The Fokker organ in the Kleine Zaal of the Muziekgebouw is tuned in an unusual way: there are not 12 but 31 tones per octave. This means that notes can be played that lie in between the keys of a piano. This allows the organist not only to perform microtonal music but also to emulate the historical tuning used in Sweelinck’s time. The Fokker organ is in fact tuned in meantone tuning, a system common in Europe during that period and the one in which Sweelinck composed. Sweelinck was not only a composer but also an organist and harpsichordist. At a young age, he became the principal organist of the Oude Kerk. The small organ he played also had meantone tuning (the Vater-Müller organ was only built after 1724).
Organist Laurens de Man (1993) takes the listener on a 45-minute journey in this programme. From Sweelinck to Bach along the line of teacher and pupil, then further back in time to Nicola Vicentino, the founder of the 31-tone system. De Man then makes a detour to several 20th-century Dutch composers who exploited the specific possibilities of the organ. Finally, the route from Sweelinck to Bach is traced in reverse. Laurens de Man has been principal organist of the Janskerk in Utrecht since January 2012 and was in 2014 an organist-in-residence at the Oude Kerk community in Amsterdam. Since 2019, he has been the second permanent organist of the Fokker organ in the Kleine Zaal of the Muziekgebouw.
This concert is part of the Sweelinck Festival, which takes place at various locations in Amsterdam from 16 to 25 October 2021, in honour of the 400th anniversary of the death of the great Dutch composer who lived in the Koestraat in Amsterdam. Through concerts, a symposium, and many other activities, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562–1621) is commemorated and his significance for Dutch culture is brought vividly to life once more. Other organisations collaborating on this major festival for a broad audience include Organisatie Oude Muziek, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Amsterdam City Archives, and the Rijksmuseum.