From the OHS PC Database, derived from A Guide to North American Organbuilders, by David H. Fox (Richmond, Va.: Organ Historical Society, 1991; rev. ed. 1997 with updated information). —

Born 1938 in Amsterdam, Netherlands; with Fonteyn en Gaal of Amsterdam, 1954-1958 and 1961-1964; with E. F. Walcker & Cie. of Ludwigsburg, West Germany, 1958-1960; Masters exam at Ludwigsburg School of Music Instrument Building, 1960; with Hallman Organbuilding Co., Kitchener, Ontario, Canada, 1964-1968; established Van Daalen Organbuilding of Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1969; active in Plymouth, Minnesota, 1989; representative of the Van Daalen firm of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, in Prescott, Arizona, by 1996.

Sources:

• The American Organist January 1983, 37.


• The American Organist February 1996, 78.


• Uwe Pape, The Tracker Organ Revival in America, (Berlin: Pape Verlag, 1978), 415.

Jan van Daalen, organbuilder, born August 18, 1938, in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, died August 5, 2024, in Sun City West, Arizona. He was born into a musical family in the Netherlands and attended organ concerts with his parents at such venues as St. Bavo, Haarlem, and the Oude Kerk and Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. At his father’s urging, he decided to pursue a career in organbuilding. He first worked with Andries Fonteyn of the Fonteyn Gaal Organ Company in Amsterdam. He went on to study for his Meisterprüfung at the Hochschule in Ludwigsburg, Germany, where he worked at Walcker Orgelbau.

In 1964 van Daalen emigrated to Canada and worked for Allen Jackson, Toronto representative of Casavant Frères, Limitée, and then at J. C. Hallman Organ Company, Kitchener, Ontario. In 1970 he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and founded the Van Daalen Organ Company with Rochus van Rumpt. The two restarted the Pels & Van Leeuwen Company, Waardenburg, Netherlands, after its bankruptcy in 1971, maintaining the Van Daalen name in the United States. Van Daalen built more than 50 mechanical-action instruments in the United States and Canada, including instruments for the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York; First Congregational Church, La Grange, Illinois; and University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. When Jan van Daalen retired in 1995, the company became a subsidiary of Pels & Van Leeuwen. Van Daalen and his wife moved to Sun City West in 2022.

Jan van Daalen is survived by his wife of 62 years, Adriana van Daalen.
Source: Obituary, The Diapason