For many music lovers, The Netherlands is a place of pilgrimage
primarily as a consequence of its unique collection of historic
organs. There is literally no other country in the world which
harbours such a substantial collection of historic survivals, at
least one of which can be found in virtually every town or
village. Of these instruments, the organ in Grote of St.
Bavokerk in Haarlem is perhaps the most famous.
On the 14th of March 1735, the Haarlem City Fathers decided to
commission a new organ for the Grote Kerk (literally the 'Great
Church') “which should correspond, to some degree to the size
and beauty of the same church”. The old main organ of the
church, which had hung for almost 300 years on the north
wall of the chancel, had become unfit for use. The west wall was
chosen as the place
for the new organ, which meant the removal of the great stained
glass window. The decision was immediately acted upon; on the
same day negotiations were begun with the organ builder
Christian Müller and the sculptor Jan van Logteren, both from
Amsterdam. On the 30th of April, the contracts proposed by
Müller and Van Logteren received approval from the Mayor of
Haarlem. At any one time, six or seven
people worked on the organ; in some periods however (1735-36 for
example) as many as nine or ten workers were active. In
September 1738 the organ was approved by the
organists Gerardus Havingha (from the Grote Kerk in Alkmaar),
and Henricus
Radeker, the city organist of Haarlem, who officially opened the
organ during a ceremonial service on 14th September 1738.
The reputation of the organ quickly spread; it became a great
object of interest and recitals on it proved a considerable
attraction. Foreign travellers visited Haarlem in order to play
the instrument, among them, Handel and Mozart. Leopold Mozart,
wrote in exalted terms to Salzburg, after the
10 year old Wolfgang Amadeus had played the organ for an hour,
describing the 'famous great organ in Haarlem' as 'an
excellent, beautiful instrument with 68 stops, all pipes being
made of tin, as wood does not last in this damp country'.
The organ remained almost unaltered for more than 125 years
until 1866. In the meantime the musical taste had changed;
various types of musical instruments were out of fashion, new
ones had taken their place and other instruments, including
organs, were altered if possible. The Bavo organ was in need of
a thorough revision. The bellows and windchests were leaking,
the action was worn out in many places, and many pipes were
damaged. This led to a desire by the Town Council to renovate
the organ technically and mechanically, and, at the same time,
to adapt it to requirements of the contemporary musical taste.
The preference at the time for powerful basses, mild overtones
and a stable sound played a
significant role here. The Utrecht organ builder C.F.G. Witte
described the sound of the organ thus:
“the voicing of the principal pipes can be said to be generally
weak, especially in the bass octaves. On the other hand, the
voicing of the reeds is strong and cutting so that the former
are overshadowed by the latter. Also, the pedal is too weak.”
The improvements in the sound envisaged by Witte were achieved
by means of altering the wind supply, increasing the wind
pressure and by adapting the voicing of the flues and reeds
accordingly. In addition, Witte made a number of alterations to
the specification.
In 1904, the organ was again renovated, this time by the Utrecht
firm of Maarschalkerweerd. Most significantly, the wind supply
was again altered: the 12 original Müller wedge bellows were
replaced by three large reservoirs, manually operated. The pedal
action was converted to a pneumatic system.
Finally, the organ was rebuilt by the Danish firm of Marcussen &
Son followed in the period 1959-1961. This was particularly
necessary as the leaking windchests were causing a considerable
loss of wind and drop in pressure whereby the sound became weak
and the pedal actually failed when full organ was used.
Important changes by Marcussen included:
- the reinstatement of Müller's stoplist with the addition of
two new Mixtures
- the replacement of the wind supply with a modern system
providing a lower wind pressure than previously
- the replacement of the action with a new balanced mechanical
action
- the reconstruction of the keyboards
- the substantial overhauling and modernisation of the
windchests
- the repainting and gilding of the organ case
It is interesting to note that the costs of the technical
rebuilding work were less than the renovation, painting and
gilding of the case.
On the 3rd of July 1961, the organ was
reopened in a festive concert given by the two city organists
Albert de Klerk and Piet Kee.
Since 1800, the organ has been owned by the city and the city
organists have been appointed by the municipal corporation.
Presently, the two municipal organists are Jos van der Kooy
(concert organist) and Anton Pauw (church organist).
The famous Müller organ - the most photographed in the world -
was the unique stimulus for a rich organ tradition including the
now centuries-old Municipal Organ Recitals. These concerts,
which are organised by the town council, are given in the period
from mid May to mid October on Tuesday evenings from 8.15 - 9.15
pm. In July and August, Thursday afternoons are also given from
3.00 - 4.00 pm. These concerts are given by the Haarlem
municipal organists and by renowned organists from The
Netherlands and abroad. As is the custom, entry to these
concerts is free. Another major symbol of Haarlem's organ
tradition is the International Organ Festival which has been
held every other year since 1951.
