Five organs in 24 hours --> tired stephen

Friday-Saturday-Sunday June 8-10

So, I think I last posted Thursday evening while in Hannover. I originally went to Hannover on Thursday to see some of the sights associated with the house of Hannover. They ruled Britain for a good chunk of time, and I thought it might be interesting to see. Anyways, when I got to Hannover, Egbert called me to see how I was fairing and asked if I wanted to play the organ in Melle. Originally built in 1700, then enlarged again in the 1720s by Christian Vater of Amsterdam, it suffered the usual fate of organs during the dark years of the romantic, 20th cent and then Neo-Baroque. By the end of last century, it was badly needing restoration. So, a committee was formed, of which Egbert played a leading role and the process of restoration was started. The Dutch organ builder Bernhardt Edskes was chosen. Over all, the instrument is a beautiful work of art. It has a tastefully decorated case that fits into the church nicely. Anyways, Egbert arranged for me to get a key from a local bakery and then to call him and get instructions on getting into the organ. So, i eventually found the bakery asked "darf ich den Schlüssel von der Kirche bekommen?" To which, the poor lady running the bakery had the most quizzical look on her face, then smiled, laughed and handed me the keys. I think i butchered the German… I spent the better part of three hours with the organ. It was quite wonderful. Personally, i think the organ is a tad over-voiced. The principles tend to "spit" a little when they speak. But, other than that, it was quite wonderful. 

After that adventure, i returned the key, bought a croissant and creme puff, and enjoyed my "lunch". From there, I hopped a train to Amsterdam via Amersfoort, and got to Ams by 6:30. I had some time to kill, so, I read some in a book store in the train station, then made the short trek down to the Oude Kerk. There I met organist Matteo Imbruno who gave me a quick tour of the organs. Then he left, and told me to stay as long as i pleased, just make sure the door was locked when i left.  I started on the large Vater-Muller organ. I think that may have been the most difficult instrument i've ever played. It had ridiculously heavy action. I played a bunch of Bach and Buxtehude. But, it felt like i was having to play with the weight one would approach Widor's 6th but with the passage work of Bach's toccatas. I kept having a mentally image of Mrs. Glass pop up saying "why are you playing all mushy like a pianist?" "Stop doing that… you know better" and "Make the quickest attack of your life" "Beat the organ but play relaxed" "Noooooo! Play with your WHOLE leg" "Nooo. You don't sound convinced. Insult me with your attacks. Play like you mean it!!!"  Anyways, the list of Mrs. Glass quotes that were applicable could go one for a long time. But, I think i actually learned a lot by playing the instrument. It solidified in my mind a lot of technique that she taught me and never fully clicked mentally b/c Collegedale's organ has such great action. The other thing about the organ was incredibly heavy stop action. Some of them were just about seized up and couldn't be opened or closed….

From there, I went to the meantone choir organ the church has. I don't know the particulars of the instrument, who built, when etc. But it was beautifully restored and had an absolutely gorgeous praestant and very nice flutes. I played Scheidt's "Wie Schon Leucht't" and some more Buxtehude. 

The church has an Italian meantone instrument also. I never worked on any Italian music, so, I didn't really know what to do with the organ. It has a short octave and only 1.5 octaves of pedals (which are pull down trackers anyways.) I didn't spend long there because I needed to get back to the station before the my train left. Anyways, I made it up to Groningen by midnight, missed the last city bus to my hotel by about 30 seconds and had to wait for a taxi etc. Got to my hostel, slept like a rock until 5:30, then had to get back to the train station by 6:10 for my train to Leer then Norden. I got to Norden with time to spare, so, I walked around the market, took pictures and just sat and enjoyed some of the Sabbath. There was a free "market concert" in St. Ludgerikirche. The lady played some nice music on the Schnitger organ. It is a very interesting organ. Due to the acoustics in the church, the only practical place to put the organ was where the choir and nave intersect with the transept/"cross" So, Schnitger ended up building the organ around a pillar/corner of the church. Thus, the pedal speaks back to the nave, the ruck positive speaks directly into the transept and the to manuals are pointed at angles to the choir. So, what you get is a very complete sound. It fills the church like no other instrument i've heard. the downside is that when you are playing the organ you feel like you are playing a very disparate instrument because the pedal division is so far from the console. I think this organ was actually my favorite of the whole trip. while i wasn't so fond of the action (it has metal rollarboards)  the sound was incredible. It had the fullest and roundest plenum I think I have ever heard. I played some Scheidt and then Bach's Toccata in C, then a chorale on O Sacred Head Now Wounded.  I wish I could have stayed longer, but, the organist had to leave and there was a significant barrier. It was an experience and sound I will never forget.

From Norden I hopped a train to Norddeich Mole and then a ferry to one of the outlying islands (Nordenay). I walked around the island for a bit, got blasted by the wind off the North Sea and enjoyed being out in nature for a bit. unfortunately I had nowhere to ditch my backpacks, so, it was a bit frustrating and tiring to carry two backpacks of stuff on my nature walk. So, I ended up going back to the ferry and heading back early. 

When I got back to Norddeich Mole, a train arrived everyone got off (It is the last stop of the line). So, my train was leaving in like 12 minutes and i just assumed that it was indeed, the one I needed to be on. So, I hopped on. No one else did. No worries, i thought, they will get on in a bit. Well, then the train started moving and I was like… Great. I definitely got on the wrong train. Natural thing to do? start pushing buttons until it stopped! :) I then hopped off (in the middle of  train yard and ran up to the locomotive. Well, the driver fortunately spoke a little english. I apologized profusely and explained what i needed to do. His advice, run back, along the tracks, until i get back to the station we just left. So, I had the ultimate walk of shame back to the platform. Then, waited until my train intact showed up! 

I got to my hostel in Emden by about 4:45. I had the option of upgrading to a private room for 5 Euro. I did, and enjoyed the quiet and privacy. I read Ministry of Healing, Psalms, for a bit, then crawled into bed with my computer (no internet at this hostel :/) and read Adventist Home until I fell asleep at about 6pm. I slept straight to midnight, woke up, drank some water, and slept straight till 5:45, when I woke up from noise, fell back asleep till 6:45, woke up, and got going. Got to the train in time to make my 8:15 train direct from Emden to Hannover (with every stop in between, but, hey, at least no changes in trains…) Now, I just passed Bad Zwishenahn (some city in Lower Saxony). I should be into Munich by 5:45 tonight (via a high speed train from Hannover to Munich)  where I meet my cousin Andrea and stay at her apartment. Tomorrow, brings Salzburg and Mozart! I have to be sure to balance my ears some how. About the latest I've gotten is Bach played on a late 18th cent. organ :)

All for now, hope you enjoyed reading. Ill do my best to get pictures uploaded so these are a little more interesting… 

Side note: On this wonderful Intercity Express train, I've been blessed with great seat mates. First half, old couple. He couldn't stay awake and not snore. His wife kept on jabbing him with great ceremony and smiling. Second half: off duty Deutsche Bahn (rail company) employee. He is snoring really really loud! I can almost not laugh!

side note no. 2: We just stopped in Augsburg. Some guy was very concentratedly reading his book. He looked up and realized that it was intact, Augsburg. He jumps up, and runs off the train in a great panic. about 2 seconds after he got off, the train left. It was quite funny to see the transformation from sedation to warp speed. 

What Have I been doing?

Well, to answer, playing organs. Ill start my giant update on monday. I visited some organs with Egbert and then went back to his house. We ate a wonderful lunch. Egbert and Hari are great cooks. We had Pasta with spinach, mushroom and other good stuffs, with fresh salad and tea. We finished with Chocolate-Vanilla custard :) I then practiced harpsichord for four hours while Egbert went and taught. I was going to go to Groningen on monday night, but they kindly let me stay one more night and we went to the train station early in the morning tuesday. I took the following route. Coevarden-Zwolle- Groningen-Grijpskerk. Grijpskerk is a tiny tiny little village in the province of Groningen. It is a 15 minute train ride from Groningen Centraal. I met Sietze de Vries there and we went to the village of Kantens.

Now, for an epic side note. There are three things one needs to know about Groningen (the province). It is flat as a pancake, very very beautiful, and they haven't invented crime yet. There are also a lot of windmills and churches. The province has an interesting history. It is right on the Wadden/North sea. Thus, like all of the Netherlands, water is always a surplus item. So, before all the dikes were properly built the entire province would be flooded twice a year. This, naturally, is not a great situation. So, they dealt with it by building big churches. Makes perfect sense, eh? Actually, it does, because what they did was build first a hill that was maybe 2 metros higher than the surrounding plain. Then, they built a church big enough to comfortably house the entire village population, often including livestock. Now, why they had to build churches with very high naves and beautiful choirs, I'm not sure, but, nevertheless, most of these villages have a church, on a man made hill, with a tower and beautiful interior. Groningen is quite literally dotted with windmills and church towers. 

So, in the village of Kantens, there is a lovely tower that, due to a thousand years worth of soil settling, is starting to sink. But, it is sinking unevenly. Infact, it is tilted almost like the tower of Pisa is. So, they built an arch to help support it. It really looks quite unique. 

The church has a wonderful little organ as well. It has two manuals, short octave and is tuned in meantone. The four foot flute in the Ruckpositiv (the organ sitting in front/hanging off the balcony) is the nicest flute I have ever heard. I spent probably an hour with it. It is really a lovely instrument. The only thing is that while the restoration was quite good, the pipework and sound was lovely, the action does have metal in the rollarboards so, it doesn't have the most wonderful feel ever. IT feels very clean, just different. It was restored by Jurgen Ahrend in 2000 (if i remember correctly). It was originally built by the family that taught Schnitger the trade of organ building. 

After a couple hours with the instrument, Sietze came back and we went to Uithuizen. It is a village that is probably three km from the sea. Very old and nice. Sietze and I went to a cafe where we had kaasbroodje (cheese with bread) and apfelkoek (apple cake). Then we went to the organ. It is the best preserved Schnitger there is. Over 80% of the pipework is unaltered/original from 1700 or before. Sietze demonstrated the organ with a wonderful partita (improvised of course) and then took me through the organ a little. We looked at some of the old pipework and saw how it was built and restored. Then, he handed me the keys, told me to stay as long as i pleased, and left. I play for about four hours. It has a great sound. The church has very, very bad acoustics, so, the instrument is voiced very loudly. This means that the plenum sound will blast your ears to pieces when you are playing, and by the time you get to the middle of the church, it isn't loud enough. But, while you are playing, it sounds quite good. You just can't play a plenum sound for too long.  However, the mutation stops are amazing. The quinte 3' and siflet combine wonderfully with almost every stop, including the usual principles and flutes, as well as the foxhumana, and even the trumpet. I've never loved the cornet sound as much as on that organ.

I left the church and 8, stopped at an Albert Heijn and got some bread and Gouda cheese and some Hero jam and apples ( I believe in a balanced diet… ;) and then took the train back to Groningen, found my hostel (long walk) and got to sleep by 11. 

The next day, we had a similar program me of activities. I met Sietze in Grijpskerk at 10:19, we went to a village to play an organ and so one. But, it was hardly the same. First we stopped at the custodian's house to get keys. He is also an organ builder by hobby and woodworker by trade. He had a little Regal he had just built. Hand pumped bellows and on little keyboard. Interesting soond, but, even more amazing wood work. The guy is an artist! Then we went upstairs and looked at his little organ he is building. Beautiful inlaid wood and ivory and an amazing little reed stop. 

After this, we went to the church, talked about the organ, style of the case, etc. and then he demonstrated. The organ was built in 1798 and is a very different sound and case than the 1700 instrument in Uithuizen. It has pitiful mixtures, and lots of flutes etc. Not my favorite instrument but still very nice and pleasing. Sietze improvised on the Lutheran chorale "What God does is well done" I played for about an hour or so. It has manually pumped bellows (as well as a blower) so, I got to do that while he played. 

From there, we went to Martinikerk. Im not sure I should say anything other then that I was completely blown away. Heres a picture. it has amazing sound!!!!

We talked about the case, the facade and the style of the organ. It has pipes dating to c. 1450. It ha s an amazing 8' flute in the Oberwerk. It is scaled to a sixteen foot principle, but, stopped at 8' and has the widest, most vocal sound ever. It just fills the room with one single pipe! I should pause a minute to say something about the acoustics of Martini. It is actually a little smaller than I expected. The ceiling is not ridiculously high (like in Bavokerk) and the choir is separated by a glass screen. So, in essence, you have plastered walls (very hard, great reverb) and a short/small room, but a HUGE organ. It strikes a good balance, the organ completely fills the room, but not so much that you get a muddy sound. It is just right. The organ also has the only surviving 32' principle. These are the pipes in the pedal towers on either side. They go down to the F (octave and a half below middle c) then there are wooden ones for the very low notes. The interesting thing is that the pedal towers come out a really long ways, and have pipes all the way around them, so, when you are sitting at the organ you have a very stereophonic sound. you really hear the pedals quite loudly on either side.

The organ has three manuals with a 16' plenum on each one, as well as a complete reed section in the pedal (16' 8' 4' 2' with actually two 16' reeds a Bazuyn and Dulcian). Anyways, for me to critique the sound any more, would be pure intellectual snobbery. It is revered as an amazing instrument, and I finally have experienced it. It is not only a feast to look at (perhaps only topped by Bavokerk) but an amazing feast to hear. the Muller organ in Bavo simply does not sound this amazing. The other great thing about Martini is that the organ isn't spaced out like Bavo or Alkmaar. while both those instruments have larger cases and pipes that reach seemingly into heaven, Martini has a relatively compact Ruckpositiv, haupwerk and Oberwerk (three distinct divisions of the organ) with huge towers for pedals. Looking at it in a way betrays the scope of the instrument. But, the power within those pipes will move one to tears.

After talking about the organ, Sietze left to go demonstrate with me standing in the Nave. I casually asked for him to improvise on "A Mighty Fortress." Why", I don't know. It is what popped into my head in the moment. I was actually going to ask for my favorites," Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow"  and  "Praise to the Lord". But, I blurted out "Ein Feste Burg". Anyways, there was a lady, Canadian i found out, that was like "he's going to play that?!?!?!" yah. We chatted while he went up. Then i sat down, hit the record button, and listened. Probably about 15 or 20 minutes later, I was blown away and smiling. In awe of what God has given us. i looked back and the lady was crying. Sobbing actually. Sietze came down to let me into the organ gallery/loft  (a tiny door) and the lady came up to him. She thanked him profusely. Then she told her story. 6 months ago, her husband committed suicide, and three short weeks later, her brother died of cancer. She was moved by the beauty, but more importantly the comfort and assurance she received in some simple organ music. It was very meaningful to me to see yet again what music can do and how it can bring us closer to God.

What followed his atlast, my dream come true. I've dreamt of playing Martini since i first saw and heard the organ on CD. It was everything i ever imagined it to be and more. The action wasn't my favorite. But the sound was incredible. Utterly incredible. I played the Bach Toccata in C (564) the Fugue in C on "Allein Gott" (BWV 547) the D minor passacaglia by buxtehude. the Bruhns e minor praeludium and finally, my favorite, the Bach Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor. I think I may have died and gone to heaven. 

Now, while I write this, Im on a train from Groningen to Leers and then on to Hannover. Tomorrow I play in Melle (hopefully) and then in Amsterdam at the Oude Kerk. Today I didn't play in more organs. I went back to Martini and took pictures. about 300, actually, and just looked at the instrument. Theo Jellema was teaching some one. They played the passacaglia. Admittedly, they played it much better than I did. I limped through the piece because I haven't been practicing. But, I didn't not agree with how he played it. It did not flow. After that, I walked to Der Aa Kerk. I couldn't go in, but it was good to see. I stopped and got some stroopwafels and then walked to Pelstergasthuiskerk. It has A little Schnitger also, but, again, it is closed to public. 

Sunday I go down to Munich

A word about hostels. They are horrible. that is all. 

Sunday and Monday: With Egbert in Ootmarsum, Neueringe, and Emlichheim

will post more information about organs later

Sabbath, June 2

It was a very nice, beautiful day. I enjoyed the wonderful weather. It was sunny and bright the whole day. Unfortunately, being with Egbert means I was no where near to an Adventist church. Also, I had no way to get to one.... So, Egbert and I went north to Leeuwarden (pronounced Lay-ue-ward-den). We visited the Grote of St. Jacobijnakerk where they have a wonderful 1727 Muller organ. We got there around 9 and played for about two hours. The organ is unique in so far as it has double principles. What this means,  is when you pull the foundation stop of almost all organ music (the 8 ft principle or Praestant) it actually has two pipes for each note. So, it has a very special warmth and roundness to the sound. It fills the church (actually not all the big, about the length of the Collegedale sanctuary or shorter and much about 20ft narrower) very nicely. It has about 4 seconds of reverberation so it is very "live" sound. I played a bunch of stuff. Bach D major prelude and fugue, chorales, C major prelude and Fugue (on Allein Gott) and some buxtehude stuff like the passacaglia and some shorter works. It was a blast.

me, playing

this

Then we went back to Emlichheim and stopped in Steenwijk on the way to play this instrument. A French romantic instrument from the 1860s

What I did on Friday... June 1

Remember those wonderful fire alarms at southern? How effectively they woke you up? How ill timed they were? How done right annoying they were? Well, i would like to introduce their even more annoying cousin: Hostel fire alarms. Apparently, a common theme in the world is little punk kids that get lots of pleasure from pulling the fire alarms. A second common theme is the groaning, in my case, four separate languages. My Nigerian friend, LSD (yah, great name!) was in Den Haag to get a visa to work in  Saudi for the oil. He works for an oil service company doing spectroscopy on the oil. He is a Ph.D student also. Very talkative guy and very informative. Then there was the old guy. I don't know his name, but, he is from O Porto, Portugal and is in Holland on a bike tour. He rides 80-90 km a day and likes to see the country this way. Holland is his last country in Western Europe to bike through. Then there was the punk rocker that was staying in the Hague to audition for the Royal Conservatory's Electronic Music program. I didn't talk to him until the morning, because he came back at 3 am. I talked in the morning before i left to the train. Anyways, it was quite humorous to hear the rumblings and groanings of 4 different languages upon being woken at 4 with alarm. Great way to start the day.

I slept for a bit more, then ate breakfast (Bread, Cheese, Orange juice, Yoghurt, muesli etc...) then packed at got to the train station by 9:30. I boarded the train to Haarlem, and slept until there. Then I had to wait for a little till the train to Uitgeest (try to pronounce that!) THen, when in Uitgeest, boarded yet another to Alkmaar. I ditched my big backpack in the station lockers, and walked to the Grote of Alkmaar.

It is always fascinating to me how central these churches are to a town or city. They are usually the most noticeable building and often serve as the symbol of a city. Alkmaar was no exception. While a small town, it has a HUGE church. Almost as big as the Grote of Haarlem. They have a cheese market on Fridays and I walked through the market. They had probably 30 kinds of cheese and close to 100 kinds of tulips. It was amazing. I wanted to buy some tulip bulbs, but, I didn't think Id get them into the USA. They also had a crepe shop. The rest is history once i saw that :)

The church is magnificent. I walked in and was blown away the the organ. It fits the room very well. Both the Grotes of Alkmaar and Haarlem have impressively high ceilings 80-90 feet. The organ fills the space almost perfectly in both. Ill post a whole blog about the Haarlem organ later. But here is a picture of Alkmaar.

 Note the paintings at the top of the church, behind the organ and on the wall. 

facade covers

After being wowed by the organ, I listened to the cheese concert. It was one of the organist's student. He played well. His interpretation of Bach would have made Mrs. Glass cringe and Heiller roll in his grave. Overall a beautiful instrument. It is primarily a 'plenum' instrument. It doesn't have so many coloristic stops, but, the sound of the plenum is very beautiful. In fact, the sound between the Schnitger plenum and that of Collegedale is very very similar. I was blown away.

Then the second half the concert was played by another student. She is hungarian and played very well. She has studied in Amsterdam and Alkmaar for three years now. Great touch and very musical. She played a bunch of early music on the little meantone instrument they have. 

Anyways, after the concert I talked with the two organist for close to a half hour. They were very friendly and quite fun to talk to. They are both graduating with Masters degrees.

From Alkmaar I took the train to Amsterdam, then Amersfoort, then Zwolle, and finally to Coevarden. Egbert picked me up and I've stayed with him now for two nights.

Thursday: late again

I didn't like Amsterdam. To many drunk people. Too much pot. Bad atmosphere and bad hostel mates. So, I went traveling on the train to Rotterdam then on to Vlaardingen, Maasluis, Hoek van Holland and then Den Haag.

Here is a map

It was quite the trip and I enjoyed being out in the country. I went to a concert in the Grote Kerk of Vlaardingen. It has a van Petegham organ from Brussels. It was moved sometime in the late 18th century and put in a new case. But, in essence it is a Belgium classical organ. It had nice principles, but poor action and very unconvincing mixtures. Did not sound nice with a plenum. The organist played well, but it was very connected and without emotion. Overall a nice concert and glad I went. I talked (as best as one can through a language barrier until we found the one person who spoke English. Then, it was marginally better. I asked to play it. Here are pictures!

organist Aad Zoutendijk in the background.

More pictures of Maasluis and the Hoek to follow!

Wednesday: A few days late

I went museum-ing.

I ran hither, tither and yon to the Diamond Museum, Rijksmuseum, NieuweKerk, Oude Kerk, Westekerk (New Church, Old Church, and West Church, respectively. In all reality, all very old.) as well as the Anne Frank museum... Finished off the day with Masaaki Suzuki and the Japan Bach Collegium performing two cantatas and the Magnificat. It was Magnifique! Truly wonderful music in an absolutely gorgeous concert house!

It was all very interesting and historical. I learned lots and saw many works of fine art. I saw Rembrandt and other Dutch masters (including the famous Night Watchmen) and read about the history of the Dutch golden era. I read of how the Dutch became a world power almost overnight by uniting the Seven Provinces (Utrecht 1579) and defeating the Spanish in the 80 years war (50 Years + 30 years war that involved all Europe). The Dutch then became famously wealthy and and devoted many resources to fighting the English and making beautiful art and great organs.

Here are some pictures.

 Night Watchmen

 Nieuwe Kerk

 Oude Kerk small organ

 Westerkerk

 Concertgebouw

 Klompen!

Diamond Museum

Vater-Muller Orgel of Oude Kerk