Klaas Bolt

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Klaas Bolt in January 1990 in St. Bavo, Haarlem

Klaas Roelof Bolt (born March 6, 1927 in Appingedam , † April 11, 1990 in Haarlem ) was a Dutch organist , improviser and organ expert. He exerted significant influence on organ renovation and organ building practice in the Netherlands as well as on congregational singing and was considered a leading authority in these areas. His commitment to slow organ accompaniment and the performance of singing concerts that were documented on sound carriers received wide attention.

Life

His father was a teacher, choir conductor and church organist, so that Klaas Bolt came into contact with church music at an early age. After his first piano lessons, he felt more attracted to the organ. As a student of Johan van Meurs, he received lessons on the Schnitger organ at the Aa-kerk in Groningen . In 1946 he became organist at the Hervormde Kerk in Noordlaren and assistant organist at the Schnitger organ of the Martinikerk in Groningen. He then studied in Utrecht at the Utrecht Conservatory , where his great talent for improvisation was discovered. He graduated with the state examination A and B and the examination for school music.

In 1952 he became ecclesiastical organist at St. Bavo's Church in Haarlem and held this position until his death. There he used the world-famous organ by Christian Müller , which he shared with the city organist Piet Kee . After successfully applying, he also took improvisation lessons from his father Cor Kee . At the Haarlem improvisation competition Internationaal Orgelimprovisatie Concours he was first prize winner in 1956 and 1957.

In addition to his employment in Haarlem, Klaas Bolt has performed frequently as a concert organist at home and abroad and was a professor at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam . Nevertheless, he was not a pronounced organ virtuoso, but mainly devoted himself to the practice of church music. He has given master classes in improvisation in the United States . Masaaki Suzuki was one of his students . In addition to Gustav Leonhardt , he was a pioneer of historical performance practice in the Netherlands without committing to a particular style of performance. As one of the first Dutch organists of the 20th century, Bolt used historical fingerings (without constant legato ) and footings (without using the hoe). He tried to convey his appreciation for the historical organs to a wide audience through the "organ tours" he founded and has organized these excursions regularly since 1969.

Klaas Bolt was primarily a church musician who put his playing in the service of Protestant parish singing. For this purpose he had founded a choir in Haarlem and from 1983 onwards held musical Vespers in St. Bavo in the summer months. In his opinion the organ had to follow the choir instead of the other way around. For this reason he vehemently rejected a musicologically motivated tendency among conductors and organists who worked towards fast tempi . His article De gemeentezang in een crisissituatie ( Congregational singing in a crisis ), which appeared in the monthly magazine Het Orgel in 1979, caused a sensation . In it, he turned against the rapid accompaniment of community singing and gave historical, musical and psychological reasons for a slow singing tempo with a dynamization of the individual notes and without constant legato . Bolt advocated a return to the aesthetics and practice of song accompaniment as he believed it was before 1840. To this end, he examined various treatises from the 16th to 18th centuries and went into the construction and restoration of churches, the establishment of cantories and the renewal of the liturgy . The use of the mid-tone mood , the abandonment of the strict four-part setting in the song accompaniment, a powerful and throaty singing of a large congregation in a church with undamped acoustics are advantageous for improving the parish singing.

In the field of improvisation he followed up Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck and Anthoni van Noordt , whose variations on melodies from the Geneva Psalter served him as models for improvisation. However, Bolt did not commit himself to historicizing the Baroque, but also mastered improvisation in the Rococo, late Romantic and post-Hindemith style of the 1950s. As a rule, he started from particularly melodious registers, which gave him cause for specific variations. Not infrequently, his song variations bore the names of the registers concerned as titles.

His song accompaniments were characterized on the one hand by functional simplicity and on the other hand by a great wealth of ideas. Characteristic of his accompaniment of the church singing were the individual registrations for each song verse, which were accompanied by different styles and musical forms. The first song verse was always accompanied homophonically as a simple four-part movement in the style of Claude Goudimel , the second usually with the cantus firmus in the bass or tenor. The fundamental principle was not to accompany several melody notes on one harmony. With an increasing number of stanzas followed with an additional upper part, with an ornate cantus firmus , with the melody in the different pitches or with additional counterpoints that anticipated the new melody line or imitated it canonically . He played around the underlying harmonization with through notes and alternating notes and added transitions between the individual lines. He was happy to transpose the final stanza after a transitional modulation. He also used cadences in the psalms in church modes with the corresponding increases and decreases in the sense of functional theory . His concerts, in which he improvised preludes to psalms and accompanied the common singing (Dutch: "samenzang") in his characteristic way, enjoyed great popularity. Many of these singing concerts were documented on sound carriers, initially by the record label "Disco Nederland", which he founded himself.

As an organ expert he worked with the organ committee of the Dutch Reformed Church and the state authority for the preservation of monuments. He was known as a connoisseur of the history of historical organs and was a firm advocate of traditional mechanical construction. Out of dissatisfaction with the neo-baroque organs from the 1950s on the one hand and as a critic of the modern, contemporary organ on the other hand, I saw the old organs as a model for the future. He appeared about 200 times as an appraiser for organs across the country. Bolt rejected extensive reconstructive restorations and was often committed to maintaining the natural state of an instrument. He was the first to get involved in the reassembly of the Schnitger organ at Der Aa-kerk in Groningen, which, unlike most of Schnitger's other works, had not undergone any major changes in the 20th century. In 1979 he was awarded the title “Ridder Oranje Nassau” for his services to Dutch organ culture. The last instrument on which he accompanied the restoration was the Schnitger organ in the Groninger Aa-kerk, on which he himself had learned to play the organ. In 1990 he succumbed to cancer . 100 days before his death, he married Margarethe Bolt-Bartels, who was first married to the organ builder Jürgen Ahrend . Posthumously, the Koninklijke Nederlandse Organisten Vereniging awarded him honorary membership for his numerous services . The foundation “Stiftung Utrecht Orgelarchief Maarten Albert Vente ” manages its archive, which includes around 5,500 text documents, sketches and photos. Bolt noted some of his improvisations in writing; these records are archived with Harald Vogel .

Quotes

  • A well-known saying from Bolt's mouth was: "I don't play new organs."
  • Bolt's direct manner often made himself unpopular. This is how he judged the Marcussen organ in Utrecht , built in neo-baroque style between 1953 and 1956 , which was highly praised by colleagues: "The organ plays on its reserves".

literature

items

  • Klaas Bolt: The Character and Function of the Dutch Organ in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries . In: Fenner Douglass: Charles Benton Fisk, Organ Builder . Easthampton 1986. pp. 1-18.
  • Klaas Bolt: Congregational Singing in a Crisis Situation . In: Cleveland Johnson (Ed.): Orphei Organi Antiqui: Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel . Westfield Center, Ithaca 2006, ISBN 0-9778400-0-X , pp. 191-220 (translation from Dutch).
  • Klaas Bolt: De gemeentezang in een crisissituatie . In: Het Orgel . Vol. 75, 1979, pp. 138-166.
  • Klaas Bolt: De historie en samenstelling van het Haarlemse Müller organ . Arti * Novo, Amsterdam 1985.
  • Klaas Bolt: De orgelbouwer Christian Müller (1690–1763) .

Compositions

  • Klaas Bolt: Orgelkoraal: O Lamb of God innocent . Danmarks Blindebibliotek, København 1999.
  • Klaas Bolt: Twaalf Psalms en lofzangen: voor zang, toets en solo instruments: Voor organ . Lindenberg's Boekhandel, Rotterdam 1980.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variaties over gezang 405 en Psalm 91: Voor orgel . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 2000.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variaties on "Ontwaak, gij die slaapt". Gezang 462 uit het Liedboek voor de kerken: Voor orgel . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 1993.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variaties over Psalm 43: Voor orgel . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 1994.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variaties over Psalm 75 en 88: Voor orgel . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 1994.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variaties over Psalm 130: Voor orgel . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 1996.
  • Klaas Bolt: Variations on "Zie ginds komt de stoomboot": Voor orgel = Variations on " Im Märzen der Bauer ": For organ . Annie Bank, Amstelveen 1992.

Secondary literature

  • Wim Kloppenburg: The Beauty of Unpolished Congregational Singing: The Concepts of Klaas Bolt . In: Cleveland T. Johnson (Ed.): Orphei Organi Antiqui: Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel . Westfield Center, Ithaca 2006, ISBN 0-9778400-0-X , pp. 221-228.
  • Piet Lindenberg: Klaas Bolt, life and work . Lindenberg, Rotterdam 2001, pp. 11–14 (text supplement to the CD Klaas Bolt geïnspireerd by Arp Schnitger ).
  • Hans van Nieuwkoop: Haarlemse organ art van 1400 heden dead. Orgels, organisten en orgelgebruik in the Grote of St.-Bavokerk te Haarlem . Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis: Utrecht 1988, ISBN 90-6375-091-9 (Muziekhistorische monografieën 11).
  • Jan Roelof Luth: "Dear worth om 't seerste uytgekreten ...": Bijdragen tot een divorceis van de gemeentezang in het Nederlandse Gereformeerde protestantisme ± 1550 - ± 1852 . Van den Berg, Kampen 1986. ( online ) (Chapter 1, pp. 9-16; PDF file; 688 kB).
  • Harald Vogel: Klaas Bolt, in memoriam . Lindenberg, Rotterdam 2001, pp. 10–11 (text supplement to the CD Klaas Bolt geïnspireerd by Arp Schnitger ).

Complete discography

CDs

  • Al wat geest en adem heeft . 2004. Lindenberg CD MACD02 (improvised preludes and congregational singing of 10 psalms; live recording 1978 in Haarlem, 1981 in Farmsum and 1980 in Utrecht)
  • Elk heff 'met mij den lof des Heeren aan . 2000. Lindenberg MACD11 (improvised auditions and community singing of 10 psalms; live recording in 1986 in Hendrik-Ido-Ambacht and 1989 in Lunteren)
  • Rejoice very much, O my soul . 2000. Lindenberg LCBD 97 (improvisations on Ps 42 and 108; works by WF Bach, CF Beck, G. Böhm, C. Goudimel, JL Krebs, AC Schuurman, JG Walther, Anonymus; recording in 1977 in Kampen / Bovenkerk and 1981 in Harderwijk )
  • Kerstnacht in de Bavo . 1990. Intersound 2501 (improvised auditions and community singing of 15 Christmas carols; live recording 1971 and 1972 St. Bavo / Haarlem)
  • Klaas Bolt inspired by Arp Schnitger . 2001. Lindenberg LBCD 94 (works by JS Bach, D. Buxtehude, G. Böhm, GF Handel, V. Lübeck, H. Scheidemann, S. Scheidt, JP Sweelinck, GP Telemann; recording 1970/71 in Groningen / Aa-Kerk , around 1971 in Uithuizen, around 1971 in Godlinze, 1968 / around 1971 in Nieuw Scheemda)
  • Klaas Bolt improviseert op vijf historical orgels . 1995. Lindenberg LBCD 38 (improvisations over 7 songs; recording 1989 in Haarlem / St. Bavo, 1982 in Zandvoort, 1982 in Krewerd, 1984 in Groningen / Martinikerk, 1989 in Haarlem / Nieuwe Kerk)
  • Klaas Bolt Live concert . 1986. Lindenberg, LBCD 16 (improvisation on Ps 79; works by JS Bach, PD da Bergamo, G.-A. Calvière, APF Boëly, S. Wesley; live recording 1986 in Zaltbommel)
  • Koraal- en Liedbewerkingen . 1988. Intersound Heemstede stereo 1002 (improvisations on Ps 43 and “De klokken van Haarlem”, chorale arrangements by JS Bach, JG Bastiaans, A. Guilmant, M. Reger, JG Walther, J. Zwart; recording in 1988 in St. Bavo, Haarlem )
  • O God mijns heils, mijn toeverlaat . 2004. Lindenberg CD MACD02 (improvised preludes and community singing of 11 psalms; live recording 1984 in Rotterdam-Charlois and 1979/80 in Rotterdam-Delfshaven)

Records

  • 1648–1719 Arp Schnitger . 1968-1971. EMI 5C 053 24060 (works by JS Bach, D. Buxtehude, G. Böhm, GF Handel, V. Lübeck, H. Scheidemann, S. Scheidt, JP Sweelinck, GP Telemann; recording 1970/71 in Groningen / Aa-Kerk, around 1971 in Uithuizen, around 1971 in Godlinze, 1968 / around 1971 in Nieuw Scheemda; 2001 digitized on CD as Klaas Bolt geïnspireerd door Arp Schnitger )
  • Johan van Meurs and Klaas Bolt played the Arp Schnitger organ in the Aa-kerk te Groningen . 197 ?. Phonogram (works by JS Bach, D. Buxtehude, JCF Fischer, GP Telemann, FW Zachow, JL Krebs)
  • A Bach concert in the St. Bavokerk in Haarlem: Klaas Bolt patted the Wereldberoemde Christian Muller organ (1738) . 1970. EMI 5C053.24178 (works by JS Bach; organ in Haarlem / St. Bavo)
  • Klaas Bolt covered the Lohman organ from Farmsum (1828) . 1970. EMI 5C053-24363 (works by JS Bach and others)
  • Zingt vrolijk in hehven psalms . 1979. Lindenberg 6814.374 (Improvised auditions and community singing of psalms; 2004 digitized on CD as O God mijns heils, mijn toeverlaat )
  • Klaas Bolt en Willem Vogel: Oude Kerk - Amsterdam . 1979. Stichting Oude Kerk Amsterdam / Van Schuppen 6812.819 (organ in Amsterdam / Oude Kerk)
  • Gustav Leonhardt - Klaas Bolt: Oude Kerk - Amsterdam . 1980. Stichting Oude Kerk, Stemra 6814 163. 2 LP (K. Bolt: Variations on Ps 75; works by A. Guilmant, A. van Noordt, H. Scheidemann)
  • Eight historical orgels in Noordholland . 1982. Orgelwerkgroep Noord-Holland 6814.750 / 51 (K. Bolt, J. Jongepier, H. van der Schaaf and K. Klein play in Oosthuizen, Edam, Medemblik, Oosterland, Zandvoort, Venhuizen, Zaandam and Weesp.)
  • The organ of Krewerd . 1983. Stichting Oude Groninger Kerken DMM 66.23423-01-2 (improvisations on 3 songs, with the participation of H. Geraerts, tenor; works by PC Porta, GB Riccio, S. Scheidt, A. de Sola, G. Steenwijk)
  • 1984. Reil 6818.374 / 75 (Anniversary recording for 50 years of organ building Reil, four organists play on Bolt's house organ and in Dieren.)
  • Looft de Heer, want Hij is goed . 1984. Lindenberg LBLP2 (improvised auditions and community singing; works by JS Bach, K. Bolt, D. Buxtehude, M. Dupre, C. Goudimel, CF Hurlebusch, A. van den Kerckhoven, JC Kittel, H. Scheidemann, S. Scheidt , JG Walther)
  • Zingt voor de Heer een nieuw gezang . 12 LP (K. Bolt in Soest; also other organists and choirs)
  • Klaas Bolt spatters the organ of Medemblik . 1976. Univox Groningen 6812 131 (organ in Medemblik; works by JS Bach, GF Handel, JP Sweelinck)
  • Müller organ: Grote-of St. Bavokerk Haarlem . 1988. Intersound Heemstede (improvisations on Ps 43; works by JS Bach, D. Buxtehude, JF Dandrieu, GF Ebhardt, A. Guilmant; recording in 1988 in St. Bavo, Haarlem; mostly on CD as Koraal- en Liedbewerkingen )
  • Works by Johann Sebastian Bach: Klaas Bolt bespeeld de Christian Muller Orgels . EMI 5C053.24193 (organs in Alkmaar, Amsterdam / Waalse Kerk and Beverwijk; works by JS Bach)
  • Klaas Bolt in de Bovenkerk te Kampen . 1977 ?. KMK 1006 ( organ in Kampen / Bovenkerk ; K. Bolt: Variations on Ps 42; works by JG Albrechtsberger, G. Böhm, C. Goudimel, JL Krebs, JG Walther)
  • Klaas Bolt sprinkled the organ van de Grote Kerk te Harderwijk . Studio van Schuppen 6814 605 (Organ in Harderwijk)
  • Kerkklok van Krewerd, Magnificat Primi Toni (1543) . 1965. DNRC Disco-Nederland - RC 146. Single (works by G. Cavazzoni, S. Scheidt)
  • Zingt Uw kerstlied met Klaas Bolt . 1967. Disco Nederland 1759, single (organ in Haarlem / St. Bavo)
  • Klaas Bolt spits Bach op het Müller organ . Stichting Restauratiefonds / Bovema RCS 312 (organ in Haarlem / St. Bavo)
  • Klaas Bolt patted the Schnitger organ in Noordbroek . Disco Nederland 11,211. Single (organ in Noordbroek)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e Klaas Bolt: Biography , accessed on April 23, 2019.
  2. ↑ a b Harald Vogel: Klaas Bolt, in memoriam . 2001, p. 11.
  3. ↑ a b c d Piet Lindenberg: Klaas Bolt, life and work . 2001, p. 12.
  4. ↑ a b c Piet Lindenberg: Klaas Bolt, life and work . 2001, p. 13.
  5. ↑ Klaas Bolt: Ein Groninger , accessed on April 23, 2019.
  6. ↑ Jan Roelof Luth: "Dear Wert om 't seerste uytgekreten ..." . 1986, p. 12 ( online , PDF file; 687 kB), accessed on April 23, 2019.
  7. ↑ Jan Roelof Luth: "Dear Wert om 't seerste uytgekreten ..." . 1986, p. 13 ( online , PDF file; 687 kB), accessed on April 23, 2019.
  8. ↑ a b c Harald Vogel: Klaas Bolt, in memoriam . 2001, p. 10.
  9. ↑ a b c Klaas Bolt: Improvisation Art , accessed on April 23, 2019.
  10. ↑ a b Klaas Bolt: Congregational singing accompaniment , April 23, 2019.
  11. ^ J. van 't Hul: Een huwelijk van honderd dagen . In: Reformatory Dagblad . July 19, 1991, p. 3.
  12. ^ Stiftung Utrecht Orgelarchief , April 23, 2019 (PDF file).
  13. ↑ Klaas Bolt: Archive , April 23, 2019.
personal data
SURNAME Bolt, Klaas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bolt, Klaas Roelof (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Dutch organist, improviser and organ expert
DATE OF BIRTH March 6, 1927
PLACE OF BIRTH Appingedam
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1990
Place of death Haarlem