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"muziek met gaatjes" (music by holes)
arthur & paula prinsen
in "keyframe",
journal of the fair organ preservation society, n°3, 2012.
With many thanks to David DINGWALL who had written this article, gave publishing permission and even kindly edited it for TGCNC
Arthur Prinsen (born 1933) is one of the most important figures of the mechanical organ industry of the second half of the 20th century. Together with his wife Paula Martens they have made a hugely significant and outstanding contribution to the preservation of mechanical music. Between them they ran their business producing cardboard books of music for a very wide range of organ scales for over six decades. In addition to this, Arthur has built new organs as well as restoring historic instruments and run a business exhibiting organs to the public. The title of this article ‘Muziek Met Gaatjes’ (Music by Holes) is the name of an exhibition in Antwerp Arthur organised in 1993 which told the important story of the city’s mechanical organ building heritage and represents just one small part of Arthur’s illustrious career. Sadly their important influence in the preservation era of mechanical music has been neglected and forgotten by enthusiasts. That is I hope until now. I’m delighted through the very helpful emails I’ve exchanged with Arthur to put together a short appraisal of Arthur’s career as a music arranger and organ builder.
Arthur developed a love for music from childhood. The first instrument he took up playing was the accordion when he was nine years old. From then on music would forever play a prominent part of Arthur’s life. He went to music academy and learnt to play more instruments including trumpet, saxophone, vibraphone and Hammond organ. Starting in his teenage years, Arthur played in numerous dance bands and gained the nickname of ‘Tuurke’. One band he performed with in the early 1950s which was at the time particularly well known in Belgium was the band of Toto de Wandel, which accompanied many artists each week live on Belgian radio which was then known as N.I.R. Incredibly Arthur regularly played in dance bands up to four times a week, fitting these activities in with his day job as a manager of a tobacco factory garage where he was responsible for the upkeep of 63 vehicles and managing staff.
Arthur Prinsen aged 18.
Arthur joined the music profession arguably perhaps too late to make it a lasting career for a budding musician. This period coincided with a gradual decline in popularity of dance bands and the rise of rock and roll music which was to dominate the demands of the music listening public. Despite this decline, Arthur never gave up with the music industry. His ability to play many instruments and sing enabled him to continue performing. Later in his music career, Arthur was part of a barber shop quartet called ‘The Vocals’. They made recordings and a number of television appearances in Belgium in the 1980s in addition to many live performances. He is still active as a musician and regularly performs with a dance band.
"TheVocals" - Arthur is second left.
Understanding music and performing has traditionally always boded well for professional arrangers of music for mechanical organs and this was the case for Arthur’s career with organs. It was in the 1950s whilst performing in dance bands that he met Achiel (Willy) Van Wichelen who was a very successful band leader in Belgium who was known by his stage name as ‘Willy Rockin’. Whilst performing at various locations throughout Belgium, Arthur discovered some of the large dance organs that were often in the buildings where they performed. It was through conversation with Willy that Arthur discovered that Willy’s father, Urbain Van Wichelen, was a professional music arranger and organ builder and that an opportunity to take on an apprenticeship in music arranging was possible. Arthur began to work for Urbain Van Wichelen in 1958 and was taught the art of music arranging through him. The first book of music that he ever made was a version of ‘Tulips From Amsterdam’. He worked for Mr. Van Wichelen senior for several years and his first arrangements were supplied through him and the books bared the label of Van Wichelen.
In 1961, Arthur and Paula set up their own business in Brasschaat, Antwerp supplying cardboard books and perforated rolls. Paula was responsible for cutting the books and their cutting machines included a Bossman machine originally from the Mortier factory and another machine previously owned by Mr. Van Wichelen. Unlike previous Belgian music arrangers, Arthur was not confined to supplying music for organs in Belgium but was really one of the first music arrangers whose business would go international in comparison with many of his predecessors who were far more confined to their local surroundings in terms of trade.
When starting out in business, the Prinsen’s perhaps did not realise how heavy the demand from English customers would materialise as looking back; it’s hard to believe how prolific their business dominated the book music market. Arthur’s first customer from Britain was David Barlow, owner of the 101 key Mortier ‘De Kluisberg’. Shortly afterwards he made contact with the collector W. J. (Bill) Barlow. Ironically his first two English customers share the same surname but were not related. The then up and coming organ owners and collectors were after new arrangements for their recently acquired instruments, particularly as a considerable number of these instruments which were arriving to the UK were being imported from mainland Europe. They had a repertoire of music that often comprised pieces well known in the countries of the organ’s origins but not well known in the United Kingdom. Arthur was commissioned to supply music catered more towards British tastes hence a considerable amount of marches, light classical pieces and popular songs including many contemporary songs from the hit parade of the time. These tunes were the order of the day from not only organ owners but the British enthusiasts and the listening public.
Within a relatively short space of time, the Prinsen family business was expanding rapidly due to the phenomenal surge in demand for new music books for mechanical organs. The peak of their productivity would have roughly been from the early 1970s right the way through up to the mid 1980s. In the 1970s, there were four cutting machines required to meet business demands, three for cutting books and one for paper rolls. They arguably have produced more music for the mechanical organ than any other individual on the planet both past and present! They earnt a very good reputation from organ owners in the U.K. as music books were made from start to finish in a relatively short space of time. Organ owners were always sure that their order for music would be fulfilled unlike one or two other arrangers working at the same time who gained reputations for all the wrong reasons! In the days before email and Internet communications, it was important for those in the organ business to rely on advertising within the Key Frame journal of the F.O.P.S. so many early editions featured advertisements for music arrangers. In the 1960s, several Belgian music arrangers including Arthur offered their services to the new and growing British market.
Their ability to supply music for nearly all sizes and systems of mainly keyed organs was fundamental for their business to expand. It’s estimated that Arthur arranged music for over 400 different organ scales! For a number of years in the 1970s and 1980s they were regular attendees of the Great Dorset Steam Fair. The late Neville Rose was very good in publicising their attendance and encouraged organ owners who wanted to make new orders with them to meet them in the F.O.P.S hospitality tent where they would be based. It proved invaluable as many of their customers came to the show either with their organs or visiting the event and a good amount of business was transacted by personal approach.
The Prinsens’ business truly went global by the late 1960s when the American market for mechanical music began to flourish. Many American collectors benefited from Arthur’s guidance towards purchasing instruments, some of which had been in his ownership. Their interest was in antique mechanical organs so therefore a large number of dance organs and fairground organs were sold by Arthur to these collectors. One claim to fame that Arthur can claim credit for is that his arrangements featured in two Walt Disney productions which were ‘Half a Sixpence’ and ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’. The music provided for these films were used as a soundtrack for carousel scenes. The organ featured was ‘Sadie Mae’, a De Kleist fairground organ. This organ was part of the Paul Eakins ‘Gay 90s Museum’ in St. Louis. The organ later came into the ownership of Disney World and featured on a number of recordings featuring Arthur’s arrangements including one produced by Disney Studios entitled ‘America On Parade’ issued to celebrated the 200th anniversary of American Independence.
Arthur’s organ building side has seen the production of many organs of varying sizes. The smallest being 32 key hand turned organs and the largest being an 89 key organ with a changer system to play up to 101 key. One of the most popular sizes of organ he devised was his own 49 key street organ scale. With new organs you need music and naturally Arthur supplied a wide of music for these instruments. These organs have been sold to many people and can be found in many different continents. These organs are all traditional mechanical organs built in line with historic mechanical organs with virtually no modern methods of organ building or music production used.
Through his connections with mechanical organs, Arthur made many friends and acquaintances who had been heavily involved in the mechanical organ industry in Belgium. Amongst Arthur’s closest friends included the organ dealer Oscar Grymonprez with whom he worked alongside in dealing of organs for some years. He also met many of the Belgian music arrangers and was very friendly with both Eugene Peersman and Albert Decap, both masters and practitioners of the Belgian art of arranging extremely good music books for (predominantly) Belgian organs. Albert Decap’s father Leon Decap was also a very good friend of Arthur’s. Leon was one of the four legendary ‘Gebroeders Decap Antwerpen’ and was responsible for teaching Arthur a significant amount of organ building work. Leon worked for the Prinsens for a number of years in an organ building capacity.
Arthur had a very close friendship with the late Arthur Bursens who was also a relative of Paula’s. Along with Leon Decap, Mr. Bursens taught him much about the organ building side of the industry. For a number of years, Arthur was responsible for the production of new perforated music rolls for the ‘Arburo’ series of organs built by Mr. Bursens. The rolls supplied for the Arburo scale was always provided by an outside supplier, they were never produced in-house at the Bursens factory. Previously Urbain Van Wichelen had been the chief supplier of rolls for the Arburo and Arthur took on these arranging duties from Mr. Van Wichelen after his illness. Arthur also supplied music for the range of street organs (52 Key and 68/69 Key) Mr. Bursens constructed in the latter part of his career. Arthur also helped run Mr. Bursens’ business after he suffered a stroke. It was thanks to Arthur Prinsen that Mr. Bursens was able to continue building organs to meet the demands of the steady supply of customers for new organs who were after the quality craftsmanship of Bursens organs.
Perhaps Arthur’s most noted partnership within the mechanical organ movement was the one established with his long time friend Jef Ghysels. It was in 1973 that Jef acquired a very rare and magnificent 76 Key Fasano dance organ which had incredibly survived in a most original state. This organ was in a poor state when Jef purchased the organ and a full restoration was needed to bring this organ to playing condition. Arthur was commissioned to restore the organ and a very fine job was made of it. The productivity of Eusèbe Fasano was very small and genuine surviving instruments produced by Fasano are extremely rare. Both Jef and Arthur should be owed a significant amount of credit for rescuing and preserving such an important mechanical organ which is so evocative of the early dance organ industry. The Fasano remained in Jef’s collection until 2007 when the Flemish Government purchased the collection with a view to founding a National collection of mechanical music in Belgium. This ambition has unfortunately been put on hold at present but it is hoped that a suitable permanent venue will be found for the collection to be displayed to the public.
Following the restoration of the Fasano, Jef acquired more instruments to add to his collection and Arthur carried out the restoration work on these instruments. These included the 92 Key Mortier organ that featured on the ‘Continental Superstar’ L.P released in 1977. Arthur and Jef together acquired organs as well, most notably the 121 Key Decap ‘Frangema’. This organ again featured on an LP recording released by the Mechanical Organ Owners Society in 1985.
(see the video below, of an exhibition at Brussels, oct.2008 to march 2009, presenting some of the instruments formerly in the Prinsen-Ghysels Collection ).
Being a carpenter by profession, Jef has also worked alongside Arthur on many organ building projects, notably in carving many organ facades for new organs from the Prinsen and in earlier times the Bursens factories.
In addition to arranging music and building and restoring organs, Arthur also owned a number of mechanical organs at varying times. The first organ he purchased was a 68 key ‘Baby’ Mortier and he also owned one of the many 68 key street organs built by his good friend Arthur Bursens. This was one of the first examples of this type of organ. His most notable collection was the one he founded at St. Niklaas, just north of Antwerp when he moved his business there in 1980. Prior to this Arthur had been able to acquire some excellent mechanical organs to create a very diverse collection of instruments. Arthur told me that unlike some collectors who often preferred to collect one type of organ or by perhaps one or two manufacturers, he wanted a collection whereby each organ represented one organ builder and so his collection grew. A number of fine organs were on display at St. Niklaas. To highlight some of these include the 92 Key Limonaire which had been previously owned by Belgian collector Jean Staelens and English organ collector Arthur Gardener. The organ is a rare and impressive example of one of the largest fairground organs to be built by the Limonaire firm.
William J. Barlow died in 1976 and Mr. Barlow’s widow sold his entire collection the following year. Arthur purchased three organs from the Barlow collection. One was an 89 key Gavioli fitted with a Marenghi facade by Barlow which Arthur restored and sold to English enthusiast Goff Radcliffe in 1980. The other two organs were to become part of his notable St. Niklaas collection. These were the 83 key Hooghuys dance organ ‘Prince Carnival’ now in the ownership of the city of Gerardsbergen (formally Grammont), the home of the Hooghuys organ building dynasty. The most famous organ from the Barlow collection was undoubtedly the renowned 87 Key Gavioli ‘Troubadour’.
Arthur also acquired in 1977 a very impressive 114 Key Gaudin which he purchased from an organ builder in England. This magnificent organ is a very rare example of a Parisian dance organ built around 1920 and is one of only two 114 Key Gaudin dance organs to survive in its original state. The organ had 19 registers on its scale in addition to a xylophone and tubular bells. Its impressive facade was thankfully still intact and this glorious work itself is impressive let alone the organ. The entire organ was restored by Arthur over a three year period and also entailed the redecorating of the facade which was also carried out by him. This organ featured on an L.P recording released in 1985 by the Mechanical Organ Owners Society. The Gaudin organ now resides in a private collection in America.
Other organs in the St. Niklaas collection included a 70 Key Wellershaus, 92 Key Mortier and 105 Key Decap ‘Flamingo’. In addition to the mechanical organs, the collection at St. Niklaas also featured a 3 manual 10 rank Compton theatre organ. Prior to Arthur purchasing the Compton, it had been installed in Penzance, Cornwall. Through Nigel Turner, who was then owner and managing director of Turner’s Musical Merry go round in Northampton, England, the organ was shipped to Belgium and installed it in the St. Niklaas collection within a period of two weeks.
These instruments formed the basis of a collection of organs open to visitors, predominantly coach parties. Arthur and Paula ran this very busy side of the business in addition to the demands of the music arranging and organ building work which must have been a daunting task. They often had to juggle two parties in one day, with the rest of the business fitting in with the front line side of the work. Arthur would present the tours to visitors playing the instruments in the collection in addition to playing the Compton organ himself. It was Paula’s job to run the bar and the gift shop! When the St. Niklaas collection was closed to the public in 1987, the entire collection was gradually sold to other collectors in Europe, the USA and the U.K. Several mechanical organs in the collection were sold to Nigel Turner to join the Turner’s Musical Merry Go Round collection, the most notable one being the ‘Troubadour’ Gavioli (these organs were all subsequently sold on).
Arthur Prinsen at his Compton theatre organ.
As noted at the beginning of this article, an important event Arthur heavily contributed to was the 1993 exhibition ‘Muziek met gaatjes’ (Music by Holes). Held at the City Festive Hall in Antwerp, this was a month long festival celebrating the city’s mechanical music heritage and coincided with the year that Antwerp was the European Capital of Culture. Arthur was involved in organising the exhibition and instruments to be displayed and he gave the three guided tours per day that were presented to visitors over the five week period the exhibition lasted. Amongst the exhibits featured in the exhibition included several organs from Jef Ghysel’s collection, several from the collection of Gebroeders Decap Antwerpen in addition to those from other collectors and also the 89 key organ which Arthur built himself.
2010 marked the end of the Prinsen’s lifelong career with organs. To mark the end of this long association, it would be very appropriate to describe Arthur’s last major organ building project.
‘Primar’ is an 84 key concert organ constructed by Arthur in 2008. The organ’s name is derived from Arthur PRInsen and his wife Paula MARtens. It is a cardboard book playing organ and although loosely based on the well known street organ ‘De Waterpoorter’, the organ was built to Arthur’s own design and specification. It has a distinctive sound which is very characteristic of not only the street organ but also has a tone which is similar to other Belgian built instruments. The organ was built on a gradual basis over the course of about a year. Building work on this organ was carried out at Arthur’s home and was interspersed with music arranging and organ building work for customers. Arthur told me that around 20 percent of the parts that make up ‘Primar’ were already available to use before work on this organ commenced. One such part was the centre case. The rest of the organ was built from scratch. This included the making of the keyframe, register box, windchests, percussion and action and much of the pipework. The front for the organ was carved by Jef Ghysels and as is usual with Jef’s work is of a very high standard and the bandmaster and two bell ringer figures were also carved by Jef. The painting and decoration of the front was carried out by Arthur including the application of the gold leaf.
The organ has 640 pipes which makes it a large and versatile instrument particularly for an instrument with 84 keys. The organ has 15 registers. The organs scale comprises 23 melody, 20 counter melody, 10 accompaniment and 8 bass. The percussion comprises bass drum, snare drum, woodblock and cymbal. The organ’s full disposition can be found at the end of this article. There is around 600 meters of music with the organ and Arthur has made almost all the arrangements for the organ. Amongst Arthur’s favourite pieces he has arranged include ‘Trumpeter’s Holiday’,"Typewriter Song’ (you can actually listen to both of them on our PRIMAR for sale page) , and a number of English marches. It is important to note that Arthur also made his final selection of music for ‘Primar’ and this book includes four tunes, ‘Boum’, ‘La Mer’, ‘Premier Rendez Vous’ and ‘Je Suis Seul Le Soir’.
‘Primar’ is an 84 key concert organ constructed by Arthur in 2008. The organ’s name is derived from Arthur PRInsen and his wife Paula MARtens. It is a cardboard book playing organ and although loosely based on the well known street organ ‘De Waterpoorter’, the organ was built to Arthur’s own design and specification. It has a distinctive sound which is very characteristic of not only the street organ but also has a tone which is similar to other Belgian built instruments. The organ was built on a gradual basis over the course of about a year. Building work on this organ was carried out at Arthur’s home and was interspersed with music arranging and organ building work for customers. Arthur told me that around 20 percent of the parts that make up ‘Primar’ were already available to use before work on this organ commenced. One such part was the centre case. The rest of the organ was built from scratch. This included the making of the keyframe, register box, windchests, percussion and action and much of the pipework. The front for the organ was carved by Jef Ghysels and as is usual with Jef’s work is of a very high standard and the bandmaster and two bell ringer figures were also carved by Jef. The painting and decoration of the front was carried out by Arthur including the application of the gold leaf.
The organ has 640 pipes which makes it a large and versatile instrument particularly for an instrument with 84 keys. The organ has 15 registers. The organs scale comprises 23 melody, 20 counter melody, 10 accompaniment and 8 bass. The percussion comprises bass drum, snare drum, woodblock and cymbal. The organ’s full disposition can be found at the end of this article. There is around 600 meters of music with the organ and Arthur has made almost all the arrangements for the organ. Amongst Arthur’s favourite pieces he has arranged include ‘Trumpeter’s Holiday’,"Typewriter Song’ (you can actually listen to both of them on our PRIMAR for sale page) , and a number of English marches. It is important to note that Arthur also made his final selection of music for ‘Primar’ and this book includes four tunes, ‘Boum’, ‘La Mer’, ‘Premier Rendez Vous’ and ‘Je Suis Seul Le Soir’.
Please note that this organ is for sale on this very website ! You can click on this picture to quickly reach its dedicated page.
Whilst the Prinsen’s have formally retired from the business, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the temptation to make a living out of mechanical organs has been hard to resist! Arthur is still in demand from organ owners for repairs and tuning to be carried out on organs. Unfortunately Arthur is no longer producing music for organs as he parted company with his cutting machines in 2010. In some ways having spent over half a century making a living out of producing books of music, it must have been difficult for Arthur and Paula to let them go. Sadly ‘Primar’ represents the final chapter of Arthur’s long career but is nevertheless an important milestone in the history of the Belgian mechanical organ industry which deserves to be acknowledged for posterity. To close this piece, I personally feel that there is no one else alive today who deserves some form of mechanical organ lifetime achievement award than Paula and Arthur. I hope that organ enthusiasts all over the world can join me in thanking Arthur and Paula for their enormous contribution in the field and wish them all the very best for what I hope will be a very long and happy retirement.
Paula and Arthur with their friend Jef Ghysels at the back.
The disposition of ‘Primar’ can be found below
Melody
Violin Forte (2 ranks), Violin Piano (2 ranks), Unda Maris (2 ranks), Bourdon (2 ranks), Carillon (3 ranks), Flute Harmonique (1 rank), Glockenspiel.
Counter Melody
Cello (2 ranks), Cello grave (2 ranks), Vox Celeste (2 ranks), Trumpet (1 rank), Flute 8 (1 rank), Saxophone (2 ranks).
Accompaniment
3 ranks
Bass
4 ranks
Bass Trombone (1 rank)
This article originally appeared in the ‘Keyframe’ journal (Number 3, 2012) of the Fair Organ Preservation Society. This version of the article is slightly edited from the one which appeared in the Keyframe journal.
