Street Organs
By Jan Kijlstra
Robbie Rhodes and others did show interest in the Dutch "draaiorgel". Here is what I wrote to him. Robbie was so kind to correct the grammar.
--------
One of the most important points, regarding the interest for, and importance of the Dutch "draaiorgels", is the fact that Romke de Waard, a judge, started all kind of activities in order to get attention for the Dutch "draaiorgel", and its historical and cultural importance.
A major point, of course, was the fact that a judge (in those days more than nowadays) belonged to what may be called the "upper-class". This kind of person was not supposed to have an interest in the musical favorites of "ordinary people", such as street organs.
Thanks to the activities of Romke de Waard (and a lot of other people), and maybe under the influence of a growing interest in nostalgic subjects amongst which are street organs, the "draaiorgel" and other mechanical instruments gained more popularity. Several organizations since then were founded. One of them, the Leon Warnies Stichting, is active in trying to avoid the export of historical street organs. Another is an important museum in Utrecht, the museum "van speeldoos tot pierement", where one can see and hear the development of mechanical musical instruments from the very beginning (and even Mozart wrote for a "floeten-uhr", a small music box with wooden pipes and powered by a spring) up to the great Belgian dance organs. These organizations have several common properties, such as their shared interest in mechanical music instruments. Another shared facet: you will almost surely meet Romke de Waard, one way or another.
"Draaiorgels" did not change much during the last decades, so I thought it might be a good idea, in order to answer your questions, to translate the text of that what is written under "draaiorgels" in the Winkler Prins Encyclopedia in 1968. This text was written by Romke de Waard, and can still be used to get basic insight about "draaiorgels".
---
Draaiorgel: more commonly a mechanical pipe organ, which can be operated by turning a wheel ("draaien" = to turn /j.k.). The main types are: (a) fairground organs, used in several countries in Western Europe, especially in France, Belgium, Germany and Holland; (b) dance organs, which, in Belgium and in the southern parts of Holland, can be found in pubs and dance-halls; (c) street organs, also called "pierement", which are typically Dutch, and for which Holland has received a reputation in other countries.
The street organs, who in general produce a sensitive, clearly flowing music, are turned by hand (nowadays with a motor as well). They are relatively small, because they have to be moved in the streets on a carriage, and the carriage is moved by hand also.
Fairground organs and dance organs often are a lot bigger than street organs, and are powered by a motor. Fairground organs most of the time have a sharp and penetrating sound: characteristic registers are Mixtuur, Trumpet, Piccolo and massive Baritone. Dance organs do have a lot of registers as well, but their sound is less penetrating than the sound of fairground organs. They are especially good for rhythmic music and have many percussion instruments. Pierementen (which comes from "pieren", an old verb that means to turn) arrived in Holland at the end of the 19th century, and were imported by the Belgian, Leon Warnies. He ordered his organs mostly from builders in France and Belgium. At that time those builders were switching from cylinder-organs to book-organs. (The music was not longer played from a wooden cylinder with metal pins, but from a book of perforated cardboard /j.k.). On cylinder-organs you could put only eight musical pieces on a non-interchangeable cylinder. On book-organs you can put as many books as you like, one after another, thus making it possible to play as many different compositions as wanted.
Book-organs have been built since 1892; the first one doing so was Gavioli, an Italian who lived in Paris (France) since 1845.
Builders like Gavioli, Casparini, Limonaire (all French) and De Cap, Burssens, Mortier, de Vreese, and Steenpunt (all Belgian) produced many street organs, which can still be heard in Dutch cities.
Between 1920 and 1940 many of these organs were rebuilt and modernized by Carl Frei (1884-1967), who during that period had his factory at Breda, Holland, and who also was a composer of much music for street-organs.
(Carl Frei came from the Black Forest of Germany, and imported -- so to speak -- the German way and the sweeter German sound into the organs built or rebuilt in Holland. That's the link to the unique sound of the typical Frei organ: it is not as sharp as a Mortier or Limonaire, it's more "woody" and cantabile, also due to the smaller size, and almost no metal pipes).
The most well-known registers of a Dutch street-organ are Bourdon and Violin-Celesta. The Bourdon (or "Celeste" in French organs), is the sound produced by two stopped pipes which are intentionally slightly detuned. (If well tuned you do get a very nice tone, very suitable for a "singing" melody /j.k.) The Violin-Celesta has pipes which are open at the top, producing a violin-like sound.
The pipes most of the time are made out of wood, because metal pipes, caused by changes of the temperature, would get out of tune too fast.
--
So far the (slightly shortened) text in my encyclopedia.
In my opinion the success of the Carl Frei organs was due to some other reasons as well: since they were small, they were less expensive. This did result also in a "smaller" sound, but in the old Dutch cities, with narrow streets, this was not a problem. And a lot of smaller organs out in the streets is better as just a couple of big ones.
As for your question:
The English fairground organ may well be compared with the fairground organ, as described above: lots of sound, not very subtle. The Dutch "draaiorgel", as you might understand, is a smaller organ, moveable, and with a mixture of French/Belgian and German influences, thus making it an unique species. The German organ most of the times is a small organ as well, often even smaller than the Dutch organs (e.g., the Drehorgel, carried by a man, or on a small carriage). In a way you could say that the qualities of the book-organ from France, and the size and sound of the German organ, were mixed into the draaiorgel.
Not only in Holland, but in other countries as well, there has been a revival of mechanical musical instruments. So it is possible now to buy a lot of different instruments again, from several builders. Old instruments often are rebuilt, and new instruments display new techniques, such as the use of floppy-disk instead of cardboard-books. And of course there is a wide gap between the "traditional" and the "modern".
As for the Wurlitzer: I do not know the Wurlitzer very well. I do know the "Mighty Wurlitzer" theatre organ, of which I have a record. I know them as jukebox-builders, and as makers of music-boxes. But I do not know much, nor did I ever hear ever, a Wurlitzer playing as a mechanical music instrument like a "draaiorgel" or Military Band Organ.
Are recordings available?
|
(Message sent Tue 12 Nov 1996, 08:56:47 GMT, from time zone GMT+0100.) |
|
|
Mechanical
Music Digest™ Archives
