International Organ Music Seminars to present German organ music seminar in June

Christina Harmon resides in Dallas, Texas, where she is organist at Park Cities Baptist Church. She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Southern Methodist University and has done doctoral study at Union Theological Seminary and the University of North Texas. Her teachers include Robert Anderson, Robert Baker, Dale Peters, Garth Peacock, Guy Bovet, Bernadette Dufourcet, Naji Hakim, Daniel Roth, and Jean and Marie-Louise Langlais. She is founder of the French Organ Music Seminar. Since 1989, an outgrowth of the seminar has been the production of videotapes in France. These videotapes cover French organs and organ music history and include Langlais playing and teaching at his home and at the Schola Cantorum, Marie-Louise Langlais teaching at the organ of Sainte Clotilde, and Daniel Roth teaching and playing at the organ of Saint Sulpice. The videos and one DVD are available for sale through the Organ Historical Society.

The fifth British Organ Music Seminar, led by Christina Harmon and Cliff Varnon, took place in England and Wales from June 24–July 3. With John Hosking, noted British concert organist, as guide, the group of 14 organists and their friends and spouses visited and played organs and attended Evensongs in London, Exeter, Truro, Wells, Bristol, Wales, Chester, Birmingham, and Blenheim. Well-known British organists Richard Townend, Daniel Cook, Andrew Millington, Robert Sharpe, Matthew Owen, Philip Rushforth, and Duncan Middleton served as hosts and teachers to the group along the way for extended two-hour or more playing sessions at each organ. In addition to spending a whole day studying British and French music with John Hosking at the St. Asaph’s Cathedral organ in Wales, the group was treated to a full afternoon of playing the Klais organ in the Birmingham Concert Hall. On July 3 the group took the Eurostar to Paris where they were joined by 32 additional organists and their spouses and friends to begin the French Organ Music Seminar, led by Marie-Louise Langlais and Sylvie Mallet. That afternoon the group enjoyed a recital at Notre Dame Cathedral by Angela Kraft-Cross, former participant of FOMS, and in the evening a session with Philippe Léfebvre at the Notre Dame organ.
Monday the group visited the Temple du St. Esprit with Kurt Lueders, then went to St. Etienne-du-Mont for a demonstration by Vincent Warnier, co-titulaire, followed by Christina Harmon’s performance of “Agnus Dei” by Thierry Escaich. This piece was commissioned by FOMS member Bruce Westcott and dedicated to another FOMS member, his brother Michael Westcott. A long afternoon of playing this famous organ of the Duruflés followed the performance, assisted by Mr. Warnier.
On Monday night, FOMS participants Lois Holdridge, Terry Flanagan and Colin Lynch joined Swiss organist Tobias Willi and Langlais students Beatrice Piertot and Chung-A Hong at the church of St. Eustache to present a concert of works by Guillou and Florentz to a large audience, with Jean Guillou in attendance, who provided personal remarks to the program. After the concert FOMS participants joined Mr. Guillou for dinner at a nearby restaurant.
Tuesday, July 5, at noon, FOMS participants Jason Farris, Jay MacCubbin, Samuel Gaskin, Tim Lyons, Colin Lynch, David Erwin, John Walko, Julia Walton, Jill Hunt, Mark Scholtz, Jeremy Tarrant, and Marko Petricic played a recital at the church of St. Roch. The afternoon and evening were spent in small groups with Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet and François Espinasse at the organs of La Trinité and St. Severin. On July 6 the group gathered in the morning at the Schola Cantorum for a panel discussion on the works of Franck with Kurt Lueders and Mmes Langlais and Mallet. A masterclass on Franck followed, with organists Barbara Reid, Jill Hunt, Marko Petricic, and Samuel Gaskin. In the afternoon group members Jason Branham, Samuel Gaskin, Louie Brewer, Bryan Jepson, Sean McCarthy, and Ray Peebles presented a concert on “The New Bach Organ for Paris”—the Aubertin organ at Eglise St. Louis en l’Isle. Afterwards, members of the group either stayed to play on the Bach organ, accompanied Kurt Lueders on a special tour to play lesser-known Cavaillé-Coll organs of Paris, or went with Mme Langlais for a group lesson.
On July 7, groups alternated to study with either Frédéric Blanc at Notre Dame d’Auteuil or Sophie Choplin at St. Sulpice. Scholarship contributors enjoyed a special lunch at the Langlais apartment. Later, participants in small groups received instruction and were treated to brilliant improvisations by Naji Hakim at La Trinité, while others gathered at the apartment of Maurice and Madeleine Duruflé. At night we gathered again at St. Sulpice for Daniel Roth’s lecture and concert.
On July 8 groups again alternated between playing at Les Invalides and St. Sulpice, while others studied privately and in small groups at the Regional Conservatoire with Langlais and Mallet. The evening was spent with Pierre Pincemaille at the St. Denis Basilica.
On July 9, Saturday, we boarded a bus to go to the Cathedral of St. Ouen in Rouen, hosted by Christophe Mantoux. Several people were able to play. On return Mantoux offered a special improvisation class for those who were interested; others had private lessons in Paris.
From July 10 through July 16 Mmes Langlais and Mallet took a smaller group to Burgundy and Switzerland, where we were hosted in Burgundy by Maurice Clerc, organist of Dijon Cathedral, and played many wonderful organs, including the Dijon Cathedral organ. We continued to Romainmôtier, where we spent the afternoon playing the Alain organ.
The group spent a large part of one day at the beautiful organ of the Tonhalle in Zurich. Designed by Jean Guillou, this contemporary organ is one of the most spectacular in Europe.
Another wonderful day was spent in Lucerne with Wolfgang Sieber, organist of the Hofkirche in Lucerne, who presented the group with an incredible crowd-pleasing concert, including his show-stopping arrangement of “Bridge Over Troubled Waters,” complete with organ effects guaranteed to win over even the many organ purists among us. With his virtuoso arrangements and theatrical gymnastics, coupled with the amazing organ of the Hofkirche, he attracts full houses at his concerts in Lucerne. Plans are underway for the 2007 British and French Organ Music Seminars, with a special celebration in France in honor of the 100th birthday of Jean Langlais, which will include choral as well as organ events. Information will be available beginning in July, 2006, at .

The author can be reached at [email protected] or [email protected].

“Why not just one more?”

The great number of takes and inserts in the recording sessions at Kirchheimbolanden reflect the typical tally for any stop on the trip—in total, more than 1500 separate segments and snippets amassed by the time Biggs flew home. At Kirchheimbolanden they consumed six reels of tape with 84 takes and 13 shorter inserts, most of them represented by the 68 takes of various sections of the F-Minor Fantasia, K. 594: four for the opening adagio, 50 for the allegro, and 14 for the concluding adagio. Biggs would play a piece all the way through once or twice, and then systematically work his way through it again, making several takes of each section. Then, having sprung from the bench to listen to parts of the recording, he would return to play a few additional inserts, sometimes of only a few bars, to have available if he should decide he preferred them when the time came to edit. Aside from extraneous noises, most of the takes would have nothing “wrong” with them. It is just that the advent of magnetic tape recording (still an exciting novelty in the early 1950s) enabled the luxury of so many easy takes that Biggs the “techie”—in parlance of today—could not resist the temptation to give himself every possible choice.16
Steinmeyer, without much to do at recording sessions once he had 1) dashed in to announce their arrival, 2) with Peggy and Biggs himself, carried all the equipment in (see photo: Ready to lug gear), 3) helped Peggy hook it all up while Biggs investigated the organ, 4) searched out and secured an electrical ground, and 5) stationed himself at the door to minimize interruptions, could only try to listen with interest and wait the session out. Everyone quietly rejoiced when Biggs would suddenly pull out an odd piece by Schlick, Murschhauser, Paumann, or Scheidt—among more than two dozen composers whose music he recorded on the trip—because they knew it meant the session would soon conclude. How did Biggs keep going for hour after hour? Steinmeyer offers one answer: at breakfast on the day of a recording session, he would ask the kitchen to fill a foot-high thermos half with coffee and half with hot water. “Sometimes that would be his only sustenance until the afternoon.”
Many a take did get spoiled by noise of course: traffic rumbling under the Silver Chapel in Innsbruck, a local train clattering next to the church in Mörlenbach, planes over Munich, radio interference at Ebersmünster and St. Florian’s, a pneumatic hammer at Lammbach, and even a town crier at Ochsenhausen. Everywhere they had to reckon with the hazard of barking dogs, bells at the quarter hour, and above all, of course, the visiting public. These were mostly Roman Catholic churches, to be kept accessible to the faithful at all times. Steinmeyer laughs aloud in recalling how often visitors would nod promisingly at his request for silence “because a recording is being made in there,” ease a massive door shut behind them without a sound, and then break into a great attack of coughing, “probably their first in months”; or perform an extravagant display of entering on tiptoe in big boots before clumping noisily across the floor to get a votive candle. Countless takes in the log bear the notation, “crash,” “great crash in die-away,” “three crashes.”
After two sessions at Kirchheimbolanden, on August 3 and 5, one on each side of their appointed day at the St. Bartholomeus-Kirche in nearby Mörlenbach on Thursday, August 4, to record a small organ presumed to have been played by Mozart before its removal to that neighboring town from Heidelberg Castle, they journeyed on to record, on Friday, August 5, a Fischer organ that had been played by Mozart in the castle chapel at Ludwigsburg, near Stuttgart. In their session at Mörlenbach, they had found themselves recording almost as many railroad sounds as notes by Mozart and repeatedly chasing away the children who swarmed over the Microbus. Apologetic nuns finally collected their kindergartners, seated them on a curb, and “played hush-hush games with them” until the recording session had ended. “Then the nuns even helped coil all the cables.”

Sparrows at Ebersmünster

The party of three (Hanne Steinmeyer would not join them until the second half of the trip) spent the first weekend in Strasbourg, essentially confirming their assumption that their next recording session should take place not in the Alsatian capital at all but at bucolic Ebersmünster, half an hour’s drive up the broad Rhine Valley to the south. The westernmost example of south German baroque architecture, the splendid abbey church at Ebersmünster houses one of the region’s three well-preserved organs by Andreas Silbermann (the others are at Marmoutier and Arlesheim). Of Ebersmünster, where Mozart might have played, Biggs, in his first (later to be shortened) essay to accompany the 1956 Bach album, writes the following:

After we had found the little village, hardly more than a crossroads, with the great abbey building visible for miles around, and had spent the necessary time investigating the instrument and working out the music, it became clear that we had some assistants in the building. The music had stirred up a family of church sparrows, living in their nest built high on the vaulted ceiling of the church! They joined in the recording. Fortunately they were interested or courteous enough to be quiet whenever we were playing, yet as soon as music finished they would begin their discussion of the performance. Even in the few seconds of die-away between the prelude and fugue [in C major, BWV 553, first of the “Eight Little”], they squeeze in a few chirped remarks. Naturally these comments are left on the record. Not for a moment could we think of editing them out.

That family of sparrows may be as enduring as the 1730 Silbermann. They were still cheeping at Biggs when he returned to record “historic organs of France” in the late 1960s and continued to greet visitors throughout the 1990s. If any of the countless small clear window panes is missing at this moment, the sparrows of Ebersmünster are surely chirping there today.
After the morning’s session at Ebersmünster on Monday, August 8, the travelers drove eastward, crossed the Rhine near Freiburg, and climbed through the Black Forest to the “Mozart town” of Donaueschingen, at the source of the Danube. There Steinmeyer had arranged some recording time for them late in the afternoon on an instrument by his family’s firm more suitable for Reger and Karg-Elert than for Mozart. Biggs gamely recorded a few pieces by both of the moderns.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, August 9 and 10, the trio looped southward into Switzerland to view a few contemporary instruments that Steinmeyer thought Biggs might appreciate, then straight north again, skirting Lake Constance at the Rhine Falls, to begin their visits to a few of the scores of baroque churches that rise fabulously from the meadows of Swabia and Bavaria, and much of Austria. The spectacularly “baroquized” monastery church of Ochsenhausen became the first of these stops, on Thursday morning, August 11. Biggs’s choice of music to record on the visually stunning instrument (the first to be built by Joseph Gabler, in 1738, and his chief credential for earning the commission for his magnum opus at Weingarten), as colorful to the eye as to the ear, was the fifth of “Bach’s eight little preludes and fugues,” BWV 557, in G major. “Steinmeyer’s” microphone (see photo: Hanging the mike at Ochsenhausen, in Part 1) captured the clatter of the worn pedal trackers as faithfully as any lover of organ antiquity could have wished.17 (To be continued)

British Organ Music Seminar

July 25–29, 2013

The ninth British Organ Music Seminar was held for four days in London, beginning on July 25. The seminar began with a train ride to Cambridge to visit the chapel of Emmanuel College, with its three-manual 1988 Kenneth Jones tracker instrument, which used the case and some of the pipework of the original Father Smith instrument of 1688. Colin Walsh, organist laureate of Lincoln Cathedral and a visiting organ teacher at the University of Cambridge, was our host. He conducted a workshop on liturgical improvisation with several reluctant volunteers followed by a session of various British organ works, performed by members of the group.

On July 26, we visited the French Church of Notre Dame de France, where we attended classes all day. The church, which serves a large French population in London, is located near Leicester Square and dates back to 1861. The organ was originally built by August Gern, who had worked with Cavaillé-Coll. It has undergone several rebuilds, most recently by B. C. Shepherd & Son in 1986. Duncan Middleton, the organiste titulaire at the church since 1989, had studied liturgical and concert improvisation in Bordeaux and Lourdes; he led us in the opening session on improvisation. In the next masterclass, participants played British organ works with John Hosking, assistant organist of St. Asaph Cathedral in Wales. In the afternoon session, Dame Gillian Weir conducted an exciting masterclass on French and German works, played by members of our group. Later in the day we attended Evensong at Westminster Abbey, which was sung by a visiting choir from Breda Cathedral in the Netherlands. Following the service, Peter Holder, organ scholar of the Abbey, talked to the group about the history of the organ and gave a demonstration of the stops. The organ was originally built in 1727 by Schrider & Jordan, with several rebuilds by William Hill in the 19th century and most recently by Harrison & Harrison. Afterwards, participants were given the chance to play the instrument. 

We then went across the street to Central Methodist Hall. The organ, with its imposing 32-foot façade, was built by Hill & Son in 1912 and was later rebuilt by Rushworth & Dreaper in 1970. A major rebuild by Harrison & Harrison in 2011 was based on the original Hill scheme. Gerard Brooks, the director of music, is associated with French repertoire and has recorded the complete works of Gigout. His class for the evening was on the organ works of Gigout (other than the well-known Dix Pièces), along with works of Saint-Saëns.

On July 27, we traveled to Peterborough Cathedral to play one of the finest William Hill organs in the country. Built in 1894, Hill, one of the two most celebrated organ builders of the nineteenth century, incorporated the existing pipework in his four-manual organ masterpiece of 86 stops. Its last restoration took place after a fire in 2001. Like other Hill instruments of this period, the organ is set considerably sharper than modern concert pitch. David Humphreys, assistant director of music of the cathedral, gave a brilliant demonstration, after which participants had ample playing time on the instrument. In the afternoon, we traveled to Cambridge for some free time, shopping in the local music store, and having afternoon tea. In the evening we attended Evensong at Ely Cathedral, followed by a demonstration of the organ by assistant organist Jonathan Lilley. The organ was first built in 1685 by Renatus Harris. Elliot and Hill installed a new organ with existing pipework in 1831, with William Hill doing restoration work in 1850. In 1908, Harrison & Harrison built a mostly new organ, using pipework from the previous instruments, with a restoration in 1974–1975 supervised by Arthur Wills, who was then the cathedral organist.

The final day of the seminar was Sunday, so participants attended services at various churches, including St. Paul’s Cathedral. In the afternoon we visited All Soul’s Langham Place, which is a familiar landmark at the end of Regent Street. In 1913, Alfred Hunter installed a new instrument in this church, replacing the original organ built by Bishop in 1824. This Hunter instrument was rebuilt and enlarged by Henry Willis III in 1951, with the most recent restoration by Harrison & Harrison in 1976. Gerard Brooks conducted a masterclass, played by the members of our group. Later in the afternoon, participants could attend recitals at St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, or Westminster Cathedral. The seminar ended with a visit to Westminster Cathedral, just down the street from the abbey. It contains the Apse Organ built by T. C. Lewis prior to World War I and the Grand Organ, which is one of the two heroic instruments built by Henry Willis III, the other being the Liverpool Anglican Cathedral. Peter Stevens, the assistant master of music, talked about the history of the instrument, gave a fine demonstration of the organ, and assisted participants as they played this magnificent instrument, which made a spectacular end to an eventful seminar.

—Cliff Varnon

French Organ Music Seminar

July 29–August 7, 2013

“If you listen, you will learn.” 

—Thomas LaCôte, La Trinité, Paris

Organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll listened to the sounds in his head before he started building the romantic organ. Louis Robilliard of Lyon told us that if there had been no Cavaillé-Coll, there would be no romantic organ music.

When Widor sat at the Cavaillé-Coll, he listened, and came up with ideas for his symphonies. Vierne and Guilmant listened and did the same. A stunning reminder to the organist: the dream organ came before the compositions. Here’s a dream: to travel back in time, attend a concert at the Palais du Trocadéro, and listen to the now-extinct Cavaillé-Coll as Widor conducts his Third Symphony with Vierne at the organ!

Thanks and appreciation are due to Christina Harmon, Dallas organist, teacher, and composer who led this group of American organists. Through her well-established FOMS program, we are privileged to experience the French tradition. Additional indispensable co-directors this year were Cliff Varnon and Masako Gaskin. All three worked hard to keep this group of organists, organ students, and organ lovers happy and informed. For more information and notice of future events, see www.bfoms.com. 

Participants varied from virtuosos with ever-expanding organ repertoire to lifelong students who treasure their favorite pieces and still look for interpretation ideas from close connections to the source. In addition to masterclasses, there were classes in improvisation and ample opportunities for private lessons. Our youngest organist was 15 and the oldest 83!

How fortunate for this group that there are still essentially unaltered romantic organs in existence that we are able to touch and play. The first on this trip was the Cavaillé-Coll in Lyon at St. Francois de Sales, the Widor family parish, where Charles-Marie was baptized and later first performed Symphony V.

July 29–30: Lyon and Chambéry

The perfect warm-up act to the frenzied pace of Paris was the time spent in Lyon and the Alps, organized by the organist of Chambéry Cathedral, Thibaut Duret, with the help of François Espinasse, professor of organ at the National Conservatory of Lyon. Françoise Webb, the charming French native who spent her youth in Reims, assisted with the preparations and organization. Our first day was spent with Louis Robilliard at the great Cavaillé-Coll organ of Saint-François-de-Sales. Built in 1880, it was restored in 1964 and is still in its original and unaltered state.

Time spent with François Espinasse and Thibaut Duret and two concerts on the marvelous 1847 Augustin Zeiger organ at Chambéry Cathedral allowed each of us a performance turn, followed by a third inspiring performance by our regional host Thibaut Duret. Duret is a brilliant young organist and improviser who studied with François Henry Houbart at Rueil Malmaison and with François Espinasse and Loïc Mallié at the Lyon Conservatoire, where he received a master’s degree in organ. With the Alps as backdrop, we spent Wednesday and Thursday playing the organs in St. Pierre d’Albigny, Manigod, Thônes, Grand Bornand, and Annecy. Each organ had a particular charm, and more information is available about each of them on the FOMS website (www.bfoms.com).

August 2: Dole and Dijon

On Thursday, after a 2½-hour bus ride, we arrived in Dijon. While there we played the much-restored Daublaine-Callinet organ at the Cathèdrale St. Bénigne in Dole and the particular highlight: the untouched, undusted, very much in tune 1754 Karl Riepp organ at the Collégiale Notre Dame de Dole. With a Louis XV oak case, this was the largest organ in provincial France, with 45 stops over four manuals and pedal and a 32′ Montre in the Grand-Orgue. In 1860 the 32′ Montre was moved to the pedal and in a 20th-century renovation it made its way back to the Grand-Orgue, the organ now being five manuals with 73 stops. One room on the way to the organ gallery housed a museum that traced its fascinating history.

August 3: Reims

By Saturday, August 3, we were in Reims, where we played the Cathédral Notre-Dame de Reims organ. Unfortunately, on our way that morning we received a call from Benjamin Steens, our excellent host in Reims, who told us a fire had broken out in the organ of St-Remi (Cattiaux, 2000), where we were to spend the afternoon. A visit to the famous champagne caves helped us to cope with our disappointment at not being able to play at the basilica.

August 4–7: Paris

In Paris we visited the always-amazing organ at St. Sulpice (suffering from the unusual heat of Paris in August), as well as the Cavaillé-Coll of Notre-Dame des Champs, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s own parish, built in 1877. This organ was extensively altered by Schwenkedel, although, fortunately, the Barker action was retained. Thanks to Cavaillé-Coll, who was on the building committee for the church, also built in 1877, the acoustics for the organ are some of the best in Paris. 

At Notre-Dame des Champs, we had stimulating masterclasses with Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Beatrice Piertot, and Yannick Merlin. In the masterclass with Dupré expert Cauchefer-Choplin, three participants enabled us to delve into segments of the Symphonie-Passion, the composer’s Wanamaker improvisation that he later wrote down after returning to France. Cauchefer-Choplin said Dupré loved the sound of the gambe alone because it was mysterious.

Stimulating duo-organ performances and masterclasses by upcoming organists Beatrice Piertot and Yannick Merlin also took place at this church during the week in Paris. These two brilliant young organists also helped in this year’s planning and gave classes at the beautiful, unaltered Merklin organ at the church of St. Laurent.

Daniel Roth entertained and enlightened us at St-Sulpice with historical anecdotes about the organ and stories of Franck, Widor, and Dupré that organists never tire of hearing. Cavaillé-Coll kept more than 40% of the 1781 Clicquot organ pipework, never intending to make an exclusive change to a romantic organ. In fact, Widor’s colleague Albert Schweitzer said the organ was great for baroque music. Roth clarified that the transition from Baroque to Romantic was abrupt in Germany, whereas in France, it was gradual. To see more of Roth’s mesmerizing history of French organ music and organs, you can find numerous DVDs of Roth’s St-Sulpice lectures and performances on YouTube, all produced by Christina Harmon. Better still, break down and buy the DVDs from the Organ Historical Society! 

It still takes my breath away to sit in the loft with Olivier Latry at Notre Dame during Mass. His playing for four Sunday services allowed all 29 organists and students a chance to be at the organ, complete with a console containing the latest organ technology and design.

Classes and playing time were offered by Thomas LaCôte at La Trinité (the organ of Messiaen), at Sainte-Clotilde with Nicolas Pichon, La Madeleine, with Andy Dewar at the American Cathedral, and at Notre Dame d’Auteil with Frédéric Blanc (living conduit to the music of Duruflé). LaCôte told us Messiaen liked the sound of ice and crystal, 16′ & 2′ (Messe de la Pentecôte). 

Blanc told us that Duruflé was not a man for big chords, but rather the musical line. He favored flutes and celestes. He also told us that the famous story of Duruflé not liking his Toccata was not necessarily true, but that at the time he was very tired and had composed this piece during a very stressful period in his life.

Our last day was spent with Jean-Baptiste Robin in Versailles and included a concert by him on the Clicquot organ (modified by Cavaillé-Coll) at the Versailles Cathedral, a masterclass at the church of Notre Dame des Armées of Versailles, and playing at the Royal Chapel organ of Versailles Palace. The palace organ was originally built by Robert Clicquot in 1710. After severe damage during the French Revolution it was rebuilt as a two-manual organ by Cavaillé-Coll in 1873. In 1936 it was sold to the seminary in Châteaugiron and later to St. Martin Church in Rennes, where a reconstruction was attempted by Victor Gonzalez. In 1995 a completely new instrument was made by the firms of Boisseau and Cattiaux, which not only reconstructed Robert Clicquot’s creation but also reconstructed the additions of Louis-Alexander and Francois-Henry Clicquot as well. This result was amazingly successful and stands today in the Royal Versailles Chapel as a proud tribute to Clicquot’s genius. 

As a protégé of Marie-Claire Alain, Jean-Baptiste Robin gave an intense class on Jehan Alain. Robin told us that after the trauma of World War I, artists turned to the past, and Alain was the first to go to early music, layering it with orientalism and with jazz that had been brought by Americans during the war. Alain was fascinated by the cornet, a sonority he explored extensively. Tutti, or massive sound, is seldom found in Alain’s music. Our day ended with palace organist Robin demonstrating French Classical music on the beautiful chapel organ of the palace. Participants were actually able to play the chapel organ! Robin is one of four titular organists. The others are Michel Bouvard, François Espinasse, and Frédéric Desenclos, with Michel Chapuis serving as honorary titulaire.

To be in France and therefore in the center of the vital and enduring influence of the world’s greatest organ tradition is as fascinating and transforming as ever. The spirits of Widor, Vierne, Messiaen, et al. continue to permeate the sensibilities and ethos of this beautiful part of the world through the brilliant French artists of the present. There is no more amazing experience, or better pilgrimage, for an organist. Teach us to listen, and learn…

—Helen VanAbbema Rodgers