The organ in the Grote Kerk in Breda is leaking. When organist Aart Bergwerff presses several keys of the immense instrument, it can be heard clearly. The stream of air that is supposed to blow through one of the more than 3600 pipes hisses away soundlessly. To get the church organ from 1534 back in good condition, a major renovation is needed, costing about 1.2 million euros in total. And that money is not yet together.
“This organ is not only made of metal, but also of wood and leather gaskets. But that leather has dried out and broken after so many years, so that this wind instrument leaks. The air no longer reaches the right pipes completely,” Bergwerff explains. “It loses wind, between the keys.”
Five tons to go
The renovation will cost a lot of money: 1.2 million euros. And that amount has not yet been collected. Not even after the province announced last Good Friday that it is contributing 300,000 euros. “We are now at more than seven tons. So we still have five tons to go,” says director Marieke Wiegel of the Grote Kerk in Breda.
There are not that many services in the Grote Kerk anymore, but the organ still plays an important role, according to Wiegel. It is used in all kinds of performances and concerts held in the church. “We still often use the organ for crossovers. In this you bring different disciplines and art forms together.” Examples are a reclining concert canto ostinato or freestyle soccer player Nasser el Jackson die showed his skills on organ music.
Show lower
Wiegel hopes that the restoration of the national monument can start in 2024 and expects the job to take a year. And then the organ also sounds a ‘tone lower’. Bergwerff explains why this is necessary: ”The instrument now sounds too high to play well with an orchestra with strings and wind instruments. By making all the pipes a bit longer, the pitch goes down.”
Then he goes ‘full on the organ’ again and pulls out ‘all stops’. And even without restoration, the centuries-old organ in the Grote Kerk in Breda still sounds impressive. With a grateful reverberation when the last note has sounded.