Much has been written about the history of the Lekkerkerker -the organ was known as
“Zaalorgel” before WW II. The contribution of the Belgian factory Mortier in the
building of the organ was unclear for a long time. Descriptions by the KDV of the organ in
the seventies still depicted the Zaalorgel as a rebuilt Mortier organ. Since about a year
the instrument, once described by Mr. Romke de Waard as “the Stradivarius of the
street” is in the possession of the SBL, a foundation in Gouda. It took some time for
the SBL to raise enough money to start the restoring of the organ, that is badly neglected
and worn to the bone. I had the honour to be present when Mr. Adrie Vergeer, the main
contractor of the restoration project, took it apart. What we found was dreadful. Bad
maintenance, wood worm and countless repairs by amateurs have turned the famous organ into
a ruin. Despite of this all we hope that the Zaalorgel will return to the condition worthy
of the name once given to it by Mr. De Waard.
The organ was built by Carl Frei of Breda between 1926 and 1927. Recent investigations
have made it almost certain that all of the main wind chest with the pneumatic register
switches was made in Waldkirch, by the Alfred Bruder firm. The name was found inside one
of the switches. Many pipes in the central chest were bought from the firm Mortier in
Antwerp, others from several other Belgian factories, maybe Hooghuys. The instrument was
designed, compiled and voiced by Frei himself. Nothing furter, except maybe the
proscenium, reminds of Mortier.
The Zaalorgel is the first 90-key organ built by Frei. Built as a dance-hall organ it
takes its own and unique place. The only other Frei dance hall organ is the 72-key organ
formerly owned by Mr. Huyskens, which now can be seen and heard in the Utrecht museum.
The dance hall organ was new to Mr. Van der Wouden, who owned a dance hall in Lekkerkerk, hence the later name. On the photo all of the van der Wouden family and their workers is posing proudly in the new premises (photo 1).
The organ started its career with the following disposition:
Melody: 23 notes G-F with Bourdon céleste (two ranks), Violin Céleste (three ranks, the
rear one tuned undulating to the other two), Carillon (two ranks, of which the original
pipes are missing, and Piston (one rank standing on the roof).
Counter melody: 18 notes G-C with Flûte Harmonique (one rank), Unda Maris (two ranks
undulating), Bariton (two ranks with one reed and an open flute) and Cello Grave (two
rows, 16' and 8', on either side of the main chest).
Accompaniment: 19 notes C-F#, stopped pipes 8’ and 4' (on a seperate wind chest in
the rear). Bass: 8 notes (two rows 16' and 8') with trombone (partly 16' and partly 8', C
being the lowest note). The 16'and 8'' pipes are under the bottom with commands from the
main wind chest.
Percussion: Bass drum, cymbal, snare drum (two sticks), woodblock (two sticks) and
triangle. All percussion was in the left side chest.
Unless stated otherwise, all of the pipe ranks were placed on the main wind chest. On
delivery there was no side chest on the right side of the organ; the key frame was placed
there. The whole organ chest was kept shallow because it had to stand on a rather narrow
balcony.
Carl Frei jr wrote in his comment in HP of july 1984 that on his demand an accordion was
placed in front of the organ. From the photo it will be clear that not much room must have
been for such an instrument. In the main wind chest we can only find holes for the 12 bass
notes, playing on the 12 lowest notes of the counter melody. We could not find any
evidence that, or how the 23 melody notes were connected. Photo 3 shows the front of the
organ like it was built. No picture survives of the accordion. Has it really been there?
In 1935 the organ was sold to Mr. Diepstraten, who had an organ renting firm in Rotterdam.
In order to make it suitable for use as a street organ it needed rather extensive
rebuilding:
1. The keyframe on the right side of the main chest had to
move to the inside. The resulting opening in the side of the organ chest was closed with a
piece of plywood.
2. Because of the limited space inside the wind chest of the
accompaniment pipes was taken out and sawed into two halves. The two halves now had to be
placed against the inner sides of the organ chest. Unfortunately the halves were still too
long, so two accompaniments had to be abolished (low C# and D#). In all later 90 key
street organs by Frei these notes were left out too.
3. The trombone pipes did not fit in, so they were moved about 20
cm to the front of the organ by placing them on a plank with channels, screwed upon the
old piece. Because of their mitring, the whole pack had to be turned around, changing the
sequence of the pipes.
4. Still there was lack of space inside the shallow main chest,
so the baritone register was taken out to make place for the trombones. The piston
register on the roof was also removed, so the top of the proscenium could be folded
downwards and the carillon pipes were shifted forward to the now unused command holes of
the Piston.
5. The three rows of violin-céleste pipes obviously were not
loud enough for street use. Two rows of new céleste pipes were ordered from Carl Frei.
There was an off-note chest left on which the Piston pipes had been placed and this one
was now used for the new céleste pipes. For reasons of space or cost only 22 pipes were
fitted in a newly made right side chest. The result was that for the high D# only the
pipes in the middle chest spoke! A major disadvantage turned out to be the crazy order of
the pipes; the shortest ones were flanked by the tallest. This order used to make the
tuning and regulating of this register to a unique adventure.
6. The percussion unit was thinned out considerably: the wood
blocks and triangle were taken off, and the cymbal was coupled to the bass drum.
7. The proscenuim was closed on the place where the piston
register once stood, and the very thin roof was covered with an extra layer of plywood.
The groove for the piston command piping can still be seen from the inside.
Thus disposed, and almost without any music books, the organ started its street career. At
first as rent organ for Diepstraten, after WW II in ownership of the Tom Brothers in Gouda
(photo 4, the little boy on the picture is now the main restorer!). When they stopped
their business in 1962 they sold the organ to Mr. Roodbol from Schiedam, once a tenant of
the organ before WW II.
Working on the street it turned out that the organ was not built to jolt over the
cobbly streets all day. The high register switches on the windchest , especially those of
the Flûte Harmonique, tended to work themselves loose, with all kinds of problems
resulting. The main chest, not built for a traveling organ, suffered much also. These
problems were solved, but not always in the most elegant way: thicker and longer screws,
and (later on) glue, little sheets of iron, foam plastic and adhesive tape were used to
keep the organ in playing condition....
An article in a newspaper on 19 october 1962 mentions restoration plans by Henk Möhlmann
in Amsterdam. In 1963 the organ, that then had numerous defects already, underwent a
radical restoration; not by Môhlmann, but by Carl Frei in Waldkirch. Frei jr built a
relais between the keyframe and the wind chest to ensure a better reaction. In order to
build it in the main wind chest had to be placed somewhat lower in the organ. The
switches, high already, had to be heightened more by glueing an extra piece of mahogany
onto them. Further the bellows, main wind chest, pouch board, tremulant mechanism, and the
off-note chests of the Cello grave were repaired. The pipes were revoiced . Mr. Roodbol
wanted the carillon register back, so he bought one in Belgium and had Frei built it into
the organ. Inbetween the proscenium was tidied up by Feite Posthumus in The Hague.
On August 3 of 1963 the organ was inaugurated again in Gouda. As a newly repaired organ
created a furore, also on KDV-rallies and competitions, although it was never regarded as
a great organ by the "connoisseurs". Many recordings were made of the organ that
sols well, especially because of the promotion of Gouda and its famous cheese. We often
see the organ on the record sleeves with flags and ladies in wooden shoes, dressed like
Volendam (!) farmers daughters of the past. After 1963 the organ was maintained by Frei,
who passed by annuallly to tune the organ and to solve problems. The latter became more
and more important over the years, for the constructional problems mentioned before were
never solved well. When problems arose between two service moments these were repaired by
others: more screws, construction kit, plastic sheet.... we found half the inventory of a
do-it-yourself shop inside the organ.
Adrie Vergeer and his collegues are facing a major challenge. Many parts have to be
remade, the do-it-yourself stuff will be abandoned, all the back maintenance will be done,
the pipes will be checked, cleaned and revoiced and last but not least: Adrie Vergeer, the
SBL and their advisors will have to think about the way in which the organ will have to be
restored. I will keep you, reader, informed from time to time.
Hans van Oost