Hans Versteegt
Johannes "Hans" Versteegt (born March 26, 1928 in Zwijndrecht , South Holland ; † October 22, 2011 ) was a Dutch organ builder and founder of the Johannus Orgelbouw company . In the Netherlands he is considered the "father" of the electronic organ .
Live and act
Even as a child, pastor's son Versteegt could often be found playing the organ in the church of his home parish Loosdrecht in North Holland , which fascinated him. During the occupation he was asked to play as organist in the church of Nieuw-Loosdrecht after his father had been taken to a concentration camp by the Germans. After the war, which his father only survived briefly, the Versteegt family went to Rotterdam. In the later 1940s, Versteegt was active in shipping, as a machinist in the Rhine shipping . In the obituary of the Reformatorisch Dagblad it is stated - contrary to the biography on his son's website - that he came into contact with electronic organs for the first time as the captain of tugboats in American ports. Due to his technical skill, it is said there, he was often called in for repairs, which enabled him to self-taught the basics of building the instruments. He carried out the first experiments for building his own organs on board his ship.
In any case, the organ and electronics fascinated the young man, and even at that time he had the idea of combining both. In 1952 he gave up his work on the ship, married and initially took a job as caretaker. With his organ building plans he turned unsuccessfully to various companies in the following years. It wasn't until Vreeken in Bodegraven that he had success in 1959; the senior boss believed in the designer's plans. At the end of 1959 Vreeken presented Versteegts Eminent 60 home organ, the first electronic organ made in the Netherlands, which went into series production from 1960 with 500 pieces for a price of almost 4,000 guilders . The radio organist Pierre Palla was quoted in the Trouw newspaper as saying: “Compared to the Hammond organ , this is an improvement; it has many more possibilities to vary the timbres. ”At this point in time, the inventor himself advised against using it as a replacement for a pipe organ in churches.
In order to refine his instruments, he gave up his collaboration with Vreeken in 1965 and subsequently produced Ri-Ha organs in Harderwijk . These too were a success; up to 20 pieces per day were built. For a short time he went to South Africa to produce for Ri-Ha . But in the 1960s he went to Italy, where he worked for various manufacturers such as Viscount . During the whole time he worked on designing an electronic organ that would be suitable for concerts of classical works. The company Electronium was founded in Ede for this purpose .
In 1971 Versteegt presented the Johannus organ at the Firato trade fair in Amsterdam , with which he saw his dream come true: “I called it Johannusorgel as a bow to my baptismal name Johannes”, he later said in an interview, “because this was an organ that you can listen to had to. ”In Veenendaal the Johannus organ went into series production. Various churches in the Netherlands installed Johannus organs in the following years; In Dinxperlo , the H-III type church organ was played in 1976 by the organist Feike Asma , a good friend of Versteegts who had advised him on his constructions. In 1984 Versteegt himself installed one of his organs in Dallas , Texas .
In 1985 the founder of Johannus Orgelbouw sold his company, which still exists today and delivers electronic church organs all over the world. Versteegt switched to brokering boats and real estate, but remained an adviser to instrument making.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ life data according to obituary in Friesch Dagblad
- ↑ Hij get wel de vader van de electronic orgels genoemd. Concern about Johannusorgels Hans Versteegt (83) overleden , Reformatorisch Dagblad of October 24, 2011
- ↑ "Vergeleken met het Hammond organ is dit een verbetering, het bezit veel meer mogelijkheden om de klankkleuren te variëren ...", Trouw of November 30, 1960, quoted on this website ( Memento of the original of May 13, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Een verbuiging van mijn doopnaam John omdat het een organ is om "u" tegen te zeggen "zei Versteegt in 2003 tijdens een interview. , quoted in Bedenker Johannusorgels Hans Versteegt (83) overleden , Reformatorisch Dagblad of October 24, 2011
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Hide away, Hans |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Versteegt, Johannes (real name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Dutch organ builder |
| DATE OF BIRTH | March 26, 1928 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zwijndrecht , South Holland |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 22, 2011 |