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A mysterious organ

in the church of Oosthuizen

The interior of the Grote Kerk in Oosthuizen The exterior of the church in Oosthuizen The exterior of the Oosthuizen church with cemetery

The church of Oosthuizen

From all over the world, people come to Oosthuizen to see this organ with their own eyes, even though its history is unknown. It is not even certain how long the organ has been in the church of Oosthuizen. For a time, it was known as the oldest playable organ in Europe, but that too is in doubt.

What we do know for sure is that it is a very old organ. Some of the pipe work probably dates back to the early 15th century, making it older than the church itself. The style of the organ also points to the end of the 15th century. In the mid-17th century, the pipework was radically altered by Pieter Backer. In later centuries, the organ was refurbished several more times. Among others around 1830 by the Amsterdam 'organ maker' Sommer and, after the extensive church restoration of 1960-1965, by the Zaanse firm Flentrop.

The interior of the Grote Kerk in Oosthuizen

In the autumn of 2003, the final phase of the restoration of the Grote Kerk in Oosthuizen was completed. Parts of the organ were also restored at that time. After extensive research, particularly into the pipework, a new vision was developed about the origins of this remarkable instrument. The original 16th-century nature has been preserved, and the sound from the organ is very penetrating and powerful.

The power of the sound is not only due to the original old construction of the pipes and the high wind pressure, but also thanks to the special tuning. In this meantone tuning, the main keys are tuned as pure as possible, while the remaining keys sound out of tune. This limits the repertoire for the organ to music composed before about 1650.

Composers of the time took into account the limitations imposed by meantone tuning and sometimes made very inventive use of the possibility of making something sound out of tune. So music by Bach and later composers cannot be played properly ten on this instrument.

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