The Organ and Congregational Singing - Harald Vogel

The construction of the new organ in the Noorderkerk in Rijssen can be viewed as a turning point in the development of organbuilding in our time as it relates to congregational singing.

From the beginning of the 17th century onwards, the organ has been used in the Netherlands for the accompaniment of congregational singing. Prior to this, precentors were engaged to provide the necessary lead. After the reformation, organ music was initially forbidden during the church services. The organists played primarily before or after the services, or at specific moments during the week. The most important organist of the late renaissance period, Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621), was organist of the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam, but didn’t play a single church service after 1578. Nevertheless, the organ art in the Low Countries remained at a high level. Sweelinck himself was the most important organ pedagogue of his time, while Dutch organ builders expanded their area of activity to include the protestant nations of Northern Europe.

The relationship between congregational singing and the organ was, in the period around 1600, an impossible one in the Northern Netherlands and unusual in the rest of Europe. This situation remained until the widely-disseminated text by Constantijn Huygens, written in 1641, and carrying the title 'Gebruyk en Ongebruyk van ’t Orgel in de Kercken der Vereenighde Nederlanden', or 'The use, or lack of use, of the organ in the Churches of the United Netherlands’. In this text, Huygens pleaded for the playing of the organ as an accompaniment to congregational singing, and, therefore, for the use of the organ in public worship.

Huygens was a prominent statesman, writer, composer and scientist. His influence was so considerable that, in the years following the publication of ‘Gebruyk en Ongebruyk’, the playing of organs to accompany the congregation was introduced in many places. This development can also be seen in Northern Germany at the same time, and resulted in a new organbuilding style which reached its initial zenith in the work of Arp Schnitger (1648-1719). Schnitger also had considerable influence in the Netherlands. No fewer than 11 of instruments remain preserved in the province of Groningen alone. His son, Frans Caspar Schnitger, completed the large organ in Zwolle in 1721, and would go on to substantially rebuild the instruments of the  Laurenskerk in Alkmaar and the Martinikerk in Groningen. These three organs still enjoy great fame, both in the Netherlands and throughout Europe. They are preserved and represent the type of large city organ which was primarily intended to accompany the congregational singing. In addition to Schnitger, Albertus Anthonie Hinsz, Christian Müller and the Bätz family all left their stamp on the Dutch organ style. Their instruments, including the world famous organs in Haarlem (Bavokerk -1738), Kampen (Bovenkerk -1743) and The Hague (Lutherse kerk -1762), were influential in determining the style of the ‘congregational singing-organ’, a tradition which would continue during subsequent generations.

This line is continued by the new Van Eeken organ in the Noorderkerk in Rijssen. This is not an organ which is primarily intended for the performance of organ literature. 'Literature-organs' can fall into one of two categories: either a multi-stylistic organ intended for the performance of music from all style-periods, or the ‘style-copy’ intended for the performance of music from one specific period (for example baroque or romantic). The disadvantage of these organ types is that they set a goal which cannot be achieved without compromises. By contrast, the new organ in Rijssen is intended solely to accompany the congregational singing. As a consequence, the organ takes its place in the tradition of the great Dutch organbuilders from the period following 1700.

The starting point for the project in Rijssen was the congregational singing there, which sounds exactly as it must have done during the golden era of the Dutch congregational singing culture.

The melodies of the Geneva psalter were composed rhythmically (i.e. in non-equal note values), and were so sung in the circle of Calvin himself. However, in the Netherlands, they were sung, from the sixteenth century onwards, in a manner which has survived to this day: slowly, and in equal note values. A notated example can be found in the keyboard book of Susanne van Soldt, dating from 1570 and published in the series  Monumenta Musica Neerlandica (Vol. III). A good summary of early descriptions of congregational singing can be found in the extensive article 'De gemeentezang in een crisissituatie' (which appeared in the Dutch magazine Het Orgel in 1979 pp. 138-166, and was re-printed in English in ‘Orphei Organi Antiqui’ – Essays in Honor of Harald Vogel, Westfield Center, 2006, pp. 191-219). Klaas Bolt, the late organist of the St Bavo in Haarlem, explains in this article that the slow and solemn manner of singing has its roots in a centuries-old tradition. This tradition, which is alive and well in Rijssen, was abandoned during the 20th century and replaced by a manner of both singing and organ playing which strived for a professional quality of music making. This included the publication of the rhythmic form of the psalm melodies, and the adoption of a tempo whereby the singing of each line in one breath became possible. This manner of singing is related both to folksong, and to today’s choral singing aesthetics. The manner of congregational singing so common in the Netherlands for centuries, with its long, equal note values, allows for a much stronger sound, as each member of the congregation sings as loudly as possible, and can breathe whenever convenient. This ‘full-out’ singing could be called a ‘plenum’, the term we use for the full principal choruses of the organ. It involves a meditative component, raising the congregation above its daily, secular life. A meditative community goes hand in hand with slow movements, something that is equally true of liturgical rhetoric.

The phenomenon of a highly personal activity encompassing a meditative element is characteristic of traditional congregational singing. Both the personal and meditative aspects of singing have been largely lost during the course of the 20th century. The great value of traditional congregational singing, from a musical point of view, has also been forgotten. Many organists are of the opinion that the congregation should orientate its singing to the playing of the organist, rather than vice versa. In fact, this should be a two-way process: the playing-style of the organist should be orientated to the tradition of the congregation, assuming that one can, indeed, speak of a living tradition.

The living and vital tradition of congregational singing is preserved in only a small number of places. Among these is the Noorderkerk in Rijssen, where every church service witnesses a vocal ‘plenum’. The slow tempo adopted perhaps represents the polar opposite of the musical standards strived for in the 20th century, but the sound and its meditative effect are overwhelming. The new organ does not represent an abstract ‘contemporary’ ideal, neither is it geared to the performance of a particular style of literature, but instead is completely focussed on the accompaniment of the congregation. In the process, the best working practices from the past have been applied which, until now, have only been recognised because of their historical precedent: in this context must be mentioned the selection and use of the best materials, and the voicing, which employs no nicking on the languids.

In Rijssen, a new organ has been built which can become a model for the 21st century. It represents the partnering of a living tradition with the many demands of our own time. On this organ, whose sound is both powerful and transparent, the most important works of J.S. Bach can be performed as well as on the famous old instruments, which were primarily built to accompany congregational singing.

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