Choosing a builder
Situated next to the famous Isle de la Cité, the Isle Saint-Louis in Paris, France, is known for its quaint shops and delicious Berthillon ice cream. Upon entering its church, one is struck by the well-lit interior, a drastic contrast to the inner darkness of the nearby Notre-Dame Cathedral. Bernard Aubertin’s organ case shines brilliantly in the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church. (See Photo 1.)
The original 1745 Lesclop organ had been melted down during the Revolution in 1789. In 1798, the church was sold as a national property. In 1817, the city of Paris purchased the church and cleaned it. In 1888, the parish priest, abbot Louis Bossuet, acquired a new organ case, which was placed at the end of the nave. Its first level later lodged a small 15-stop Merklin organ. In 1923, Charles Mutin installed a 34-stop organ in this vast organ case. According to the organist Marie-Thérèse Michaux, it was in such poor condition when she arrived in 1975 that she was obliged to play on the Gutschenritter choir organ.
In 1976, the city of Paris began to plan the purchase of a new organ for the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church, one especially suited to the 17th- and 18th-century Germanic repertory, notably the music of Johann Sebastian Bach.1 In 1977, Georges Guillard2 was named as a second organist of the church. He launched a project for the new organ that proposed the German builder Jürgen Ahrend, well known authority on Baroque-style organs. An association was founded with Monsieur Henry Ecoutin as president. According to Jean-Louis Coignet, the technical advisor for historical organs of the city of Paris since 1979, at that time the rules for constructing an organ in Paris were not very strict, and the city had intended for Jürgen Ahrend to build this organ. Unfortunately, various disagreements between the builder and the administration, notably with the head architect who did not approve Ahrend’s proposed organ case, led to postponing the project on numerous occasions.
In the meantime, the legislation concerning public markets and transactions had become much more rigorous. In July 1997, it was therefore necessary to launch a competition to determine the builder of this new organ. Jean-Louis Coignet established a program of work for the invitation to tender, detailing the 41 stops to be included in this three-manual organ:3
RÜCKPOSITIV (56 n.)
8' Principal
8' Gedackt
8' Quintatön
4' Octave
4' Rohrflöte
2' Waldflöte
11?3' Sifflöte
II Sesquialtera
IV Scharf
8' Krümhorn
HAUPTWERK (56 n.)
16' Principal
16' Quintadena
8' Oktave
8' Salicional
8' Rohrflöte
4' Oktave
4' Spitzflöte
22?3' Nasat
2' Oktave
IV–VI Mixture
16' Dulzian
8' Trompete
OBERWERK (56 n.)
8' Gedackt
4' Principal
4' Rohrflöte
2' Oktave
13?5' Terz
11?3' Quint
III Zimbel
8' Vox Humana
PEDALWERK (30 n.)
16' Principal
16' Subbass
8' Oktave
4' Oktave
2' Nachthorn
IV Mixture
32' Dulzian
16' Posaune
8' Trompete
4' Trompete
2' Cornet
Accouplements: OW/HW, RP/HW, OW/PW, RP/PW
Tremblants: RP et OW
Around a dozen European organ builders submitted proposals. Unfortunately, Jürgen Ahrend committed an error during the tendering and, consequently, was disqualified. On January 28, 1999, the city chose the French builder Bernard Aubertin.
Bernard Aubertin, Organ Builder, Maître d’Art
Bernard Aubertin (see Photo 2) was born into a family of woodworkers going back to the Napoleon Bonaparte era, originally from Moselle. After studying in Strasbourg, he designed organ cases for various firms, notably for the Felsberg Orgelbau in Switzerland. In 1978, at the age of 25, he founded his own company to build mechanical-action organs with top quality materials in a traditional manner.4 He installed his shop in two large wings of a historic Romanesque priory dating from the mid-twelfth century in Courtefontaine, the region of eastern France known as the Franche-Comté, in the department of the Jura (between Dijon, Dole and Besançon). A fervent collector of 0.60 m gauge railway equipment, several narrow tracks on his property enable him to easily transfer heavy equipment and materials. He now employs up to 14 workers, including his wife Sonja, who is his secretary and accountant. In 1995, the French Cultural Minister named Bernard Aubertin Maître d’Art. On November 10, 2005 the city of Paris gave him the Médaille de Vermeil.
Aubertin organs are installed in the following locations in France, Portugal, Scotland and Japan: the Besançon Conservatory (1979 and 1981), the churches in Sarralbe (1987), Viry-Châtillon (1989), Saint-Vincent in Lyon (1994, with Richard Freytag), Saessolsheim (1995), Vertus (1996), Sainte-Catherine Church in Bitche (1997), Saint-Loup-sur-Thouet (1998), Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire (1999), Saint-Marceau in Orléans, the Nice Conservatory (2001), Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle in Paris (2005), a 24-stop house organ in Faro, Portugal (2003), the University in Aberdeen, Scotland (2004), and for concert halls in Japan: in Shirane-Cho (Yamanashi, 1993), Kobe (destroyed in the 1995 earthquake), Ichigaia, Karuizawa and Zushi.5 Bernard Aubertin has also restored historic organs with a strict adherence to their original nature in Pontarlier (1982), West-Cappel (1984), Arbois (1985), Orgelet (1987), Seurre (1991), Saint-Antoine-l’Abbaye (1992) and Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville (1984). In addition, he builds cabinet organs.6
Instead of constructing direct copies of 17th- and 18th-century historic organs from northern and central Europe as well as France, Aubertin uses them as inspiring models. The craft logo of the Aubertin organ firm sums up his production: it depicts an oak tree being blown by three forge bellows at its roots, with songbirds perched in its branches. (See Photo 3.)
His organs are made of natural materials: solid French oak for the organ cases, the windchests, the wind trunks, the sliders, the trackers, stickers, backfalls and for parts of the stop action; some of the bass pipes are made with chestnut, fruit tree or spruce wood. The sliders are made as wind-tight as possible with covers of soft leather; the stop action may be set between pads of felt, and the lower parts of the windchests are sealed with large cowhides. The metal pipework is made mainly of alloys with a low tin content (35% or less). Some narrow-scale stops, such as the Gambe, the reed stops, and the façade pipes may contain up to 75 to 96% tin. All of the metal pipes are varnished to protect them against handling and long-term oxidation.
Among the unusual stops found in Aubertin’s organs, the Quintinal is a Quintadena in the bass and more string-like in the treble. At his organ in Vichy, the 32' reed stop in the Pedal is labelled “Napoleon.” His use of imitative harmonic flute pipes, overblown without piercing, such as the 2' Traversine at the Saint-Marceau Church in Orléans, is a copy of a 17th-century stop in the Jacobikirche in Hamburg. For his three-manual, 27-stop organ at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, he incorporated two little pipes that imitate the bagpipe drone. (See Photo 4.)
Several of Aubertin’s organs (Vertus, Orléans and Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle) are tuned in the mild 1800 Young temperament with six pure and six tempered fifths, suitable to a large part of the organ repertory. His organ at the Saint-Denys Church in Viry-Chatillon is tuned in the Kirnberger III temperament. The pitch is often set at A=440 Hz. The balanced, suspended key action is light and responsive. His standard wind pressure for the manual divisions is 95 mm (33?4 inches), and for the pedal generally 105–115 mm (43?8 inches). The 56-note keyboards are covered with boxwood, ebony or bone. The 30-note pedalboards are straight. The Positif keyboard is coupled to the primary manual à tiroir (in a drawer fashion).
Aubertin has a special talent for designing each of his organ cases to blend harmoniously with the building. He often incorporates particular decorative emblems (often various astronomical elements: stars, planets and flames of fire) into his sculptured elements. At the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church, the Trinitarian symbol in the glory that is located in the apse is reproduced in the center panel of the organ case. Likewise, the mystical lamb that overhangs the Positif de Dos corresponds to the lamb on the altar. Another one of Aubertin’s characteristic hallmarks: the pipe mouths of his tower pipes are often decorated with dancing golden flames. In addition, he labels the names of the stopknobs in his own handwriting, in a dark blue (a Prussian blue) and red ink on paper or parchment.
The construction and installation of the new Aubertin organ at the Saint-Louis-en-L’Isle Church In accordance with Jean-Louis Coignet’s initial invitation to tender, Bernard Aubertin had the possibility of making a limited number of modifications in the stoplist, providing that the number of stops did not exceed 45. It was also possible to propose limited changes in the tonal plans, for example, an Unterwerk instead of an Oberwerk. On March 12, 1999, Aubertin submitted an estimate of a 41- or a 45-stop organ. The latter was accepted on August 20, the feast day of St. Bernard. The first order of service for this 45-stop organ was signed by Jean-Louis Coignet, the technical advisor for historical organs, on August 25 (the feast day of St. Louis and Aubertin’s birthday). The work officially began on the organ on September 27, with a delivery deadline of 30 months. Aubertin collaborated well with Jean-Louis Coignet and François Lagneau, the architect of the historical monuments. However, since the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church is classified as a historical monument, the various architectural agreements and work concerning the restoration of the tribune, the staircases, the arches and the two stained-glass windows near the organ took a great deal of time, three years longer than anticipated. From March 2000 to September 2001, the work was interrupted because the Mutin organ had not been dismantled, rendering it impossible to measure the organ tribune, necessary to determine the exact layout of the new organ. The city decided to restore and reincorporate two statues of angels from the former organ case into the new one. Discussions began with Aubertin to add six more stops to the new organ. According to Aubertin, in spite of an obtained tacit agreement, the future May 2001 elections paralyzed any official document concerning these additional stops. From January to August 2002, the work was interrupted again to carry out the photogrammetrical measurements of the church. In August 2002, Aubertin visited several early historical German organs with the American organ builder Gene Bedient, notably the 1750–1755 Gottfried Silbermann at the Hofkirche in Dresden and the 1746 Zacharias Hildebrandt organ at the St. Wenceslas Church in Naumburg. These visits enabled him to choose the six new stops he wished to install in the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle organ. From September 2003 to October 2004, other numerous delays occurred to allow the restoration of the tribune.
In the meantime, Aubertin constructed this organ with the six new additional stops: Allemande 4' in the Rückpositif, Cornet VI in the Hauptwerk, Sifflet 1' and Unda Maris 8' in the Unterwerk, and Bourdon 16', Bourdon 8' and a Tierce rank to the Mixture IV–V in the Pedal. He considers that these additions provide supplementary musical possibilities and augment the flexibility of the instrument for interpretation and improvisation. He explains them in the following manner:
The Rückpositif Flûte allemande is made of stopped pipes of triple length. Its sonority recalls the attacks and the strange sounds of the glass harmonica, whose moving glass containers are made to vibrate with the musician’s moistened fingers. This stop combines very well with the others, adding its characteristic attack.
The Hauptwerk Cornet, known as a maritime cornet because it is used along the coast from the English Channel to the Baltics, includes two 8' ranks in this six-rank stop: one 8' is open and the other one is stopped with very long chimneys. This solo stop fills out the upper range of the keyboard. Its average-size pipes provide a certain elegance. It can easily be combined with the two Hauptwerk reeds to form a sort of Grand Jeu.
In the Oberwerk, the Sifflet 1', found in numerous organs played by J. S. Bach, is the highest pitched stop in the organ and reaches the limit of audible sounds. Its use with other stops allows sonorities close to that of certain percussion instruments, metallophones (Stahlspiel) or small bells. The Unda Maris 8', an undulating Principal stop known since the sixteenth century, in Dresden and Naumburg, is used in fantasies and certain meditative pieces throughout the centuries. Its combination with the foundation stops is appropriate for romantic and contemporary music.
In the Pedal, the Bourdon 1' is a soft, deep stop that can fill out the others without adding heaviness to the entire sound. The large and soft Bourdon 8' with the Bourdon 16' allows a clear and light bass, it gives clarity without dominating the Violon 16' or the Principal 16' and gives the impression of a 32' when used with the Bourdon 16' and the Quinte 102/3'. The addition of the Tierce rank to the Pedal Mixture adds spice and definition to the sound of these pipes, located at the extremities of the organ case. This mixture can also serve as a cantus firmus when used with the Prestant 4'.
In addition, Aubertin added an Appel Anches Pedal at the console that allows the organist to prepare powerful pedal stops and then to add them by simply activating this pedal. This is extremely useful with sudden dynamic changes, often encountered in North German Baroque music. In addition, the Voix humaine stop on the Unterwerk is enclosed in a box whose cover can be opened by activating another pedal.
On November 11, 2004, the completed organ was inaugurated in the Aubertin workshop by Francis Jacob, organ professor at the Strasbourg Conservatory and an organ consultant for the Aubertin firm. In December, Michel Chapuis played it for a delegation from the city of Paris. Finally, in February 2005, the organ was transported to Paris. On March 2, the sub-director of the patrimony of the city of Paris authorized Aubertin to install the six previously approved stops, at his own personal risk. The city had spent all of their remaining funds for this construction on the considerable amount of work that had been carried out by the architects. The organ installation was completed on March 11. After the tuning and voicing of the instrument, the city acknowledged its reception of the 45 agreed-upon stops on March 18. After some final minor adjustments, the official reception of this organ took place on May 9.
Here is the stoplist of this 51-stop organ, with the six added stops in italics:
I. POSITIF DE DOS (RÜCKPOSITIF) (56 n.)
8' Montre
8' Bourdon
4' Quintaton
4' Prestant
4' Flûte à cheminée
4' Allemande (an overblown Bourdon)
2' Flageolet
11?3' Flûte
II Sexquialtera
IV Mixture
8' Dulciane
II. GRAND-ORGUE (HAUPTWERK) (56 n.)
16' Principal (façade pipes)
8' Octave
8' Gambe
8' Flûte
4' Prestant
4' Flûte cônique
22?3' Quinte
2' Octave
IV–VI Mixture
VI Cornet (Open 8', Chimney Flute 8', 4', 22/3', 2', 13/5')
16' Basson
8' Trompette
III. INTERIOR POSITIF (UNTERWERK) (56 n.)
8' Bourdon
8' Principal (beginning at F)
8' Traversière (overblown)
8' Unda Maris
4' Octave
4' Flûte
22/3' Nazard 2' Traversine
2' Octave
1' Sifflet
13/5' Terz
11/3' Quinte
III Mixture
8' Voix humaine
16' Fagott
PEDALE (30 n.)
16' Bourdon
16' Principal
16' Violon
102/3' Quinte
8' Bourdon
8' Octave
4' Prestant
2' Flûte 2
IV–VI Mixture (the Tierce rank was added)
32' Dulciane
16' Buzène
8' Trompette
4' Cornet
Keyboard couplers : I/II (à tiroir), III/II, II/III
Pedal coupler: Great to Pedal
Tremulant I et III et Tremulant II
Appel Anches Pedal
Expression for the Voix humaine
Inauguration
In May, two new organists were chosen to share this post with the organist Marie-Thérèse Michaux: Vincent Rigot7 and the 20-year-old Benjamin Alard.8 On June 19, the organ was blessed by an auxiliary bishop in Paris, Monseigneur Pierre d’Ornellas, and the parish priest, Father Gérard Pelletier. During this ceremony, the three church organists improvised and performed, and George Guillard premiered a commissioned piece by Jacques Castérède entitled L’Hommage à Saint Louis for organ and brass trio. On June 22, this organ was inaugurated by Benjamin Alard, Vincent Rigot, and Michel Chapuis. Alard performed Buxtehude’s Ciacona in C-minor, Rigot interpreted Alain’s Litanies, and Chapuis’ improvisations demonstrated the various tonal colors of the organ. He then played works by Buxtehude, Böhm, Bruhns, and Bach. A recording of J. S. Bach’s Clavierubüng III by Francis Jacob, a member of Bernard Aubertin’s team, was released for the inauguration of the organ.9
On September 18, 2005, a day consecrated to historical monuments in France, Aubertin gave a presentation with Régis Allard, and then Vincent Rigot improvised and gave a concert for a packed church. The organ association of the church,10 presided by Monsieur Robert Ranquet, organized five concerts for the first Europa Bach Festival in Paris and its region from September to December 2005. They were given by given by Pascal Rouet, Carolyn Shuster Fournier, Eric Ampeau, Frédéric Desenclos and Francis Jacob.
The search for a patron
Now that the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle organ is installed and inaugurated, will this organ continue to sound as the builder conceived it, remaining intact for present and future generations? If the funding does not arrive after one year, Bernard Aubertin has said that he might be obliged to remove the added stops from the organ, even though he considers them to be indispensable to the entire balance of this instrument. He hopes that a patron will eventually cover their expense, amounting to 170,000 euros. It took 23 years to choose a builder for the organ at the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church and six years to construct and install this instrument. During those 29 years, from 1976–2005, the city of Paris financed the construction of other new organs at Sainte-Jeanne-de-Chantal Church (Alfred Kern, 1977), Saint-Jean-Baptiste-de-Grenelle Church (Théo Haepfer, 1988), the reconstruction of the monumental gallery organ at Saint-Eustache Church (Van den Heuvel, 1989), Notre-Dame-du-Travail Church (Théo Haepfer, 1990), Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot Church (Daniel Birouste, 1994), Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes Church (Pascal Quoirin, 1995), the Conservatoire Supérieur de Paris-C.N.R. (Gerhard Grenzing, 1996) and at Notre-Dame-du-Perpétuel-Secours Church (Bernard Dargassies, 2004). In addition, the city of Paris financed numerous restorations and renovations.
This article renders homage to the various members of Aubertin’s team who worked on this organ at Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle: cabinetmakers Loïc Gaudefroy (Best Worker in France), Thomas Gaudefroy, and Thomas Guinchard; organ builders Michel Gaillard, Olivier Mondy, Jean-Marc Perrodin, Daniel Rey, and Anke Saeger-Blaison; pipemaker Jérome Stalter (Best Worker in France); organist Francis Jacob; apprentice Alexandre Aubertin; and administrator Sonja Aubertin; as well as craftsmen: Serge Bisson who did the wood carvings; Benoït Camozzi, the assistant sculptor; and Marie-Odile Valot-Degueurce, who applied the gilding to the decorations.
The author thanks Bernard Aubertin, Jean-Louis Coignet, and Robert Ranquet for providing her with information for this article.
The Aubertin organ of Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle, Paris
by Bernard Aubertin, Organbuilder, Maître d’Art, English translation by Carolyn Shuster Fournier
Introduction
The new 51-stop organ that I have built for the Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church in Paris is in the style of a 17th- to 18th-century German instrument. I designed it according to the most renowned works of J. S. Bach’s favorite organbuilder Zacharias Hildebrandt (1688–1757), a student of Gottfried Silbermann. The balance between the various families of stops, with its 16', 8', 4' stops and a 32' reed stop in the Pedal, is entirely in keeping with the cantor’s wishes: Majestät und Gravität.
This organ incorporates some of Hildebrandt’s innovative stops: the Violon 16' (in the Pedal) and the Gemshorn 4' (the Hauptwerk Flûte cônique) as well as some Nordic contributions: in the Rückpositiv, the Sexquialtera II is narrow-scaled, the Mixture IV is a high-pitched Scharf, the Flageolet 2' is a Waldflöte, the Dulciane 8' is an Oboe (Hoboe); in the Unterwerk, the Fagott 16' is a Dulcian, and in the Pedal, the Cornet 4' recalls the Cornet 2', as well as the Dulciane 32' reed stop in the Pedal, which Gottfried Silbermann never built. In addition, this new organ contains some colorful stops described in Praetorius’s Syntagma Musicum (1619), notably a Querpfeif (the Unterwerk Flûte Traversine 2') and the Schweitzerpfeif (the Hauptwerk Gambe 8').
The entire organ uses mechanical action and is constructed with noble materials, solid oak and chestnut woods. Knowledge of the practices of our predecessors is absolutely indispensable, especially since they were based on a sensibility that is completely different from our own.
Technical Description
The organ cases
While the organ case conforms more to the curved surface of the 1745 organ gallery than to that of a German organ, its internal structure was conceived in a spirit that respects the Werkprinzip: the Rückpositiv projects over the gallery rail, the Unterwerk is placed above the keyboards, surmounted by the Hauptwerk, with the large 16' pedal towers on the sides.
The windchests
The various windchests are laid out in the following manner:
The Rückpositiv is at the level of the organ gallery.
On the first floor of the gallery, the Pedal foundation stops are placed in the front part of a large double windchest with the reeds behind. The Dulciane 32' is placed against the wall with the Violon 16' on a similar chest underneath. In the center, two diatonic V-shaped windchests are used for the Unterwerk stops.
On the second floor, the Hauptwerk bass pipes are placed on three windchests in the center, followed by two diatonic windchests with the upper pipes located towards the center.
The mechanical key and stop actions
The mechanical key and stop actions are as simple and efficient as possible. The 56-note keyboards are covered with bone for the natural keys and ebony for the sharps. The 30-note flat pedalboard is made of oak.
The wind
Due to the shallowness of the organ gallery (and consequently the organ cases) and to the total lack of adjoining space, the wedge-shaped bellows were placed near each of the windchests. The blowers are suspended in two double isolated boxes placed on the floor of the organ gallery, underneath the large pedal towers. A ventil pedal, which cuts off the air in the pallet box, enables the organist to bring on or put off the prepared stops. The wind pressure is 95 mm for the keyboards and 115 mm for the pedal. This strong wind permits narrow note channels, trunks and conveyances leading to pipes that are tubed off. The windchest pipe valves are relatively thin, allowing a sensitive touch.
The pipework—the voicing
All of the pipework has been made by artisans. The following stops are made of 75% and 96% fine tin:
• on the Hauptwerk: Principal 16', Octave 8', Gambe 8', Basson 16' and Trompette 8';
• on the Unterwerk: Unda Maris 8', Voix humaine 8', Principal 8' and Octave 4';
• on the Rückpositiv: Montre 8' and Prestant 4'.
The rest is made of a tin-lead alloy with a high lead content or of hammered lead, the languids of the flue pipes with 3% lead. All of the capped pipes are soldered on. The wooden pipes are made either of oak or of chestnut. The bodies of the Buzène 16' and Violon 16' pipes are made of spruce from the Vosges. The principal stops have a clear sound in spite of their rather high mouths. All of the wooden pipes have metal lips, that is, the inner edge of the lower lip is planed down and garnished with a metal bar, thus providing:
• an immediate attack;
• a high development of harmonics, notably in the lower pipes, where the human ear can scarcely distinguish the precise pitch of the notes;
• finally, a considerable economy of wind, which is very important in the lower registers of the manual keyboards, limiting the key depressions and maintaining a light touch.
The metal pipework is voiced as naturally as possible with a minimum of nicking on the languids. The feet are slightly closed in the bass pipes.
The design consisted, more of less, of a quadruple plenum:
• the Hauptwerk plenum is deep, full and effective and can be reinforced by the Basson 16' reed stop;
• the Rückpositiv plenum has a much clearer attack, is very present and can be colored by the Sexquialtera II;
• the Unterwerk plenum is more restrained, but can be brightened by the Quinte 11/3', the Sifflet 1', the Terz 13/5' or deepened by the Fagott 16';
• finally, the Pedal plenum is deep, dark, and full, and can be spiced with the Mixture Tierce.
Each principal stop possesses its own characteristic sound, in accordance with the previously described divisions. When the 16', 8' and 4' principal stops are played together with the 16' and 8' Bourdons and the Quinte 102/3', they produce a deep, full and poetic sound.
In addition to these standard stops, there are colorful flute stops, harmonic, with or without holes, and a very narrow-scaled Gambe in the Hauptwerk with its characteristic attack. The Rückpositiv contains a third 4' stop named (Flûte) Allemande. This is, in fact, a harmonic Bourdon whose body length is triple that of an ordinary Bourdon. This stop recalls the Glasharmonika with its strange attacks and its succession of rich harmonies. The same applies to the Traversine 2' with its double length without a hole whose crystalline sonority is doubled by a supplementary pseudo-lower octave sound.' Some of these stops are unknown in France and yet they were used as early as 1560 in northern Europe. As for the Unda Maris on the third keyboard, it also appeared as early as the mid-16th century from Italy to Scandinavia under different names: Voce Umana, Biffera, Piffaro, Unda Maris, Schwebung. This stop allows sounds that are clearly less Baroque. Finally, a colorful Violon 16', with its precise attack, provides definition to the Pedal division.
The tuning of the organ is A=440 Hz at 20°C. The organ is well-tempered with six pure fifths and six tempered fifths according the system of Thomas Young (1800), based on the same principle as the Tartini-Vallotti system (Venice, 1740).
The reed stops
On the Hauptwerk, the conical Basson 16' (C–G half-length) is narrowly scaled, ranging from a deep to a brilliant sonority. In addition, a rather bright Trompette stop can be combined with the double Cornet 8' to form a sort of Grand Jeu. These reeds can be easily combined with the plenum.
On the Unterwerk, a Fagott 16' with a cylindrical body and leathered shallots can serve as a foundation to the plenum but can also be used for smaller combinations. A colorful Voix humaine 8' is installed in an individual expression box that tones down the upper harmonies of this Renaissance Régale. Combined with the 16', 8' and 4' foundations, this stop has the distinctive feature of swelling these foundation stops when one opens the box and thus offers possibilities that are not Baroque at all.
The Rückpositiv contains a well-rounded and colorful Dulciane 8' that can be combined with any stop. The Pedal is quite full, due to four of its stops. A Dulciane 32' (from the family of stops with cylindrical-shaped bodies) provides the indispensable Gravität so cherished by the Cantor from Leipzig in large ensembles. A Buzène 16' (neologism of the Latin Buccin) provides a foundation for the entire building. If one could only place one reed stop in the entire organ, this would be the one. The conical shallots are made of casted tin and leathered. The feet and the blocks are made of oak, the bodies of spruce. All of these various elements combine to produce a well-rounded and full sound whose fundamental clearly stands out from the harmonics (contrary to the French Bombarde). Therefore, the upper harmonies have been weakened. The Trompette 8' with its conical-shaped reeds sounds well-rounded and deep in the bass and progressively becomes brighter in the upper registers. This is reinforced by the Cornet 4' made of tin, which is a very narrow-scaled Clairon in the bass registers and wide in the upper registers (in fact, the size of these thirty notes does not really differ). Each stop played alone sounds gentle and calm but when combined, the 16', 8' and 4' stops produce a majestic sound.
This instrument is by no means a copy of an ancient organ. It is not the latest in fashion. It should be considered as a creation in a given spirit, a creation that would likely bring to life a tradition without nostalgically claiming to bring to life a particular period or any other alleged bygone golden age.
