|
The Dutch organist, Piet Wiersma [full name: Pieter Niekel Wiersma], received his first organ lessons at the age of 11 from Johan van Meurs on the Schnitger organ of the Der Aa Church in Groningen. After his admission to the Groningen Conservatory at the age of 15, he was subsequently educated by Wim van Beek, graduating in 1971. In 1975 he obtained the Prix d'Excellence. He started as a church organist at the age of 11 in the Groninger Oostwold (Westerkwartier) and in the following years played in many churches in the city of Groningen, with permanent employment first as the Oosterkerk and later the Goede Herderkerk (where he also had a choir; he had many choirs at the time) and the Remonstrant church.
In 1983 Piet Wiersma was appointed as organist of the Grote Kerk in Monnickendam, where he was a permanent organist until his death. He remained a northerner and had a successful private practice as an organ teacher. He had about eighty students in recent years and was therefore jokingly called "lesboer". He taught in Assen (CGK), Haren (Groningen), Zuidlaren, Farmsum, Glimmen, Kollumerzwaag, Buitenpost, Monnickendam, Haarlem (Nieuwe Kerk), Harderwijk and Elburg. His students regularly won prizes at amateur competitions in the Groningerland and elsewhere. Among his pupils: Tymen Jan Bronda, Sybolt de Jong.
In the early years of his career, Piet Wiersma was mainly looking for repertoire that was of good quality musically and appreciated by a wider audience: he sought refuge in tonal music and many salon musical works were on the program with him. Basically he played everything, but he enjoyed J.S. Bach, Krebs and the composers from the century after. The last years of his life, he was mainly busy with the music of J.S. Bach. Around 2000, he played all organ music by J.S. Bach at about twenty concerts in Elburg. Furthermore, in the J.S. Bach year 2000 Piet Wiersma played all organ music by J.S. Bach in one week during an organ trip in the German states of Thuringia and Saxony.
Contrary to many of his colleagues, it was not Piet Wiersma's aim to remove the pure Baroque style; for him, making music was paramount. With the music of J.S. Bach, however, according to Wiersma, you should not or hardly deviate from J.S. Bach's authentic surviving notes. At the many organ concerts that he has given in recent decades, he played all kinds of things: J.S. Bach, romantic and modern, about a hundred concerts a year, at home and abroad. He has performed in Eastern Europe, North and South America and St Paul's Cathedral in London.
Piet Wiersma took a special place among the northern organists. Although most Groningen organists seem to be mainly concerned with Baroque music and the many 17th and 18th century organs, Wiersma was also focused on music from later style periods. He was involved in a project to record all works by J.S. Bach on Groningen organs: "Bach in Groningen" (14 CD's on 7 2-CD albums). According to some, he was not exactly known as a J.S. Bach specialist, but others applaud him as a J.S. Bach interpreter with the right choice of tempo and colour. He was particularly praised for his registrations.
In 2004 the Stichting Groningen Orgelland was published under No. SGO030, a commemorative CD with (partly historical) recordings of Piet Wiersma's playing on Hinsz organs. The CD has since been sold out, but is still available in libraries. Piet Wiersma's archive can be found at the Groningen Archives under access number 2299. |
