Flentrop
Flentrop organ building is a Dutch organ building company based in Zaandam. The workshops for metal and wood processing are located in polder aan de Zaan. The company has built more than 400 organs since its foundation in 1903, and numerous instruments exported. In addition to new organs, the company operates in the field of restoration. In 2013, the reconstruction of the organ of the Hamburg Church of Saint Catherine has been completed.
History
Hendrik Wicher Flentrop (1866-1950) founded the company in 1903. Flentrop was organist in Zaandam and started a piano and organ business. He was a pioneer in the historically oriented organ building. Its goal was the return of organs to their original state instead of adaptations to the prevailing taste. From 1922 he was in contact with Albert Schweitzer. Father and son Flentrop were influenced by the organ motion and favored the mechanical action and the abrasive charge.
In 1940, took over the son Dirk Andries Flentrop, who had learned the organ building in Frobenius Orgelbyggeri, the management. Under his leadership, major organs were restored, such as the two organs in the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, the Schnitger organ of the Sint- Michaëlskerk in Zwolle and the historic organ at the Cathedral in Mexico City.
JA Steketee headed the company from 1976 to 1998 and received increasingly international orders. The largest organ of the Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago has 71 registers, four manuals. He was succeeded by Cees van Oostenbrugge. When he died in 2008, Frits Elshout took over the overall lead.