enEnglisch
Liège/Luik, Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur
unknown organ maker 1600 (possibly Nicholas Niehoff or Florent Hocquet)
State of preservation:
Repaired in 1669 by André Sévrin, repairs in 1816-29, 1854, 1888 (wings lost then), loss of original front pipes in WW II. Efforts of reconstruction from 1953 on succeeded in 1993-98 by Guido Schumacher.
The instrument represents the flourishing organ culture of that epoch with names like Servatius Roriff, Pieter Cornet and Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck. At its present state, after heavy remodelings it is merely a reproduced reminiscence of that epoch.
The main organ resembles a traditional Blockwerk split in single ranks and enriched with flute and reed stops after Niehoff's ideas, later famous and often copied elsewhere, here particularly in the upper positive.
Music Sample
Jan Pieterzoon Sweelinck (1562-1621) : Mein junges Leben hat ein End (6 Variationen), played by Serge Schoonbroodt