J. L. van den Heuvel Orgelbouw
| 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.
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.
Jan van den Heuvel 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 Ridderkerk as a result of the many positive reactions to this first instrument - a significant milestone in the young organ-builder's career, as he was responsible not only for the design and construction of the instrument, but also for the richly carved organ case. The commissioning of this instrument necessitated the construction of a new workshop, which Jan van den Heuvel himself designed. The instrument attracted widespread praise, leading to numerous orders for new organs and restoration of existing instruments. A new organ of two manuals and 33 stops was commissioned for the Lambertuskerk, Strijen, which was delivered in 1975, the year in which Jan's 17-year-old brother Peter joined the firm. Expansion of the business, with further enlargement of the workshops, was underpinned by receipt of a volume of new contracts for large organs. Particularly worthy of mention amongst these are the instruments in the Nieuwe Kerk, Katwijk aan Zee, l'Église Saint-Eustache, Paris (the largest organ in France), the Victoria Hall in Geneva and the in (the last two buildings now restored after being gutted by fire) and the DR-BYEN Hall in Copenhagen.
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