Johannus Sampleset Zwolle for Live III  

The generosity of the Heerkens - Van Sonsbeeck family made it possible for Dutch organ builder Michaël Maarschalkerweerd to build the 38-stop organ in the Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek in the Hanze city Zwolle in 1896. The family’s coat of arms bears silent witness to this gesture, hanging above the organ cabinet.

One interesting note is that Maarschalkerweerd, who built an amazing 127 organs, crafted the instrument inside an existing, older organ cabinet. It came from an organ that the basilica had acquired from the Observantenkirche in Mu¨nster, Germany. Organ builder Nikolaus Brunswick had originally built a Baroque organ in the cloister-crafted cabinet.

After the last Baroque tones had sounded from the cabinet in 1795, it received a new lease on life in the Onze Lieve Vrouwebasiliek in Zwolle thanks to Maarschalkerweerd. This time with a Romantic instrument inside.