This past Friday I went with my parents to a wonderful performance, part of The Hague’s Festival Classique. An evening walk with bookend performances by Aart Bergwerff of various pieces for organs in two very distinctive churches.
Cavaillé-Coll Organ | Walloon Church, The Hague
The first set took place in the Walloon Church on the Noordeinde and it was played on the Cavaillé-Coll (1885) organ:
- Louis-J.A. Lefébure-Wély (1817-1869) – Boléro de concert opus 166
- Camille Saint-Saëns (1835-1921) – Prélude et fugue en si majeur opus 99, nr. 2
- Eugène Gigout (1844-1925) – Toccata
After a wonderful walk by Residentie Ontdekkingen around the areas where the churches are located, we went into a so-called hidden church: the Old Catholic Church in the Juffrouw Idastraat. What a gem!
Rudolf Garrels Organ | Old Catholic Church, The Hague
In this church on the Rudolf Garrels Organ (1724), we were treated to the following pieces:
- Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707) – Toccata in F-major, BuxWV 157
- Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) – from Organ concert in g-minor, opus 7 nr. 5 “Adante larghetto e staccato”
- Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) – Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme BWV 645 and Fuga in G-major BWV 577
