Dear MMD'ers,  Here's some pictures and information about three
Hooghuys organs in Belgium.  It is possible that I forgot something to
tell, but if I would write down everything I know about these organs,
I could fill a whole MMD with it (and of course, there are a lot of
other interesting subjects for the MMD) ...

If anyone has some questions or more information, please e-mail me at
my usual address (below).  (But be warned: I only check my mail once a
week, sometimes only once in two weeks).

Best greetings,

Bjorn Isebaert <bjorn.isebaert@rug.ac.be>

 [ I'll make a new web page especially for Hooghuys organs, Bjorn,
 [ at the MMD Pictures site, http://mmd.foxtail.com/Pictures/
 [ Thanks for sharing this information with us!  -- Robbie

 - - -

100-key Hooghuys dance organ "Condor"
present owner: Theme park "Het Boudewijnpark", Bruges, Belgium
image file condor.jpg

This is a picture of a 100-key dance organ (LH605) built by Louis
Hooghuys at Grammont (Geraardsbergen) in Belgium around 1910.  The
name "Brugge" (Bruges) has been painted now on the facade, because
that's the place where the organ is to be found now, and it's also
the place where the Hooghuys family started their activities as church
organ-builders.

This organ had 85 keys originally.  It was built for a certain Mr.
Beauprez, who owned a dance-hall ("The Sunflower") in Ostend, near
the coast in Belgium.  In 1919 it was sold to Mr. Versijp, who owned
the dance hall "Eldorado" in Bruges.

During WW2 the organ was stored in a garage at Ypres, where it was
found in the early 1950s by the grandson of Louis, Romain-Charles
Hooghuys (after some information he got from Jean-Baptiste Rorive,
the owner of some magnificent other Hooghuys organs in Belgium).
Romain-Charles bought the organ for a very low price (at that time).

Actually, the organ was in a pretty good condition, although some
parts had to be restored.  At the same time of this restoration, the
scale was slightly changed and extended to 100 keys.  Originally, the
organ had a guitar (in front of the flute harmonique), but probably
because this mechanism gets unvoiced quite fast, and also because it
doesn't sound loud enough, this was removed (as in most of the other
Hooghuys dance organs).  The organ in the museum of Utrecht (NL) still
has a mandoline mechanism, but it isn't connected.

A LP record was released in the late 1960s but (for those who own the
LP) the picture on the cover is not of the Condor, but of an organ with
a very similar facade and with 93-keys: LH600 - one of the organs with
a Gavioli-based-scale built by Louis Hooghuys which was dismantled
by Romain-Charles.  The LP record was released again in the early 1970s
but then the black-and-white picture of the previous release had been
coloured (rather badly, I think).

In the late 1970s the organ was hired by Mr. Daniel Dagraed, who owned
an organ-museum at Bruges (the only one we ever had, and it was sold to
Switzerland and Japan in 1989, I believe), but very soon, he replaced
it by a Mortier organ.  Then finally, the Condor organ found a place in
the restaurant of a theme park in Bruges ("Het Boudewijnpark"), where
it still can be heard today (only on request and if there is no party
going on, of course).

Some additional information:

- the scale is as follows:
  8 basses and bombardon
 19 contrabasses
 12 celli-accompaniments

melody: 24 keys: violin, flute harmonique, xylophone, octave-flute,
clarinets, vox celesta, oboe  and musettina (which replaced the
original accordeon-register)

counter-melody: 19 keys: celli, bass-flute, bourdon, celesta and vox
humana (with tremolo on register)

12 piccolo's, added later, when the scale was extended to 100 keys

percussion: big drum with cymbal, side drum, castanets, wood block,
piano-cymbal (for rhythmic accents) and triangle

- the organ facade is about 5-1/2 metres long and 4 metres high

- the repertoire has some very famous titles, such as the Radetzky
march, the Tritsch-tratsch-polka and the Blaze Away march, but there
are also two original compositions by Romain-Charles Hooghuys.  He
arranged all the music for the organ, about 25 books -- not too much,
unfortunately -- except for some old books by Edgard Hooghuys and
August Schollaert, namely the Tango del Mamita and an old schottisch
("Souvenir"); a rather rare arrangement is the Ave Maria of Bach/Gounod
(not in the waltz-tempo): it is one of my favourites.

- where the name "Condor" comes from, I don't know ...

- the organ (and also the next two organs) is now kept in good
condition by Marc Hooghuys, the son of Romain-Charles.

 - - -

72-key Hooghuys fair organ "Senior"
present owner: Theme park "Het Boudewijnpark", Bruges, Belgium
image file senior.jpg

This is a 72-key fair organ, which is also to be found in Het Boude-
wijnpark, where the Condor is also.  (Actually, the theme park bought
the organ, but unfortunately, they don't play it that much.)  As far
as we know, the organ was built around 1895/7 by Louis Hooghuys for
someone from Menen.  Then it was bought by Mr. Demeyere from Kortrijk
in 1906.  It is said that Mr. Demeyere had the organ converted to a
book-playing organ, so the organ would have been originally a barrel
organ, but I have reasons to doubt this (cf. infra).

During WW1 it was stored at Lille in France, where it was bought in
1919 by Mr. Bossier, who hired out organs.  Finally, it was bought by
Romain-Charles Hooghuys who used it until the late 1970's on the
streets of Bruges.  Then he placed it in Het Boudewijnpark.  (Romain-
Charles Hooghuys died at the age of 89 in 1989 in a car accident.)

The organ disposition has been modified a lot actually, and so the
very first row of pipes in the centre of the organ contain some German
orchestrion pipes.  As normal with Hooghuys organs, it has only 8
basses (although there are some Hooghuys-organs with only 6 basses);
this can be explained by the fact that Louis Hooghuys was very
conservative (unlike, e.g., Mortier).

The scale is the same as that of the 72-key organ of Mr. Vroman (see
the text on his dance organ), therefore the books can be exchanged
(although the organ of Mr. Vroman misses the oboe register).  The
Senior has the serial number 520, the organ of Mr. Vroman 522, so they
must have been built together or at least with not too much time be-
tween.  This is one of the reasons why I doubt the Senior was origin-
ally a barrel organ, because there is no evidence that the organ of Mr.
Vroman was originally a barrel organ (moreover, there are no more
tracks of the setting of the barrel in the inside of the organ-case).

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, three LP records were released of
the organ.  (A fourth record was made, but it was never released; only
two copies of it are extant).  The repertoire is very unusual (all
books arranged by Romain-Charles Hooghuys): it mainly consists of local
songs, with some more popular titles (such as Drink, drink and Que
sera, sera).  The only long book is Les patineurs from Waldteufel.

The organ doesn't have a tremolo-register, but as some of you might
know, one of the main characteristics of Hooghuys organs is the ability
to repeat a note very quickly -- no other organs can do it that accu-
rately, that's for sure!  Well, Romain-Charles Hooghuys has used this
possibility quite a lot in his arrangements.  (Actually, rather too
much: in some arrangements, the melody is completely cut in tremolo-
effect !).

The facade of this organ is not the original one: it is the one of the
organ of Mr. Vroman (although the side wings are missing; the top of
the facade is owned by Mr. Vroman).  It's not known where the original
facade has gone.  Also, the origin of the name "Senior" for the organ
is unknown.

 - - -

72-key Hooghuys dance hall organ
present owner: Norbert Vroman, Lendelede, Belgium
image file vroman.gif

This is also a 72-key Hooghuys organ, but it is a dance organ instead
of a fair organ.  Nevertheless, it is to be found in a "Carrousel
galopant", owned by Norbert Vroman of Lendelede (Belgium).  Although
the facade mentions "Ch(arles) Hooghuys", the organ was built by
Charles' father, Louis; the name was probably changed because Charles
was responsible for the factory after Louis' death in 1924.  (Although
it's pretty sure that Charles Hooghuys didn't built any organs himself,
but only modified and repaired Hooghuys and other organs.  One of the
organs in America is actually a German organ with a Hooghuys-keyframe
in it.)

The organ was bought by his father (Victor) from Albert Becquart, who
owned the famous 70-key Hooghuys, but also owned and sold some other
Hooghuys instruments.  I believe the organ once has been in a velodrome
ride, but that's not sure, because there probably have been two organs
with the same facade (as can be seen on original photographs of the
Hooghuys factory).  Of course, as mentioned, the original facade is now
in front of the Senior.

The present facade of Mr. Vroman's organ was created by his father, who
used some parts of an old 84-key Joseph Bursens dance organ.  The cloth
before the pipes is used to prevent the organ from sounding too loud.
(It is only recently that there have been complaints: it has come so
far that Mr. Vroman has had to place a fibreboard, with holes, behind
the cloth.  Boy, are they intolerant in Belgium or not ?!).  Of course,
since it was originally a dance organ, the cloth hasn't always been
there (unlike on the 70-key fair organs of Mr. Becquart/Rorive).

The repertoire is quite interesting: it contains original books by
Louis Hooghuys (with polkas, mazurkas, waltzes, etc.), books by Charles
Hooghuys, Edgard Hooghuys, Romain-Charles Hooghuys and Marc Hooghuys
(e.g. the very rare Valse Louis XV).  Also books by August Schollaert
and Arthur Prinsen and some by Filip Neirynck, a quite good Belgian
arranger.  Of course, some titles are typical for Hooghuys organs: e.g.
Versailles, Hooghuys-galop, Kusshandchen-waltz, Pyramides-march, ...

For those who would be interested: no recordings of this organ
have been made yet, although Mr. Vroman is planning to record a CD.
(But don't think too much of it -- it could take another 5 years.
Mr. Vroman also wants to get his organ in perfect condition before
making a CD; since the organ is at the fair, it isn't always in perfect
condition, although the organ is tuned every year and the most urgent
repairs are carried out as soon as possible.)

As mentioned, the organ doesn't have the oboe register (although some
space has been provided), so there are only 71 keys.

Mr. Vroman asked me to send his mailing address:

  N. Vroman-Ghesquiere
  Hulstemolenstraat 84
  8860 Lendelede
  BELGIUM
  Tel.: 051/30.72.43

Bjorn Isebaert