The iconic Fokker organ celebrates its 75th anniversary! We mark this occasion with a grand jubilee concert in which the history and repertoire of the 31-tone organ take centre stage. Not only will our regular organist Ere Lievonen be performing, but also the outstanding violinists Jellantsje de Vries and Natálie Kulina, as well as the dedicated keyboardist Anne Veinberg.
As early as 1691, the famous physicist Christiaan Huygens described a tone system in which the octave is divided into 31 tones instead of the usual twelve. Huygens’ search for a way to modulate between keys within the 16th- and 17th-century meantone tuning inspired Adriaan Fokker – also a physicist – more than 250 years later to have an organ of his own built by the firm Pels. In 1950 his revolutionary 31-tone organ became a reality, after which it stood for nearly 50 years in the auditorium of the Teylers Museum. Intimate concerts were held there every month until 1999, when it had to be removed due to renovation work. After a period of silence, the fully restored and modernised Fokker organ found a new home in the Kleine Zaal of the Muziekgebouw aan ’t IJ. Since then, the instrument has flourished as never before, with many new works composed for it by both young and established composers. Especially for this jubilee concert, a colourful cross-section of its rich and distinctive repertoire will be performed.
The programme includes works by Henk Badings and Anton de Beer, both originally written for two violins and archiphone (an electronic 31-tone instrument), which will now be performed on the Fokker organ. These pieces represent the period in the Teylers Museum. De Beer served for many years as organist on the Fokker organ in Haarlem, and during that time Badings composed a considerable number of 31-tone works, including several sonatas for the illustrious violin duo Bouw Lemkes and Jeanne Vos, who performed numerous times in the museum. Jellantsje de Vries and Natálie Kulina follow in their footsteps and bring that era back to life.
In addition, brilliant chromatic early music in meantone tuning by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck will be performed, alongside the witty and atmospheric Le Scale Ombrose for Fokker organ and laptop solo by Klaas de Vries, and the monumental Leo’s Observatorium by René Uijlenhoet for Fokker organ and electronics, performed entirely through laptop control. Keyboardist Anne Veinberg will join in for the short and harmonic Spring scram by Lauri Supponen for four hands on the organ. The concert will also feature the premiere of a commissioned work that Ere Lievonen has composed especially for this occasion. A festive and groundbreaking concert that reveals why, 75 years after its creation, the Fokker organ remains such a remarkable and extraordinary instrument.