The Van den Heuvel organ at the Nieuwe Kerk, Katwijk aan Zee Up




Nieuwe Kerk, Katwijk aan Zee
The organ in Katwijk aan Zee persuaded the
"Societé Académique d'Arts et Lettres" in Paris to bestow their
"Médaille d'Argent" upon Jan L. van den Heuvel in 1984
for his contribution to the Art of French organ building.
The Church
 The Nieuwe Kerk was build at the end of the 19th century with a 4:5 groundplane. The organ is located at the longest side of the church. The accousic conditions are poor: just about 1 sec. reverb.
The Organ
 Assembly hallThe previous organ was the work of fa. G. van Leeuwen build in the old case of Johann Daniel Nolting which made it in 1822 for the Boerenkerk in Nijmegen. In 1887 this organ was sold to the Nieuwe Kerk in Katwijk aan Zee. The organ of Van Leeuwen was a product of the fourties with a pneumatic action. Some old pipe work was used. This instrument was not doing is't job very well anymore.

In 1979 a contract was signed with J.L. van den Heuvel to build a new organ in the old case with use of some old pipe work. In 1981, after a period of design and calculations, the organ builder started with the building of the organ. At the end of october 1982 the organ was almost completely build up in the assembly hall. At that time the case was also restored. The organ was moved to the church in december of the same year and on May 19th 1983 the organ was inauguraled. A day later Daniël Roth played the organ for the first time for public.

Barker Grand-OrgueThe Van den Heuvel organ is almost completely new: only the first four stops of the Echo are made by Nolting in 1822. These stops are the only original ones left.

The organ has four manual divisions of 56 notes and a Pedal of 30 notes. The Positif has 18 stops, the Grand-Orgue 19 stops, the Récit Expressif 18 stops, the Echo 7 stops, the Chamade 4 stops and the Pédale 14 stops, altogether 80 stops and 5.168 pipes. Remarkable are the three 8 ranks Cornet Composées: in 32' on the Pédale, in 16' on the Grand-Orgue and in 8' on the Positif.
Some details
 The complete stop list including the mixture compositions.
Key- and stopaction
 The key- and stopaction are mechanical. The keyaction is assisted by Barker levers for the Pédale, Grand-Orgue and Récit Expressif.
Console
 The Console is very rich and made in French romantic tradition with left the Jeux de Fond and right the Jeux de Combinaison.
Internal layout
 ConsoleThe internal layout of the instrument was a problem because the case itself is small. Most of the instrument found a place in the tower of the church. The front picture shows the swell doors above the front in the tower. Behind these doors the Récit Expressif is located on two windchests. Just under the Récit Expressif the Chamades are located in horizontal position. The Grand-Orgue is located were it should be: in the center of the organ also on two windchests. Above the console the stops of the Echo can be found together with the barker levers. On the left and right side of the Grand-Orgue the reeds of the Pédale, behind the Grand-Orgue the Jeux de Fond and mutations. The Positif finds it's place in the small case on the gallery.
Windsupply
 The windsupply of the divisions is feeded by 11 reservoirs and four windmachines. The pressures are as follows:
  • Grand Orgue: 87 mm
  • Positif: 74 mm
  • Récit Expressif: 94 mm
  • Echo: 70 mm
  • Chamade: 116 mm
  • Pédale:
    Soubasses: 91 mm
    Foundation stops 16', 10 2/3' and 8' : 100 mm
    Mutations 6 2/5'-4': 88 mm
    Reeds: 105 mm
  • Barker levers: 124 mm
© September 29th 1997
Instruments | Nieuwe Kerk, Katwijk aan Zee