VARA and Schiedam
In 1932-1933 Standaart produced two organs of practically identical size, namely the second VARA organ and the organ for the Passage theatre in Schiedam.
Both instruments had three manuals and initially ten ranks, now completely unified! At last optimal use of the pipework was being made!
Shortly after the inauguration of the VARA organ, a Tuba Horn was added, thus bringing the number of ranks to eleven.
The organ of the Passage theatre in Schiedam was moved a number of years ago by the NOF to the new Theater aan de Schie, and was also enlarged with an eleventh rank, a Trumpet. This came from the Standaart organ formerly in the Luxor Palast theatre.
On examining the specifications it becomes apparent that both organs bear a marked similarity to the organs in the Wurlitzer catalogue. This can be explained by the fact that Standaart had approached Reginald Foort for advice, and the famous organist was very well acquainted with the Wurlitzer organs in England — a brand for which he had a strong preference.
It is therefore not so surprising that Standaart’s specifications started to look more and more like those of Wurlitzer. This means that foreign organists visiting the Netherlands have little trouble playing the two Standaart instruments.
To be sure of maintaining a high standard, Standaart ordered all of his reed stops from the American firm of Gottfried. Gottfried was a pipemaker of great renown. However, using American pipework is not neccessarily a guarantee that an organ will sound just like a Wurlitzer. There are many factors affecting this. In the first case, Gottfried used their own pipe scales and materials which makes Gottfried pipework sound very different from Wurlitzer’s. In addition to this, Standaart used yet another supplier for the fluework. This combination gave Standaart a unique sound.
Another important factor is the setup in the organ chambers: a Tuba Horn situated at the back of the chamber will sound a lot softer than with the usual Wulitzer configuration, nearer the shutters at the front. Standaart also often employed large regulators which make it more difficult to achieve a deep oscillation in the tremulant. The voicing of a Standaart is also generally sharper, and all of these things combine to make the sound of a Standaart seem ‘less polished’ than that of a Wurlitzer.
These two Standaart organs do not sound similar at all: apparently there was more money available for the VARA organ, which can be seen by the quality of various components. The VARA organ has a beautiful Deagan harp and the Schiedam organ has to make do with one of Standaart’s own manufacture. The Tibia in the VARA organ also looks completely different and has its own unique sound.
Another contrast is that Schiedam has an Oboe and two strings (Salicional and Celeste) whereas the VARA organ has three string stops, but no Oboe.
In addition to this, the organs were originally voiced for completely different acoustic situations. The rather small VARA studio was not meant for ‘live’ organ performance but rather for radio broadcasting. The shutters were not situated directly in front of the wind chests and a large portion of the sound entered the studio indirectly. The second VARA organ was later given to the NOF and was moved successively to the school “De Poort” in Rotterdam and the Circus Theater in Scheveningen, before being installed in the cantine of the CBS building in Voorburg. Here, the sound was much more direct and the pipes could be seen directly from a short distance. The organ has since been removed, as the CBS left the building, and it is now awaiting the completion of a new location in Boskoop.
One innovation that Standaart included in the Schiedam instrument was the so-called ‘prolongation system’ which allowed the organist to prolong a chord without holding down the keys by means of a foot pedal. The organist then had hands free to play on another manual. In fact, this had also been copied from Wurlitzer, who had had this function for a long time on larger instruments, calling it ‘sustain’.
AVRO “Magnum Opus”
Shortly after the completion of the second VARA organ the AVRO also wanted an organ. In 1933 Standaart received a commission for a ‘multifunctional’ (!) concert organ. Thankfully it was realised in time that church organs and theatre organs are very different beasts, and two separate instruments were planned: a concert organ (theatre organ) and a church organ.
I will restrict this article to just the concert organ, or the ‘orchestral’ organ, as Pierre Palla preferred to call it.
Of course this instrument had to surpass the VARA organ, as was generally the case in those days with the different broadcasting companies.
A first specification design made by several experts from a conservative background was quickly superseded by a second much better proposal. It could be that Pierre Palla was a great admirer of Quentin Maclean or that he preferred to stick to a tried and tested Wurlitzer concept, but the second design was virtually an exact copy of the Wurlitzer that Maclean played in the Trocadero, Elephant & Castle in London.
The organ in the Trocadero, installed in 1930, was at that time the largest instrument that Wurlitzer had supplied to Europe with 4 manuals and 21 ranks.
A fantastic organ which up until recently was still playing, not any more in the Trocadero, but a hall nearby at the Southbank University.
Unfortunately it had to be removed from there too, but thankfully the COS (Cinema Organ Society) has found a marvellous new location in the Troxy cinema in London. As it looks now, a start will soon be made with the re-assembly of this beautiful instrument.
