Holtkamp Organ Company
Encyclopedia
The Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio
is one of America
's oldest builders of pipe organ
s. Founded in 1855 by G.F. Votteler, the company was passed on to the Holtkamps in 1931. Under the direction of Walter Holtkamp Sr., the company became famous as a pioneer of the organ reform movement
in the United States.
Holtkamp organs typically make much use of exposed pipe-work, to, in the words of Walter Holtkamp, allow the audience to see and hear the organ better. Holtkamp organs also typically have a non-traditional console, which looks something like a couple of keyboards and stops just placed on a desk.
In the early 1940's Walter Holtkamp built his first and last organ console in the French style. It was for him a miserable failure. However, it had been designed with a low "French" profile because the organist for whom it was built was very short and had a difficult time looking over a typical organ music rack to his choir. Holtkamp, therefore, embarked on designing what became the Holtkamp console for reasons of clean sight lines outward from the player's desk.
Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and is the county seat of Cuyahoga County, the most populous county in the state. The city is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately west of the Pennsylvania border...
is one of America
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
's oldest builders of pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
s. Founded in 1855 by G.F. Votteler, the company was passed on to the Holtkamps in 1931. Under the direction of Walter Holtkamp Sr., the company became famous as a pioneer of the organ reform movement
Organ reform movement
The Organ Reform Movement or Orgelbewegung was an early 20th century trend in pipe organ building, originating in Germany and already influential in the United States in the 1940s, waning only in the 1980s...
in the United States.
Holtkamp organs typically make much use of exposed pipe-work, to, in the words of Walter Holtkamp, allow the audience to see and hear the organ better. Holtkamp organs also typically have a non-traditional console, which looks something like a couple of keyboards and stops just placed on a desk.
In the early 1940's Walter Holtkamp built his first and last organ console in the French style. It was for him a miserable failure. However, it had been designed with a low "French" profile because the organist for whom it was built was very short and had a difficult time looking over a typical organ music rack to his choir. Holtkamp, therefore, embarked on designing what became the Holtkamp console for reasons of clean sight lines outward from the player's desk.