Verschueren organ builders

Leon Verschueren I founded a workshop for the production of organ parts in Heythuysen (Limburg), where he lived, on 5 May 1891. He had trained in furniture making and organ building, including a period from 1886 to 1890 with the leading firm of Maarschalkerweerd in Utrecht, where he specialised in pipe making. Shortly thereafter he built his first organ. This was a single manual instrument with mechanical action, built in 1896 for the Hervormde Noodkerk in Schagen (Opus 1). Around one century later the organ
was rediscovered in the village church in Oudesluis.

Partly through the influence of the south German builder Max Bittner, who worked with the firm from 1904 to 1955, the organ culture of southern Holland was enriched with late-romantic German principles. An example is the well preserved Verschueren organ of 1929 in the St Petruskerk in Gulpen.

From the 1920s the four sons of Leon Verschueren I joined the firm successively, and directed what had now become a flourishing firm until 1977, when Leon II (1903-1986) took over.

	Emile (1909-1985) became head of the Tongeren (Belgium) branch, established in 1937; it became independent in 1951 and was in business until 1998.

	Ton (1911-1972) supervised the accounts department and overseas export from 1946.

Frans (1914-1986) had trained as an organ builder with the firm of Kuhn A.G. in Männedorf (Switzerland). Later he was to be head of the pipe making and voicing departments. Until his death he was actively involved in research into historical pipework, the production and restoration of pipes, enlargement of the reed stop programme and preliminary voicing.

The firm expanded at various stages, for instance in 1926, 1935, 1947 and in the 1950s and 1960s.
New staff were drawn mainly from Germany and Limburg, though mention should also be made of Helmut Brauner from an Austrian dynasty of organ builders, and the voicer Henri Grados who had trained with the Parisian house of Cavaillé-Coll-Convers. From 1948 to 1969 Grados worked for a few months every year on preliminary reed voicing and the training of young voicers.

A representative example of this period is the electro-pneumatic organ installed in the St Nicolaaskerk in Heythuysen in 1939. If you pay a visit to our workshops you can hear this instrument, since the church is only 150 metres away.

From 1948 rugwerk departments were built, and in 1953 the first tracker action organ was made. The number of mechanical action organs increased considerably in the course of years as electro-pneumatic action gradually disappeared. Organ design in the period 1945-1960 continued on the one hand in the unencased pre-war style, while on the other hand instruments were also built in cases, sometimes even designed in historical styles. Fine examples of the work of Verschueren in this period are the organs in the Heilige Johannes Bosco-kerk in Maastricht (1967), the Liebfrauenkirche in Krefeld (Germany, 1966) and the Dutch Reformed church of Klazienaveen (1971).

In the late 1960s a new orientation on historical building principles emerged in Holland. In this respect restoration work also provided important impulses for the firm of Verschueren. Highlights included the restorations of the Le Picard organ in the St Martinuskerk in Gronsveld and the Robustelly-Smits organ in the St Lambertuskerk in Helmond, completed in 1974 and 1976 respectively.

From 1977 the firm has been directed by the third generation of the Verschueren family, Léon III, son of Frans Verschueren. He has sought consistently to adopt historical building methods, focusing initially on seventeenth- and eighteenth-century traditions of the Southern Netherlands and Liège, and after 1980 on more northern styles too and nineteenth-century models.

Since 1986 Verschueren organs have occupied a prominent place on the organ maps of countries including Holland, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Italy, Norway, Austria and Sweden. The designation 'Purveyor to the Royal Household', granted by H.M. Queen Beatrix, formed a literal crown on the firm's centenary celebrations in 1991.

On the 30th of April, 2004, Léon III was knighted by H.M. Queen Beatrix in special recognition of his work as Managing Director of Verschueren Orgelbouw Heythuysen B.V., as well as for his activities concerning the development and conservation of the organ building tradition in the Netherlands.

a. The firm of Verschueren makes all components in its own workshops, from the case to handmade pipework, and every aspect is aimed at a fine tonal result. Incidentally, when it comes to pipe making Verschueren has the longest tradition of all Dutch builders.
b. Rather than building standard instruments, each organ is designed for a specific location, in terms of both architecture and tonal style.
c. Restoration and reconstruction projects are undertaken with particular respect for historic material.