Organs of the Der Aa-kerk (Groningen)
| Organs of the Der Aa-kerk (Groningen) | |
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| General | |
| alternative name | Schnitger organ |
| place | The Aa-kerk , Groningen |
| Organ builder | Arp Schnitger |
| Construction year | 1702 |
| Last renovation / restoration | 1998–2011 Orgelmakerij Reil |
| epoch | Baroque |
| Organ landscape | Netherlands |
| Technical specifications | |
| Number of registers | 40 |
| Number of rows of pipes | 51 |
| Number of manuals | 3 |
The organs of Der Aa-kerk (Groningen) are the "Bolswarder Organ" in the south transept and the large Schnitger organ on the west gallery. This was built by Arp Schnitger in 1702 for the neighboring Academiekerk (university church), transferred to the Aa-kerk in 1815 and adapted to the other spatial conditions. Today it has 40 registers on three manuals and pedal and is a sound monument of European importance.
Schnitger organ
Building history
Predecessor organs
The Aa-kerk in the Dutch town of Groningen was given its current cross shape in the late Gothic period and was named after the neighboring river Aa.
In 1475 an organ was built in the east wall of the southern transept , which was rebuilt in 1558 by Andreas de Mare I. In 1654 Theodorus Faber was commissioned with a large new building on the west wall, but was unable to complete it due to his death in 1659, as was the organ builder Andreas de Mare II, whose relationship to the organ builder of the same name from the 16th century has not yet been clarified. Jacobus Galtus Hagerbeer succeeded in 1667 in the completion of this large instrument, which was equipped with 40 stops on three manuals and pedal; In 1671 it fell victim to a fire. 1694–1697 Arp Schnitger built his largest organ in the Netherlands for Der Aa-Kerk, which was lavishly equipped and had over 40 stops on four manuals and pedal. The prospect pipes were made from pure East Indian pewter and the bass octave had all semitones. Schnitger himself wrote about this organ: “I didn't save anything on it and did everything wonderfully; In addition to the contract, I added 6 stops on a special wind chest and still earned something on this organ. ”This organ was destroyed in 1710 when the tower collapsed. Only Schnitger's original draft drawing has been preserved. The congregation had to do without organ accompaniment for around 100 years.
New building by Schnitger in 1702
When the Groninger Academiekerk (university church) was given to the Catholic community in 1814, its organ was donated by King Willem I to the Der Aa-Kerk. Schnitger built it from 1699–1702, taking over a number of stops from the previous organ of the Academiekerk. Hendrick Harmens van Loon and Andreas de Mare II completed a large organ with 32 registers on three manuals and pedal here in 1679 and had already adopted material from an older organ. The case for the new organ was made by Allert Meijer and Schnitger and the carving by Jan de Rijk.
In 1788 Nicolaas Arnoldi Knock handed down the disposition of the Schnitger organ in the Academiekerk, which reflects the situation after the work of Hinsz in 1784 [in Knock's disposition the Octaaf 4 ′ is missing in the rug positief]:
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- Pair : I / II, III / II
- 2 tremulants , windlossing, 4 shut-off valves
- 6 bellows (Schnitger)
The Rückpositiv reflects the main housing in a reduced form. Both housings are nine-part with a raised polygonal central tower, medium-sized polygonal outer towers and low pointed towers in between. Four two-story flat fields with transom strips each connect the towers and form a straight end with the pointed towers. The veil consists of acanthus leaves with volutes. The blind wings of the Rückpositiv carry an angel with a palm branch, the angels in the blind wings of the main work play musical instruments. The breastwork doors have openwork acanthus carvings and two double-headed eagles from the Groningen city arms.
The 103 prospect pipes of the Rückpositiv and the 91 of the main work have a tin content of about 90% and have semicircular gold-plated labia. It is the largest inventory of original tin prospectus pipes in a Schnitger organ.
Matthias Amoor from the Schnitger School repaired the organ in 1728 and 1738. In 1754 Albertus Antonius Hinsz added a coupling between the main work and Rückpositiv and carried out repairs in 1761 and 1784.
Implementation by Timpe 1815/1816
The organ builder Johannes Wilhelmus Timpe (Groningen) transferred the organ to the Aa-Kerk in 1815/1816 and adapted it to the new conditions. The gallery and the wide portal with the three double-leaf doors under round arches by cabinet maker and later city architect Allert Meijer, who created Schnitger's organ case in the Groningen area, also had to be redesigned. The doors through which professors ceremoniously moved in on academic occasions in the past have only served as access to the organ since then. The two pillars below the Rückpositiv 1702 were possibly added, as the composite capitals are designed somewhat differently than the four pillars on the portal wall. The installation of the six wedge-shaped bellows behind the organ and the lower gallery depth meant that the space for the organist between the console and the Rückpositiv was considerably restricted.
The portal, gallery and organ case are made of oak with a brown varnish . The portal wall is structured by four fluted columns. The gallery parapets have four profiled panels on each side and the carved Groningen coat of arms in the middle. Openwork carvings with volutes , tendrils and figures with musical instruments form the gallery top. In the course of the implementation of the organ, the classical figures on the manual works and below the pedal tower were carved by Anthonie Wallis and the lower case was widened to match the dimensions of the upper case. Four musical putti from 1815 crown the Rückpositiv and two women and angels with musical instruments the main case. Wallis also replaced the original carvings below the side towers of the main housing with two almost life-size atlases .
Later work
In 1830/1831 Timpe converted the breastwork into an upperwork and relocated or renewed some registers. The instrument was interveningly rebuilt by Petrus van Oeckelen (Groningen) from 1856-1858 and adapted to the taste of the time by expanding the main work from 9 to 13 registers with new wind chests, adding three more registers in the lower case to the pedal and adding the missing bast tones C sharp and D flat Additional drawer added and the pedal mix removed. Van Oeckelen renewed the keyboards and most of the playing and stop action. The bellows was housed in the tower. In 1919 Jan Doornbos replaced the six wedge bellows with a magazine bellows. In 1924 he installed a sill for the upper work and added a Voix Céleste on a pneumatic cone drawer. In the 1930s to 1950s, some old registers were replaced by Klaas Doornbos (1935, 1939, 1946, 1952).
restoration
In 1977 the interior of the organ was outsourced when the church restoration began. In 1990 it was partially restored and reassembled by the Reil organ building workshop (Heede / NL), including Schnitger's Windladen. Klaas Bolt , Harald Vogel and Stef Tuinstra accompanied this work as organ experts.
The expert Rudi van Straeten drew up a restoration proposal in 1993, which was based on the condition of 1858, but should include some technical improvements. A controversial discussion arose over the question of whether the existing stock should be changed or retained as a grown state. Two arguments were decisive for maintaining the grown state: There was no serious static instability, which was feared in the meantime, and one did not want to lose the special sound quality of the instrument.
The long-standing dispute was judged in 2002 in favor of preserving the current state. From 1998 to 2011, Reil carried out technical maintenance work and conservative consolidation without interfering with the existing substance. He created a new, lying tremulant modeled on Timpe and reinstalled the bourdon bass pipes. Some pipes from the Scherp and Sifflet registers in the Rückpositiv from 1952 have been replaced and the swell box from 1924 removed. The only stop that Reil reconstructed was the pedal trombone based on Schnitger models, as the modern construction of the trombone, which was installed on an additional pneumatic drawer in 1935, was not sonically satisfactory.
The re-use of the organ took place on October 14, 2011. Organ concerts, exhibitions, a symposium and the publication of a commemorative publication underlined the special importance of this instrument.
meaning
The organ is one of the Dutch Rijksmonumente . It is considered to be one of the most important baroque organs in Northern Europe and, with its old registers and the acoustics of the Gothic church, has an unbroken fascination with organ connoisseurs worldwide. The vocal principals are praised for their fine response, the colored flutes and the fundamental reed pipes , which enable the most varied of sound combinations. More than half of the registers still come from Schnitger or go back to the predecessor organ by de Mare. As a result of the various modifications, the organ shows a grown state with elements from different epochs.
In addition to the organ of the Martinikerk (1692) and the Aa-Kerk (1694), Schnitger also built organs for the Groninger Pelstergasthuiskerk (1693), the Lutherse Kerk (1699) and the Academiekerk (1702), so that there was once a four-manual in the city , two two- and three-manual and three single-manual Schnitger organs (1695/1697) stood. Under Schnitger, Groningen developed into a center for organ building in the north of the Netherlands. Here the Schnitger School was continued through Albertus Antonius Hinsz , Heinrich Hermann Freytag , Frans Casper Snitger and Herman Eberhard Freytag in great continuity until 1863. Three of the Groningen church organs by Arp Schnitger are still preserved today. The organ, which Schnitger added to the Pepergasthuiskerk in 1697, was moved to Peize and still has a few Schnitger registers. The instrument in the Lutherse Kerk was reconstructed by Bernhardt Edskes in 2017 . With its special qualities, the organ of the Aa-Kerk shaped a new generation of organists under its organist Johan van Meurs in the 1960s and 1970s and played a major role in the Schnitger renaissance in the Netherlands. Since the 1950s, organ concerts, radio, television and recordings as well as the Groningen Arp Schnitger Congress in 1969 made the instrument widely known.
Disposition since 1990
The organ currently has the following disposition :
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- Coupling: I / II, III / II, I / P (van Oeckelen)
- Tremulant (timpe)
- Calcant bell (van Oeckelen)
- Remarks
- M = Andreas de Mare / Hendrick Hermann van Loon (1679)
- S = Arp Schnitger (1699–1702)
- T = Johann Wilhelm Timpe (1830)
- vO = Petrus van Oeckelen (1856-1858)
- D = Jan and Klaas Doornbos (1919–1946)
- R = Gebr. Reil (1990/2011)
Technical specifications
- 40 stops, 3 manuals and pedal
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Action :
- Keyboards (van Oeckelen)
- Tone action: mechanical
- Stop action: mechanical
- Wind supply:
- Magazine bellows (Doornbos)
- 4 shut-off valves (van Oeckelen)
- Wind pressure: 82.5 mm water column (2011)
- Windchests : Rugpositief (Schnitger) Hoofdmanuaal (van Oeckelen) Bovenwerk (Timpe) Pedaal (Schnitger)
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Mood :
- Height: 3/4 tone over a 1 = 440 Hz
- Equal mood
Bolsward organ
In addition to the Schnitger organ, the Aa-Kirche has another organ, which is not in use because the internal piping and action are missing. The "Bolswarder Organ" was probably built around 1550 by Hermann Raphael Rodensteen for the Martinikerk in Bolsward and transferred to the Broerekerk in the same town around 1635 and expanded in 1645 by Anthonie Verbeeck to include a positive return.
In 1731 and 1780 Albertus Antonius Hinsz carried out work on the organ, probably on the register action of the Rückpositiv. Albertus van Gruisen repaired the instrument in 1822. In the course of the interior renovation of the church, the organ was dismantled in 1869 and the organ case without pipes and without wing doors was placed back in the Martinikerk, where it was placed in the choir. After the church was renovated in the 1950s, the organ was sold through the mediation of Cornelius H. Edskes and the architect to the Hervormde parish in Groningen, where it was to be installed in the choir of the Martinikerk . The remaining wooden parts were in poor condition, so that the Bakker & Timmenga organ workshop from Leeuwarden received the order for restoration in 1990. The organ case, gallery parts, the keyboards and most of the front pipes (those of the main work probably from the 18th century) with the chiselled central pipes of the pipe towers have been preserved. Parts of the double doors were used in the rear wall. The keyboard coverings and the veil board, which were lost in 1869 at the latest , were reconstructed from the remains of the choir benches of the two Boldward churches, and the old gallery parts were partially integrated into the new gallery.
When the Aa-Kerk was restored from 1975 to 1983, fastening holes were discovered in the wall of the south transept, where an organ was installed in the 15th century. When looking for a suitable organ, the "Bolswarder Orgel" offered itself, which has now been in its place in the Aa-Kerk on the newly built gallery since 1991. There is a desire to reconstruct the instrument to the state of 1645. The presumed disposition of 1645 is as follows:
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literature
- Cornelius H. Edskes , Harald Vogel : Arp Schnitger and his work (= 241st publication by the Society of Organ Friends ). 2nd Edition. Hauschild, Bremen 2013, ISBN 978-3-89757-525-7 .
- Gustav Fock : Arp Schnitger and his school. A contribution to the history of organ building in the North and Baltic Sea coast areas . Bärenreiter, Kassel 1974, ISBN 3-7618-0261-7 , p. 228-231 .
- Jan R. Luth (Ed.): "Wereldberoemde klanken". Het Schnitgerorgel in de Der Aa-kerk te Groningen en zijn voorgangers (= Nederlandse Orgelmonografieën. Volume 11). Walburg Pers, Zutphen 2011, ISBN 978-90-5730-775-1 , limited preview in the Google book search
Discography
Web links
- Arp Schnitger organ database
- History of the organ by Harald Vogel u. a. (English)
- Homepage of the Der Aa-Kerk with information about the organs (Dutch)
- Information about the organ from H.-W. Coordes
- Comprehensive photo gallery by Elly Kooiman
- Aart van Beek: Het 'Bolswardorgel' in de Der Aa-kerk te Groningen
Individual evidence
- ^ Fock: Arp Schnitger , p. 285.
- ↑ a b Edskes, Vogel: Arp Schnitger and his work. 2nd edition 2013, p. 184.
- ^ A b Nicolaas Arnoldi Knock: Dispositien the most remarkable Kerk organs . Petrus Doekema, Groningen 1788, p. 50 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
- ↑ a b Edskes, Vogel: Arp Schnitger and his work. 2nd edition 2013, p. 92.
- ↑ a b Edskes, Vogel: Arp Schnitger and his work. 2nd edition 2013, p. 94.
- ^ History of the organ by Harald Vogel a. a. (English), accessed on March 2, 2018.
- ↑ a b orgelnieuws.nl (Dutch), accessed on March 2, 2018.
- ↑ Reformatorisch Dagblad of October 8, 2011: Gerestaureerde organ The Aa-kerk sounds weer than een klok (Dutch), accessed on March 2, 2018.
- ↑ Edskes, Vogel: Arp Schnitger and his work. 2nd ed. 2013, pp. 192–193.
- ↑ Harald Vogel: Text from the booklet of the CD: "Organworks of Dietrich Buxtehude Volume 4" on arpschnitger.nl, accessed on March 7, 2018.
- ↑ Jan R. Luth (Ed.): "Wereldberoemde klanken" . 2011, pp. 226–228, 233, 235, limited preview in Google Book search.
- ↑ Edskes, Vogel: Arp Schnitger and his work. 2nd edition 2013, p. 185.
- ↑ a b Aart van Beek: Het 'Bolswardorgel' in de Der Aa-kerk te Groningen , accessed on February 22, 2018.
Bergstedt | Blankenhagen | Cappel | Dedesdorf | Eenum | Faro | Ganderkesee | Godlinze | Grasberg | Aa-kerk Groningen | Martinikerk Groningen | Pelstergasthuiskerk Groningen | St. Jacobi Hamburg | Harkstede | Hollern | Lüdingworth | Mariana | Mensingeweer | Mittelkirchen | Moreira (Maia) | Neuenfelde | Nieuw Scheemda | Noordbroek | North | Ochsenwerder | Pellworm | Sneek | St. Cosmae Stade | Stone churches | Uithuizen | Weener
Coordinates: 53 ° 12 '58.6 " N , 6 ° 33' 43.7" E