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Monteverdi Organ
under construction

After all the testing, there is now literally “work to be done”: the Monteverdi organ is under construction at the Klop company in Garderen. A small group from the Musical Instrument Fund visited the workshop with organist and project applicant Krijn Koetsveld. We made it just in time before the organ is finished, because Klop works quickly. We saw passionate craftsmen hard at work on the tiniest and largest parts of “our” organ.

News
22 October 2019 by Frits Schutte

Keyboards

In the workshop, craftsmanship reigns supreme. An employee is working on the front of the organ; small circular pieces are being fitted between slats—they’ll only fit if the alignment is precise to the millimeter. The organ case stands right next to it. Elsewhere, the windchest lies waiting for further finishing. Keyboards are taking shape; pipes of all sizes are scattered about; someone is planing thin strips of wood—the thickness, which is very important, is 0.2 mm; you can almost see right through them. These pieces are used when a pipe’s pitch needs to be lowered slightly.

Cypress wood

In the workshop, you can clearly see the level of craftsmanship involved; every part is made, measured, re-measured, and inspected with the utmost precision. By blowing into the pipes, we were able to hear once again the difference between a cedar pipe and one made of cypress wood—the latter of which we ultimately chose.

Opening Concert

The organ will soon be shipped to Italy, where it will be painted by a “veteran of the trade”—a task that will take some time. This decorator will give the organ the exact 17th-century Venetian look. And then, on January 19, 2020, it will be ready for use during the much-anticipated inaugural concert.

Tickets for this event are available for purchase on the Le Nuove Musiche website, of which Krijn Koetsveld is the artistic director: www.lenuovemusiche.nl

Photos: Onno van Ameijde