[ Editor's note:
 [
 [ This is a "commissioned feature article", which means that I asked
 [ Jan Kijlstra if he could research and write about the subject of
 [ the special sound of the Dutch Street Organ.  I thought they were
 [ all pretty much the same, but now I learn I was wrong.  Jan explains
 [ how Carl Frei, the Waldkirch organbuilder who worked in Holland,
 [ created his own "Carl Frei Sound" for the organs he built.
 [
 [ Robbie Rhodes


As far as I can see some American collectors do not quite see the rather
big differences between a Dutch (Carl Frei) Street Organ and related
types like the Belgian organs.  They also seem to have problems with the
differences between a "bourdon op tegenzang" -- which is two rows of
pipes, slightly out of tune, playing the counter-melody, -- and a Carl
Frei Bourdon, perfectly tuned and intonated, which plays the melody,
often playing in combination with a Celeste voice (also very well tuned).

But I do understand this, since even in Holland not very many people
are showing real interest in what should be considered a major part
of our cultural heritage.


Bourdon: this is an important word, originally French.  Nowadays it has
three meanings in the Dutch language, all of them music-related:

  a) the lowest bass-string,
  b) the biggest, and therefore lowest, bell in a carillon, and
  c) a 16- or 32-feet organ stop.

In organs the Bourdon is a pipe of the family of pipes which are partly
closed at the top.  The German term is Rohrgedackt, which is a good way
of describing the pipe: a lid on the top, however with a tube through the
lid.

This English term for this type is half-covered stop.  As far as I can
see the French would describe this type as jeu brise-bouche'.

The Bourdon is a very old stop.  In small organs of the 16th century
often one will find just two stops: a flute and a Bourdon.  Due to
its construction the Bourdon sounds like a hollow pipe, but most of
the time a little bit duller (caused by the lid).  The lid also is
responsible for the fact that the vibrating column of air can not
leave the pipe freely, and therefore doubles the number of periodic
swings.  So one can achieve a certain note, using a (stoppered)
Bourdon-pipe, with half the length of an open pipe.  And since a
Bourdon easily can be made using wood, its quite understandable
that a Bourdon is an important stop in mechanical organs as well.

The Carl Frei "Bourdon" --

Here is a translation from a part of a text, originally written
by Romke de Waard, founder of the KDV, in his book "Het Draaiorgel".

> "The Sound of the Carl Frei Organs"
>
> The twenty years which followed displayed that the rich experience
> as well as the high craftsmanship, achieved by Carl Frei in German,
> French and Belgian factories of mechanical organs in the field of
> developing and manufacturing of such widely different types of
> organs, combined with his own extended  and creative artistic talents
> would led to the creation of a complete new sound-structure in street
> organs.  This sound structure can be described best as joyful and
> pretty on one hand, however also tender and melancholic.  All this
> thanks to the combination of stops (registers) typical for Carl Frei.
>
> As such we must name in the very first place the crystal-clear
> "bourdon op zang"

 [ Let me explain: a Bourdon normally was previously used for
 [ bass-accompaniment, but now it was used by Carl Frei to play
 [ the melody-line.  -- JK]

> This register, due to sublime way of intonation and tuning by Carl
> Frei, would become so beloved in the world of mechanical organs, that
> in the 1930s other organ builders, who never would had thought of
> building such a register "op zang", did strive to build in the very
> first place a well-sounding "bourdon op zang".

 [ Meaning a perfectly tuned voice, not 'beating' or 'floating'! -- JK

> The Bourdon, as built by Carl Frei, was very well suited for those
> parts of music which were meant to be lyric, and sounding without too
> much power.  Therefore Carl Frei always put this register in the
> middle of the organ, right in the first line of the "poort" (= the
> window in the center of the organ front).
>
> Behind the Bourdon Carl Frei placed the "viool-register", which
> was amplified by a "celest-register", playing "op zang" as well.
> This "celest" often was placed by Carl Frei in one of the side-wings
> of the organ.


"Op zang": street organs in general have stops (registers) "op zang",
"op tegenzang", "accompagnement" and "slagwerk".

"Op zang" are the registers used for the main melody line, the "first
voice";  "Op tegenzang" are the counter-melody registers, the "second
voice";  "Accompagnement" are the other registers, except drums etc.,
so to say the "third voices" like bass.  "Slagwerk" are drums,
"Glockenspiel", etc.

This is what was so unique with the use of the Bourdon by Carl Frei: the
Bourdon, originally a bass register, was promoted later in Belgian
organs to a register "op tegenzang" with a double row of slightly
mis-tuned pipes.  Carl Frei was the first one to use a Bourdon-register
"op zang", and, since he wanted it to be tuned in pitch, he could use
only one set of pipes.  However, to give more body to this Bourdon, he
also mounted a Celeste, which was meant to be played together with the
Bourdon.  This turned out to be a golden step.

Therefore --

The Carl Frei "bourdon op zang" is very well-tuned.  The "bourdon op
tegenzang", mainly used in Belgian organs, indeed does have two pipes for
each tone, tuned slightly different.  But in the Dutch street organ (the
"Carl Frei" organ) this Bourdon-type is not used.  Therefore, no wavering
tuning ("schwebende Stimmung").

The Celeste pipes are built like the "viool op zang": narrow open pipes
with a frein.  That's why the Bourdon (also a flute-pipe with frein)
sounds so well together with Celeste (being a flute with frein as well).

Jan Kijlstra