Monaco: Cathedral

This post follows up on the earlier post on the history of the organ in the Monaco Cathedral. The stamp was issued in 2012. The instrument was completed in 2011. The website for the builder, Belgian firm Orgues-Thomas, tells us the instrument has 4 manuals and pedal and includes 74 ranks. This discussion board thread discusses the instrument, and includes the stoplist, as well as information about the inaugural concert for the instrument.

Belgium: Memling painting

Belgium issued this stamp (Scott 1560) as part of a set of two in 1994. This one features a detail from a painting by Hans Memling. The detail shows a woman holding an infant, a second woman on the left, and a musician playing a portatif in the background. It's not quite clear if the musician is indeed holding the instrument or if it rests on a table of some type. But it does meet the design features typical of portatifs: short compass, single set of pipes. The winding mechanism is not shown. I am not familiar with this painting, so I would be happy to hear information about the persons in the painting and any other details related to it. The other stamp in the small set of two features the Belgian composer Guillaume Lekeu (1870-1894). He died at a tragically young age of typhoid fever. Most of his pieces were for piano and strings, along with a dozen orchestral works.

Belgium: Composers

This booklet strip of 5 stamps (Scott #2131) was issued by Belgium 1/23/2006. It features several early composers, on the stamps themselves, and in the selvage. The composers include Josquin de Prez, Guillaume Dufay and Gilles Binchoise (who is holding what looks like a lyre of some type), Johannes Ockeghem (with men gathered around a music desk), Jacob Obreacht, Adriaan Willaert and Orlandus Lassus. And then, most interestingly, in the left-hand selvage is a little positiv organ. It appears that it is actually the left-hand side of the image that includes Dufay and Binchois, but the stamp perforations create a gap. It's difficult to tell how large this instrument is and whether it might actually be movable, and thus a portativ.

Belgium: Geraardsbergen, St. Batholomew

Belgium issued this stamp (Scott #1299) on September 24, 1988. It is part of a set of four stamps celebrating Belgian cultural heritage. The stamp features one of the twin cases of the organ in the Geraardsbergen St. Bartholomew Church. The organ is significant because it was built by Charles Anneessens, in 1890. Anneessens was a very famous builder. I do not have an example of the stamp itself. I have only this First Day Cover. The postmark mentions the organ builder and has a silhouette of the church. You can get some information about the church here, but details about the organ are lacking.

Pierre Courtiade, a stamp collector in Paris, found this infirmation that seems to be froma Dutch stamp catelogue. I had posted a query about the stamp and the organ on a collecting chat room in 2004 and had completely forgotten about the information there. This provides a bit more information on the organ.

Orgel Bartholomeuskerk te Geraardsbergen.
Het in 1890 ingewijde orgel bezit 1422 pijpen, verdeeld over twee
manualen en pedaal, die 29 registers bedienen. De bouwer was Charles
Anneessens ; de neogotische kast werd door Louis Bert ontworpen. In 1970
werd het orgel door de firma Duffel gerestaureerd en uitgebreid ; Ch.
Anneessens werd in 1835 te Ninove als zoon van de kerkorgelbouwer Pieter
Hubertus geboren en overleed in 1903. Het atelier ontstond reeds in 1832
en in 1864 begon zoon Charles orgels te bouwen te Geraardsbergen. Een
brochure van de firma Anneessens vermeldt niet minder dan 227, tussen
1865 en 1893 in opdracht van binnen- en buitenland, gebouwde orgels. Er
staan Anneessensorgels in Engeland, Schotland, Ierland, Nederland,
Spanje en Portugal.

Belgium: Bruges Music

This stamp was issued in 2002 to celebrate the artistic heritage of the city of Bruges in Belgium. There is a xylophone in the foreground and the background includes an organ case. It appears that this is the organ at St Salvator in Bruges. I was able to find this site about the church, with an image of the organ, but no details about the instrument.

Belgium: Europa: Cesar Franck

Belgium issued this stamp (Scott 1199) as part of a set of two in 1985, for its Europa commemoration. 1985 was a "music year" in the Europa program. This stamp includes a profile of Cesar Franck seated at an organ console, with organ pipes in the background. There is a music exerpt included, but I cannot tell what the score is; it's probably not an organ score. The year 1887 is included in the stamp image. It's hard to tell if that's the year of the image of Franck, or if the stamp is issued a couple of years ahead of a centennial! Franck was an incredible composer. Though his organ compositions number exactly twelve, he is closely associated with that instrument, as he was for a years a church organist. Though he was born in Belgium, he is most closely associated with St. Sulpice in Paris.

Belgium: Ninove, Bastogne

These are the third and four in a set of four stamps issued by Belgium in 2000 for tourism. Scott #1824 depicts the exterior of the Church of the Ascension in Ninove and its organ. The last (Scott #1825) depicts the parish church at Bastogne and the organ there. One can find just a bit more inforamtion about each of these four stamps and the church depicted here.

Belgium: Grimbergen, Mons

These two stamps are a set of four issued by Belgium in 2000 for promotion of tourism. All four stamps depict a rendering of the exterior of the church building, plus a view of the organ. The first (Scott 1822) stamp features the organ at the Norbertine Abbey in Grimbergen. The second (Scott #1823) is that of La Collegiale Sainte-Waudru. Here is a nice article on the builder, Delmotte.

Belgium: Flor Peeters

This stamp (Scott #1631) was issued in 1996 as part of a set of four stamps honoring musicians and writers. Flor Peeters (1903-1986) was a church musician and prolific composer of music, including many works for organ. The organ in the stamp is that of the church most closely associated with Peeters, that in Mechelen. Also shown here is a photo of the interior of the church looking down the nave toward the west (rear) gallery.