Organ of the Martinuskerk, Sneek

The **organ of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Martin** in **Sneek** (Frisia) is a French-Romantic styled organ with Dutch features built by Maarschalkerweerd & Zoon in 1891 as its opus 1378. The organ is completely preserved (with all stops and almost all pipes of the builder preserved) and is among the most important organs in the region, perhaps only being beaten by the van Dam organ in the Martinikerk, also in Sneek. The organ has 2 manuals and 27 stops. It was declared as a Rijksmonument due to its historical significance and is Rijksmonument No. 34068.

Aside from this instrument, the church contains a smaller choir organ by Vermeulen.

## Description

The organ is located in the rear of the church, and was built by the Michael Maarschalkerweerd company in 1891, is a 2-manual 27 stop organ with 35 ranks divided over three divisions: the Hoofdwerk, the Zwelwerk, and the Pedaal. The Hoofdwerk is positioned in the centre, with the 23 bass pipes of the Prestant 8' mounted in its facade (C-bb); and is mainly a Dutch division (but with a few Romantic elements) including a Quint, a Cornet, and a Fagot 16. The Zwelwerk has no facade pipes (and is behind the Hoofdwerk) and contains elements of the French Romantic style ; and is enclosed. The pedaal contains the deep bass foundations of the organ (along with a powerful 16-foot Bazuin) and 14 pipes of the Prestant 16' are mounted in the facade (C-c#). The facade has a sort of "castle" style layout and below the organ case are the Barker levers (which affects the Grand-Orgue only) and the console of the instrument is directly in front of the barker levers.

The console is still in its original Maarschalkerweerd state and contains all the stops (as well as foot-levers) arranged in a Cavaille-Coll manner.
*Not complete, more to be added later*

## History

The organ that proceeded this instrument was built, perhaps in the 18th century, that was relocated by Jean-Joseph Loret then enlarged by Willem van Gruisen - this instrument was then scrapped due to the building of this organ.

**Disposition of the Original Organ of the Martinuskerk by an Unknown builder, Loret, and Gruisen**

***Hoofdwerk***

1. *Roerfluit 8*
2. *Roerfluit 4*
3. *Prestant 4*
4. *Tertiaan 3 1/5*
5. *Roerquint 3*
6. *Octaaf 2*
7. *Quintfluit 1 1/2*
8. *Mixtuur IV-V*
9. *Trompet 8 (B/D)*
10. *Cornet V (D)*

***Positief (1833)***

1. *Prestant 8 (D)*
2. *Flute travers 8 (D)*
3. *Flutedouce 8 (B/D)*
4. *Speelfluit 4*
5. *Woudfluit 2*
6. *Vox humana 8*

***Pedaal: Hard-coupled to the Hoofdwerk***

The Maarschalkerweerd company then received a contract to build this organ in the 19th century due to a large grant donated to the church, which replaced the old organ - and the organ finished completion in 1891 and was dedicated later that year on 26 February. No pipework from the old instrument survives and the pipework was possibly reused in a different instrument.

The instrument is extremely well-preserved (all of the stops are original) and almost every pipe is original, and was restored by Flentrop Orgelbouw from 1995 to 1997. It still retains its original sound today.

## Disposition of the Maarschalkerweerd Organ

### **Pedaal** *(C-f')*

* *Barker levers: HW*
* *Tremulant: ZW*
* *Combination pedals: HW*

*Couplers*

1. II/I
2. I/P
3. II/P
4. I/I 16'
5. I/I 4'

## Disposition of the Vermeulen Choir Organ

**Manuaal**

1. Gedekt 8
2. Roerfluit 4
3. Prestant 4
4. Octaaf 2 II
5. Mixtuur III

**Pedaal**

1. Subbas 16

*Couplers*

* I/P

*Combination pedal to draw out the Prestant 4 and Octaaf 2 II*

## Videos

* Demonstration *(by Wouter Roolvink)* - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfM5RC3wG64
* Barker levers *(by Wouter Roolvink)* - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onmEBlGdQeA
* Adagio from Guilmant Sonata No. 5 *(by Wouter Roolvink)* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4JGwOeMY3Do
* Improvisation *(by Gerben Mourik)* - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjX1iZJN-Ao

## Thanks

*To my dear friend Wouter for supplying information and bringing this organ to light*