O R G A N S T U D I E S
V R I J E U N I V E R S I T E I T A M S T E R D A M
p e o p l e , p r o j e c t s a n d m o r e : c l i c k h e r e
It adorns the world's most impressive buildings with sounds beyond compare: the pipe organ. Many love it – many others, however, don't, as it has come to represent cultures quite remote to them. Indeed, religious and classical musickers have appropriated the organ successfully over the past few centuries, often even claiming ownership. But times are changing, most notably so since the turn of the century: ever more musicians and sound artists from other provenances are discovering and exploring the organ's sonic richness, applying and using it in directions never considered before. The Chair Organ Studies at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam supports this transition by critically assessing it, as well as by taking a leading role in the currently unfolding story of the hyperorgan, a version of the pipe organ that affords radically innovative ways of creating music.
The Chair does so in a transdisciplinary way, interrelating the fields of Sound Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Philosophy; as well as, obviously, Organology and Musicology. As a consequence, the Chair advocates enriching conventional academic research with a significant dose of artistic research, in order to improve the quality of knowledge generation. The Orgelpark, the organ art venue near the center of Amsterdam, serves with its Research Program as the Chair's institute; Foundation Het Orgelpark sponsors the Chair, which was originally established in 1987, since 2010.
P I V O T A L : S O U N D
Pivotal to all acitivities the Chair Organ Studies undertakes is the insight that the pipe organ survived so long only because it kept providing sounds to musicians beyond the sonic affordances of any other instrument or means.
The organ provides its sonic wealth in a rather complex way, as each specimen represents a set of thousands of separate instruments itself – its pipes – which are combinable in even more ways; as each specimen is custom-made for the acoustics it sounds in, so that no one sounds the same; and as, since organs can become very old, the world's organ collection weaves no less than five centuries of sonic history into today's cultural fabrics. The Chair Organ Studies identifies this rich sonic complexity as the unique feature the organ contributes to society.
The Chair hence assesses the organ's transition into a relevant 21st century instrument by researching what organ sound is and what it can be. Four hypotheses represent the core of this research: sound is the material musicians work with [1]; the future of the organ depends on musicians, sound artists, and organbuilders understanding organ sound concepts [2]; it is their sound quality that determines the heritage value of organs [3]; creating 'hyperorgans' is an effective way to interlace yesterday's and tomorrow's ways of making music [4].
© Orgelpark/VU Amsterdam
1 . S O U N D A S M A T E R I A L
Musicians make music by using sounds as their material, just like painters use paint. Since organs are so diverse, they invite having the qualities of their sounds inform the way music comes into existence – just as well as other means, such as scores. In turn, this invites reconsidering an ontology of music that has been alienated since the 19th century. Its core insight is that music exists when and where it sounds; that it, in fact, is not repeatable. A significant trace of this principle resonates in the improvisations organists have kept creating ever since the organ was invented: improvising is the ultimate way of letting the sonic identity of an instrument inform the music.
2 . S O U N D C O N C E P T S
Given that organs include thousands of pipes, and that they are each custom-built for a specific acoustic, every specimen has its very own sonic identity. Yet, these identities come in groups: when organ builders voice an organ, i.e. make sure that each pipe sounds the way they designed it to, they have a sound concept in mind, in order to be able to make sure that the pipes sound convincingly both individually and in all kinds of groups, thereby establishing that organ's sonic identity. Examples of famous organ sound concepts are the ones created by organ builders such as Arp Schnitger (Northern Europe, late 17th century), Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (France, late 19th century), and Ernest M. Skinner (United States, early 20th century).
3 . S O U N D H E R I T A G E
It is their sounds and the sound concepts they document that render historic organs relevant; the artefacts they are 'themselves' – be they indeed spectacular facades or revolutionary technologies – are 'just' carriers of that sonic richness. The tendency in the fields of Musicology, Organology, and Heritage Studies so far has been to shy away from that insight, considering sound to be nearly unresearchable. Now that the field of Sound Studies has rendered such a position invalid, it is time to consider what it means to understand sound as being heritage itself. In turn, addressing appropriation issues is essential when negotiating plans to restore a historical organ: would we, for example, not be colonizing the past if we would decide to adapt the sonic ideals the organ to be restored represents to our standards?
4 . H Y P E R O R G A N S
Hyperorgans are equipped with digital technology affording them to sound significantly more dynamic than conventional organs are able to. In order to optimally mine the literally countless sonic resources such technology gives access to, hyperorgans afford adding, next to conventional sets of keyboards and knobs, all kinds of interfaces more familiar to musicians and artists not trained as keyboardists, rendering the threshold to actually get involved with organ sounds non-existent. At the same time, the hyperorgan also invites traditionally trained organists to reconsider what historically informed performance practices entail. For example, hyperorgan keyboards can be constructed in such a way that a soft touch renders a soft sound, and a fast touch a louder one, just like on the clavichord, the instrument Johann Sebastian Bach used to practice at home. This is particularly of interest on hyperorgans that have a historical sound concept – which quite many of them have.
T H E C H A I R ' S S T O R Y
The Chair Organ Studies was established as an Extraordinary Chair in 1987, when dr. Ewald Kooiman (1938-2009) was appointed professor. Kooiman contributed significantly to raising the standard of historically informed organ performance practices, both academically and artistically. He edited the impressive series Incognita Organo, in 40 volumes giving access tot forgotten early organ music scores, and recorded no less than three times Johann Sebastian Bach's complete organ works.
Foundation Het Orgelpark re-established the Chair in 2010. It was closely involved in the Utopa Baroque Organ project, started by the Orgelpark in 2012. The instrument was inaugurated in 2018 and counts as the primus inter pares in the international hyperorgan collection. Research results are shared in the e-books series Orgelpark Research Reports, published by VU University Press and the Orgelpark together. The Reports can be accessed at www.orgelpark.nl.
In 2019, the Chair entered a new phase as an independent Chair, sponsored by Foundation Het Orgelpark. Three researchers have been appointed by the Vrije Universiteit: prof. dr. Hans Fidom occupies the Chair since 2010, dr. Jacob Lekkerkerker is in charge of artistic research activities since 2021, and since 2025 PhD-student Elisabeth Hubmann researches under what conditions organ art may flourish in the 21st century.
In close cooperation with the Orgelpark, the Chair organizes annual International Symposia, Colloquia, as well as the artistic research initiative Organ in Situ, a week designed for young international organ musicians to get familiar with hyperorgans and the new ways of understanding sound and music they inspire.
The links below give access to more information. Feel free to contact the Chair by sending a mail to Hans Fidom.
Jacob Lekkerkerker playing the hyperorgan at the Orgelpark in Amsterdam
© Orgelpark Amsterdam