Organ works in Eastern Friesland

The programme Organ works is broadcast on the second Monday of the month from 19:00 to 20:00 CET. The programme features historical organs and the music written for those organs. For a long time the focus of the programme has been on unknown organs in the province of Groningen.

In March we started a new series of programmes that looked at organs in Northern Germany. Northern Germany, just like Groningen, contains a wealth of historical organs. The oldest organ in the region is the Gothic organ in Rysum.

There are also organs in this region from the Renaissance and Baroque periods. These organs can be found in the smallest parish churches as well as in the major cathedrals. The instruments have often been restored with great care to ensure that the sound remains authentic and therefore perfectly suited to the music written in the period in which they were built.

Arp Schnitger

The organs made by the famous organ builder Arp Schnitger have featured frequently in the series.

The most recent programme that was broadcast on Monday 10 July featured the organ in the town of Uttum in Eastern Friesland. This organ was built in 1655 by an organ builder whose name is no longer known to us. The music played on this organ by the organists Harald Vogel and Sietze de Vries includes works by Scheidemann and Sweelinck.

To listen to this programme click here.