Cor Edskes

[Barry Jordan]

Hallo all,

 

those who follow the European scene and have not already heard the news, the great organologist and consultant Cor Edskes died on, I think, Monday. A loss to all concerned with the North German / Dutch historical tradition.

 

Best to all from over here.

Barry

[MusingMuso]

A very sad day indeed.

My rough(ish) translation of the news from the Netherlands:-

 

 

On monday, september 7, 2015 the internationally renowned organologist Cor Edskes died in the nursing home in which he had lived during the past year.

Cornelius H. Edskes was born in 1925 in Groningen, and received his first organ lessons fromJohan van Meurs, organist of the Groningen Der Aakerk. Later he studied under others, including George Strain, Flor Peeters and Helmut Walcha.

In 1940 he was appointed as organist of the Reformed Church in Uithuizen, and two years later he was organist of the Doopsgezinde municipality, Groningen. In the latter post he completed more than sixty years.

In 1954, he became the organ advisor of the Dutch Reformed Church, and for the next nine years assistant to the foremost organ advisor Hendrik L. Oussoren. After a number of years, his influence was felt outside the Netherlands. He masterminded numerous restorations and construction projects, including those in the Doopsgezinde Church Groningen (1961), the New Church in Amsterdam (1981), the Domkirke to Roskilde (1991) and the St. -Jacobi chuch Hamburg (1993). He worked closely with the organ-builders Jurgen Ahrend and the Danish Marcussen firm.

Edskes was a frequent contributor to the Netherlands publication "Het Orgel", (1954-57) and later became editor-in-chief during the period 1957-1963.

In the next number of 'Het Orgel' there will be a full tribute.

[Jim Treloar]

He appears in the Fugue Films DVD of Durch organs including Groningen. (Plus 5 CDs) Well worth getting if you've not already got it. Fugue appear to have reduced the price at present.