Last Saturday I went on a very nice outing
with my fellow volunteers of the “Volksuniversiteit” in my home town. Being a
cultural and educational institute, apart from a nice meal a visit to a museum
was to be expected. Our hosts had done everything to make it a most enjoyable
day, which it was indeed. A visit to a small 17th century moated
summer house, now a museum, followed by a walk through the old main street of
Voorburg with its many interesting gables and places of historic interest, was
even better because of the beautiful sunny weather. Not to mention the
delicious four or five course Italian buffet dinner which our hosts, the heads
of our music department, had so lovingly prepared.
The original kitchen in the basement
Hofwijck is a
place I had never visited and which I have been curious about since childhood.
Then it was easily visible from the main road from The Hague to Utrecht, which
skirted the house at that time. I wondered who had lived in that small but
perfectly symmetrical castle, would have liked to know what was inside. I do
not think it was open to the public at that time, and was even neglected. When
the road was widened and became busier, and the railway took up space as well,
there were even plans in the 60-ies to demolish the house, as happened to so
many buildings of historic interest at that time. Fortunately that didn’t
happen. But the road cut through a considerable part of the gardens, and so did
the railway and the railway station, which are both now on a viaduct.
Hofwijck
Nowadays the house is a museum and open to the
public, as well as what remains of the gardens. And at last, after all these
years of wondering what it would look like, I walked across the bridge and
through the front door. Coffee and cake were served in the old kitchen in the
basement which has a door opening on the moat. Provisions came in by boat. The
house was built next to the Vliet, an important river at that time and the main
thoroughfare from The Hague to Leyden. The towpath was next to the house, and
the first inhabitant, Constantijn Huygens,
poet, statesman, and academic, used to hide behind the tall hedge next to the
towpath to eavesdrop on conversations of the passengers of the tow barges, the
usual means of transport in a land with many rivers, lakes and waterways. He would write poems and stories inspired by the conversations he overheard.
It is amazing how small the house was, given
that there were five children as well. But the gardens were very extensive, and
it was only a summer house. The Huygens family had a big house in the heart of
The Hague. Hofwijck was far from the centre of The Hague, out in the country, next to farmland and orchards. Now it is almost gobbled up and completely enclosed by residential estates, office buildings, roads and in short urbanisation.
Huygens was a true homo universalis, a very learned and intelligent man. So were his children, especially Christian. Some claim that
after Einstein Christian is the best scientist in the world.
I have always had respect for Huygens since I
learned that the organ culture in protestant churches was largely due to him. After
the Reformation protestants did not want to use the pipe organs in the big
churches. They were considered instruments of the devil. They would have liked
to destroy them, as so many other things were destroyed . Iconoclasm is another
word for destruction of our cultural and religious heritage. But because the
pipe organs in the churches did not belong to the religious authorities, but to
the local authorities, they were spared and were played by the organists
appointed by the local government. So although not played during services, they
were heard very regularly, because it was hoped that music would keep people away
from the many pubs.
Huygens thought the unaccompanied singing of
the protestants was awful, and so he encouraged the use of the pipe organs to
accompany the psalm singing, hoping that would improve things. In 1641 he wrote
an influential book about the use of church organs in religious services. It is
strange to realise that now for some protestants only pipe organs are allowed
as musical instruments in church services.
If you like to read more, there is some interesting information on the website of the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam.
The garden was in the shape of the human body,
with the correct proportions, the house being the head and the smallest part.
No landscape gardening yet in this garden, but formality.
Reflection in the moat
Poppies on the bank of the Vliet
The church in Voorburg is connected with Princess
Marianne, the only daughter of King William I of the Netherlands by his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia to survive into adulthood. After her marriage
with Prince Albert, the fourth son of her mother's brother, King Frederick William III of Prussia
broke up, she lived in Voorburg with her lover. She donated a new pipe organ to
the church in Voorburg, as she didn’t like the old one there. It is a beautiful
organ which is still played. In the church grounds is a statue of Princess
Marianne.
The old church in Voorburg and the statue of Princess Marianne in the grounds
So
for me this day was a day with two references to church organs, a highlight for
an organ lover like me; even more perfect because of the company, the food and
the weather.
The organ in the church in Voorburg
Concert by candlelight
