Nicholas Simons brought up an interesting question in yesterday's
030519 MMDigest. In the restoration questions of street organs,
we have the same kind of questions here in the Netherlands.
Where should it begin? How original should the end result be?
Most Dutch street organs were made by extensive rebuildings from the
time they were introduced. For instance:
The famous Carl Frei organ called "the Lekkerkerker" was built in
1927 as a dance hall organ, with registers as piston and baritone.
In 1935 the instrument was rebuilt to act as a street organ, and some
of the original registers and half of the percussion were abandoned.
How should this organ be restored? To the 1935 condition or to the
original 1927 instrument? Should we convert all Limonaire organs
to their 1910 condition with clarinets, voix humaines, et cetera?
And if we don't, why would we abandon all changes made in later years?
An interesting question, that is...
Hans van Oost, KDV, Netherlands
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