Continuation Strunk part 1 

The City Organ

Strunk also used materials that he had in stock, including some windchests and pipework from church organs. That the organ sounded so good was due in no small part to the hall’s wonderful acoustics (1830 seats!) and of course the qualities of Cor Steyn, who would become even more popular during his tenure there. His rhythmic style suited the organ perfectly.

In 1937 Strunk supplied his third large theatre organ to the Rembrandt theatre in Amsterdam. The theatre already had quite an history of organs as the first instrument was a 2-manual Oskalyd that served up until 1927. In that year it was replaced by a 3-manual Standaart organ, which in turn was replaced in 1937 by a 4-manual Strunk.

The Rembrandt theatre with its 1200 seats was the Tuschinski theatre’s main counterpart. Whereas Tuschinski showed largely American films, the Rembrandt was part of the German UFO concern and showed mostly films of German origin. In 1943 the theatre burned down (arson) and so the organ was unfortunately lost.

The specification of the instrument is not known but the following was written about it (taken from a thesis by Leonie de Waal):

“An organ will be installed, with the console on a lift, so that the audience will see the organist rising up out of the ground. The instrument will be of the most modern construction, with every conceivable effect. Four chamers on each side of the stage are available. It will be larger than the largest organ in service in London, with no less than 3000 pipes.”

This shows that Strunk, just as Standaart had done with the AVRO organ, bandied with ever larger instruments. However, people were also fond of rounding up the numbers of pipes for publicity. In the following description of the opening, mention is made of just 2500 pipes.

“On each side of the stage are to be found the organ chambers for the cinema-orchestra organ that may be called the largest in Europe, and is a splendid product of Dutch manufacture. The organ was made by the firm of Th. Strunk in Schiedam. It has no less than 2500 pipes, the largest of which is 9.2 metres in length. The proscenium arch spans 15 metres in breadth and 9 metres in height. The depth of the ‘bühne’ is 6.4 metres and the fly-tower above the stage no less than 20 metres in height. At the front of the stage is an orchestra pit which will not be used for the time being, except for the right-hand portion where the organ console is situated. This console is a golden monument, set on a lift which, together with its organist Piet Leechburch, rises up above the edge of the orchestra pit during the performance.”

The sound of the instrument can be heard on a unique recording by Leo van Swol (or Zwol), made around 1938 on the Rembrandt organ (* see the link at the bottom of this article). The sound was reminiscent of the City organ with lots of well-rounded Tibia tone and a fast, deep tremulant: pleasant and certainly highly musical.

Strunk was an excellent voicer. This characteristic can be found in the Tuschinski organ as Strunk worked on this instrument, too. Granted, the existing 6 ranks of the instrument were by Wurlitzer, but the 4 ranks that Strunk added certainly define the overall sound. Tuschinski’s console was also upgraded to 4 manuals — Strunk obviously went for ‘large and imposing’! This extension took place in 1940, which is noteworthy as the “Tuschinski” had a German management and parent company. The name of the theatre at that time had been changed to the “Tivoli Theatre” as Jewish names were considered contaminated. After the war it was thankfully changed back to Tuschinski. Cor Steyn played a role as advisor during the extension process and was also the first organist is play on the completed instrument.

As Strunk had never taken Dutch nationality, he was called up for German military service at a certain point. After the war he reutned to the Netherlands but was not permitted to own or operate a business there. He subsequently worked in Germany, notably on the NDR studio organ in Hamburg, the famous Welte organ that made Gerhard Gregor famous.

Strunk also built various church organs, but is is significant that, apart from the extension of the Tuschinski organ, he only actually built four theatre organs, much fewer than Standaart. Today, Strunks’s work still gives pleasure to many and the organs are still going strong.

A tip: Cor Steyn cut many 78 rpm records on the City organ between 1936 and 1937. In 1985 the VARA released several of these recordings on an LP. In these recordings, we can hear how the City organ sounded in the early years. The tracks on the LP also feature vocals by Topy Glerum and the number “Crying my heart out for you” is a real gem, beautifully accompanied by Cor Steyn.

Unfortunately the vinyl disc is no longer availbe, but can be ordered as a CD from the online shop “Fonos”. The original sleeve has a photograph of Cor Steyn seated at the Tuschinski console — an oversight on the part of the recording company, as the music is from the City organ.

It might be well to note that the source material for these recordings comes from old 78 rpm discs. The transfer is good but miracles shouldn’t be expected. Fonos also has a number of other theatre organ records that have been digitized: for example the 1964 recording (in mono) by Jan Mekkes in Tuschinski, and the recordings by Bernard Drukker on the AVRO concert organ and the large Möller Radio Concert Organ.

^{Source: NOFiteiten 2007-1}