SSC Workshop with Hans Fidom

The VU University Chair Organ Studies repositioned itself over the past ten years towards Sound Studies, rather than retaining its original musicologically inspired initiative; the chair was established in 1987. The reason for this shift is twofold at least: each organ offers musicians / sound artists a different set of sounds; such a set, secondly, is provided by thousands of pipes. As organs can become very old, they afford an opportunity to explore sound ideals realized in the past; the oldest organ sounds available date back to the 15th century. In short: Organ Studies focuses on sound as the material with which musicians make their musics, and it thereby positions organs as sources of sonic information.

This approach is still quite foreign to most organ people. Hence, organ restorations are conventionally understood as projects addressing the tangible aspects of the instruments, such that that the focus remains on repairing wood, metal, leather etc., guided by knowledge regarding measurements, technology, and architecture. How organs sound post-restoration is commonly considered to be beyond control: the organ’s sound is just what happens to manifest once the restoration is finished; it is considered too intangible to be discussed.

Since 2018, Organ Studies offers organ owners the option to approach restorations in a different way, namely, by positioning sound as the aspect determining the organ’s identity, hence guiding all decisions. Clients include Foundation Groninger Kerken (reconstruction of the 1696 organ in Harkstede), the Bovenkerk at the city of Kampen (making sure that the organ’s world famous sounds will remain intact during the restoration), and Rotterdam.

In Rotterdam, the task is to keep the sonic identity of ’The Red Giant’ – as the large organ in the Laurenskerk is lovingly called – intact. The instrument was built in 1973 by the Danish company Marcussen, at the time a very popular organ builder. In order to understand the organ’s identity, I mapped its sounds, as well as those of three other large instruments built by Marcussen, located in Stockholm, Copenhagen, and Linz. The resulting sound database will be a major reference during the restoration process.

Questions to be addressed during the restoration process in Rotterdam include: how to understand the sound concept that Marcussen applied; what distinguishes the Rotterdam concept, both in comparison to the other Marcussen organs as well as other instruments created in the same fashion worldwide; and how to respect the sonic dreams and wishes of the current organist, who is obviously the one who knows best both the organ and its future functions.

The restoration is part of a larger project. Other aspects are the installation of a second organ, with so-called ‘hyper-technology’, in the choir. This new organ and The Red Giant will be playable on a new movable console down in the church. This not only allows the organist to be seen during musicking, but also to connect laptops and other interfaces so that other artists – beyond just organists and musicians – can also work with the organs’ sounds.

The Rotterdam organ is one of the largest organs in Europe. It contains 7,600 pipes. The new hyperorgan will contain about 2,000 pipes.

Hans Fidom is professor of Organ Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and leader of the Research Program at the Orgelpark. The Orgelpark functions as the chair’s laboratory: accommodating research projects, colloquia, and symposia and the artistic research initiative Organ in Situ, the Orgelpark has become the international research center for hyperorgan art. Fidom also is an internationally active organ expert and, when his agenda allows him to, an organist. He studied at the universities in Amsterdam and Groningen; graduated cum laude in 1993 and defended his dissertation in 2002 (Diversity in Unity: Discussions about organ building Germany between 1880 and 1918). His book Miskend, verguisd en afgedankt (2006) led to a national re-evaluation of romantic organ concepts in the Netherlands. In order to bring publications on music to the next level, he single-handedly developed a specific form of e-books: their appearance is that of paper books, but they include movies and sounds