by Rudolf Zuiderveld

Rudolf Zuiderveld is Professor of Music and College Organist at Illinois College, Jacksonville, Illinois, and organist of First Presbyterian Church, Springfield, Illinois.

Wednesday, June 12

Acoustics dominated the discussion with David Pike of C.B. Fisk and acoustician Dana Kirkegaard, who has made modifications to the stage area, with handsome wood structures to improve the acoustical environment for performing musicians, and enhancing the ceiling area over the stage--work that can be carried further in the future, and perhaps (if the building is equipped with air conditioning) address the acoustically transparent windows. More reverberation time and better bass response would be a desirable result.

Improvising in a predominantly homophonic French-Romantic style, William Porter demonstrated the peculiar qualities of slotted Cavaillé-Coll principals alone (as they are seldom employed) and combined with strings and flutes, producing subtle tonal variety that added up to more than the sum of its parts. The blended ensemble sounds of the French Romantic organ form the true criteria that make a Cavaillé-Coll "symphonic" rather than "orchestral"--as heard in early 20th-century American organs with their highly individual, un-blending voicing using electric actions. Like Cavaillé-Coll's organs, the Fisk retains the classic air-channel, slider windchest, but, rather than using Barker-lever machines to manage the heavy touch, employs a "servo-pneumatic" aid, in which the action follows the motion of the key exactly in attack and release.

It must have been a pleasure for Professors David Boe and Haskell Thomson to introduce the Fisk organ to over 170 registrants, repeating the dedicatory recital from last September (reviewed by Larry Palmer in The Diapason, January 2002, pp. 18-19), playing another historically-informed "period organ" at Oberlin, which joins John Brombaugh's 1981 organ in Fairchild Chapel and the comprehensive Flentrop organ in Warner Recital Hall, enabling students to study organs authentic to the Renaissance, Baroque, Romantic, and Modern eras.

David Boe opened with an exciting performance of the Final from Vierne's First Symphony, followed by a subtly impressionistic "La Vallée du Béhorléguy, au matin" from Paysages euskariens by Ermend Bonnal, and Franck's Grande Pièce Symphonique, op. 17. Organ and performer combined to give a true sense of the large-scale architectural proportions of the work; Boe's strong, rhythmically vital playing, with nuance expressing sentiment (not sentimentality), projected an overall sense of unity to Franck's masterpiece.

Haskell Thomson followed with later music of the French repertoire, conveying many refined tonal subtleties: Duruflé's colorful Veni Creator variations, the strings and soaring harmonic flute in the "Andante sostenuto" from Widor's Tenth Symphony, and the piquant, picturesque sounds of "birds and springs" in the Communion of Messiaen's Pentecost Mass. The Fisk's power was again demonstrated in the Sortie from the Mass--more clearly heard in the relatively dry acoustics of Finney Chapel than in the wash of sound in an immense stone cathedral. In the conclusion of Franck's Third Choral, it was difficult to hear the thematic quality of the manual figuration when combined with the chorale theme, all over a thundering pedal (which perhaps masked the figuration). A programmed, entertaining encore, Scène pastorale by Lefébure-Wély, complete with twittering birdsongs (Messiaen's musical ancestor?), drew smiles, and a comment that, by comparison, Franck's Pastorale is an "art of fugue"!

A gracious reception hosted by Oberlin Conservatory, with time to visit with colleagues from far-flung places, concluded a rewarding day.

Thursday, June 13

Thursday morning's lecture by Jean Boyer showed thorough knowledge of keyboard performance practice in 19th-century France, based on contemporary piano technique as illustrated in common piano methods, illuminating "Legato matters through Franck's organ works." This is not the place to review these insightful lectures; rather, one hopes that papers by Boyer, Near, Ericsson, Peeters, Porter, and Peterson will be made available in print. The panel-of-experts discussions following each lecture/paper produced varied insights, such as the lesson procedure followed for American students in France: literature first, then the maître's works.

John Near's outstanding scholarly editions of Widor's organ works for A-R Editions will soon be supplemented by a biography on this influential and authoritative "Napoleonic commander" of the French musical world from 1870 to 1937. (Perhaps it is only historically coincidental that Widor became titulaire at St. Sulpice in 1870, just as Pope Pius IX was promulgating the doctrine of papal infallibility in matters of faith and doctrine at Vatican I.) A photo and sample scrawled signature of "Widor" confirmed the point. Near spoke about Cavaillé-Coll as a "poet architect of sounds," an inspiration to Widor and the further development of the French organ symphony.

In a late Thursday afternoon session, versatile improviser William Porter played the marvelously colorful collection of 12 stops in John Brombaugh's 1981 organ in little Fairchild Chapel. Having just heard the Fisk's great variety of subtle stop combinations, it became clear how individual stops can be voiced with strong character, like the surprisingly stringy spitzflute, richly colorful regal and trumpet, and singing "vocale" praestant (so different from the amalgam of stops that comprise an "instrumentale" French "fonds"). Also, equal temperament produces a kind of evened-out blandness in the Fisk's warm Romantic sound, compared to the kaleidoscopic harmonic colors and degrees of harmonic tension heard in the ensembles of the small meantone organ. "In te Domine speravi" of Samuel Scheidt made a grand impression in a plenum that reached greater brilliance (shimmering "zing" in the mixture) than in the attenuated top of the full French Romantic organ sound.

Two masterful artists concluded Thursday's schedule. Martin Jean gave a superb performance of Vierne's Fifth Symphony, in honor of his teacher Robert Glasgow who was present. Jean played with control, refinement and grandeur, demonstrating fine technique and superb musicianship. The third movement scherzo was delightful in using some of the high-pitched aliquots (a "carillon" can be synthesized using Positiv mutations 13/5', 11/3', and 1' registers). Robert Glasgow's championing the French symphonic repertoire was amply rewarded in this virtuosic, profoundly satisfying performance.

Hans-Ola Ericsson of Sweden played an interesting group of Olivier Messiaen's organ works, surveying music from 1932 to 1984. With the performer playing in a darkening chapel, with immense control, occasionally conducting himself, the recital became a kind of spiritual experience in the hands of this devoted Messiaen interpreter. Messiaen's repertoire of organ effects included extended birdsong (Chant d'Oiseaux from Livre d'Orgue), rhythmically free plainsong-like monody (including the two-page Monodie of 1963), the adaptation of ordinary meters into timeless unending rhythmic reveries, plus extreme dynamic contrasts. The overwhelmingly loud held last chord of Verbe et Lumière from the Holy Trinity meditations produced a mental hallucination (a bit like seeing flashes of light with one's eyes closed)--near the threshold of aural pain. Ericsson created a totally entrancing musical tableau in his powerful performance.

Friday, June 14

 serious, thoughtful manner characterized Hans-Ola Ericsson's lecture the next morning, focusing on the special characteristics of Cavaillé-Coll's organ at La Trinité in Paris during Messiaen's tenure. Addition of stops so useful to Messiaen's coloristic musical effects created a kind of "North-German concept." The organ's comprehensive restoration (perhaps prompted by the mid-1950s poor-sounding recordings made by Messiaen), showed the improviser/composer's close connection to the special beauties of his La Trinité organ (not that he did not favor adapting his music to other organ styles). Ericsson proved to have many insights to share, having spent a great deal of time with Messiaen in his last years.

Musicologist Paul Peeters, former editor of the Dutch journal Het Orgel, now working at the Göteborg GOArt project in Sweden, shared a wealth of information about Belgian/French Romantic organ culture, based on a deep and wide knowledge of the instruments, for example the existence of carillon registers in Dutch organs a century before the French Romantic organ incorporated them. Varied, rather than standardized, registration was his theme--as in the different ways to compose a "fond d'orgue" sound, depending on the disposition of a particular organ. (On the Fisk the fonds with its integral oboe sounded at one point like a harmonium--perhaps the intention.) It was during the following discussion that Jesse Eschbach pointed out that St. Clotilde's organ (built with Franck's advice, as he was already titulaire) had both a classic mixture in its Great plenum for the required traditional improvised Kyrie registration (Plein Jeu plus pedal trumpet), and a novel "progressive, harmonic" mixture on the Positif for the new symphonic organ music (intended for concert rather than liturgical music?).

The following panel discussion was moderated by Fenner Douglass, recently awarded a well-earned honorary doctorate from Oberlin, and for whom the new Fisk represents the culmination of a dream in a career devoted to solid research into French organ culture. He was present to enjoy his accomplishments in the company of many grateful students and admiring colleagues.

Again as a welcome foil to all things French and Romantic, Haskell Thomson gave a demonstration of the 1974 Flentrop organ in Warner Concert Hall, and William Porter demonstrated the Brombaugh organ of First Methodist Church, adjacent to the campus. Professor Thompson gave a comprehensive demonstration of the "all-purpose" Flentrop--less authentically "Dutch" in the sound of its flues than the specification and visual design implies, with brighter principals and choruses than typical in Dutch historic instruments, but very pleasing nevertheless, and a good match for the pleasant daytime-light-filled ambience of the modern concert hall. Revised reeds, including solid, North-German style pedal reeds by Taylor and Boody, and a wonderfully full sounding colorful Bovenwerk trumpet revised by Oberlin's organ curator Hal Gober, give the organ a more authentically Dutch/German character.

The 1974 Brombaugh 18-stop organ of First United Methodist Church gave proof to the idea that North-German/Dutch style organs are tonally appropriate in a typically dry American sanctuary acoustic. Although the organ was not in perfect condition, given the un-air-conditioned hot and humid June weather, it was effectively demonstrated by William Porter in congregational music, culminating in a rousing rendition of Cwm Rhondda.

Jean Boyer's recital on Friday evening was spectacular in his brilliant performance of Widor's Sixth Symphony. Played a bit more quickly than usual (perhaps responding to the relatively dry acoustics), the outer movements were especially effective in their driving rhythms with Boyer truly "playing" spontaneously with the music. The Final, indeed the entire Symphony, proved an exhilarating tour de force in Jean Boyer's bravura performance.

Saturday, June 15

In a closely reasoned paper, William J. Peterson, adapting French scholar F. Sabatier's three-part scheme in Cavaillé-Coll's stylistic development--(1) Classic (1841-58), (2) Romantic (1858-75), and (3) Symphonic (1875-98)--considered ten organs built between 1870 and 1898. These included some of the builder's most famous organs: at the Trocadéro in Paris, St-Étienne in Caen, St-Sernin in Toulouse, and St-Ouen in Rouen. Cavaillé-Coll seems to have returned to classical precepts in his late-period organs (such as dropping the progressive mixture in favor of the more historically traditional breaking mixtures). Oddly, it was an introductory recording of the Caen organ that proved revealing: its clearly heard fiery French-style bombarde/trompette/clarion reeds produced typical Grand Jeu timbres evident in both 17th/18th-century classic-period organs and surviving in the Romantic Cavaillé-Colls, but not so apparent in the smoother reed choruses of the Oberlin Fisk. The big Fisk reeds seem more like those at St-Sernin in Toulouse, where their sound needs to travel down an extremely long and relatively narrow nave. Perhaps Barbara Owen spoke to this point in the stimulating panel discussion that followed, describing the Fisk organ as an "English Town Hall Organ."

In further discussion, David Pike emphasized the "symphonic," "sounding together" ensemble character of the organ, necessitating a mindset in organ builders (especially voicers) that goes beyond naive, simplistic ideas of copying historic instruments. Steven Dieck, giving candid insight into how the Fisk company continues to grow artistically, made an interesting point about approaching compromise of a Fisk ideal that an organ breathe "with a single breath," related to the necessity of employing double-pallet, divided windchests at Oberlin. Paul Peeters, commenting on the size of the proposals for the Antwerp O.L.V. Cathedral organ in 1888, recalled that Pierre Schyven proposed 87 stops, Walcker 100 stops, and Cavaillé-Coll only 75--"build as many as needed, as few as possible" was Cavaillé-Coll's recommendation. The Belgian Schyven firm got the contract.

Saving some of the most intriguing music for last, two distinguished performers shared a remarkable program. Christa Rakich opened with Jeanne Demessieux's Repons pour le Temps de Pâques, a brilliant toccata/fantasy (comparable to Touremire's improvisation, transcribed by Duruflé) employing the "Victimae Paschali" chant, followed by four chorale preludes from Demessieux's Opus 8--each a gem, beautifully realized on the Fisk's refined individual stops and small combinations, concluding with a thrilling Veni Creator Spiritus toccata. A little known "Nocturne" by Germaine Tailleferre (1892-1983) (a member of "Les Six," explained Christa Rakich in her engaging verbal program notes), proved to a be a gentle lullaby, a song without words. Marcel Dupré's famous Opus 7 Preludes and Fugues closed Rakich's half of the recital, but she effectively played No. 3 first, then No. 2, on the organ's warm fonds, and concluded with the carillon effects of No. 1. Sitting at various places in the chapel for the recitals, it was obvious from the palpably shaking pews under the rear balcony that the Fisk was producing plenty of bass sound. The instrument speaks with authority!

Westfield Center president Susan Ferré concluded the recital and the conference with music by Tournemire, Alain, and Langlais, completing a wide-ranging survey of French Romantic organ music performed during the conference, perhaps surprising, given the Center's more usual focus on early music. Two excerpts from Tournemire's Opus 67 masterpiece, Sept Chorals-Poemès d'orgue pour les Sept paroles du Xrist (which had 39 people at its St. Clotilde premiere in 1937), "Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani" and "Consummatum est," proved to be  some of the most powerfully moving music of the entire conference. The organ's fonds (with the harmonic flute giving a rich, pervasive sound), the smooth clarinet, the pleading vox humana, the serene flute harmonique solo, and the piercing jabs of the full organ--all sounded perfectly authentic on the Fisk, contributing to Susan Ferré's spiritually moving performance. In Jehan Alain's Variations on "Lucis Creator," a trumpet solo accompanied by a full Swell, delicate flutes, and Plein Jeu plus cantus firmus trumpet demonstrated additional Fiskian Cavaillé-Coll aural authenticity. Jean Langlais' turbulent, abrupt and tragic Chant Héroïque, dedicated to the memory of Jehan Alain, was followed by the pastiche and sentimental simplicity of Boystown (1961). A refreshing (Neo-Baroque?) Trio (1957) concluded the Langlais group. Gregorian chant and birdsong-like motives incorporated into the Paraphrase-Carillon from Tournemire's In Assumptione B.M.V. (1928), showed the connection to Messiaen's inspiration, and ended the recital and an entire conference that had managed to touch on most of the major organist-composers of the French Symphonic School. (Guilmant was mentioned but not heard.)

Serious scholarship presented in stimulating lectures and panel discussions, perfection in performance on authentic organs, and convivial collegiality combined to make the Oberlin conference one of the most informative, entertaining, and inspiring in recent memory.

Near the end of the conference, the double CD "September 28, 2001 Inaugural Concert" recorded live in Finney Chapel was released. The program opens with The Oberlin Orchestra, conducted by Paul Polivnick, performing Elgar's Nimrod variation from Enigma Variations with loving tenderness, a moving memorial to the tragedy of September 11, followed by the audience joining in singing a thrilling Star Spangled Banner. David Boe is soloist in Oberlin graduate Robert Sirota's organ concerto In the Fullness of Time, which incorporates Bach's "Es ist genug" into a colorful, lyrical and dramatic work for organ with a large virtuoso orchestra. The outstanding undergraduate student orchestra also performs two chestnuts of the symphony plus organ repertoire, Saint-Saëns' Third Symphony, with David Boe, and Joseph Jongen's Symphonie Concertante, the latter brilliantly performed with Haskell Thomson, organ soloist. Both are impassioned, professional-level performances, played with the extra edge of a live event--all in all, a spectacular concert and CD!

A special feature on the recording is another Oberlin graduate, Michael Barone, giving a musical guide to organs at Oberlin. David Boe plays H. Praetorius on the Brombaugh, Andrew Fredel plays Rheinberger on the first Holtkamp "Martini," and Christopher Harrell plays Hakim on the Warner Flentrop. So listen for yourself to the superb music making found at one of America's leading undergraduate colleges! It is available for $25 (plus shipping) from Oberlin Music and Cafe, an outstanding source for obtaining high quality organ music, books, and CDs, operated by Oberlin graduate James Dawson (; ph 440/774-9139; fax 440/774-8430) who also sponsored the coffee breaks during the conference.

by Arthur Lawrence

Arthur Lawrence is Librarian and Archivist of the Union League Club, Organist and Choirmaster of the Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal), and a member of the organ faculty at the Manhattan School of Music, all in New York City. He was Editor of The Diapason from 1976 to 1982.

Since 1985, the Summer Institute for French Organ Studies (SIFOS) has given American organists a unique opportunity to play and study historic French organs in depth. Unlike the more usual organ tours, which enroll many people and visit a large number of instruments briefly, this institute is restricted to five or six participants and spends a week each at an eighteenth-century organ in Souvigny and at a nineteenth-century one in Lyon. In addition to attending daily classes on the instrument and the literature appropriate for it, each person has at least one daily practice session at the organ. It is, I believe, the only such institute that affords this kind of opportunity to learn from the extensive playing of the instrument itself, an experience not otherwise possible. It illustrates well the adage that the organ has a great deal to teach the player.

 

Founded by organbuilder Gene Bedient of Lincoln, Nebraska, and organist Jesse Eschbach of the University of North Texas at Denton, SIFOS now operates in alternate summers. The most recent sessions took place July 16-27, 2001, and were very well organized; every effort had been made to ensure that all went as it should. The participants ranged from advanced graduate students to professionals long in the field; they were Parker Kitterman (Lewisburg, Georgia), Arthur Lawrence (New York, New York), James Livengood (Dallas, Texas), Margaret Mulvey (Dallas, Texas), Jane Smith (Portland, Oregon), and Stephen Warner (Ann Arbor, Michigan). In this congenial group, all demonstrated good keyboard facility, interest in learning, and enthusiasm for playing the instruments.

Souvigny

Souvigny-sur-Alliers is a beautiful small town ten kilometers west of Moulins, in the predominantly agricultural area of the Auvergne, at the north edge of the Massif Central. It is a peaceful refuge from commercialism; in addition to the Priory Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul and the attached museum occupying a former monastery building, there are a few stores and restaurants, a school, the town hall, a police station, and a post office. Of course, there are also private residences, some of which housed the participants, all of whom had local hosts. A place well off the tourist track, this village is ideal for a week of quiet study.

In 916, Aymard, a magistrate of the Duke William the Pious of Aquitaine and forebear of the Bourbon kings, ceded land to the Abbot of Cluny to establish several Benedictine monasteries in the surrounding area of Bourbonnais. The construction of the Priory Church, now at the center of Souvigny, began in 994, and papal legate Pierre Damien consecrated the original Romanesque building on August 10, 1063. The importance of this church at the time of the First Crusade under Pope Urban II necessitated its enlargement in 1095. Two bell towers were added at the beginning of the thirteenth century, other changes and additions took place during the seventeenth century, and a new west façade was constructed in the eighteenth century.

Inasmuch as the church at Cluny was destroyed early in the nineteenth century, the Souvigny church is now the finest remaining example of a priory church from the Cluny epoch. The central nave, flanked by double columns and side aisles, is a little more than 260 feet in length; with double transepts near the crossing, the total width is just under 90 feet.

After functioning as a typical twentieth-century parish for many years, this church since 1991 has been administered by brothers of the Congregation of Saint Jean, a Dominican order founded in 1978. Today, in addition to the celebration of the Mass, daily offices (although not the complete historical spectrum) are observed, to which the faithful are summoned by the joyful ringing of the tower bells.

The Clicquot Organ

The organ, located in the gallery, was built by François-Henri Clicquot in 1782-83 and has interior inscriptions of 25 May 1782 and 1783. Despite an 1887 repitching by organbuilder Goydadin in which pipes were moved down a half-step and equal temperament was effected, the instrument is in remarkably original condition. (On August 26, 1880, Joseph Merklin had submitted a proposal to do restoration work, noting that the instrument was one of Clicquot's best and the only one remaining without having been subjected to modification. His proposal to leave the organ without substantial change was not accepted.) In 1962, Philippe Hartmann placed it in a mildly unequal temperament, although the original would have been meantone. From a cosmetic standpoint, the only change seems to have been that the original parchment tags giving the stop name under each drawknob were at some point removed in favor of drawknobs with inset porcelain faces bearing the stop names. The organ was classified as a national monument historique in 1947, the same designation for the case following in 1975.

The main case, containing speaking pipes of the Montre and the Pédale Flûte 4', has towers on each side, with a lower one in the middle, outlining the rose window above and behind the organ. Carved angel musicians crown the towers, which are separated by two flats of pipes. In this case are the pipes of the Grand-Orgue, with those of the short-compass Récit above in the center, and those of the Pédale in the side towers. The case of the Positif-de-dos follows the same pattern on a smaller scale, but with only one flat between towers and urns surmounting them. There is barely room between the two cases for the recessed console and bench over the classic-style pedalboard.

The winding system was replaced by a single horizontal  bellows in 1887, the first item on Goydadin's proposal. In 1977, Mr. Hartmann reconstructed the original system of three cuneiform bellows, using Clicquot components which had been preserved. The bellows are raised in alternation by an electric motor controlled by a sophisticated computer application installed in 1995 by Philippe Klinge. The wind pressure is approximately 80 mm.

Because of the location of Souvigny, the organ has probably not received the same attention it would have had in a more metropolitan setting, but it is by no means unknown. Alexander Dumas visited in October 1834  and praised the sound of the organ. Félix Danjou admired it in 1840 and Hamel in 1845. In more recent times, the Association Saint-Marc commissioned a new composition by Guy Bovet, who performed and recorded here. The organ has also been recorded by Henri DeLorme.

 

Positif (I) (C1, D1-D5)

                  8'             Bourdon

                  8'             Dessus de Flûte (C2)

                  4'             Prestant

                  22⁄3'      Nazard

                  2'             Doublette

                  13⁄5'      Tierce

                                    Plein-jeu V

                  8'             Trompette

                  8'             Cromorne

Grand-Orgue (II) (C1, D1-D5)

                  8'             Montre

                  8'             Bourdon

                  4'             Prestant

                  22⁄3'      Nazard

                  2'             Doublette

                  2'             Quarte de Nazard

                  13⁄5'      Tierce

                                    Cornet V (C3)

                                    Plein-jeu VI

                  8               Trompette

                  8'             Voix Humaine

                  4'             Clairon

Récit (III) (C3-D5)

                  8'             Bourdon

                                    Cornet IV

                  8'             Hautbois

Pédale (C1-A2, flues)

Pédale (F0, G0-A2, reeds)

                  8'             Flûte

                  4'             Flûte

                  12'          Trompette

                  6'             Clairon

 

Tremblant fort (not presently operating)

Tremblant doux

Accouplement à tiroir ( Pos/G.O. shove coupler)

 

Except for the oak bottom octave of the Grand-Orgue Bourdon and the Pédale Flûte 8', all pipes are metal, either a high percentage of tin or common metal (thirty percent tin, seventy percent lead). The bourdons are chimneyed. The scales of the cornets and the jeux de tierces are very similar and rather wide. Because of the extended range of the pedals, what would have been 8' and 4' reed stops are actually 12' and 6', providing substantial bass. After more than two hundred years, the pipes have oxidized but that does not affect the quality of the sound they produce.

The design of the action--typical of this type of French organ--places the pallet box at the front of the windchest, allowing the suspended key action of the Grand-Orgue and Pédale to work efficiently. The keys are not bushed but have guide pins on either side, beyond the playing surface. It takes a bit of doing to become accustomed to this, so as to avoid excess lateral motion and unwanted noise, but once mastered, the keyboards are friendly. The manual shove coupler is similar to a dogleg coupler on a harpsichord; when the coupler is engaged, a piece of wood atop the Positif key is in physical contact with the Grand-Orgue key above it. The coupler can be activated while one is playing on the Positif. The Positif key action is conveyed by backfalls and passes very compactly under the pedalboard and bench to the windchest, which is immediately behind the organist.

This is an organ from which one learns by playing--what blends with what, what works in ensemble, how to depress the keys to get the best reed sound, as opposed to how to depress the keys for the flues. One of my colleagues wrote in the inscription book that he'd learned more in a week here than in four years at college. Playing this organ is also an experience in auditory delight, because every sound is satisfying and beautiful, and the big ensembles are thrilling. Both the mounted cornets and those drawn from separate ranks are exquisite in color and fullness. The grand jeu is exceptional in its grandeur and power. For me, each hour at this organ was one to be savored, albeit one which passed much too quickly.

Even though this is still a French Classic organ, it is a late one and it betrays signs of developments to come: there is no larigot, there are no 4' flutes, the 8' rank of the Récit Cornet draws separately, and there is an open flute on the Positif--a particular harbinger of the nineteenth century. This flute, in fact, is a small principal. In general, the smallest number of stops gives the best effect. For instance, the grand jeu needs only the reeds and the mounted cornet; the jeu de tierce is redundant and only consumes wind unnecessarily.

A typical day for the SIFOS participants began with a lecture by Mr. Bedient on some aspect of the history and design of the instrument, with pipes, action, winding, and tuning and temperament being the main areas of discussion. There were several opportunities to look inside the organ, to view the pipework and the action. We also examined several of the original pipes which had been removed when the organ was repitched.

That first hour was followed by a longer session at the organ, in which titulaire Henri DeLorme listened to several people play, coaching them in the style and making observations about the music. Mr. DeLorme, who studied with Michel Chapuis at the Strasbourg conservatory, is a very intuitive musician with a keen ear. He knows the Souvigny organ and its literature intimately, and is well positioned to instruct others in all aspects of playing the French Classic organ. He is also an excellent improviser in the style of the period, which he demonstrated extensively the first day to acquaint us with the organ. His effusive personality is infectious, instilling joy in organ playing.

A grand three-course luncheon followed at an excellent local restaurant, with the afternoon and early evening being devoted to individual practice sessions or enjoying the local scenery.

At the conclusion of the week, the Association Saint-Marc sponsored a well-attended public recital by the participants, with receptions before and afterward. This association of local organ lovers is active in support and promotion of the Souvigny organ. The recital consisted of Clérambault, five movements from the Suite in the Second Tone (Lawrence); D'Aquin, Noël sur les flûtes (Mulvey); D'Aquin, Noël grand jeu et duo (Livengood); Couperin, two movements from the Convent Mass (Smith); Balbastre, Marche guerrière (Warner); and Couperin, Offertoire from the Parish Mass (Kitterman). Except for the Balbastre, the music predated the organ, but it all sounded most appropriate on this magnificent instrument. The audience was enthusiastic in its applause for the performers, the organ, and Mr. DeLorme's witty verbal program notes.

Lyon

We left Souvigny behind, as a fast and efficient train took us through the bucolic countryside which gradually became mountainous, until we reached Lyon a few hours later. Arriving on Sunday afternoon, we found France's second-largest city fairly warm and a little sleepy, but the city sprang to life with great vitality the next morning.

Our activities took place in the part of the city that developed on the peninsula between the Rhône and Saône Rivers, opposite both the old city dating from Roman times to the west and the sprawling modern suburbs to the east. We were conveniently housed a block from the church at the Hotel Résidence on a pedestrian shopping street which bustled with activity all day and well into the evening. As in Souvigny, we ate well, but this time in various restaurants in the evening.

The nineteenth-century church of  Saint-François-de-Sales is nestled in the midst of this area. The edifice is surrounded by other buildings on two sides, with a small park on the third, and the street on the fourth. The main entrance, at the street edge of the park, is surmounted by a bell tower. The interior is cruciform in shape, with pews in the nave and the two transepts, the altar on a platform in the center, and the organ behind the altar, at the far end of the choir. The windows in the dome over the crossing light the whole area below.

The Cavaillé-Coll Organ

The immense organ façade is visually commanding.  At the impost level are three large flats; above this are two smaller flats on either side of a central tower, which crowns the case. Flanking the whole are two pedal towers, which, like the smaller central tower, are surmounted by rich wooden carvings. The remaining space beside each pedal tower is filled by another smaller flat. Unlike most large French organs, it is placed on the main floor, where the whole area is protected by an electronic alarm, installed to guard this monument historique. It is said that the first organ in this church was high in the rear gallery and that Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was asked to build a modest-sized instrument at the other end. Although having only three manuals and forty-five stops, this installation of 1879 is monumental both in sound and sight. It is a twin to the one built for the Brussels Conservatory. Like Souvigny, it is in relatively original condition.

François-Charles Widor (1811-99), father of Charles-Marie, was an organist and organbuilder, as was his father. He assisted in the installation of a four-manual, forty-eight-stop Callinet organ at Saint-François-de-Sales in 1838, played the inaugural recital, and became organist of the church. Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937) grew up here and was later sent to Brussels to study with Lemmens, through the influence of Cavaillé-Coll (who had also sent the young Alexandre Guilmant to the same teacher). Charles-Marie returned to Lyon to play the dedication at Saint-François in 1880, probably playing his recently-composed Fifth Symphony which had been premiered the previous year in Paris. The principal organist since 1974 has been Louis Robilliard, who has made a number of recordings here.

The tonal design of this organ pays some homage to the past--the Plein Jeu and Grand Jeu exist on the Grand-Orgue, and there is a Cornet on the Récit. The Grand-Orgue mixtures are classical in design, after Dom Bédos, not the progressive mixtures which Cavaillé-Coll had promoted in previous decades. Improvised versets were still played when this organ was built, but the free works of Bach were also in demand. The enclosed Positif is the most remote from the Classic period; there is no principal chorus and no reed battery. The Carillon, of which this is an early and controversial example, is good chiefly for bell effects; it is 22⁄3' in the bass but 13⁄5' plus 1' in the treble. Each manual has at least one harmonic flute and each enclosed division has a celeste. Every division has reeds, with a 16'-8'-4' ensemble on the Grand-Orgue and the Récit, and 16'-8' on the Pédale. Compared to previous times, the pipes have more nicking and more open toes.

A tour of the interior of the instrument reveals a spacious layout. At floor level directly behind the console are the Grand-Orgue and Positif Barker machines, containing the pneumatic levers which work the key action, permitting the organist to control higher wind pressures and larger, multiple pallets without unduly taxing the fingers. They have glass doors for sound proofing. Above them is the unison coupler mechanism, while the sub-octave coupler mechanism, which works by angled backfalls,  is below them. At the back on this level is the winding system, including the original pumping stations where one stood on a large protruding lever to activate the feeders at the bottom of the bellows. The Cummings-style reservoirs are in a double, connected set, each with inverted ribs; the earlier evolution from cuneiform bellows to horizontal ones had increased the wind capacity by one hundred per cent. There are additional anti-concussion reservoirs above this assembly and above the Barker machines. The wind pressures range from approximately 85 mm to 92 mm, with divided pressures between the bass and treble on the Grand-Orgue.

In keeping with the generous spacing of components, one ascends to the upper levels by wooden staircases, not by ladders! At the second level is the Grand-Orgue at the front, with the enclosed Positif behind it, where its sound is less prominent. At the top of the next staircase is the Récit, in a commanding position which crowns the installation. Its Barker machine is in front, clothed in a large muffler to deaden the sound of its operation.

The design of the windchests is particularly interesting, especially from an American perspective. Reading books on the history of organ construction leads one to think that the ventil system--a designation not employed by the French, who instead specified appel--requires separate windchests for the flues (Jeux de Fonds) and for the reeds (Jeux de Combinaison). (See, for instance, Peter Williams, A New History of the Organ, p. 173.) Cavaillé-Coll, from Saint-Dénis onward, did indeed use multiple windchests on each division, but this was in order to provide varying wind pressures in different parts of the scale. The division of flue and reed stops in a given register, however, is made on a single windchest which has an internal barrier running down the middle of the chest, with pallets on each end of the channel. Thus, the organist can draw flues and reeds, activating the reeds and upperwork only when the proper pedal is depressed, which then admits air to the portion of the windchest which houses the reeds and upperwork.

The detached, reversed console is laid out with terraces of drawknobs on either side of the keyboards, going from the Récit at the top, the Positif next, then the Grand-Orgue, and finally the Pédale. In general, the flues are on the right, with the reeds and upperwork on the left.  The coupler and ventil controls (Pédales de Combinaison) are placed above the pedalboard, as indicated in the specifications. The use of these combination pedals is an essential part of playing this organ.

 

Grand-Orgue (I) (C1-G6)

Jeux de Fonds

                  16'          Principal

                  16'          Bourdon

                  8'             Montre

                  8'             Salicional

                  8'             Flûte Harmonique

                  8'             Bourdon

                  4'             Prestant

                  4'             Flûte Douce

                                    Jeux de Combinaison

                  2'             Doublette

                                    Fourniture IV

                                    Cymbale III

                  16'          Bombarde

                  8'             Trompette

                  4'             Clairon

Positif-Expressif (II) (C1-G6)

Jeux de Fonds

                  8'             Nachthorn

                  8'             Flûte Harmonique

                  8'             Dulciane

                  8'             Unda Maris

                  4'             Flûte Octaviante

                                    Jeux de Combinaison

                  2'             Doublette

                                    Carillon I-III

                  8'             Trompette

                  8'             Basson

                  8'             Clarinette

Récit-Expressif (III) (C1-G6)

Jeux de Fonds

                  16'          Quintaton

                  8'             Diapason

                  8'             Bourdon

                  8'             Flûte Harmonique

                  8'             Viole de Gambe

                  8'             Voix Céleste

                  4'             Flûte Octaviante

                  8'             Voix Humaine

                  8'             Basson-Hautbois

                                    Jeux de Combinaison

                  2'             Octavin

                                    Cornet V (C3)

                  16'          Basson

                  8'             Trompette

                  4'             Clairon

Pédale  (C0-F2)

Jeux de Fonds

                  32'          Basse Accoustique

                  16'          Contre Basse

                  16'          Soubasse

                  8'             Flûte

                  8'             Violoncelle

                                    Jeux de Combinaison

                  16'          Bombarde

                  8'             Trompette

Pédales de Combinaison

(in order from left to right)

1               Effets d'Orage

2               Tirasse Grand-Orgue

3               Tirasse Positif

4               Tirasse Récit

5               Anches Pédale

6               Octaves Graves Grand-Orgue

7               Octaves Graves Positif

8               Octaves Graves Récit

9               Trémolo Positif (above 7 and 8)

10            Expression Positif (balanced pedal)

11            Expression Récit (balanced pedal)

12            Anches Grand-Orgue

13            Anches Positif

14            Anches Récit

15            Trémolo Récit (above 12 and 13)

16            Copula Grand-Orgue sur Machine

17            Copula Positif sur Grand-Orgue

18            Copula Récit sur Grand-Orgue

19            Copula Récit sur Positif

 

The daily morning class was structured much as at Souvigny, with Mr. Bedient's information on the organ itself, Dr. Eschbach's material on the music, and the playing of the participants. Individual practice time occupied the afternoons and early evenings. Late night practice was prohibited, since the sound of the organ carries into the neighboring buildings. Being in such a large, historic city provided countless opportunities for sightseeing and shopping in whatever time was left.

Although Jesse Eschbach's masterclasses and coaching were exemplary, it was his lectures that were outstanding. He provided a wealth of information on the organs, organists, and organ music of nineteenth-century France, drawn from many well-researched sources. This provided a valuable background for the performance of the music at hand. His forthcoming publication of much of this material is awaited with great interest.

Playing this organ is a physical challenge. The manual keys are large and go down a fair distance, much more so than on a Classic instrument. But the requisite aspect of performance is in the setting and manipulation of the combination pedals. The Copula Grand-Orgue sur Machine must be down in order to have any sound; the other pedals must be set according to the requirements of the music. However, one need only follow literally the directions written in the score: doing exactly what is written in an authentic edition of a Franck piece yields the desired combinations.  All the composers who received Cavaillé-Coll's heritage used this system: Franck, Guilmant, Widor, Vierne, Tournemire, Dupré, Langlais, Litaize, Messiaen, and many others. Interestingly, in our classes and recital, assistants were more likely to be changing the pedals than the drawknobs, but that was at least in part due to our unfamiliarity with the system. Every French organist, on the other hand, knows this system intimately, although it is probably being rendered obsolete today by the use of solid-state controls. The ventil system was, after all, the original combination action which made the great symphonic works of the French masters possible. The gradual crescendos and decrescendos specified in their compositions are beautifully and effectively achieved on this instrument.

Once again the participants played a public recital at the conclusion of the week. The program consisted of Boëly, Fantasy and Fugue in B-Flat (Law-rence); Guilmant, Introduction and Allegro from Sonata I (Warner); Franck, Prelude, Fugue, and Variation (Smith); Widor, Variations from Symphony VIII (Mulvey); Duruflé, Fugue on the Theme of the Soissons Cathedral Carillon (Livengood); and Vierne, Adagio and Final from Symphony III (Kitterman). This music spanned the period from before the building of the organ until much later, but this organ was the perfect vehicle for each of the compositions. At the conclusion, Frank Vaudray, the gifted assistant organist of the church, improvised in perpetual motion, making a seamless crescendo from the softest stops to the full organ.

Our whole world has changed dramatically since this wonderful institute in France last summer--there could hardly be a greater contrast between the acrid, smoldering ruins of lower Manhattan and the serenity and beauty of Souvigny or the power and majesty of Lyon. Although September 11 has now made all our lives very different, it is still possible to remember and revisit the monuments of French organs. I hope I have the opportunity to return to Souvigny and Lyon, and I certainly encourage others to go there. They will be amply rewarded by an institute which fosters the understanding of our rich organbuilding heritage and provides a unique educational experience, as well as a very pleasant summer sojourn.

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.

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. 

 

Alsace Week, July 10-14, 2001

by Kay McAfee

Kay McAfee is professor of organ and music history at Henderson State University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, where she also serves as organist for First United Methodist Church.

For four days, the group would travel the length and breadth of this beautiful region rich in agriculture and vineyards, nestled in the Rhine valley between the French Vosges mountains and the Rhine river. Its villages and towns, between Mulhouse in the south, Strasbourg in the north, and Colmar at the center, boast over one thousand organs in its many lovely churches.

 

Predigerkirche, Basel

Upon arrival in Mulhouse, Marie Louise Langlais and Sylvie Mallet directed everyone across the border into Basel, Switzerland to visit two churches. We arrived at the Predigerkirche (Catholic) where Mme. Langlais introduced Emmanuel Le Divellec and Brigitte Salvisberg, young husband and wife who are both former students of Mme. Langlais. Divellec is organist of the French church in Bern and teaches at the Bern Conservatory. He told of the church, which originally housed a 13th-century Dominican monastery on the site. The organ was built by Johann Andreas Silbermann in 1766. It had one manual and 14 or 16 stops. Silbermann built a Rückpositiv in 1768, bringing the total to 28 stops.

In 1875 the instrument was enlarged, but it became difficult to play and was neglected until 1974. The firm of Metzler reconstructed the original organ in 1978, adding a flute 4' and larigot to the Positiv and prestant and fourniture to the Pedal. Tuning is Werckmeister, and the disposition is French "with a German accent." Divellec played several parts of the Guilain 2nd Suite: Plein jeu, Tierce en taille, Cromorne en taille, Basse de trompette, Cromorne and Flûtes; and Caprice sur les Grand Jeu from the Clérambault 2nd Suite. Participants were given playing time.

Then Brigitte Salvisberg discussed the choir organ which is mounted above the choir on the north side. At the time of the restoration of the church in 1975, an imprint of the original organ was found on the wall. The contract from a Johannes Tugy and a description of this organ from 1487-1493 were also found. In 1985, the Netherlands builder Bernhard Edskes reconstructed the instrument of two manuals with short compass. Manual I has principal, gedeckt, octave 4' and 2' and a hornle, which is a sesquialtera-type stop. The second manual contains a regal and a 4' and 2'. Salvisberg played O dulcis Maria by Hofhaimer, three Renaissance dances by Hans Neusiedler, and the "Fortuna" variations by Scheidt.

For participants, the change from the large cathedral churches of Paris, Caen, and Chartres during the previous week of the seminar was striking and refreshing. Most of the churches we visited here seat from 200 to 800 people.

St. Josephkirche

Next we were transported to St. Josephkirche to hear an exquisite 1904 instrument built by the firm of Kuhn. Organist Willy Kenz ushered us into the 1902 neo-Baroque church, where the membership has been multicultural. Near the end of the 19th century, Catholic immigrants from Germany and Italy moved to Basel to work, and this was their church. The organ is of 43 stops of three manuals and is a historic treasure. Manual I has a 16' bourdon, four 8' stops including gemshorn, a cornet, flûte harmonique 4', octav 4' and 2', quint, mixture, and trompete. Manual II has a 16' nachthorn, geigen, flute, viola, dolce, quintaton, gemshorn, transverse flute 4', waldflöte 2', sesquialtera, zimbel, and English horn. The Swell contains gedeckt 16' and 8', two strings and a voix celeste, flute and string 4', plein jeu, flute 2', oboe, and schalmei. The Pedal has four 16' stops, two 8', and posaune 16'. In 1934 four stops were added, and in 1992 the Kuhn firm rebuilt the instrument. The tuning is low: A=435.

In this resonant room, the music is stunning. The Swell box is very effective, and the organ is perfect for German Romantic music. Kenz played a Kodály Introit, "Andante" from Mendelssohn's 6th sonata, Karg-Elert's Nun danket alle Gott, and Brahms' Schmücke dich. Participants eagerly climbed to the rear gallery to play. Afterwards, the church staff prepared a fine meal for all.

Elisabethkirche

The evening brought a concert at the Elisabethkirche, a Protestant church. The organ is from 1861 by the Belgian firm of Merklin, which was a rival of Cavaillé-Coll. Originally of two manuals (with a third of only one stop) and 29 stops, the present case is the original one of 1864. The primary manual had 16' and 8' principals, salicional, octav and flöte 4', 22/3', and cornett 8'. The second manual had only an 8' gedeckt. Manual III featured flute 16' and two 8' flutes, flute 4', cymbel 1', and oboe. The Pedal had three 16' and two 8' stops. The firm of Zimmermann added four new stops in 1899 and rebuilt the organ in 1913. Theodor Kuhn replaced the Merklin reeds in 1937. It is definitely a French instrument.

Two of Mme. Langlais's former students, Emmanuel Le Divellec and Suzanne Kern, demonstrated the organ. Kern, who studied with Scheidegger, Bovet, and Marie-Louise and Jean Langlais, is the current organist of the church. She played the 4th Sonata of Mendelssohn, Chant de Fleur from Prière to the Virgin by Florentz, and Tournemire improvisation on "Victimae paschali laudes." Divellec played the Franck Cantabile, Alain Le jardin suspenu (with lovely strings and very effective pp-ppp dynamics), and Pièce solennelle by Jacques Ibert.

Saint-Jean, Mulhouse

The next day the group traveled to Mulhouse to the Protestant Saint-Jean Temple. This is a special place for Marie-Louise Langlais as it was her first professional appointment. The organ is an Alfred Kern (1972) reconstruction of a 1766 Johann-Andreas Silbermann organ of three manuals. The beautiful case is from the 18th-century instrument. The church is small, seating perhaps 150 people. The Rückpositiv is very close to the pew aisles which face the pulpit and are perpendicular to the organ. There are 26 stops, with mutations on each manual--Grand Orgue, Echo, and Positiv de dos.

Sylvie Mallet demonstrated the solo stops of the organ by playing a Tierce en taille, the beautiful positiv cromorne, an 8' and 22/3' (there is a nasard on each manual), the plein jeu, and the reeds and cornet, with an 8' and 1' echo. She demonstrated the tremolo by playing the Grand Orgue vox humana, montre 8', and Positiv 8' and 1'. When the organ was dedicated in 1972, Jean Langlais wrote and played his Suite Baroque for the occasion. The organ plays both French and German music well. Participants played Langlais, Bach, and Soler.

Saint-Étienne

The Gothic-style Catholic church of Saint-Étienne was a short walk away. The organ is a late-period Cavaillé-Coll with a neo-Baroque Positiv by Roeth-inger. The reeds of the Swell are as powerful as at Saint-Ouen and Saint-Étienne in Caen. Several participants played pieces which demonstrated the various colors of the organ.

Organ building in Alsace

Daniel Roth, a native of Mulhouse in Alsace, assumed leadership as our guide into the small towns and villages of Alsace. He was accompanied by Pierre Chevreau, organist at Saint-Martin in Masevaux. Within the 170 km of the wine route are nestled 100 towns. All of the instruments the group was privileged to hear and play represent the combination of German and French influence in organbuilding. Rheinberger, Buxtehude, and Bach sound well as does the music of the 18th-century French Classical composers.

The first stop was the little village of Oltingue and the Church of Saint Martin. M. Roth gave a historical background of the region and the import of its history upon the development of organ building in Alsace. Occupied by the Romans in 58 B.C., Alsace eventually came under the rule of the Allemandes (407 A.D.) and the Holy Roman Empire (870 A.D.). At that time the Vosges mountains formed the French border with Germany and Switzerland. The French desired to stretch the border to the Rhine, and finally took the land in 1648. In 1870 Alsace again came under German rule. After WWI, France again ruled. In 1939 the Nazis captured Alsace, and after WWII it again became part of France. In Strasbourg, the organ builder Edmund Roethinger (1866- 1953) saw Alsace change nationalities four times. Alsatian culture has taken the best from the culture of France and Germany. It is true also with organ building. Alsatians demonstrate a great love of music and of the organ.

In 1792 Alsace listed 300 organs. In 1844, the number had doubled to 600, and after 1980, 1004 instruments, many of them historically significant, were to be found in this small region. In the 1870s, when Alsace was under German rule, there were many active German organ builders, but Alsatians resisted the German tonal ideal--a hard sound, loud mixtures, and high wind pressures. At the end of the 19th and in the early 20th century, there was an Alsatian organ reform, with the desire being to rediscover the organs of Silbermann. The Alsatian Albert Schweitzer was important in this movement. Schweitzer loved French organs, and this was revealed especially in his trips to Paris to study the instruments of Cavaillé-Coll.

This movement was not the Orgelbewegung, which came later and was even more radical. Many Romantic organs were destroyed in the zeal to build organs with little fundamental tone, high-pitched mixtures, and absence of gambas. The French manifestation of this revolution occurred partially in the Neo-Classical movement of the 1930s.

In the 1950s, there was a Baroque-reform movement in Alsace, which reacted against the Neo-Classical movement in other parts of France. Alfred Kern's 1963 instrument at Saint-Séverin in Paris is an example of a tonal design from this reform movement. Kern's family were builders from Strasbourg in Alsace. The participants in this movement sought a better understanding of the old instruments and to make possible the playing of Bach and other German music as well as Classical French music. The 1970s then saw the revival of interest in the Romantic organs.

Saint-Martin, Oltingue

The Oltingue church of Saint Martin is of neo-Baroque style. The organ was built in 1843 by Joseph (1795-1857) and Claude (1803-1874) Callinet, sons of François Callinet (1754-1820) who began the family business. The organ was cleaned in 1941, and in 1978 Gaston Kern of Strasbourg rebuilt the façade pipes and restored the blending of the French and German influences of Callinet. It features a bourdon 16', montre 8', and sifflet 1', with fourniture, a beautiful cornet, and trompette 8' and clairon 4' in the Grand Orgue. The Positiv has bourdon 8', flûte 8', a flûte 4' which plays at 8' in the lower range, and a basson-hautbois which is a free reed. There is also a gamba (Roth noted that Silbermann did not build gambas). The ophicleide in the pedal is also a free reed, which Roth said makes "an odd noise." Roth improvised for us and then participants were able to play.

Église de Masevaux

We traveled east to Masevaux to visit the church of our co-host, Pierre Chevreau. Église de Masevaux (St. Martin) is a modern building, as the previous building with its Callinet organ burned in 1966. Alfred Kern built the gallery organ in 1975. It has 40 stops distributed over four manuals and a dramatic case which spreads completely across the wide gallery. The disposition is Grand Orgue with 16', 8' montre, flûte 4', prestant, gemshorn 2', cornet, fourniture, cymbale, trompette, and clarion. The Oberwerk has flûtes 8', 4', 2', larigot, cymbale and chalumeau. The Echo (42 notes) has flûtes 8' and 4', cornet and voix humaine (the only stop that is enclosed). The Positif de dos has viole and bourdon, flûte 4', prestant, 22/3', 13/5', 2', 1', fourniture, cromorne, and voix humaine. The Pedal includes flûtes 16', 8', prestant, cor de nuit 2', fourniture, posaune 16', trompette, and cornet 2'. There is also a two-manual choir organ by Curt Schwenkedel (1972) which of the German Baroque style. It features brilliant mixtures which are loud and harsh.

Pierre Chevreau is artistic director for an international organ festival here. 2001 was the 25th year for the event, with recitals during July, August, and September.

Ebersmünster

We traveled north to Ebersmünster, a town that is east of the north-south motorway and still in the valley. On the way we saw high in the hills to the West Koenigsburg Castle and Chateau de Kentsheim, two imposing structures that can be seen from great distances and which complement the picturesque scenery. Across from the church, we caught sight of one of the many man-made stork nests (occupied with parents and chicks) for which Alsace is famous. The towers of this Baroque church crown a beautifully-proportioned building. Once a Benedictine abbey, the choir was completed in the 17th century. In 1709 the towers were added. Nave and transepts were finished 1725-27, and in 1730-73, Andreas Silbermann placed the organ in the west gallery; the organ case is spectacularly beautiful. Silbermann (1678-1734) established the Strasbourg firm and after studying his craft with Thierry in Paris, settled in Alsace. His sons Gott-fried (1683-1753) and Johann Andreas (1717-1766) carried on, but Gottfried moved back to Saxony.

The specification is almost French Classical. Only the bombarde 16' in the Pedal is different. This was added to French instruments in the late 18th century and only to those which were the largest. The Pedal originally had flûtes 8' and 4' with trompette and clarion. The clarion was added in 1732, as was the Swell trompette. Today the organ is of 29 stops, three manuals with Echo (25 notes), Positif de dos, and Grand Orgue (each with 49 notes). In 1782, Johann Hosias Silbermann added a new pedalboard and bellows. In 1857, Martin Wetzel, a Strasbourg builder, added the bombarde. A cleaning was done in 1921, and in 1939 Roethinger added another new pedalboard, altered the voicing, and changed the bombarde and trompette. In 1998-2000, a complete restoration was undertaken in an attempt to restore the Silbermann voicing.

Protestant Temple, Barr

We journeyed next across the valley and into the foothills of the Vosges mountains to one of the wine villages, Barr, where we arrived at the Protestant Temple, which is Lutheran--unusual because most of the Protestant churches here are Calvinist. There is no nave and no transepts. The pulpit is the focal point of the church with pews arranged in front and on the sides. The church was built in 1852, but the tower is from the 12th century and was restored and made higher in the 15th century.

The first organ here was placed by the Silbermann family in 1739. The present organ, from 1852, is exceptionally large for the building. It was built by Stierh, a family of organists first headed by the father and then by his three sons: Joseph (1792-1867), Ferdinand (1803-1872), and Savier (1806- 1873). The firm added an associate--Mockers--and together they placed this instrument. There are four manuals: Positif de dos, Grand orgue, Echo expressif, and Grand Orgue (suite)--trompette and clairon only. There are three 16' stops and three 4' stops in the G.O. The fugara 4' is a German gamba. The Pedal features a wooden 16' basson and violincello 8'. The Positif has a cor des alpes 8' which is a conical reed. The voix celeste 4' is not a celeste but only a narrow-scaled string stop. The Echo, under expression, was very unusual for that time. It contains a basson-hautbois and voix humaine. There were restorations in 1895, 1924, and 1948. In 1977, Gaston Kern undertook the last restoration. M. Roth demonstrated the gambas 16', 8', and 4' of the G.O., the montre 8', and the plenum and reeds, and then  played a passacaglia by Rheinberger (Sonata #8). Then participants were allowed to try the organ.

Saint Martin, Erstein

We traveled back into the valley, across the motorway, and arrived at Erstein and the Romanesque-style church of Saint Martin. Welcoming us was an official of the regional council as well as a representative of the mayor's office. The organ is a historic monument. In 1905, there was creation of a separation of church and state in France. All of the organs now belong to the towns. This one, recently restored, is under the auspices of a regional council.

The organ of 1914 was built by Edmond-Alexandre Roethinger of Strasbourg. As with other instruments, its specification represents a combination of French and German traditions. The flûte of the Grand Orgue, the geigen principal of the Positiv, the principal 8' of the Swell, and the posaune of the Pedal are all under high wind pressure, which was typical of German organ building at the end of the 19th century. The stops are designated by the word "Starkton-" indicating their higher wind pressure. The bombarde and trompette of the swell are of French voicing. The harmonia aetherea of the swell is a 3-rank mixture of string pipes, and there is an unda maris on the Positif. The Récit and Positif are both under expression. This organ's 64 stops make it the largest instrument heard thus far in Alsace. There are seven 8' stops on the Grand orgue and Positif and eight 8' stops on the Récit.

M. Roth improvised and then demonstrated individual stops. The clarinet on the Positif is especially beautiful. He conducted a masterclass with Barbara Reid, Jill Hunt, and Angela Kraft Cross performing Franck, Pièce Héroïque; Dupré, B-major Prelude; and Widor, Allegro from Symphonie VI.

Saint-Thomas, Strasbourg

We traveled to Strasbourg for the last day, arriving first at Saint-Thomas Protestant cathedral, dating from 1740-41. The organ, over the entrance door, is by Johann-Andreas Silbermann. Its beautiful oak case is of wonderful proportions. The rounded central tower of the Grand Orgue is of unusual design. There is a matching rounded tower in the Positif de dos. The organ comprises three manuals and 31 stops and is tuned at low pitch, but in equal temperament. In 1790 a trumpet was added to the Echo manual, and in the 19th century Wetzel added some Romantic stops, including a salicional. More changes occurred in 1860. In 1979, Alfred Kern, a specialist in the aesthetic of Silbermann, restored the original, but he left the romantic stops in the Echo division. Albert Schweitzer established a tradition of playing an all-Bach recital each July 28, the anniversary of Bach's death. The tradition carries on today.

The Positif plenum, jeu de tierce, and cromorne are original Silbermann pipes as are those of the entire Grand Orgue and Pedal. The Echo division recalls the Romantic period. The only 16' flue in the Pedal is a soubasse. The montre of the Grand Orgue is especially beautiful and singing. French Classical music sounds well here, but so does Bach, Buxtehude, and the other German Baroque composers. M. Roth first improvised. Participants played such works as Buxtehude, Prelude, Fugue and Chaconne; Bach, G-minor Fantasie, D-minor Toccata, and chorale preludes Nun komm der Heiden Heiland and O mensch bewein. The tremolo is especially beautiful.

Notre-Dame Cathedral, Strasbourg

We proceeded to the great Notre-Dame Cathedral of Strasbourg. The church, begun in 1015, has a Romanesque choir from the 11th and 12th centuries. The Gothic nave is from 1275. The spire of the west façade was finished in 1439. The organ hangs high on the triforium gallery near the west entrance, about two bays away. Christoph Mantoux, Professor of organ at the Strasbourg Conservatory, played a French Classical suite. The vox humana is especially beautiful.

The opportunities afforded by the biennial British and French Organ Music Seminars are evident in both the number of people who return to them and to the growing diversity of participants. Not only do these events attract professional organists who desire to play the great instruments of England and France, but there are those who are self-taught aficionados of the organ and those of other professions who love the organ and its music. Investment brokers, art historians, physicians, and computer programmers are part of these groups. Organ historians among the participants provide excellent outlines ahead of the seminars chronicling the timelines of British and French organists, composers, builders, and British influence on American organ building. Organists of all levels of experience--beginners to professionals--are allowed equal access to the instruments and to gifts of the faculty.

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