Psalm 30

Listening to uploads of Dutch organists on Contrebombarde, especially those of psalm preludes, the impression could arise, that Dutch organ playing was and is very much influenced by the romantic style of organists like Jan Zwart and Feike Asma, van Tilburg etc.

They certainly still have a big influence , especially among amateur-organists and the more conservative Dutch Christian population. There even are contemporary composers writing in that romantic idiom.

In professional circles there has been a different development. Those who studied the organ at the Dutch conservatoria, populated by the best Dutch organ teachers, mostly developed a different kind of style, more along the lines of the contemporary German composers like Micheelsen, Distler and Pepping and French composers Tournemire, Langlais and Durufle.

In the seventies bundles were published with preludes to the new Liedboek 1973, composed by leading contemporary Dutch composers. I intend to do a small series on preludes and harmonizations of the psalms.

Piet Rippen (1928-2006)
studied the organ and piano at the Amsterdam Conservatorium. After that he studied musical sciences at the University in Groningen.
He was a church organist for 45 years in churches in Haarlem, Amsterdam and Djakarta.

He also taught music in schools and advised teachers in their own musical lessons. He was a choir conductor and wrote many works for choirs.
For the organ he wrote many smaller but also concert pieces like the suite “Groningen Historiael”.