The Holtkamp Organ Company of Cleveland, Ohio is one of America's oldest builders of pipe organs. 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 1940s 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.
Famous quotes containing the words organ and/or company:
“And this mighty master of the organ of language, who knew its every stop and pipe, who could awaken at will the thin silver tones of its slenderest reeds or the solemn cadence of its deepest thunder, who could make it sing like a flute or roar like a cataract, he was born into a country without literature.”
—Willa Cather (1873–1947)
“I have noticed that doctors who fail in the practice of medicine have a tendency to seek one another’s company and aid in consultation. A doctor who cannot take out your appendix properly will recommend you to a doctor who will be unable to remove your tonsils with success.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)