2019.03

Frans Jespers, The Organs of Brammertz and the Gilmans in Belgium
In the town of Kornelimünster (near Aachen), three generations of organ builders were active between 1700 and 1791: Jacob Brammertz, Laurent Gilman, and his sons Theodor and Ægidius Gilman. They served a large working area that extended roughly within a radius of 90 kilometres around their hometown. Within this region they supplied a considerable number of small and medium-sized organs of high technical and musical quality.
In the area that now forms Belgium’s Eastern Cantons, as well as the provinces of Liège and Limburg, traces of their work have been found in about twenty locations—either in surviving organs or in church and monastery archives. The Baroque building style of these masters represents a unique synthesis of the organ traditions of the Rhineland and Liège. This synthesis can be identified in many technical details. Two striking features are the double moulding in the base of the organ case and the triple tierce layout in the stoplist.
The sound of these organs is intense and grounded in the fundamental tone, with mixture stops and reeds that blend well in larger combinations. In 1754 Theodor Gilman drew up a list of registration instructions for his newly completed organ in Odenkirchen. With the help of these instructions and other musical materials from that period, we can gain a better idea of the full and warm tonal richness that the makers and players of this type of organ were able to evoke.
Organ playing in the Catholic liturgy of that era required such varied combinations of stops for accompanying chant, alternatim performance, and solo works. In Belgium, the organs of Bilzen and Beek offer a good impression of the sounds and the original performance possibilities of this organ type.
Kees Doornhein, The Organ of St Paul’s Church in Antwerp and Its Original Builder Nicolaus Van Hagen
The organ of St Paul’s Church in Antwerp and the original main organ of the Great Church (Grote Kerk) in Dordrecht were both built by the organ builder Nicolaus Van Hagen (1619–1685). Both instruments have strikingly similar organ façades.
Author Kees Doornhein recently investigated the organ of St Paul’s Church in Antwerp. This work included studying the historical structure, including original construction remnants and relevant publications and reports. The details were compared with the former Van Hagen organ from the Great Church in Dordrecht. These investigations brought to light several findings that are incorporated in this contribution.
Because relatively little is known about the organ builder Nicolaus Van Hagen—until recently even the spelling of his name and his origins were uncertain—a separate chapter on this important 17th-century organ builder has been included.

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