Jean-Louis Coignet

Jean-Louis Coignet is organ expert and Advisor for the City of Paris.

Two years ago, a storm was suddenly triggered on the Internet: the Sainte-Clotilde organ was being “vandalized” . . . “impure hands were ravaging the Cavaillé-Coll masterpiece” that Jean Langlais had so respectfully preserved . . . Jacques Taddéi, titular organist of Sainte-Clotilde, was deemed responsible for the “sack of a sacred heritage” and put in the stocks. This turmoil spread in the United States with that fine sense of moderation that characterizes some organ circles; it did not arouse much interest in France except from a few quarters where Taddéi is hated for various reasons.
What remains of the storm now? Merely a feeling of ridiculous agitation as it has become obvious that this thermonuclear bomb was a non-event perpetrated by mythomaniacs, and that the real motives of the agitators had little to do with their supposed respect for the Sainte-Clotilde organ. In order to separate lies and fantasms from the truth, it is helpful to sketch the history of this instrument.
When the organ was inaugurated on December 19, 1859, its specification was as follows: three manuals (C1–F5: 54 notes): Grand-Orgue, Positif, Récit; Pédale (C1–D3: 27 notes).

GRAND-ORGUE

16’ Montre
16’ Bourdon
8’ Montre
8’ Bourdon
8’ Viole de gambe
8’ Flûte harmonique
4’ Prestant
4’ Octave
22⁄3’ Quinte
2’ Doublette
Plein-Jeu VII
16’ Bombarde
8’ Trompette
4’ Clairon

POSITIF

16’ Bourdon
8’ Montre
8’ Bourdon
8’ Salicional
8’ Unda Maris
8’ Flûte harmonique
4’ Prestant
4’ Flûte octaviante
22⁄3’ Quinte
2’ Doublette
Plein-Jeu III–VI
8’ Trompette
8’ Cromorne
4’ Clairon

RÉCIT

8’ Bourdon
8’ Viole de gambe
8’ Voix céleste
8’ Flûte harmonique
4’ Flûte octaviante
2’ Octavin
8’ Trompette
8’ Basson-Hautbois
8’ Voix humaine
4’ Clairon

PÉDALE

32’ Soubasse
16’ Contrebasse
8’ Flûte
4’ Octave
16’ Bombarde
16’ Basson
8’ Trompette
4’ Clairon

Pédales de Combinaisons

Orage
Tirasse Grand-Orgue
Tirasse Positif
Anches Pédale
Grand-Orgue 16
Positif 16
Positif/Grand-Orgue 16
Anches Grand-Orgue
Anches Positif
Anches Récit
Positif/Grand-Orgue
Récit/Positif
Trémolo Récit
Expression Récit
It should be noted that certain items of the specification are still debatable: Was there a Gambe 8’ or an Unda Maris 8’? Was there a Flûte octaviante 4’ or an Octave 4’ on the Positif? Was there an “appel Grand-Orgue” among the “pédales de combinaisons”? There is at least one point that is no longer questionable, namely, concerning the Récit/Pédale coupler: During examination of the original console in Flor Peeters’ music room, I noted several changes that had been carried out on the “pédales de combinaisons.” There was no longer any “pédale d’orage” as it had been replaced by the “tirasse Grand-Orgue.” Thus the original “tirasse Grand-Orgue” became “tirasse Positif” while the original “tirasse Positif” became “tirasse Récit.” When did this change happen? Probably during one of the “relevages” that Tournemire mentions in the “notice d’inauguration du Grand Orgue” published in 1933. In a letter to Daniel-Lesur, Tournemire wrote that he had the “tirasse Récit” added to the organ. Still, he mentions a “tirasse III” in the “notice . . . ” under the title “Dispositif de l’ancien orgue (1859) . . . ” Historical accuracy was probably not his strong point.
After César Franck’s death, Pierné was appointed in 1890, then Tournemire in 1898. The organ was enlarged in 1933 under Tournemire’s direction: 10 new stops and many new “pédales de combinaisons” were added, while the manuals were extended by 7 notes to reach a 61-note key compass and the pedal by 5 notes to a 32-key compass. These modifications made it necessary to provide a new console. A Cornet V was added to the Grand-Orgue; the Positif Cromorne was transferred to the Récit and renamed Clarinette; a Tierce 13⁄5’ and a Piccolo 1’ were added to the Positif; the Unda Maris gave way to a Gambe 8’.
The most important changes were made on the Récit: a new windchest was installed as well as five additional stops (Quintaton 16’, Bombarde 16’, Nazard 22⁄3’, Tierce 13⁄5’ and Plein-Jeu IV). The Récit enclosure was enlarged to accommodate the new elements. A Soubasse 16’ and a Quinte 51⁄3’ were added to the Pedal, and a Flûte 4’ replaced the Octave 4’. Fourteen new “pédales de combinaisons”—“octaves aigües” and “appels et retraits de jeux”—were added to the existing ones. The expression pedal was centered.
In the “notice d’inauguration,” Tournemire attempts to justify these changes: “These improvements were carried out to better serve the Art of the Organ from the 13th century to the present day.” Even if we do not agree with him, we have to admit that no irreversible changes were perpetrated at that time. All of the Cavaillé-Coll structures of the organ were still there: mechanical action with Barker levers, winding with double-rise bellows, etc. I remember having visited and heard the organ in the 1950s; its sound effect (excepting the “octaves aigües”) was still quite typical of a large Cavaillé-Coll organ.
After Tournemire’s tragic death in 1939, Ermend Bonnal was appointed titular organist. The organ underwent no changes during his tenure. Jean Langlais succeeded him in 1945. Soon afterwards he had part of the organ ceiling removed and replaced by a raised roof in particleboard in an attempt to improve sound egress from the Récit. This modification, carried out in the 1950s, was acoustically efficient, albeit visually very ugly indeed. (Photo 1)
The organ underwent substantial further modifications in 1960–62. The Barker levers, the trackers, and the stop action were removed and replaced with electro-pneumatic transmissions. The Grand-Orgue and Positif reservoirs were also removed and replaced by spring-regulators; the winding of the instrument underwent big changes as did its general balance (along the then-fashionable neo-classical trends). A new Pédale windchest was installed in front of the Récit box to accommodate the Soubasse 16’ as well as three new stops (Bourdon 8’, Prestant 4’ and Doublette 2’). A Flûte 4’ took the place of the Octave 4’ on the Grand-Orgue; the Positif Gambe 8’ was replaced by a Larigot 11⁄3’; a Principal Italien 4’ and a Clairon 2’ were added to the Récit; a new console (the third one) was installed; the “pédales de combinaisons” were reorganized and a combination system, with 6 general and 18 individual pistons, was installed at the back of the organ. Beuchet-Debierre executed these extensive modifications under the direction of Jean Langlais. It cannot be seriously asserted that these were merely superficial, cosmetic alterations. In fact the sound effect of the organ was grossly modified. Whether it sounded better or not is a matter of taste, but obviously the sound was no longer that of Cavaillé-Coll. Jean Guillou faithfully summed up a fairly widespread feeling: “ . . . it is a faucet for lukewarm water!”
Jacques Barberis performed another “relevage” in 1983; the Clarinette 8’ was moved back to the Positif at this time and a few small changes were made among the couplers.
Soon after his appointment as titular organist in 1987, Jacques Taddéi first complained of the limitations of the combination system, then of the lack of wind, quite evident when heavy registrations and 16’ couplers were used. This was by no means surprising as neither Tournemire nor Langlais had ever taken care of this: many stops and couplers had been added to the original organ, an electro-pneumatic action for both notes and stops had replaced the original action, and many reservoirs had been removed when, on the contrary, new ones should have been provided to feed these multiple additions. Worse, in the late 1990s the wiring inside the console had deteriorated to the point where it became dangerous to use certain console controls; e.g., the crescendo pedal had to be disconnected as posing a fire hazard. As far as the instrument’s tonal aspects are concerned, Jacques Taddéi felt that the instrument lacked “guts” and was not responsive enough. This was clearly the result of the drop in the wind pressure that afflicted most divisions, especially the Pédale.
At this point, I drew up a program of repairs aiming at a largely sufficient wind supply by mending the reservoirs and wind trunks, adding a new blower and new primary reservoir to the existing ones, and replacing the electro-pneumatic slider motors (leaking, noisy and very cumbersome) with electric slider motors. To avoid all fire risks, it was decided to upgrade the key and stop action with solid-state transmissions and an electronic combination system. At the same time, Jacques Taddéi requested some tonal modifications that were described in the March 2002 issue of The Diapason: “With Jacques Taddéi and Marie-Louise Langlais as consultants, the organ is currently undergoing yet another restoration. The goal is to return it as much as possible to the original Cavaillé-Coll voicing and disposition while maintaining the tonal design for playing also the music of Tournemire and Langlais.”
The Manufacture Vosgienne de Grandes Orgues was entrusted with these tasks. Due to financial restrictions by the civic administration, they were staggered over many years. At the beginning of 2004, as the final phase was being carried out, Jacques Taddéi received a gift from a significant donor, the Bettancourt Schueller Foundation, to pay for several additions and changes that he was eager to have worked out: adding mutations in the 16’ series, a horizontal Trompette 8’, a Bombarde 32’, and moving the console from the second to the first gallery.
Soon after this, a conflict emerged among Jacques Taddéi, his assistant Marie-Louise Langlais, and the latter’s assistant, Sylvie Mallet. I was not aware of that dispute until Christina Harmon called my attention to the fight that, in fact, seems to have begun soon after the appointment of Nicolas Pichon as new assistant. (In fact, during various meetings concerning the organ, Marie-Louise Langlais used to say nothing but “Jacques is right! . . . ”)
Here are some extracts of my reply to Madame Harmon (May 24, 2004):

I am dumbfounded indeed to hear of a disagreement between Madame Langlais and Monsieur Taddéi concerning the organ of Sainte-Clotilde. At meetings before and during the works, Madame Langlais had the opportunity to voice her concerns, but she did not. She could also have phoned the Bureau des Monuments, or me, if she did not care to express her disapproval during the meetings; she did not. . . . I am very sorry to hear of the dispute between Madame Langlais and Monsieur Taddéi; I thought that they were close friends, but conflicts are SO COMMON in the organ world that I wonder whether they are not the result of a genetic programming. . . . Anyhow it is a rule for me never to interfere in that kind of affair.
. . . Personally I am quite conservative towards organs; I was among the first (more than forty years ago!) to deplore the changes that French organs have endured along the years and centuries. If Monsieur Taddéi’s predecessors had acted more respectfully toward the Sainte-Clotilde organ, we still should be able to hear and play Franck’s organ.
An orchestrated flood of false “news” and delirious scoops was then spread on the Internet, which, according to Claude Imbert (in Le Point, April 14, 2005), “swarms with insane rumors and pillories.” Together with the organists’ verbal “grapevine,” this generated a campaign of considerable misinformation. The limits of absurdity were indeed reached many times, not least when someone launched the report that “The keyboards [of the new console] are repulsive . . . ” when, in fact, these keyboards are simply those of the Beuchet-Debierre console.
Reason clearly has no place in such polemics, and I do not wish to waste my time—and that of serious readers—in analyzing and refuting all of the crazy assertions that appeared here or there; it would give too much importance to mythomaniacs. Nevertheless, there is a point that needs to be clarified: Marie-Louise Langlais claimed that the “Monuments Historiques” [the official body dealing with historic organs] had not approved the work ordered by the City of Paris. This is fundamentally untrue. On June 14, 1999, the office in charge of organs at the City of Paris sent a letter to the “Direction des Affaires Culturelles d’Ile de France,” asking permission to carry out the proposed work on the Sainte-Clotilde organ. In a letter of June 27, 1999, the “Conservateur Régional des Monuments Historiques d’Ile de France” replied that there was no objection.
In order to put an end to the crazy allegations that were circulating, the ministry of culture entrusted Eric Brottier, advisor for historic organs, with the inspection of the Sainte-Clotilde instrument. He visited it in 2004 and acknowledged what every sensible person already knew: that the organ had been significantly and detrimentally altered in 1960–62, and that—far from damaging it—the recent works had on the contrary given it more coherence. The administration clearly understood that the organ had been and was being used as hostage in a private conflict. Consequently all planned-for work on Parisian organs has been cancelled.
The present specification of the organ follows: three manuals, 61 notes (C1–C6), Grand-Orgue, Positif, Récit; Pédale, 32 notes (C1–G3).

GRAND-ORGUE

16’ Montre
16’ Bourdon
8’ Montre
8’ Bourdon
8’ Viole de gambe
8’ Flûte harmonique
4’ Prestant 4
4’ Flûte
22⁄3’ Quinte
2’ Doublette
Plein-jeu VII
Cornet V
16’ Bombarde 16
8’ Trompette
4’ Clairon
8’ Chamade

POSITIF

16 Bourdon
8’ Montre
8’ Bourdon
8’ Flûte harmonique
8’ Salicional
8’ Unda Maris
51⁄3’ Quinte
4’ Prestant
4’ Flûte octaviante
31⁄5’ Tierce
22⁄3’ Quinte
22⁄7’ Septième
2’ Doublette
13⁄5’ Tierce
11⁄3’ Larigot
1’ Piccolo
Plein-jeu III–VI
8’ Trompette
8’ Clarinette
4’ Clairon
Trémolo

RÉCIT

16’ Quintaton
8’ Flüte harmonique
8’ Viole de gambe
8’ Voix céleste
8’ Bourdon
4’ Principal italien
4’ Flûte octaviante
22⁄3’ Nazard
2’ Octavin
13⁄5’ Tierce
1’ Octavin
Plein-jeu IV
16’ Bombarde
8’ Trompette
8’ Basson-Hautbois
8’ Clarinette
8’ Voix humaine
4’ Clairon
Trémolo
8’ Chamade

PÉDALE

32’ Soubasse
16’ Contrebasse
16’ Soubasse
8’ Flûte
8’ Bourdon
4’ Flûte
4’ Octave
2’ Flûte
32’ Bombarde
16’ Bombarde
16’ Basson
8’ Trompette
4’ Clairon
8’ Chamade
4’ Chamade

Combinaison électroniques
Coupure de pédale
Crescendo ajustable
Tirasses 8, 4
Octaves graves aux claviers
Accouplements manuels 16, 8

Conclusion

What does the future hold for the Sainte-Clotilde organ? It is indeed debatable: some strongly advocate recreating the original 1859 instrument; others think that the evolution should follow its course, according to Tournemire’s personal opinion (from “Notice d’inauguration”): “En outre, je ne me suis pas interdit de songer aux possibilités futures . . . ” (Moreover, I have not ruled out any reflection on future possibilities . . . ).

Translation of French terms:

Tirasse – pedal coupler
Anches – reed (ventil)
Octaves graves – 16' coupler
Octaves aigües – 4’ coupler
Relevage – overhauling
Orage – storm effect. A pedal that, on depression, draws down successively six or seven notes from the bottom of the pedalboard upwards.

by Kay McAfee

The Eighth Biennial French Organ Music Seminar attracted 60 registrants for a commemoration of the centennial of the death of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Hearing, playing, and studying the music written for the great instruments of Paris, Rouen, and Toulouse formed the focal point of the two-week schedule. French Classical and modern instruments at Versailles, Chartres, Bordeaux, Cintegabelle, and Albi rounded out the itinerary. Five recitals and three masterclasses by and for participants climaxed the events. The legacy of Cavaillé-Coll's work and influence was made vivid especially for those experiencing the instruments for the first time--from the first large-instrument contract for Saint-Denis (1841), the transitional La Madeleine organ (1845), to the late Saint-Ouen instrument (Rouen, 1890). His respect for the work of predecessors such as Thierry, Dom Bedos and Clicquot is reflected in the preservation of pipework for instruments restored after the damage left behind during the French Revolution. Cavaillé-Coll's close relationship with the premier organist/composers of his generation who were inspired by his instruments was made apparent many times over.

 

Even the finest recordings pale when compared to the experience of being present within the acoustical environments of these magnificent instruments.  The initial experience of hearing the Grande Orgues of Paris played by their artist-curators--the effect of the near-Positiv and distant Récit, the solid depth of bass voices, the reverberation through the vast naves--was moving beyond description.

Prior to and during the seminar, participants studied improvisation and repertoire both privately and in groups with master teachers including Marie-Louise Langlais, Daniel Roth, Susan Landale, Naji Hakim, and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet. Lectures on the history of each church and its instrument were followed by a demonstration and improvisation by the titulaire organist. Participants also enjoyed hearing a wide variety of examples of French Romantic and Classical literature from one another. Generous playing time was allowed at each venue.

At the Paris Conservatory organ recital hall, Dallas flutist Debra Johnson played a virtuosic new work for flute and piano by Naji Hakim, accompanied by the composer. Marie-Louise Langlais introduced François Espinasse, titulaire organist at Saint-Severin, who conducted the first masterclass which addressed French Classical music. His comments focused on correct registration and the careful and sensitive employment of the French manner. Mme. Langlais gave to the participants an extensive handout on registration and interpretation.

Saint-Roch was the next stop for a recital by David Erwin who played works by Clérambault, Balbastre, and Langlais. Lefébure-Wély, at age 15, assumed the organist position there in 1832. The instrument dates from 1751 with several rebuilds, including one by Cavaillé-Coll 1840-1862.

At Notre-Dame-de-Paris, the group gathered in the organ loft for Philippe Lefebrve's demonstration of the famous Cavaillé-Coll in this most famous of churches. Lefebrve's exciting improvisation began with employment of Clicquot pipework--a Grand Plein Jeu with pedal en chamade. Next, an Adagio with variously the Voix humaine, Doublette, Cromorne, Hautbois, Strings, and double pedal. A Flute Scherzo with Vox Humana countermelody in the pedal was followed by a lively march with Trompette long-note melody in the pedals. The stirring finale was built from Fonds+Reeds+Cornets to full organ with pizzicato pedal sprinkled throughout.

In the loft at La Trinité, titulaire organist Naji Hakim, protégé of Langlais, and Messiaen's chosen successor, told of Guilmant's collaboration with Cavaillé-Coll for the 1871 instrument. Hakim, a charming man, successful composer, and virtuoso organist, spoke with great reverence of his predecessor, Olivier Messiaen. He played two unpublished early Messaien works, Offrande and Prélude, which showed influence of Fauré and Debussy. Amid telling delightful stories and putting off the vacuum-cleaner-wielding sexton, he played portions of his own Sinfonia and a new piece, Chant de Joie. He then assisted participants in trying the organ.

The first participants' recital, open to the public at Saint-Roch, featured nine performers in a program of Clérambault, Boëllmann, Balbastre, Dupré, de Grigny, Widor, Langlais, and Saint-Saëns.

Notre-Dame-des-Champs was Ca-vaillé-Coll's parish church. Today the two-manual mechanical action organ, with Barker machine and Appel lever, is 90% original Cavaillé-Coll pipework. Titulaire organist Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet demonstrated the beautiful Flûte Harmonique and rich Montre of the Grand Orgue division and improvised on Fonds and Anches. She played portions of pieces by seminar director Christina Harmon, herself, her husband Naji Hakim, and René Vierne, who was organist at the church before his death in WWI.

At The American Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (Episcopal), Ned Tipton, organist of the cathedral, explained the varied history of the 1845 Cavaillé-Coll organ and later rebuilds and additions by Mutin, Henry Willis, and others. The west-gallery 1970 neo-Baroque organ, added as an aid to congregational singing, was eventually revoiced and brought into compliance with the chancel instrument. To demonstrate the diversity of the organ, Mr. Tipton played works of Bach, Sowerby, and Duruflé. A masterclass followed, conducted by Lynne Davis, with participants playing works by Franck, Vierne, Dupré, Widor, and Tournemire. Miss Davis' succinct comments focused primarily on tempo, phrasing, articulation, and delineation of form. Following the masterclass, David Wilson, retired professor of music history and early-music ensemble director at Dalhousie University in Halifax, presented a lecture on the French Romantic Organ School.

The historically rich Schola Cantorum, located in what was an English Benedictine monastery, was founded by Guilmant in 1896 for the restoration of Gregorian chant after Solesmes, and for fostering the heritage of the organ in that tradition. A temple of "non-official"  music, it nurtured students such as Debussy, Milhaud and Roussel. Teachers have included Vierne, the Duruflés, Grunenwald, and Langlais. The organ, designed by Guilmant, who played the inaugural recital, is a 1902 three-manual Mutin after Cavaillé-Coll. Mutin worked for Cavaillé-Coll and took over the company after Cavaillé-Coll's death. Participants were treated to a fine recital by Lázló Deák, competition-winner and student of Mme Langlais.  Repertoire included works of Guilmant, Vierne, Duruflé, Grunenwald, Messiaen, Litaize, and Langlais.

Also at the Schola Cantorum, Marie-Louise Langlais conducted a master class on the Franck Choral in E Major and Cantabile, Duruflé Veni Creator Variations, Widor Salve Regina, Langlais Fantasie, and Vierne Prélude from Symphony #1. Besides telling of the rich history of the school's site and heritage and the attributes of the organ, she wove stories and anecdotes of Franck, Sainte-Clotilde, Messiaen, Duruflé, Litaize, and Langlais for performers and audience.

The Sainte-Clotilde Cavaillé-Coll was demonstrated by Jacques Taddei, titulaire organist and current director of the Paris Regional Conservatory. After playing the Franck B-minor Choral he demonstrated the colors of the organ beginning with Grand Plein Jeu (of Baroque influence from Dom Bedos) the Positiv Clarinet (Cromorne) which was moved to the Récit by Tournemire but later moved back to the Positiv, Fonds 8¢ with Oboe, Great and Positiv Trompettes, all reeds together, solo reeds Oboe, Vox Humana, Trompette; and the  Grand Orgue, Récit, and Positiv Harmonique Flûtes. He improvised on two melodies: Amazing Grace and the refrain of  Battle Hymn of the Republic--chosen by Marie-Louise Langlais for all of the Americans present. It is among the "sweetest" of Cavaillé-Coll instruments (1859), reworked by Beuchet-Debièrre in 1933 and 1960 and Barberis in 1983. The console was electrified after WWII. The assertive unenclosed Positiv, forward in the case, contrasts greatly with the recessed Recit, a factor affecting registration of Franck's music on American organs. We would return to Sainte-Clotilde to play the organ and hear an impressive participants' recital of music by Franck, Boëllmann, Tournemire, Dubois, Guilmant, Vierne, and Langlais.

Michel Chapuis was the host at the Palace of Louis XIV at Versailles.  In the royal apartments he demonstrated an 18th-century harpsichord (Blanchet) and chamber organ. The highlight of the visit was his demonstration of the magnificent organ in the chapel. After his presentation, members of the group were able to play briefly.

Philippe Brandeis, titulaire organist at Sacre-Coeur and co-titulaire at Les Invalides, demonstrated the organ at the beautifully resonant chapel at Les Invalides (Church of the Dome). The chapel, built in 1675 by Louis XIV, is now reserved for military events and services and is the seat of the bishop of the military. An organ was finished in 1687 (Thierry) and LeBegue played there for the king. The organ had a checkered history throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and in 1957 was reconstructed after Sainte-Clotilde, though the present instrument is considered neo-classic with only one stop left of the original. Brandeis played the Duruflé Sicilienne and The World Awaiting the Savior by Dupré.

The noble chestnut trees of the cloister of Saint-Severin welcomed us to the architecturally eclectic church in the heart of the Latin Quarter of Paris. A walk from the West end pillars to the apse ambulatory columns and new stained glass designs is for the eye a short journey from the 13th to the 20th century. François Espinasse, titulaire organist, demonstrated the 1964 Kern (case from the original 1745 instrument) with flutes, cornets, and Basse de Trompette. Assisted by Espinasse and David Erwin, participants played Bach, Couperin, LeBegue, Raison, and deGrigny.

Our next stop, Saint-Sulpice, a mammoth Roman-style church with interior arches and huge paintings, boasts a Cavaillé-Coll of five manuals and 102 stops. Daniel Roth, titulaire organist, presented an excellent history of the organ. Its original Cavaillé-Coll mechanical-action console and preserved pipework are due in large part to the legacy of two organists, Widor and Dupré, whose combined, unbroken tenure there spanned 100 years. Despite protests that he "played too much like a German," Widor was appointed "interim" organist at Saint-Sulpice at age 26 upon the strength of Cavaillé-Coll's recommendation. He stayed for 63 years. Cavaillé-Coll retained the 1781 Clicquot pipework from the instrument which miraculously escaped desecration during the Revolution. Roth played an extended recital including Guilmant First Movement from Sonata #5, Widor Scherzo and a Fugue in A Minor. After demonstrating the Grand Jeu and other combinations, he concluded with an improvisation to demonstrate all the solo colors, strings, flutes, and tutti. Ample opportunity for all to play this great instrument was provided later in the week, with M. Roth assisting on the bench.

François-Henri Houbart, 20 years the titulaire organist at La Madeleine, discussed the considerable visibility of the church and its 1845 Cavaillé-Coll in terms of its history of celebrity organist-composers: Saint-Saëns, Fauré, Nadia Boulanger, Gigout, Dallier, Jeanne Demessieux, and Odile Pierre, and of the state occasions observed there. Many great musicians played the organ, including Frederick Chopin, Clara Schumann, and Anton Rubenstein. The organ was Cavaillé-Coll's second large instrument after Saint-Denis and is reminiscent of the French Classical design, with Plein jeu principals after Dom Bedos. There is no cromorne or cornet. The voix celeste is in the Positiv rather than in the Récit, and the Positiv is placed above the Grand Orgue. Its four-manual console is electrified, and 46 of the original 48 stops are preserved. Houbart demonstrated the organ with a long improvisation, delighting and amusing his audience, on the theme from "Dallas." Afterwards he assisted participants for playing time.

The visit to Chartres, site of renowned international organ competitions on the Danion-Gonzalez reconstructed organ of 1969-71, proved more than just the opportunity to hear and play the organ. This Queen of Gothic Cathedrals stands above all others as witness to and testament of the Age of Faith. Malcolm Miller, who has made a career studying and lecturing on the Chartres Cathedral, gave a guided tour especially for FOMS participants. Its 400 stained-glass windows, unparalleled in beauty, and the 4000+ sculptures which adorn the exterior capture and mesmerize all who journey there. Tourist traffic has failed to destroy its atmosphere and radiance.

 On the northern environs of Paris, titularie organist Pierre Pincemaille was our host at the ancient basilica church of Saint-Denis, the place of coronation and burial for centuries of French kings. It was here where the influential Abbot Suger instructed his architect to open up the apse ambulatory to light and space. The resulting gothic arches and provision for walls of colored glass realized Suger's belief that God can be known through beauty on earth. The nave is wide and "open." The 1841 Cavaillé-Coll instrument, his first in Paris and first to use the Barker lever, was restored in 1987 by Boisseau.

On Sunday morning, participants had opportunity to hear our French hosts improvise and preside from their organ lofts: Lefebvre for hundreds of tourists at the Notre Dame Gregorian Mass, Espinasse at Saint-Severin, Pincemaille at Saint-Denis, Taddei at Sainte-Clotilde, Dufourcet at Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Fréderic Blanc at Notre Dame d'Auteil, and Roth at Saint-Sulpice.

At St-Etienne-du-Mont, Maurice Duruflé's church, titulaire organist Thierry Escaich demonstrated the 1863 Cavaillé-Coll. The four-manual organ of 89 stops has been rebuilt and electrified by Beuchet-Debierre (1956), and rebuilt again by Gonzalez (1975) and Dargassies (1991).

The group traveled to Rouen to hear the spectacular 1890 Cavaillé-Coll organ at the abbey church of Saint-Ouen, a site with a history of bishops dating to the 7th century. The present flamboyant Gothic-style church's cornerstone is dated 1318, and the nave was finished in the 16th century.  Organist George Baker, describing his passion for the instrument, mentioned that it was the last organ which Cavaillé-Coll personally supervised. Widor played the dedication recital in 1890. The four-manual organ has one of the most spectacular of cases, with five figures crowning the towers: the central one is Christ, with King David, Saint Cecilia, and two angels on either side. Marcel Dupré's father Albert was titulaire organist at Saint-Ouen from 1911-1940. The organ was demonstrated first by titulaire organist Marie-Andrée Morriset with trumpeter Michel Morriset, in works of Vierne and Morriset. George Baker and Fréderic Blanc treated the group to a lengthy recital which included music of Vierne, Duruflé, and Widor. Dale Peters, Professor of Organ at the University of North Texas, played the Toccata by Lanquetuit which was dedicated to Albert Dupré.

From Rouen the group arrived late in the afternoon at the Regional Conservatory of Rueill-Malmaison. Professor, organist, and musicologist Susan Landale treated the group to her recollections of Marchal, Messiaen, and Langlais. A student of André Marchal in the 1950s and early 60s, she played several recordings of performances by these master teachers and discussed their relationships with one another through many interesting anecdotes and stories.

The next portion of the seminar itinerary took us to the south of France, first arriving in Bordeaux to visit the 14th-century Gothic Cathedral of Saint-André and its Gonzalez organ of neo-classical design. Our organist-host played the Final from Symphonie II by André Fleury. Bordeaux was the birthplace of Charles Tournemire, who was  organist there at Saint Michel. After playing-time at the cathedral and lunch, the bus drove towards Toulouse through the heart of wine country with a short stop at the picturesque, ancient Roman town of St. Emilion.

Continuing on to Toulouse, traveling through the beautiful countryside, we arrived in this beautiful city ready for the two days of events scheduled there. Most participants were attracted to the south of France because of the promise of experiencing the great organ at Saint-Sernin, but many other delights awaited. Two churches were on the first-day agenda. First, Église de la Duarade ("golden" from the gold mosaics that once decorated the interior), a Roman-style church with rounded arches with varied past of pagan, Moorish, and eventually Christian dominance. The organ, an 1864 Poirer and Lieberknecht, is typically Romantic, including a lovely free reed Euphone. Lefébure-Wély dedicated the instrument. Participants had ample time to play, with the assistance of François Espinasse and Sylvie Mallot, assistant director of FOMS. The choir organ, by Puget, was a jewel of an instrument with its Baroque case. A walk past the Garonne river took us to Église de La   Dalbade, a Gothic interior with familiar brick exterior common in this city and region. The organ of three manuals and 50 stops is an 1888 Puget. Espinasse played Messiaen's Dieu parmi nous. The voix celeste was particularly beautiful and the reeds assertive.

The Basilica of Saint-Sernin, a magnificent Romanesque church with spectacular spire, houses one of the most powerful of Cavaillé-Coll's instruments. Built in 1887-88 and restored in 1996, its three-manual console retains the original mechanical action. The reputation of the 54-stop organ comes partially from the presence of Pedal 32¢ Principal and 32¢ Bombarde, Grand-Orgue 16¢ Montre, 16¢ Bourdon, reeds from Bombarde 16¢ to 2¢ Clairon-doublette, and Trompette and Clarion en chamades 8¢ and 4¢. The Positiv is unenclosed. The fifteen performers for the third participants' recital prepared repertoire by Dupré, Langlais, Widor, Guilmant, Gigout, Boëllmann, Vierne,  and Franck.

The second day in Toulouse commenced at the Musée d'Augustine for a recital on a neo-Baroque organ by Arendt (1981). Housed in what was the impressive Gothic chapel of a monastery, the instrument was built upon recommendation of Xavier Durasse, an advocate for organ restoration in the region, who felt that Toulouse needed a modern instrument of this type. The first event held there was a Bach competition. Tuned in Werckmeister III, the organ has three manuals, 30 stops and a beautiful case with side door-panels.

The Cathedral church of Saint-Etienne houses an organ restored by Cavaillé-Coll in 1849. It was restored again by Puget between the World Wars and by Kern in 1976 to become a neo-Baroque instrument of four manuals with an echo manual. François Espinasse played works of deGrigny, Marchand, and Bach. This organ is placed so high on the wall, with access to the loft so difficult, that one of the titulaire organists there was forced to resign because of acrophobia.

The last day brought visits to three towns: Cintegabelle, Albi, and Lavaur. Tiny, picturesque Cintegabelle boasts a Roman-style church of Moorish influence and a large French-Baroque instrument built by Boulbonne which was moved to the church from a nearby 17th-century monastery. Its magnificent case dominates the building. Of three manuals and 36 stops, the organ has the French pedalboard of short keys. Participants practiced for the fourth recital of the seminar for works by Couperin, Roberday, Dandrieu, d'Aquin, and deGrigny.

In the city of Albi, with its magnificent and imposing cathedral church of Sainte-Cécile, participants visited the fabulous Toulouse-Lautrec museum (he was born in Albi) across from the church and then returned for the fifth participants' recital. The French-Baroque organ by Moucherel was restored to its original voice in 1971-1981 by the firm of Formentelli. The recital, including works by Clérambault, de Grigny, Le Begue, and Corrette, was enjoyed by many ambulating tourists.

Lavaur, a peaceful town with its church of Saint-Étienne, was the last stop of the seminar. Like many places in the region, Lavaur suffered during the Albigensian Crusade in the early 13th century, a legacy of terror and destruction. Today the river Agoût flows peacefully along its edges and beautifully sculpted gardens welcome the visitor to the church. The organ is an 1876 Cavaillé-Coll, whose case resembles La Madeleine in Paris.  Within the quiet surroundings, participants again heard the Romantic sound of Lefébure-Wély, Franck, Chausson, and Tournemire.

Directors Christina Harmon and Marie-Louise Langlais and their associates planned the schedule for maximum use of time, and the seminar fulfilled its purpose as an educational experience and delight for the ear. The gracious hospitality of our hosts included a dinner at the home of Naji and Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet Hakim, a garden reception at the Schola Cantorum prepared by Mme. Langlais and her daughter Caroline, and two group dinners at private rooms in fine restaurants, one of which was for celebration with song and gifts on Mme. Langlais' birthday.

The first French Organ Music Seminar in 1987 attracted six students who spent five days studying with Philippe Lefebvre at Notre Dame in Paris. The eighth tour, with 60 students from age 16 to 75, provided experience of a wide variety of instruments and invaluable personal interaction with fine scholars and teachers.  

Ronald Ebrecht

Ronald Ebrecht researches French music from 1870–1940 both for performance and publication. He has performed his reconstruction of the original versions of Duruflé’s organ works in Austria, Belarus, China, France, Germany, Lithuania, Mexico, Russia, and across the U.S. He is University Organist of Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut.

Some scholars define French Impressionist composers as those born up to 1902 rather than 1900. This allows for the significant talent of the Debussy of the organ, Maurice Duruflé, who by the mid-20th century contributed to the musical world organ works that define Impressionistic virtuosity—and its most notable Gregorian-based Requiem, with an Impressionistic orchestral accompaniment.
Duruflé is Impressionist in his use of form, harmony, rhythm, and registration. Though organists are thought to favor counterpoint and there are contrapuntal movements, free forms predominate. He emulated his teacher Paul Dukas (1865–1935) not only in compositional style, but also like Dukas he left conspicuously little music for posterity. Beyond the beauty of his compositions, this scarceness may contribute to their being prized, for they are both rare and perfect, and, like the last of anything, especially delicious.
The music is consistently challenging and always rewarding. The melodies, harmonies, rhythm, registration—all grow more loved as they become more familiar, in part because long practice hours are necessary to learn these masterworks. The Suite, Opus 5 of 1934, sets performance demands that have not been exceeded—for the insight to interpret the subtle “Sicilienne,” or the technique necessary for the daunting “Toccata.” His scores are the pinnacle of organ writing, yet in all this remarkable complexity there is never a superfluous note. Duruflé regularly revised the pieces in later life. Of the major works, the Suite, Opus 5, had the fewest revisions from its first publication until the final version. The closing “Toccata” was, however, often the subject of his self-critical eye. He regularly disparaged the piece in masterclasses, never recorded it, advocated cuts, and eventually re-wrote the closing cadenza.
His continual reassessment of his works, his reticence to compose once he began teaching harmony at the Conservatoire National (Supérieur) de Musique in 1943, and his quiet, unassuming manner would have left his music on the shelf were it not for his marriage in 1953 to his brilliant, effusive student Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Chevalier (1921–1999). Her vividly remembered performances and recordings are public testament of her devotion to her husband; her care for him in his infirmity was her private testament. From her début to her final recitals, she performed his works with insight and verve.

Ties that bind:
Opus-to-instrument links in the first editions of the major organ works

The premise
Performance practice studies of other French composers such as Franck or Messiaen investigate connections between their music and the specifications and tone of the organs of which they were titulaire. For Duruflé, information gleaned from masterclasses and suggestions made to private pupils of the composer and of his wife have constituted the basis for performance. Though interesting, this advice given decades after the composition of the works was already stale. Many are unaware that the versions of the scores currently in print were changed from the originals because, unlike most composers who are eager to extend the copyright of their works, Duruflé never renewed his even when pieces such as the Scherzo and “Adagio” from Veni Creator were substantially altered.
For performance today, a careful re-examination of the Duruflé first editions and of the instruments at his disposal when the works were written suggests subtle yet important links between two organs and the compass and registration of the pieces. From 1926 to 1934, the years of his most active organ composition, he regularly played four instruments: in his home town Louviers, the parish church Notre-Dame; and in Paris, the cathedral Notre-Dame, and parishes Sainte-Clotilde and Saint-Étienne du Mont. Of these, he could only play his compositions using his indicated registrations on the organs of the churches he served as titulaire, Louviers and Saint-Étienne. Those where he assisted his Parisian teachers—Tournemire at Sainte-Clotilde then Vierne at the cathedral—were perhaps idealized but are not referenced in the registrations he suggests. These famous instruments are further precluded by their restricted compass.

The background
After a few years of piano and solfège lessons in Louviers, where his father was an architect, in 1912 Maurice went to study in the provincial capital, Rouen. After 1914, he was organist of two Rouen parishes: Saint-Sever and Saint-André, neither with interesting organs. In 1916, his father did design work for the country estate of conservatoire history professor Maurice Emmanuel. After an audition in Louviers, Duruflé began commuting to Paris for lessons with Tournemire to prepare for his entrance into the conservatoire. Emmanuel was a classmate, lifelong friend, and scholar of Claude Debussy. Emmanuel recounts an event he attended in 1887. Théodore Dubois, professor of harmony at the conservatoire, accompanied some verses of the Magnificat at the organ with the then “new” harmonies à la Debussy, using unresolved successions of ninths, elevenths, and thirteenths. Perhaps Emmanuel, a great raconteur, regaled the impressionable conservatoire-bound Duruflé by retelling this incident, or demonstrating the process at the organ, which we certainly hear in Duruflé’s writing.
Once admitted to the conservatoire, he won all the coveted prizes: premier prix in organ with Eugène Gigout in 1922, harmony with Jean Gallon in 1924, and accompaniment with Abel-César Estyle in 1926. That year he wrote his Scherzo to enter the composition program under Charles-Marie Widor. Widor was eventually officially replaced by Dukas, who may have been substituting for him. Duruflé obtained the premier prix of counterpoint, fugue and composition in 1928. In the next two years, he won the improvisation and playing competitions of the French organists’ association, Les Amis de l’Orgue. These dates—1926, 1929, 1930—are critical, for at this time Opus 2 and his two larger works Opus 4 and Opus 5 were in progress on that desk at which he notoriously used the eraser more than the pencil.
The Scherzo, Opus 2, a charming yet intimidating miniature, can be played on a much smaller organ than the large-scale works. The registrations were later changed by Duruflé to a more Neoclassic æsthetic, and the “da capo” was revised. The sonata-rondo form of this piece is exceptional for a scherzo, particularly because of the abrupt changes of tempo. The most remarkable textual variation from the modern version occurs in the da capo, or final reprise of the main scherzo theme. In the 1929 edition, Duruflé quotes the ascending chords from the third theme on the Grand Orgue between each phrase of the scherzo theme. These vignettes were removed in 1947.
The original registrations are more subtly linked to the themes, and sections of the piece are less abruptly demarcated. The effects such as multiple unison stops with Voix humaine, trémolo and sub-couplers are certainly luxurious. Throughout, the ample, embracing original registrations and less pronounced solos reinforce the Impressionistic atmosphere. (See Example 1.)
In addition to registrations, the Scherzo is linked to Louviers by its dedicatee: “A mon cher Maître Charles Tournemire, Hommage reconnaissant.” Tournemire performed the concert for the rededication of the Louviers organ in 1926, at which Duruflé also participated. Perhaps the Scherzo was then played, if only privately. Opus 2 specifies the quiet Récit flute as “Cor de nuit.” Louviers and organs from his Rouen period such as his teacher’s house organ were the ones he knew in 1926 with a Récit flute thus termed. A stop of this name is curiously absent from Duruflé’s monumental specification for Saint-Étienne du Mont of 1956.
Another piece that requests the Cor de nuit is the “Sicilienne” of the Suite, Opus 5, linking it to the Scherzo. In addition to stipulating “Cor de nuit,” the Scherzo and “Sicilienne” require the same manual and pedal compass. Although by 1926 Duruflé was quite familiar with the Sainte-Clotilde organ, its pedal compass precludes that organ. The “Sicilienne” explores a modal, proto-folk melody in the characteristic Sicilian rhythm. The solo appears first in the soprano using Hautbois and Cor de nuit, then in the tenor using Cor de nuit, Clarinette, and Nasard. The second statement is accompanied on the Positif with Bourdon and Dulciane 8'. The “Sicilienne” is further linked to the 1926 specification of Louviers by the request for two 8' strings and a 4' Dulciana on the Grand Orgue, which of all the organs known to him, only Louviers had. In the “Sicilienne,” the Récit “Oboe” is called “Hautbois,” while in the “Prélude” of the Suite, “Basson.” Some may argue that the names are synonyms, but are perhaps unaware that at Sainte-Clotilde, Notre-Dame de Paris, and Saint-Étienne du Mont, the Oboe is called “Basson” or “Basson-Hautbois,” while at Notre-Dame de Louviers, on the house organ of Jules Haelling, and at Saint-Sever, Rouen, the Récit stopped flute is “Cor de nuit” and the Oboe, “Hautbois.” These facts give evidence that the “Sicilienne” may be earlier than the other movements from the Suite and confirm that both works were conceived with Louviers as reference.
Two examples of nonfunctional harmony from the Scherzo and the “Sicilienne” can provide a synopsis of the many stylistic similarities between these two pieces. (See examples 2 and 3: Scherzo measures 181–190, and “Sicilienne” measures 57–61).

Two works linked to Saint-Étienne, as rebuilt in 1928
In 1930 when Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du “Veni Creator,” Opus 4, won the composition prize of Les Amis de l’Orgue, Duruflé was but recently named to Saint-Étienne du Mont, where he had been substituting previously. This was not an instrument such as the monumental, hundred-stop Cavaillé-Coll at Saint-Sulpice played by his fellow Norman Marcel Dupré. Cavaillé-Coll’s Saint-Étienne rebuild of 1873 was succeeded by another in 1883. Renovations were continued by Théodore Puget in 1902 and in 1911 when the Récit was completed with a bass octave. Another rebuild was undertaken beginning in 1928 by Paul-Marie Koenig. This work continued for a time during Duruflé’s tenure, but was abandoned in April 1932. Though mechanically unreliable and unsatisfactory in other ways, Koenig provided 56-note manuals and a 32-note pedal, standard couplers, and a new manual order with the Grand Orgue on the bottom. The only known recital given in these years was by the blind organist Gaston Litaize in March 1931. After 1931 the organ went from bad to worse and ceased functioning sometime before it was dismantled for a rebuild by Debierre in April 1939. From then until 1956, Maurice Duruflé played the Puget choir organ.
The Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du “Veni Creator” is the first work using Duruflé’s familiarity with the organ of Saint-Étienne as reference. A tenor register solo of Récit Clarinette 8' with Nasard is requested. Though the organ did not yet have one in 1928, the replacement of the Cor with a Clarinet was intended as shown in the composer’s specification for Beuchet in 1938, which rebuild would have been with electric action and super-couplers.
On most French organs of the time, pieces like the “Final” of Opus 4 and “Prélude” and “Toccata” of Opus 5 that conclude at the top of the keyboard and request the use of super-couplers in those passages would actually have had no pipes in that range because there were no chest extensions. Therefore, when Duruflé was making requests for super-couplers he had never actually heard them. Perhaps his real-life experience in 1943 of super-couplers with chest extensions at the Palais de Chaillot for the premier of Prélude et Fugue sur le nom ALAIN, Opus 7, convinced him to omit requests for them from the blazing finale of that fugue. One wonders why the sub- and super-coupler indications in Opus 4 and Opus 5 were not among his revisions.
Among many connections linking Opus 4 and Opus 5 to Saint-Etienne are registrations that request Positif at 8' “Principal,” “Bourdon,” and “Salicional” and 4' “Prestant” rather than the generic French names. Saint-Étienne is the only organ he knew offering this precise combination.
Before the introduction of combination action, ventils were used to produce a crescendo. The reeds and mixtures stop knobs were drawn, but the ventil kept them from speaking until a foot lever (appel) was activated. Saint-Étienne was not equipped with a ventil for the Positif because of mechanical limitations. The Opus 4 “Final” begins with Récit mixtures and reeds, Positif foundations, Grand Orgue and Pédale foundation stops with “Anches et Mixtures préparés.” The crescendo calls first for the Positif mixture then separately the reed, followed at Largemente by Grand Orgue and Pédale reeds and mixtures. The drawing of Positif single stops is facilitated by rests in the manual parts, while rests in the pedal allow the use of the appel for the Grand Orgue and Pédale. Because both Notre-Dame de Paris and Saint-Clotilde had a Positif appel, Duruflé’s suggestions in contradiction of standard practice seem clearly intended for Saint-Étienne. Comparison of compass added to the analysis of composite registrations and specifications reinforces the pairings of Scherzo and “Sicilienne” to Louviers and Veni Creator and Suite to Saint-Étienne.
Opus 4 (Veni Creator) was substantially altered in August 1956, and the revised version was issued by the publisher from 1957 onward. There are extensive revisions of the climax, which though treating the same theme, has a much more rhythmically complicated and technically difficult accompaniment. Passages bear a very striking similarity to accompanimental figures in the orchestrated version of the Scherzo. As in the rewriting of the Scherzo da capo, the rewriting of the Adagio climactic section includes removal of interruptions to the crescendo, showing Neoclassic motivation. Tempo and registration revisions seem calculated to make the effect of the piece more homogenized.
A second enclosed division (Positif or Grand orgue) is another curiosity. There was an enclosed Grand orgue on the Haelling studio organ in Rouen where he had lessons in his youth, but he never had one on any organ of which he was titular nor any he designed. Yet, he suggests an enclosed Grand Orgue by a crescendo in the “Prélude” of Opus 4 and a decrescendo in the “Prélude” of Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’ALAIN, Opus 7.
Although theoretical aspects of the compositional structure of the organ works may exceed the space limitations of this article, similar to the cadence preference of Duruflé in his choral works, third modulations are important. This is clearly demonstrated through the key relationships of the movements of the Suite, which progress by major thirds. The “Prélude” is in E-flat minor, the “Sicilienne” is in G minor and the “Toccata” is in B minor.

In conclusion
The examination of the original registrations of the pre-war works makes clear that when writing them, Duruflé’s model organ was highly influenced by nineteenth-century instruments with strings, celestes and harmonic flutes. His registrations are sometimes generic, such as “Anches” or “Fonds”; however, when specific—“Principal,” “Dulciana 4,” “Cor de nuit,” “Hautbois”—they have been shown to be references to two instruments: Louviers in 1926 and Saint-Étienne in 1928. The composite of the original registrations of the four major works requires 49 manual stops: four 16' flues, thirteen 8' flues, two 16' reeds and six 8' reeds. In the nineteenth century, Barker machines were used to divide the chest between foundations and the reeds/mixtures, which could be controlled by ventils. Cavaillé-Coll and other builders of the late nineteenth century used Barker lever-assisted playing action. The placement of the Positif manual below the Récit and above the Grand Orgue is consistent in all editions of the major works.
Tempo indications were altered in the printed versions. Tempo markings are generally less contrasting in revisions than in original versions. The composer’s ability to update the Scherzo while changing so few notes is quite adept, but the vignettes in the final statement recall the slower themes and intensify his original whimsical concept. The revisions of Opus 2 and Opus 4, and tempo changes, especially taken together with the less warm registrations, lead to this conclusion: in later life he wished them to sound more reserved and matter-of-fact. These “homogenizations” appear to have Neoclassic motivation.
Thus, in many ways, the first edition version of the organ works sounded quite different to his ears and those of his contemporaries when played on instruments of the period with their original Romantic registrations. Their tone and voicing was smooth. Their power was derived from reeds that were rich in fundamental. Unfortunately, most of the instruments Duruflé knew in 1919–1934 have been altered beyond recognition.
In his style there is nothing especially progressive, as one encounters in Stravinsky or Schoenberg. Duruflé was able to manipulate his Ravelian harmonies, Gregorian-like melodies, and contrapuntal textures to go to the very core of the listener’s life. For his is a music that eschews tantalizing the intellect but, in the interest of art, above all pleases the ear. To the end, Duruflé retained the same principles of creativity, which excluded nothing of human warmth. The organs of the turn of the century can inform the performer. The links are too close and too numerous to be coincidental. These are the ties that inextricably bind the works, both the last and the summit of Impressionist organ music, to the late Romantic organ tone for which they were written.

Notre-Dame, Louviers, John Abbey 1887/Convers 1926
I Grand Orgue (54 notes)
16' Montre
16' Bourdon
8' Montre
8' Flûte harmonique
8' Violoncelle
8' Gambe
4' Prestant
4' Dulciana
2' Doublette
Cornet
Plein jeu III
16' Basson
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

II Positif (54 notes)
8' Flûte
8' Bourdon
8' Salicional
8' Unda maris
4' Prestant
4' Flûte douce
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Doublette
8' Clarinette
8' Trompette

III Récit (54 notes)
8' Flûte
8' Cor de nuit
8' Gambe
8' Voix céleste
4' Flûte 4
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Octavin
13⁄5' Tierce
1' Piccolo
16' Cor anglais (free reed)
8' Trompette
8' Hautbois
8' Voix humaine

Pédale (32 notes)
16' Contrebasse
16' Soubasse
8' Flûte
8' Bourdon
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette

Saint-Étienne du Mont, Paris, Cavaillé-Coll 1883/Puget 1911/Koenig, 1928

I Grand Orgue (56 notes)
16' Montre
16' Bourdon
8' Montre
8' Bourdon
8' Flûte harmonique
8' Gambe
8' Flûte creuse
4' Prestant
2' Doublette
Plein-Jeu VI
Cornet V
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

II Positif (56 notes)
8' Salicional
8' Unda Maris
8' Bourdon
8' Principal
4' Prestant
4' Bourdon
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Doublette
Fourniture III
Sesquialtera II
8' Cromorne
8' Trompette

III Récit expressif (56 notes)
16' Quintaton
8' Cor de Chamois
8' Flûte
8' Gambe
8' Voix céleste
4' Flûte
4' Salicet
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Octavin
13⁄5' Tierce
Plein-Jeu III
8' Trompette
8' Cor
8' Basson-Hautbois
8' Voix humaine
4' Clairon

Pédale (32 notes)
32' Soubasse
16' Soubasse
16' Contrebasse
10' Quinte
8' Dolce

8' Flûte
4' Flûte
Carillon III
16' Bombarde
10' Trompette-Quinte
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

Saint-Étienne du Mont, proposed specification of 1938

I Grand Orgue
16' Montre
16' Bourdon
8' Montre
8' Flûte harmonique
8' Bourdon
5' Gros Nasard
4' Prestant
4' Flûte
22⁄3' Quinte
2' Doublette 2
Plein jeu II
Plein jeu IV
Cornet V
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

II Positif
8' Principal (timbre flûté)
8' Salicional
8' Bourdon
4' Prestant
4' Flûte à cheminée
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Quarte de Nasard
13⁄5' Tierce
Fourniture III
Cymbale III
8' Trompette
8' Cromorne
4' Clairon

III Récit expressif
16' Quintaton
8' Diapason
8' Flûte ouverte
8' Cor de nuit
8' Gambe
8' Voix céleste
4' Flûte
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Octavin
13⁄5' Tierce
1' Piccolo
Plein jeu IV
16' Bombarde-acoustique
8' Trompette
8' Clarinette
8' Basson-Hautbois
8' Voix humaine
4' Clairon
IV Écho expressif
8' Quintaton
4' Principal italien
2' Doublette
Terciane II (Tierce 13⁄5' et
Larigot 11⁄3')
Cymbale III
8' Hautbois d’Écho
4' Chalumeau

Pédale
32' Bourdon
16' Principal
16' Bourdon (ext)
10' Quinte
8' Principal
8' Flûte
8' Bourdon
4' Principal
4' Flûte
Grand Fourniture V
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

Composite of registrations of the Scherzo, Opus 2 (III 54/30) and “Sicilienne,” Opus 5b (III 54/31)

I Grand Orgue exp
8' Montre
8' Flûte
8' Flûte harmonique
8' Gambe
8' Salicional
4' Dulciane
III/I, II/I
III/I 16'

II Positif exp (middle manual)
8' Flûte harmonique
8' Flûte douce
8' Bourdon
8' Dulciane
4' Bourdon

III Récit exp
8' Flûte
8' Cor de nuit
8' Gambe
8' Voix céleste
4' Flûte
22⁄3' Nasard
2' Octavin
8' Hautbois
8' Clarinette
8' Voix humaine
Trémolo

Pédale
32' Soubasse
16' Soubasse
16' Bourdon
8' Flûte
8' Bourdon
III, II, I/Péd

Comparison of composite registrations derived from first editions of Veni Creator, Opus 4, and “Prélude” and “Toccata” from the Suite, Opus 5.

Opus 4         Opus 5
56/30           58/31

I Gd. Orgue        I Gd. Orgue
Montre 16           Fonds 16
Bourdon 16
Montre 8             Fonds 8
Bourdon 8
Fl. harm. 8
Prestant 4             Fonds 4
Quinte
Fond 2
Mixtures               Mixtures
Anches 16, 8, 4     Anches 16, 8, 4
                            (Bombarde 16)
III/I, II/I 8, 4         II/I, III/I 8, 4
III/I 16                 III/I, II/I 16

II Positif exp         II Positif
Bourdon 16
Fonds 8
Principal 8          Principal 8
Salicional 8         Salicional 8
Flûte 8

Bourdon 8           Bourdon 8
Prestant 4            Fonds 4
Fond 2
Mixtures             Mixtures
Anches 8, 4         Anches 8, 4
Clarinette 8
III/II                 III/II

III Réc. exp         III Réc. exp
Fonds 16
Fond 8                 Fonds 8
Flûte 8
Bourdon 8             Bourdon 8
Gambe 8
Voix céleste
Fond 4                 Fonds 4
Flûte 4
Nasard
Fond 2
Octavin
Mixtures                Mixtures
Anches 16, 8, 4
Trompette 8         Tpt douce 8
Hautbois 8            Basson 8
Clarinette 8
V. humaine 8
Clairon 4
Trémolo

Pédale                 Pédale
Fonds 32
Flûte 32
Bourdon 32
Fond 16               Fond 16
Flûte 16
Soubasse 16         Bourdon 16
Fond 8                 Fond 8
Flûte 8
Bourdon 8           Bourdon 8
Flûte 4                Flûte 4
Anches 32–4        Anches 32–4
                        (Bombarde 32)
I,II,III/Péd         I,II,III/Péd
II,III/Péd 4         II,III/Péd 4

Ronald Ebrecht

Ronald Ebrecht, an international performer for more than three decades, has been heard in concert on four continents. His articles have been published on three continents, including two forthcoming in Russian and the present article, which was requested for the Bulletin de l’Association Maurice et Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, where it appeared in a French version in December 2008. He continues work on his next book on the Cavaillé-Coll project for Saint Peter’s, Rome, to be published in 2011. As University Organist at Wesleyan University, he has taught for more than twenty years. Ebrecht has commissioned works from composers such as William Albright, Xiaoyong Chen, Raul de Zaldo Fabila, David Hurd, Christian Wolff and Wesleyan composers Anthony Braxton, Neely Bruce, Jay Hoggard, Ron Kuivila and Alvin Lucier. Many are available from major publishers. His latest performances of the Poulenc Concerto were at Minsk Philharmonic Hall on November 5.

Maurice Duruflé altered his organ works many times from when he composed them in his youth to the end of his life. My intent to know the original led me to strip away these layers.1 I now perform from my restored early versions in which I include Duruflé’s later note corrections. Duruflé’s changes to the Scherzo, opus 2 and Prélude, Adagio et choral varié sur le thème du “Veni Creator,” opus 4 are quite extensive. Informed listeners are often surprised to hear the original published scores.

The Polignac organ
In the process of researching these first editions and my book, I studied the earliest version of the Poulenc Organ Concerto and the instrument where it was premiered by Maurice Duruflé, the Cavaillé-Coll house organ of the Princesse de Polignac, who commissioned the work—the last in her distinguished collection of commissions.2 She was a capable organist and patroness of the arts, who also commissioned Poulenc’s Concerto for Two Pianos. Poulenc, with no skills as an organist, sought advice from the Princesse’s house concert director, Nadia Boulanger, regarding the solo part. Her interest in early music is revealed in the concerto’s reminiscence of two German Baroque pieces: Buxtehude’s and Bach’s Fantasias in G Minor.
From manuscript sources, I have reconstructed the specification of the Cavaillé-Coll as it was for the premiere, December 16, 1938. Most performers reference the sound of the organ in the 1961 recording of the concerto as performed by Duruflé on the newly restored organ of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont; however, there was no west-end organ in this church when the concerto was premiered, nor when Poulenc consulted with him for the registrations in the published score, because it was removed in spring 1939. Two newspaper articles, one with a photo showing the pipes being removed, chronicle this planned rebuild: Anonymous, “Les Orgues de St-Étienne-du-Mont,” Le Petit Journal, Paris (28 April 1939), and Stephane Faugier, “On transforme les orgues de Saint-Étienne du Mont,” Le Journal, Paris (3 March 1939).
During the previous summer, with Felix Raugel and Marcel Dupré, Duruflé prepared a proposed specification to rebuild the organ.3 The neo-Classic sounds he imagined from the 1938 specification (or those of the quite different 1956 specification of the organ once restored after the war), were not available to the performer on the Polignac organ at the time of the private premiere, nor the Mutin of the public one (see below). The Polignac concert room allowed only a small orchestra, which, combined with its Romantic Cavaillé-Coll organ, certainly produced a melded ensemble quite apart from the ‘oil and water’ effects of Duruflé’s famous recording.
Unfortunately the manuscript does not give the registrations initially used, leaving the problem that the published registrations would not have been possible on the two organs where it was first played. On these the effect was certainly more blended with the orchestra, and more importantly, the timbre of these instruments was decidedly Romantic.
Winnaretta Singer originally commissioned her Cavaillé-Coll in 1892 for the balcony of the atelier of her residence on the corner of what was then the Avenue Henri Martin and is now the Avenue Georges Mandel and the rue Cortambert. After her divorce from her first husband, the Prince de Scey-Montbéliard, she married the Prince Edmond de Polignac, thirty years her senior, in 1893. When Polignac died in 1901, she took down the house leaving the atelier, and built a grand mansion with a separate music room incorporated into the main house on her property. The two-story atelier was also reconstructed, with an apartment on the upper level and a large music room with the rebuilt organ provided on the ground floor. In these two spaces many concerts were given, and the musical and artistic elite of the age gathered: Cocteau, Colbert, Dupré, Fauré, Proust, Stravinsky, etc. Prominent organists often gave recitals, but Duruflé seems not to have been among them, and only had access to the instrument to practice the day before the premiere of the concerto.
Jesse Eschbach in “A Compendium of Known Stoplists by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll 1838–1898” (Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, Vol. 1; Paderborn: Verlag Peter Ewars, 2003, p. 557) omits the Grand orgue Bourdon 16. However, as Eschbach remarks in a footnote, it is included in René Desplat, “L’Orgue de salon dans la région parisienne depuis un siècle,” L’Orgue 83 (April-September 1957): 79–90.4 Similarly, Carolyn Shuster-Fournier in “Les Orgues de Salon d’Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Paris,” L’Orgue: Cahiers et Mémoires, 1997, p. 95, omits it in the specification but mentions it in a footnote. I will prove Desplat correct. The Bourdon 16 was present in all versions of the organ.

Princesse de Polignac, Cavaillé-Coll, 1892, 56-note manuals, 30-note pedal

Grand orgue expressif
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Flûte harmonique 8
Bourdon 8
Prestant 4
Flûte douce 4
Basson 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4

Récit expressif
Flûte traversière 8
Gambe 8
Voix céleste 8
Flûte octaviante 4
Octavin 2
Plein jeu
Basson-Hautbois 8
Clarinette 8

Pédale
Soubasse 16
Flûte 8

Orage
Tirasse GO
Tirasse Récit
Anches Récit
Anches GO
Copula
Trémolo
Nadia Boulanger, known in the USA as “the famous French organist,” gave the premiere of the Copland Organ Symphony, written for her, with the New York Philharmonic on January 11, 1925. The Princesse was also quite an accomplished organist, and continued to play and study major works of Bach in her London exile during World War II. The Poulenc Organ Concerto was originally intended to be performed by the Princesse. Duruflé was Mlle. Boulanger’s very natural suggestion: she knew him from having judged him in the organ contests he won in 1929 and 1930, and from his teaching of harmony at the Conservatoire Americain at Fontaine-
bleau, which she directed.
The organ was again rebuilt in 1933 before Duruflé played for the premiere of the concerto under the baton of Nadia Boulanger.5 The Princesse wrote to Nadia Boulanger from Italy October 23, 1933, authorizing the work to be done to her organ to cost 11,500 francs.6 These alterations made by Victor Gonzalez, when Rudolf von Beckerath was in his employ, are as follows: make the expression boxes open more fully, repair the pedal mechanism, and most importantly, add a Plein jeu 4 ranks to the Grand orgue in the place of the Basson 16, which is transferred to the Pédale.7 Also enumerated at a cost of 500 francs is removal of the 32′ stop. Though it is possible that one may have been added in 1904, given the size and reduced height of the space where the organ was re-installed and the fact that no one who saw the organ remarked upon such an addition, I think it most unlikely. This expense was probably for the removal of the Orage mechanism.
The Princesse encloses the typed estimate from Gonzalez:

WORK TO BE DONE
I—The most urgent
1. Take the pipes out, clean them, repair them and clean the organ: 11,000 frs
2. Take apart the bass windchests and modify them to have more wind for the pipes: 4,000 frs
X 3. Do away with the 32 foot stop and take it out of the organ: 500 frs X
4. Move the Bourdon 16′ wood pipes to permit the placement of a three-rank cornet on the main chest: 1,500 frs
5. Redo the lead windlines that are oxidized: 4,000 frs
X X 6. Give the expression boxes maximum opening—redo the mechanism: 1,000 frs X
X X 7. Move the Basson 16′ of manual I to the Pédale: 4,000 frs X
X 8. Replace the Basson 16′ on G.O. with a Plein jeu of 4 ranks, which will brighten the main manual: 4,500 frs X
9. Redo the voicing of the organ to make stops more distinct: 7,000 frs
X 10. Repair the mechanism of the Pédale, which has frequent ciphers: 1,500 frs X
11. Modify the Bourdon 8′ and Flûte douce stops of the G.O. which must serve as bass for the Cornet, by giving them chimneys: 800 frs
12. Make new pipes for: Nasard 22⁄3′, Doublette 2′, Tierce 13⁄5′: 6,000 frs
13. Make a new chest for these three stops (Nasard, Doublette, Tierce): 2,800 frs
= 48,600 frs X

On it she makes annotations mentioned in her letter and marked X.8 The total for the work to be done equals the 11,500 francs she agrees to pay for those items on the invoice she accepts. This offers much to consider, as much by what she decides to do as by what she declines—changes that would have given the organ a neo-Classic sound. How fortunate that the efficient person who typed the estimate provides precisions that allow one to establish the original and modified specifications. The estimate references the addition of a 3-rank Cornet (by moving the Bourdon 16′ pipes and modifying the Bourdon 8′ and Flûte douce), and completing it with pipes and a new chest.
We thus know that originally there were both 16′ and 8′ Bourdons on the Grand orgue and that there was no Cornet, even though Duruflé suggests Cornets on both the Récit and Positif in his concerto registrations. It is clear that it was the Baroque-minded Mlle. Boulanger who wanted the Cornet, not the Princesse herself.9 More importantly, we can establish what the balance was between this organ and the small orchestra. Some have thought of the work as a chamber piece, but the Princesse’s instrument was certainly very powerful relative to the smaller cubic volume of the space where it was re-installed in 1904. Thus, the Organ Concerto is not like the Concert Champêtre where the orchestra overwhelms the harpsichord, but rather the reverse. Duruflé had to exercise care in registration not to swamp the orchestra. Performers with large orchestras in large halls can therefore use more organ to achieve the appropriate balance.

Princesse de Polignac, Cavaillé-Coll, 56-note manuals, 30-note pedal, as modified in 1933

Grand orgue expressif
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Flûte harmonique 8
Bourdon 8
Prestant 4
Flûte douce 4
Plein jeu IV
Trompette 8
Clairon 4

Récit expressif
Flûte traversière 8
Gambe 8
Voix céleste 8
Flûte octaviante 4
Octavin 2
Plein jeu III
Basson-Hautbois 8
Clarinette 8

Pédale
Soubasse 16
Flûte 8
Basson 16

Tirasse GO
Tirasse Récit
Anches Récit
Anches GO
Copula
Trémolo

Six months after the private premiere was the first public performance, June 21, 1939 on the Mutin in the Salle Gaveau.

Salle Gaveau, Mutin, III/36, 56/3010
Grand orgue
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Gambe 8
Flûte harmonique 8
Bourdon 8
Praestant 4
Nasard 22⁄3
Doublette 2
Fourniture III
Basson 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4

Positif expressif
Principal 8
Salicional 8
Cor de nuit 8
Flûte douce 4
Flageolet 2
Carillon III
Cromorne 8

Récit expressif
Diapason 8
Flûte traversière 8
Viola de gambe 8
Voix céleste 8
Flûte octaviante 4
Octavin 2
Plein jeu IV
Trompette harmonique 8
Basson-Hautbois 8
Soprano 4

Pédale
Contrebasse 16
Soubasse 16
Basse 8
Violoncelle 8
Bourdon 8
Flûte 4
Tuba Magna 16

Tirasse GO
Tirasse P
Tirasse R
Forte Péd
FF Péd
Positif/Récit
Machine GO
P/GO
R/GO
Anches GO
Anches R
Récit/R 16

Poulenc dedicates his score to the “Princesse Edmond de Polignac” and credits Duruflé for the registrations: “La registration a été établie avec le concours de Monsieur Maurice Duruflé.” (The registration was established with the assistance of Maurice Duruflé.) The following specification is derived from Duruflé’s suggested registrations for the Concerto. It produces an organ that is interesting to compare with those at his disposal for the first two performances, as well as that of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont at the time of the first recording: the specification as below concurs with none of these three. Normal type is used for stops inferred from generic suggestions, viz: fonds. Italics indicates specific stop names.

Grand orgue expressif
Montre 16
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Flûte 8
Bourdon 8
Gambe 8
Octave 4
Flûte 4
Mixture
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
Positif/G.O. 8
Récit/G.O. 8
Positif/G.O. 4
Récit/G.O. 4

Positif expressif
Montre 8
Flûte 8
Bourdon 8
Gambe 8
Dulciane 8
Octave 4
Flûte 4
Nazard
Mixture
Cornet
Clarinette 8
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
Récit/P.

Récit expressif
Quintaton 16
Montre 8
Gambe 8
Flûte 8
Cor de nuit 8
Voix céleste
Octave 4
Flûte 4
Octavin 2
Cornet
Mixture
Hautbois 8
Trompette 8
Clairon 4

Pédale
Bourdon 32
Montre 16
Bourdon 16
Montre 8
Flûte 8
Bourdon 8
Octave 4
Bombarde 16
Trompette 8
Clairon 4
Grand orgue/Péd.
Positif/Péd.
Récit/Péd.

Since these Poulenc Concerto registration suggestions follow those of Duruflé for his own works so closely, readers seeking more background are referred to my discussion of the organs he knew at this time.11 Of note, there is no request for sixteen-foot manual reeds. The suggestions of mixtures on secondary and tertiary divisions and for super-couplers to the main division are curious, as these were normally not commonly available in France at that time. Also of particular interest is the Dulciane in the Positif, which he did not have on any organ he knew or designed, but he also suggested in the “Sicilienne” of Suite, opus 5.
The Princesse wished to perpetuate her artistic and philanthropic activities by establishing the Fondation Singer-Polignac in 1928. The first president was Raymond Poincaré, former President of France. After the Princesse’s death in London during the war (November 26, 1943), she left her organ to the singer Marie-Blanche, la comtesse Jean de Polignac, niece of Edmond. Marie-Blanche was not an organist, and the organ remained in the house until she donated it to the Séminaire du Merville, where it was reinstalled by Victor Gonzalez with a revised specification and electric pedal chest. Carolyn Shuster-Fournier publishes its present disposition in her excellent book.12 Though the organ is no longer extant in the Paris house, the spaces are still used regularly for performances sponsored by the foundation.

The Woolsey Hall performance
The New Haven Symphony Orchestra, founded in 1894, is the fourth oldest in America. Since the completion of Yale’s splendid Woolsey Hall in 1901, the NHSO has performed on that stage, beneath one of the grandest of all organ façades in an ample, embracing acoustic. The orchestra programs an occasional organ concerto, featuring the 200-rank E. M. Skinner organ. When I was asked to perform, nothing seemed more appropriate than the Poulenc with my new registrations, which I premiered two years before at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing. Given the Poulenc/Duruflé connection, some of Duruflé’s music was de rigueur. I invited the Yale Camerata, directed by Marguerite Brooks, to perform the Requiem, opus 9, and I arranged with the Association Duruflé to include the American premiere of the orchestrated “Sicilienne.”
As far as we know, Duruflé orchestrated only two of his organ works: the Scherzo, opus 2, published as Andante and Scherzo, opus 8, and the “Sicilienne,” from Suite opus 5 (b), which is unpublished. Duruflé’s adaptation of these scores is quite similar in approach. I have long theorized that harmonic and stylistic links join the Scherzo and “Sicilienne.” I add to that argument another: Duruflé orchestrated them alike.
The Andante and Scherzo, and “Sicilienne” together with the Trois Danses, opus 3, comprise the entire solo orchestral oeuvre of Duruflé. William Boughton, the new conductor of the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, shares my passion for them. Eventually the NHSO will present the complete orchestral pieces over the next few seasons, but in Boughton’s October 18, 2007 début concert with the orchestra it seemed appropriate to begin with a premiere of the unpublished “Sicilienne.” Though presented several years ago at the American Cathedral in Paris, it has not been programmed by a regular orchestra. Though his instrumentation of the largest version of the Requiem and of his Trois Danses for orchestra has the punch and verve of the most energetic orchestral compositions of Dukas or Ravel, the gentle, intimate and lilting “Sicilienne” required a quite different approach.
Maestro Boughton began the program with Fauré’s orchestral suite Pelleas et Melisande. Much of Fauré’s music gained a hearing only in the salons of cultivated aristocrats like the Princesse Edmond de Polignac, to whom this piece is dedicated. Fauré’s haunting “Sicilienne” set the scene for that of Duruflé—not just in genre and atmosphere, but it also prepared the audience with the familiar Fauré work to appreciate the unknown one that followed. Organists in the audience were given much to think about from hearing the orchestrated version of the second movement of the Suite. For instance, a clarinet plays the triplets in the accompaniment in the final da capo of the A theme. At the organ, this is often played faster than is possible for a clarinet. One also could note solo lines given to a single stop on the organ that are shared between instruments quite different in timbre in the orchestrated version. Closing the first half of the program, I played the Poulenc.
Readers may be interested in a synopsis of what is unique about my re-edition of the registrations and how I adapted it to this large symphonic organ. As an example, phrases in the concerto pass from first violins to second violins when they are repeated. Since this organ has multiple possibilities—with two clarinets, several solo flutes, two French horns, etc.—I followed the orchestration and registered repeated phrases on similar solo stops in alternate locations. Since the timbres suggested by Duruflé in the score were not available to him in the first two performances nor to me on this instrument, I applied the pattern of Duruflé’s revisions of registrations in his organ works. In these, as an example, Flûte harmonique later becomes Flûte, then even later in some cases Cornet. Neither the Princesse’s Cavaillé-Coll nor the Salle Gaveau Mutin had a Cornet. The Princesse had a solo flute, a Clarinette, a Basson-Hautbois, and a Trompette. In the Poulenc, I therefore used a few beautiful solo flute registrations rather than synthesizing a poor cornet with the available stops where it was suggested, except in the left-hand entry at measure 142, where I used alternating French horns instead of a cornet. Similarly, I used the two exquisite orchestral clarinets for the clarinet lines and did not try to produce a buzzy Baroque-sounding one. For some other solo lines, I used various oboe stops.
In general the effect made the organ more blended into the orchestra because the Woolsey solo stops are more orchestral in timbre than neo-Classic ones, and the foundations are smoother. The solo lines therefore arose from the organ-plus-orchestra texture sounding like orchestral instruments. Even informed audience listeners thought they were hearing orchestral wind instrument solos. At other points, to bring out the organ more, I made other adjustments. For instance, the multiple mixture plenums suggested in the score are not as snappy as reed choruses, and Duruflé did not have access to them. In Woolsey at measure 325 I used the Great mixtures, but answered with the Swell chorus reeds.
After intermission, to accompany the procession of the choir onto the stage, a select group of Yale Camerata men sang the Gregorian Introit. Thus began a marvelous rendition of the Requiem, opus 9. I am very grateful to the Yale Institute of Sacred Music (Martin Jean, director) for their substantial support of this concert. To introduce the audience to the program, musicologist and Polignac biographer Sylvia Kahan gave a pre-concert lecture.13 All were gratified to read the review by David J. Baker in the New Haven Register, which appeared on October 21. 

 

Gregory Peterson

Gregory Peterson is Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist at Luther College, Decorah, Iowa, where he teaches organ and church music, conducts the Luther Ringers, and serves as cantor to the student congregation for daily and Sunday chapel services in the College’s Center for Faith and Life, playing the 42-stop mechanical-action organ by Robert Sipe. He holds the DMA from the University of Iowa, MM from the Yale Institute of Sacred Music, and the BA from Luther College. An active recitalist, he has performed in Europe and throughout the United States. He is represented by Concert Artist Cooperative, .

Start with two world experts on French organ building and organ music, add seven qualified, eager American organists, stir them together with extant examples of the finest French organs, and let steep for a couple of weeks in the rich culture of Bordeaux and Epernay, France. This is the recipe for the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies (SIFOS). Since 1986, organ builder Gene Bedient of Lincoln, Nebraska and Jesse Eschbach, Professor of Organ and Chairman of the Keyboard Division at the University of North Texas School of Music, have teamed up to direct this biennial seminar. It is not your grandmother’s recipe for the typical European organ tour, however, where a large group travels from instrument to instrument with minimal opportunity to play. Instead, a select group of performers and scholars is given the chance to delve deeply into the appropriate repertoire for each instrument through masterclasses and individual practice time, culminating in a group recital, open to the public, at the end of each week.
Participants in this year’s course were Michael Chad Leavitt, student, Manhattan School of Music, New York; Gregory Peterson, Assistant Professor of Music and College Organist, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa; Patrick Allen Scott, student, University of Texas, Austin, Texas; Timothy Wissler, organist, children’s choir director, Cathedral of Christ the King, Atlanta, Georgia; Marilyn Witte, Cantor, Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Lancaster, Pennsylvania; and Andrew Yeargin, student, Manhattan School of Music, New York. Elaine Mann, director of music, Grace Lutheran Church, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, joined the group for the second week.

First week
Sainte-Croix Church, Bordeaux
The group gathered on Sunday, May 24, in Bordeaux, a cosmopolitan port city on the Garonne River approximately 300 miles southwest of Paris. With a population of one million, Bordeaux is the seventh largest metropolitan area in France and is the capital of the Aquitaine region and a major wine-producing center. This beautiful, historic city was described by Victor Hugo as a combination of Versailles and Antwerp. Lectures, masterclasses, practice sessions, and the public recital took place at the Sainte-Croix Church, on the site of a 7th-century abbey. The current structure with its Romanesque façade was built in the late 11th to early 12th centuries and boasts a magnificent organ from 1741 by Dom Bédos, meticulously restored in 1997 by the French organ builder Pascal Quoirin. Every aspect of the instrument—winding system, key and stop action, pipe restoration and replacement, casework—was restored with the utmost care and concern for historical accuracy. This famous instrument is known throughout the city and is a source of much local pride. It was not uncommon to hear “Oh, the Dom Bédos” exclaimed by a local after being introduced as an organist visiting the city.

Dom Bédos five-manual organ
A unique aspect of the five-manual Dom Bédos instrument at Sainte-Croix is the 32′ plenum of the Grand-Orgue. The 32′ Bourdon lays the foundation for the searing Grand Plein-Jeu of this post-classical organ, building up through the 16′ Montre, 8′ Montre and Second 8′ Montre, Prestant, Doublette, Grosse Fourniture and Grand Plein-Jeu of 13 ranks. In addition to the customary Nazard and Tierce, there is a Gros-Nazard of 51⁄3′ and a Grosse Tierce of 31⁄5′, a late addition to the French Classical organ, after 1690. The Grand Cornet, two 8′ Trompettes and the Clairon complete the division. The Positif de Dos, based on an 8′ Montre, contains the usual plenum, mutations, and Cromorne. In addition, there is an 8′ Trompette, Clairon and Voix Humaine. The third manual contains the Bombarde 16′ and Gros Cromorne 8′. According to Gene Bedient, this could be the first Bombarde division in France, as there was not much use of this division before 1750. The Récit is a short keyboard of 32 notes, with a Cornet V and Trompette 8′. This chest has the expressive Tremblant doux and raucous Tremblant fort. The Echo is also a shorter keyboard of 39 notes containing a Cornet V. The pedalboard is extended down to F, known as the ravalement for exciting, thunderous pedal effects from the Bombarde 16′ and first and second Trompettes. The division also contains a Clairon, 16′ Flûte, 8′ Metal Flûte, 8′ Wooden Flûte, and Flûte 4′. Shove couplers allow the Positif and Bombarde to be coupled to the Grand-Orgue. All of this—plus a generous acoustic of four to five seconds’ reverberation—made for a most satisfying performance of repertoire selected by Jesse Eschbach, including excerpts from François Couperin’s Messe pour les couvents (Kyrie, Elevation–Tierce en taille and Offertoire); the Tierce en taille, Basse de Trompette and Grand jeu from Livre d’Orgue of Pierre DuMage; En taille, Fugue [à cinq], Récit de Cromorne and Dialogue sur les Grands Jeux from Veni Créator by Nicolas de Grigny; and two Noëls by Jean-François Dandrieu, Il n’est rien de plus Tendre and Allons voir ce divin Gage.

Lectures and masterclasses
An anteroom in the gallery, containing an historical exhibit with large posterboard illustrations from L’Art du Facteur d’Orgues by Dom Bédos, provided sufficient space for the daily morning lectures. Gene Bedient covered wind systems and key action in classical French organ building, as well as pipework, tonal issues, and temperament in the 17th and 18th centuries. Under his guidance, participants were able to crawl into the immaculately clean case and hand-pump the organ’s six bellows. It was interesting to note the subtle change in the organ’s sound when hand-pumped as opposed to using the electric blower. And it was quite an aerobic workout to boot!
Jesse Eschbach lectured on French post-Classical style and registration in France pre-1665 and 1665–1710. There was much fascination with the Grosse Tierce 31⁄5′ and its musical application. It was used for the bass or left hand, combined with the 16′ Bourdon and 8′ flute. Professor Eschbach also addressed the use of notes inégales and ornamentation, pointing out that ornamentation is a product of what the organ will invite, depending upon which division is being played, how much air is in the pipe channel, the registration, and acoustics, as well as the performer’s bon goût. The correct use of ornamentation in French music can often bring fear and trepidation to the performer. Professor Eschbach’s helpful explanation encouraged spontaneity and improvisation as a way to bring local surface detail to the performance. Multiple handouts enhanced the lecture material. Dr. Eschbach’s knowledge and passion for this music was also in evidence during each of the late morning masterclasses, where his expert teaching motivated everyone to move ahead in their interpretation and understanding, resulting in a stylistically informed and aesthetically pleasing recital.
Pentecost is celebrated as a national holiday in France, and it was fortuitous that the birthday of the Christian Church fell on the weekend between the first and second weeks of this summer’s institute. Most participants headed to Paris for the weekend, braving the crowded trains to take advantage of festival Masses at major churches in the capital, especially Notre Dame, Sainte-Clotilde and Saint-Sulpice.

Second week
Church of Notre Dame, Epernay
Nestled in the verdant hills of the Champagne region, the “Champagne City” of Epernay (population 25,000) was the site for the second week of lectures, masterclasses, and the recital. Located on the left bank of the Marne River about 17 miles southwest of Reims, Epernay is home to two magnificent organs by the celebrated 19th-century French builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Classes and the recital took place at the Church of Notre-Dame, an imposing structure begun in 1898 and completed in 1915. Bombardment on the night of July 24, 1918 caused considerable damage to the nave. Rebuilding was not completed until April 1925. This building replaced a 16th-century edifice that was demolished due to severe collapsing.

Cavaillé-Coll organs
The 1869 Cavaillé-Coll instrument was moved into the rebuilt church and is housed in the north transept of the cruciform nave with 34 stops distributed over three manuals and pedal.
Grand-Orgue
16′ Bourdon
8′ Montre
8′ Bourdon
8′ Violoncelle
4′ Prestant
2′ Doublette
Plein-jeu harmonique
16′ Basson
8′ Trompette
4′ Clairon
Positif
8′ Quintaton
8′ Salicional
8′ Unda Maris
4′ Flûte douce
2′ Doublette
1′ Piccolo
8′ Clarinette
8′ Trompette
Récit expressif
8′ Flûte traversière
8′ Viole de gambe
8′ Voix céleste
4′ Flûte octaviante
2′ Octavin
8′ Trompette
8′ Basson-Hautbois
8′ Voix Humaine
Pédale
16′ Contrebasse
8′ Basse
4′ Flûte
16′ Bombarde
8′ Trompette
4′ Clairon

The dedication recital was given by Alexis Chauvet and Charles-Marie Widor on December 2, 1869. The organ was restored in 2001 by Bernard Hurvy.
SIFOS participants also had use of an 1897 Cavaillé-Coll instrument at the Church of Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul. Also three manuals and pedal, this later instrument has a few more mutations and small pipes, perhaps showing the influence of Alexandre Guilmant. Both instruments are typical in the layout of the tirasses, ventils and coupler pedals, and employ a Barker machine, the pneumatic lever to assist the playing action of the coupled Grand-Orgue, developed by Charles Barker and first used to great success by Cavaillé-Coll in his 1841 instrument at Saint-Denis, Paris.

Lectures and masterclasses
Cavaillé-Coll was a disciple of Dom Bédos, evidenced by his well-annotated copy of L’Art du Facteur d’Orgues. The lectures during this week by Gene Bedient brought forward the connections between these two significant builders and covered the innovations and mechanics that are the hallmark of the 19th-century French organ. Jesse Eschbach lectured on “Rousseau, Revolution, and Restoration: An Overview of Cultural and Political Influences in France Affecting Sacred Music in the Nineteenth Century,” “Post Classical French Organ Registration from Dom Bédos to Georges Schmitt,” and the concept of plenum in nineteenth-century France. The masterclasses again centered on selected repertoire including César Franck’s Grande Pièce Symphonique, op. 17 and Prélude, Fugue et Variation, op. 18, Marcel Dupré’s Prélude et Fugue en Sol Mineur, op. 7, the Adagio from Louis Vierne’s Troisième Symphonie pour Grand-Orgue, Pastorale from the Première Sonate en Ré Mineur, op. 42 by Alexandre Guilmant, and “Tu es petra” from the Esquisses Byzantines by Henri Mulet. The resulting recital was a thrilling conclusion to the week and a testament to the enduring legacy of this music as an outgrowth of the partnership between artisan and artist.

French culture
Of course, no time spent in France would be complete without a total immersion into the food and wine that is the sine qua non of French culture. After working hard each day, participants enjoyed festive repasts at gourmet restaurants carefully selected by Gwen and Gene Bedient. As with organ registration, there is great variety in French cuisine, adventurously sampled by all participants, adding to the collegial camaraderie permeating the institute.
Is it possible to say that an organist has not lived without hearing the thrilling Grand Plein-Jeu of Dom Bédos or a beguiling Cavaillé-Coll harmonic flute? The Summer Institute for French Organ Studies is a rich, cultural and musical immersion. Try it. It will transform your playing and teaching—perhaps even your life. To learn more about the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies and plans for the 2011 Institute, visit the Bedient Organ Company website at www.bedientorgan.com.

 

Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.,

Warrensburg, Missouri

SkyRose Chapel, Rose Hills
Memorial Park, Whittier, California

Opus 46

 

SkyRose Chapel, in the Rose Hills Memorial Park, Whittier,
California, is located on a hill overlooking Los Angeles and the San Gabriel
and Sycamore Valleys. SkyRose Chapel is situated within beautifully landscaped
gardens that also do duty as a cemetery--SkyRose Chapel is the largest funeral
chapel in the world. Renowned architects Fay Jones and Maurice Jennings designed
SkyRose Chapel to be built of oak, Oregon redwood, bouquet canyon stone,
Douglas fir, and glass in a contemporary A-frame style that is at home in the
hills which the afternoon sun turns a vibrant rose color. SkyRose Chapel has
become popular as an attractive venue for weddings as well as for funerals.

The installation of a pipe organ in SkyRose Chapel had
always been the dream of Dennis Poulsen, Chairman of the Board of Rose Hills
Memorial Park. This dream was researched and brought to fruition by Mr. Poulsen
and Bruce Lazenby, Vice President of Engineering of Rose Hills Memorial Park.

The Rose Hills Foundation selected Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.,
to build the pipe organ for the strikingly lovely SkyRose Chapel. The Quimby
pipe organ, Opus 46, has 65 ranks together with harp and chimes spread over
four manuals and pedal. The distinctly American design is eclectic in
conception and enables the instrument to perform a wide range of service and
organ literature. Messrs. Poulsen and Lazenby requested Michael Quimby, Tonal
Director, to design a tonal specification that would handle the diverse musical
demands required for funeral services, weddings, and recitals.

The instrument contains an unusually high proportion of
celeste ranks, and also a very high proportion of color reeds. The reeds in the
Solo division include several historic Skinner and Aeolian-Skinner ranks--the
Tuba Mirabilis (1924), French Horn (1946), English Horn (1946) and Corno di
Bassetto (1946). These ranks are included in the pipe organ on their original
windchest and reservoir. Also noteworthy are the 1924 Deagan "Class
A" Chimes and the restored 1929 Skinner Harp, both on their original
restored electro-pneumatic actions.

The electric blowers winding the organ amount to a total of
eleven and one-half horsepower, supplying wind at pressures ranging from
4" for the Choir division to 15" for the Tuba Mirabilis. There are
fourteen reservoirs and four schwimmers. The main chests, built by Quimby Pipe
Organs, Inc., are slider windchests built to the original Blackinton design
fitted with electro-pneumatic pallets. The Swell, Choir and Solo divisions have
68-note chests, providing additional topnotes for use with the octave couplers.
Electro-pneumatic unit chests are used for the offsets and extended ranks.

Quimby Pipe Organs' Opus 46 is located in an elevated
gallery near the rear of SkyRose Chapel. The visual presentation of the pipe
organ is of oak casework containing thirty-eight zinc façade pipes with
gold-colored mouths drawn from the Pedal 32' Principal and Great 16' Violone
ranks that are placed on platforms of escalating heights above the floor of the
gallery as well as nine oak pipes positioned along the side of the case. The
longest façade pipe, approximately 26' in length, is low G of the 32' Principal. The wood pipes along the side of the case are part of the Pedal 16' Bourdon rank. The Pedal 32' Posaune is full length, and is located behind the exposed wood pipes.

Quimby Pipe Organs' woodworkers constructed the case and
console in their workshop. Quimby Pipe Organs' designer and woodworkers
designed the oak organ case and console in consultation with Fay Jones and
Maurice Jennings in order to ensure an appearance in harmony with the
architecture of the Chapel. Harris Precision Products, Inc., of Whittier,
California, manufactured the console components and shipped them across the
country to Warrensburg where Quimby's woodworkers installed them in the
console. The console was then shipped back with the organ to Whittier! The
instrument is controlled by a multiplex relay with MIDI, including full
playback capability, and a combination action with 99 memory levels.
style="mso-spacerun: yes">  There are eight pistons to each
division and eighteen general pistons, together with three ensemble pistons,
three programmable Crescendo settings, and numerous reversibles.

Members of Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc., who made significant
contributions to the construction of the SkyRose instrument included Doug
Christie, Chris Emerson, Charles Ford, Johanna Harrington, Eric Johnson, Kevin
Kissinger, Brad McGuffey, Michael Miller, Gary Olden, Michael Quimby, Wayne
Shirk, Stan Sparrowhawk, Elizabeth Viscusi, and Randy Watkins.

Dr. Frederick Hohman presented the pipe organ to the public
in the dedicatory recital of the SkyRose organ on Saturday, September 20th,
1997.

--Quimby Pipe Organs, Inc.

GREAT (unenclosed)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Violone
(1-14 façade)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Diapason
(1-7 from Ped Principal)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Violoncello
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Harmonic
Flute (1-12 from 8' Bdn)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octave

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Koppel
Flute

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Quint

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Super
Octave

                  11⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Mixture IV

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bombarde
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Tuba
Mirabilis (Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette
Harmonique

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trumpet

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cromorne
(Choir)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion
Harmonique

                                    Tremolo

                                    Chimes
(Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Harp
(Solo)

                                    Tower
Chimes (prepared for)

                                    MIDI
on Great

SWELL (enclosed)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Gedeckt

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gedeckt
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola
Celeste

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Salicional

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Voix
Celeste (GG)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Nachthorn

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola
(ext)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola
Celeste (ext)

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Rohr Nasat

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octave

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flageolet

                  13⁄5'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Tierce

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Plein
Jeu IV (2' rank from Octave)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Hautbois

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Hautbois
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Vox
Humana

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Vox
Mystique (Vox Humana, box closed)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion
(ext)

                                    Tremolo

                                    Chimes
(Solo)

                                    MIDI
on Swell

CHOIR (enclosed)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Silver
Flute (1-12 digital)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flauto
Mirabilis (Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gamba
(Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gamba
Celeste (Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Rohr
Flute

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gemshorn

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Melodia
(1-12 from Rohr Flute)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Silver
Flute (ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Silver
Flute Celeste (TC)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Orchestral
Flute (Solo)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Spitz
Flute

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Silver
Flute (ext)

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Nazard

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octave

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Block
Flute

                  13⁄5'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Tierce

                  1'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Mixture
III

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Cromorne

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette
Harmonique (Great)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cromorne
(ext)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion
Harmonique (Great)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Tuba
Mirabilis (Solo)

                                    Tremolo

                                    Chimes
(Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Harp
(Solo)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Celesta
(Solo)

                                    MIDI
on Choir

SOLO (enclosed)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Gamba (1-12 digital)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flauto
Mirabilis

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gamba
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gamba
Celeste

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Orchestral
Flute

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gambette
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             English
Horn

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             French
Horn

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Corno
di Bassetto

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Tuba
Mirabilis

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion
Tuba (ext)

                                    Tremolo

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Harp

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Celesta
(ext)

                                    Tower
Chimes (prepared for)

                                    Chimes
(20 tubes)

                                    MIDI
on Solo

PEDAL (unenclosed)

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Sub
Principal (1-7 digital, 8-31 façade)

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Bourdon (1-12 digital)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Principal
(ext)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Violone
(Great)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bourdon
(ext)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Gamba
(Solo)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Gedeckt
(Swell)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Silver
Flute (Choir)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octave
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Violoncello
(Great)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola
Celeste II (Swell)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gedeckt
(Swell)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Choral
Bass

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon
(ext)

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Mixture IV

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Posaune (full length, ext Great Trumpet)

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Basson (1-12 digital, ext Swell Hautbois)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Posaune
(ext Great Trumpet)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bombarde
(Great)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Hautbois
(Swell)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Cromorne
(Choir)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Tuba
Mirabilis (Solo)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trumpet
(Great)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette
Harmonique (Great)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Hautbois
(Swell)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion
(ext Great Trumpet)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Hautbois
(Swell)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cromorne
(Choir)

                                    Chimes
(Solo)

                                    MIDI
on Pedal

Lively-Fulcher Organbuilders, Alexandria, Virginia

St. Olaf Catholic Church,
Minneapolis, Minnesota

 

In 1997, Fr. John Forliti, Pastor of St. Olaf Church,
appointed Dr. Merritt Nequette and a parish committee to lead an organ project
at the church. The committee enlisted the services of Jonathan Biggers as organ
consultant. After a thorough study, Lively-Fulcher Organbuilders of Alexandria,
Virginia was chosen to build the new instrument which was installed and
completed in July, 2001.

The organ was inaugurated in a series of concerts in 2002
beginning with a service of blessing by Archbishop Harry J. Flynn, Archbishop
of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and organ recital performed by Dr. Lynn Trapp,
director of worship and music, organist, at St. Olaf Church, on February 9,
2002.  A hymn text by Delores
Dufner, OSB was commissioned for the occasion.

The series of inaugural concerts featured a recital and
masterclass by Swiss organist, Guy Bovet; a program of organ and contemporary
music with Twin Cities artists; Pipedreams Live hosted by Michael Barone of
Minnesota Public Radio and performers of the Liturgical Organists Consortium;
field days for elementary students to learn about the king of instruments; and
an organ and orchestra concert with Jonathan Biggers, organist, and the Kenwood
Chamber Orchestra, orchestra in residence at St. Olaf Church, conducted by Ken
Freed. This concert included the premiere of a commissioned work for organ and
orchestra composed by Richard Proulx.

The instrument has 61 stops and 67 ranks (49 independent
registers) playable over five divisions, Grand Orgue, Récit Expressif,
Positif Expressif, Bombarde and Pédale. The manual and pedal key actions
make use of electric slider windchests and the stop action is electric, complete
with state of the art combination action, 256 levels of memory and a sequencer.
The wind supply is regulated by a traditional bellows system linked to the wind
chests by wooden wind lines. The console is built in a low profile, curved jamb
configuration to enhance the organist's ability to follow the liturgy and
conduct the choir. The console has natural keys covered in bone and sharp keys
of solid ebony. The internal layout of the divisions within the organ case
places the Positif Expressif centrally in the lower middle of the case and the
Grand Orgue above that with the Récit Expressif behind the Grand Orgue.
The Bombarde reeds are located in the Positif box and the Pédale
division is divided on either side of the manuals and behind the 16-foot pedal towers
in the case. Wood pipes were made in the organbuilders' workshop and metal
pipes were made to their specifications in Germany.

The casework, constructed of African mahogany, takes its
inspiration from the contemporary architecture of the room and has simple
Scandinavian design elements yet a firm traditional layout. The façade
pipes are made of 72% tin and include pipes from the Grand Orgue Montre 16',
Montre 8' and Pédale Montre 8'. The organ is completely housed within
its own freestanding casework and because of the deep gallery around three
sides of the room is positioned at the front center of the church. A
Cymbelstern stop is provided on the instrument and the church's tower bells can
be played from the Récit keyboard.

The design of the pipe shades for the instrument is tied to
the rich traditions associated with St. Olaf. They are made of basswood with
patterns of dragons, eagles and serpents which are found in the Book of Kells.
These designs are slightly earlier than King Olaf's time, but they are strong
Scandinavian symbols from the period. The cross piercing the crown is based on
an 8th-century piece made for St. Rupert. The crown motif was specifically
chosen to represent St. Olaf and the crosses and crowns are covered with
24-carat gold leaf.

The tonal inspiration for the instrument is firmly based in
19th-century France but is designed and voiced with a broad literature base in
mind. The Tutti is robust to support large choirs, orchestra, and the singing
of a capacity crowd of worshipers. The organ has a wide variety of soft colors
as well. The broad foundation tone of the 8-foot stops and thick-walled
expressiveness of the Récit and Positif boxes ensure the accompanimental
versatility necessary for the performance of choral and solo literature. The
warm yet clear broadly scaled principal chorus work, blended with the mutations
and reed colors associated with Clicquot and Cavaillé-Coll, make for a
versatile medium for the main body of the organ literature. The voicing and
blending of individual stops coupled with the color requirements of French,
German and English literature allow the convincing performance of a wide range
of literature. This instrument is not meant as a copy of any one style nor is
it intended to be a collection of styles trying to do everything, but rather is
intended to be a modern instrument of the 21st century speaking with its own
voice.

--Lynn Trapp

 

GRAND ORGUE

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Montre

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Montre

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
à cheminée

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
harmonique

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Violoncelle

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Prestant

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
ouverte

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Quinte

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Doublette

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Fourniture
V

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clairon

                                    Tremulant

                                    Octaves
graves

                                    Récit
sur G.O.

                                    Positif
sur G.O.

                                    Bombarde
sur G.O.

POSITIF EXPRESSIF

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Montre

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
douce

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
celeste

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Prestant

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
conique

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Nazard

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Doublette

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Quarte
de nazard

                  13⁄5'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Tierce

                  11⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Larigot

                  1'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Fourniture
IV

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cromorne

                                    Tremulant

                                    Octaves
graves

                                    Récit
sur Positif

                                    Bombarde
sur Positif

                                    Positif
unison off

RÉCIT EXPRESSIF

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bourdon

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Diapason

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viole
de gambe

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Voix
céleste

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cor
de nuit

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Prestant

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
octaviante

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octavin

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Plein
Jeu IV

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Cornet II

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Basson

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette
harmonique

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Hautbois

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Voix
humaine

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clairon
harmonique

                                    Tremulant

                                    Octaves
graves

BOMBARDE (floating)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Tuba
magna (ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Tuba
mirabilis

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cor
harmonique (ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cornet
V (tg)

PÉDALE

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contre
soubasse (electronic)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Grosse
flûte

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Montre
(G.O.)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Soubasse

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bourdon
(Récit)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Montre

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
(ext)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon
(ext)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Prestant
(ext)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flûte
ouverte (ext)

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Fourniture IV

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contre
bombarde (ext)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bombarde

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Basson
(Récit)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clairon
(ext)

                                    Tirasse
Bombarde

                                    Tirasse
G.O.

                                    Tirasse
Positif

                                    Tirasse
Récit

 

G.O./Positif manual transfer

Chimes sur G.O.

Tower Bells sur Récit

Cymbelstern

Pedal & Manual pistons coupled

Sequencer

 

Weston Harris and Thomas J. McDonough, Organ Crafters of
Los Angeles, have completed a
three-manual, 38-rank organ at St. Augustine By-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Santa
Monica, California.  The organ
incorporates elements from the church's previous organ built in 1967 by Abbott
and Sieker Organ Builders as well as the historic Möller/Estey organ at
Bridges Hall of Music, Pomona College (recently replaced by Fisk Opus 117).
Other pipework was donated from the private collection of Mr. Joseph Horning, a
prominent Los Angeles organist and organ consultant who died in 2000.

The church is located at the popular Third Street Promenade
at Santa Monica Beach Pier. The organ enjoys a high gallery placement in an
extraordinary acoustical setting. Given this exceptional location, the new
organ's tonal style is based largely on the 1948 Aeolian-Skinner organ of the
Salt Lake City Tabernacle, where Mr. Harris studied organ performance and
apprenticed in organbuilding. The voices are gentle, and choruses finely
layered.

The previous organ (see photo) was installed in 1967 as a
temporary instrument for the new church following the arson burning of the
church's historic 1867 building. The new organ case forms the Positiv Organ
featuring pipes from the Bridges Hall of Music (front tower pipes) and wood
Holzgedeckt pipes. The flute pipes were obtained from a burnt-out church in
nearby Venice, California. They were barely rescued--being quickly pulled from
their windchest just as the wrecking ball was knocking through the chamber
walls. The fire scarring on the pipes provides an extraordinary antique patina
for the new organ case design.

--Weston Harris

 

GREAT (enclosed)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Diapason

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Augustine
Flute

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flute
Celeste

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octave

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Forest
Flute

                  22⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Twelfth

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Fifteenth

                                    Mixture
IV

                                    Cymbale
III

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Cromorne

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trumpet

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion*

                                    Tremulant

                                    Gt/Gt
16-4

SWELL (enclosed)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Geigen
Principal

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Rohr
Flute

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Viola
Celeste (TG)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flute
d'Amour

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Octavin

                  11⁄3'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>      Mixture III

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bassoon
(1-12 extension)*

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Trompette

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Oboe

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clarion

                                    Tremulant

                                    Sw/Sw
16-UO-4

POSITIV (unenclosed)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Holzgedeckt

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal*

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Gedeckt*

                  2'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Principal*

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Oboe
(Sw)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Mounted
Cornet IV (TG)

                                    Pos/Pos

                                    Pos/Gt

                                    Tower
Bells (8 Whitehall bells)

STATE TRUMPET (unenclosed)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          State
Trumpet*

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             State
Trumpet

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             State
Trumpet*

                                    Trumpet
to Gt

                                    Trumpet
to Sw

                                    Trumpet
to Pos

PEDAL (enclosed in Great)

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Bourdon*

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Dolce
Gedeckt*

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Principal

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bourdon

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Lieblich
Gedeckt (1-12 ext)*

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Diapason

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Bourdon*

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flauto
Dolce (Sw)

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Choral
Bass*

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Flute*

                  32'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Contra
Posaune*

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Posaune
(1-12 extension Gt Trumpet)

                  16'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>          Bassoon
(Sw)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Posaune
(Gt)

                  8'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             State
Trumpet*

                  4'
style='mso-tab-count:1'>             Clairon
(Gt)

 

Full interdivisional couplers

*indicates unification