J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw

J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw
Company type	Organ builder
Industry	Pipe organ construction and restoration
Founded	1967
Headquarters	Dordrecht, Netherlands
Key people	Jan L. and Peter van den Heuvel
Products	New and restored pipe organs
Services	Maintenance and restoration of old organs; construction of new organs
Website	http://vandenheuvel-orgelbouw.nl/English.htm

J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw is a firm of pipe organ builders, based in Dordrecht, Netherlands. The company specialises in the construction of instruments in the French Symphonic tradition.

History of the firm

Jan van den Heuvel had, from early childhood, felt an affinity with symphonic organ music. Jan founded his organ building company in 1967 at the age of twenty (this made him the youngest organ builder in the Netherlands), having spent four years in training with Flentrop in Zaandam, where he persisted in his championship of the romantic organ in the face of Dirk Andries Flentrop's neo-Baroque ideals.^[1]

Jan constructed his first organ (one manual and pedals, 10 stops) in 1967, attracting immediate critical acclaim for its voicing and high build standard. The actual construction took place in the workshop belonging to his father, a painter. He was commissioned to build a new three manual organ of 32 stops for the Singelkerk at

Katarina kyrka in Stockholm (the last two buildings now restored after being gutted by fire) and the DR-BYEN Hall in Copenhagen

.

Tonal ethos

Both Jan and Peter van den Heuvel were for a number of years interested in nineteenth century French organ building, as well as the traditions previously practiced in the Netherlands. Their contact with French organists such as

Sacré-Cœur in Paris).^[4]

The brothers developed Cavaillé-Coll's own schemes to establish a style of organ that was entirely their own, but completely inspired by the French Symphonic tradition. This ethos continues to this day. However, not only does the firm specialise in French-style instruments, but they have also built organs in traditional Dutch style.

Notable organs

Date	Country	Place	Building	Size	Comments
1970	NL	Ridderkerk	Singelkerk	IIIP/32	J. L. van den Heuvel's first major commission
1979	NL	Katwijk aan Zee	Nieuwe Kerk	IVP/80	One of the Netherlands' largest organs
1989	FR	Paris	Église Saint-Eustache	VP/101	The largest organ in France
1992	CH	Geneva	Victoria Hall	IVP/71	The only van den Heuvel organ in Switzerland
1993	GB	Glasgow	St Aloysius Church, Glasgow	IIP/24	The only van den Heuvel organ in Britain - formerly at Royal Academy of Music, Dukes' Hall, London
1994	USA	New York City	Church of the Holy Apostles	IIIP/32	The first vdH organ in the USA. Originally in Castle Shiloah, TX.
1995	SE	Stockholm	Kungliga Musikhögskolan	IIIP/25	The first van den Heuvel organ in Sweden.
1995	NL	Rotterdam	Maranatha Kerk	IIIP/25	The Musikhögskolan's twin, built for another buyer who pulled out
1997	DE	Berlin	St Franziskus Kirche	IIIP/51	The only van den Heuvel organ in Germany
2000	SE	Stockholm	Katarina Kyrka	IIIP/62	Replaced a 1976 Åkerman & Lund organ destroyed by fire in 1990
2000	NL	The Hague	Residence of Ben van Oosten	IIIP/16	vdH's first commission for a house-organ from a famous organist
2000	FI	Mänttä	Church	IIIP/30	The only vdH organ in Finland: also, their only totally enclosed organ
2006	DK	Copenhagen	Copenhagen Concert Hall	IVP/91	The only van den Heuvel organ in Denmark. Inaugurated in 2009.