Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
eight-piece combo of angels. Lions
on the top hold Haarlem's coat of
arms—a sword, surrounded by
stars, over a banner reading
Vicit
Vim Virtus
(“ Truth Overcomes
Force”). There are larger pipe
organs in the world, but this is one
of the best.
With three keyboards, a for-
est of pedals, and 65 stops (the
knobs on either side of the key-
boards), this magnificent organ
produces an awesome majesty of
sound. Picture 10-year-old Mozart at the controls of this 5,000-
pipe sound machine. In 1766, he played Haarlem at the tail end
of his triumphant, three-year, whirlwind tour of Europe. He'd
just returned from London, where he met J. C. Bach, the young-
est son of Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), the grandfather of
organ music. Mozart had recently written several pieces inspired
by Bach, and he may have tried them out here.
“Hal-le-lu-jah!” That famous four-note riff may have echoed
around the church when Handel played here in 1740, the year
before his famous oratorio,
Messiah
, debuted
.
he 20th-century
organist/humanitarian Albert Schweitzer also performed here.
The organist sits unseen amid the pipes, behind the section
that juts out at the bottom. While the bellows generate pressur-
ized air, the organist presses a key, which opens a valve, admitting
forced air through a pipe and out its narrow opening, producing
a tone. An eight-foot-long pipe plays middle C. A four-foot-long
pipe plays C exactly one octave up. A 20-foot pipe rumbles the raf-
ters. With 5,068 pipes ranging from more than 20 feet tall to just a
few inches, this organ can cover eight octaves (a piano plays seven),
and each key can play a variety of sounds. By pulling one of the
stops (such as “flute” or “trumpet”), the organist can channel the
air into certain sets of pipes tuned to play together to mimic other
instruments. For maximum power, you “pull out all the stops.”
A Cannonball in the Wall, and the
Siege of Haarlem
Duck! On the wall (left of the chapel with the green metal
gate, above eye level) sits a cannonball, placed here in 1573 to
commemorate the city's finest hour—the Siege of Haarlem.
In the winter of 1572-1573, Holland was rebelling against its
Spanish oppressors. Haarlem proclaimed its alliance with William
of Orange (and thus, independence from Spain). In response, the
angry Spanish governor—camped in Amsterdam—laid siege to
