organs of Paris, Jan Smelik examines the thirty-eighth volume of Acta Organologica, Gerrit Hoving reviews a two-part publication on the organ in the parish church of Olkusz in Poland, and Auke Vlagsma discusses the comprehensive work by Kees Kugel and Albert Rodenboog on Albertus Anthoni Hinsz.

In the Fresh off the Press section, new publications are announced, while in the Organ Building News section, Wietse Ouwejan reports on recent work at the village church of Den Andel and De Burgt in Den Burg.

The issue concludes with an installment of the Back Page feature: Frits Zwart writes about Jan Hendrik Storm, a versatile figure from the organ world.