Organs in the French Alps

Timothy Huth

Timothy Huth holds a master’s degree and doctor of musical arts in organ performance from the University of Michigan. He is currently organist at First Presbyterian Church in Dearborn, Michigan, and a nationally certified massage therapist and cranial sacral therapist.

Led by Marilyn Mason and Gale Kramer, the University of Michigan Historic Tour LVI began on the Mediterranean in sunny Barcelona, then traversed southern France to Bordeaux on the Atlantic coast via Toulouse and Carcassonne. From there we followed Conques, Poîtiers, Angers, Orléans, Chartres, the Chapelle Royale at Versailles, and finally Paris itself. Historic churches and cathedrals with organs in the Catalan, French classic, and French symphonic traditions graced our way, and frequently our host organists would improvise, lecture, and assist tour members at the console. Several visits to museums and historical sites as well as sampling the local cuisines along the way complemented much music making.

Barcelona
Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia, is a vibrant cosmopolitan port city with ancient roots, with fine museums and architecture spanning centuries. Catalan organ building flowered here in the 16th century, taking a different path from that in Castile and central Spain, where organ building reached its peak in the 17th century. Linked by trade and geography to continental Europe, Catalonian builders were influenced by the Flemish, North Germans, and French. The organs usually have several reeds, although in Catalonia reeds never became as numerous or prominent as in the rest of Spain. Trompetas and Baixons (Clarins) are powerful and bright, and the organs are rich in mutations, cornets, and mixtures (Pie, Simbalet). Often there are colorful solo reeds on secondary divisions. Catalan cases are flat, narrow, and usually tucked into a small space. Even on smaller instruments there is usually a horizontal Trompeta or two, which affords economy of wind and space. Frequently there is a smaller Cadireta or Chair Organ suspended behind the organist (sometimes behind and under the organ bench), with a small chorus, mutations, and reed (Regalia, Cromorne, sometimes Trompetas).
As in baroque France, the music determined the registration—for example: Nazardo combinations using Nazardos and Quincenas; Lleno; Flautado; Campana (bell: unisons and Cymbalet). Rossignol, tympani, and bird stops are common. Often Iberian organ registrations were incorporated into builders’ contracts. Stops were divided for maximum flexibility of solo/accompaniment registration. The Principal (Cara 8′) would usually be of wood. Unique to Catalonian and Majorcan organ building, manuals divide between b2–c3 (in Castilian organs, c3–c#3).

Santa Maria del Mar
On the first day, we walked through Barcelona’s medieval city to Santa Maria del Mar (St. Mary of the Sea), where we met Neal Cowley, parish organist and a historian of Spanish organs. This vast basilica, built by Catalonian merchants and traders in the 13th century, has a history of important organs, beginning with Bernat Pons in 1393, and later instruments of 1464 and 1691. Lost in the Spanish Civil War were the 1797 ‘large organ’ by Jean-Pierre and Dominique Cavaillé (Aristide’s father and grandfather built several large organs in Barcelona) and the ‘small organ’ (1495, 1672, for accompanying chant). The current organ, the ‘small organ’, is a 17th-century instrument by an unknown builder from the convent in Vic. There are two manuals, a large 14-stop Orgue Major (II), and a 6-stop Cadireta (I). Using casework and pipes found in an antique shop and rescuing bellows and keyboards from an old farmhouse near Vic, Gerhard Grenzing rebuilt this instrument following the tradition of the period and by studying the few remaining period instruments. Particularly notable is the powerful warmth of the Cara, the blossom of the flutes, and impressive ensemble, able to fill the large Gothic space. The parish plans for a new ‘large organ’ to replace the lost Cavaillé.

Recitals—Barcelona Cathedral
At the Barcelona Cathedral (completed in 1298), eleven of our tour prepared for a late afternoon concert of Spanish music on the 1538 Pere Flamech organ (IV/58), with its casework by Antoni Carbonel towering over the San Ivo door near the apse. One of four major organs by Flamech, it has been significantly modified over the years. The ‘Batalla’ organ (IV) of Trompeta Magna 16′, Trompeta Real and Clarins Clars 8′, Baixons and Clarins Alts 4′, and Violetes 2′ (all horizontal reeds) resonated through this vast space scented with candles and incense and alive with thousands of pilgrims and visitors.
Academia a l’Orgue Barroc
Later that week, tour members performed at the ‘Academia a l’Orgue Barroc’ at La Poble de Cérvoles, where our hosts were Maria Nacy, the Academia founder, with three of her enthusiastic young students. The Academia’s organ hangs on the mid-front right wall of the parish church. It is a stunning restoration by Wilfried Praet of a 2-manual/8′ Pedal 1752 Anton Cases organ, with a 3-stop Cadireta Interior added by Joseph Cases/Soler in 1784. Another very fine Praet reconstruction was at St. Jaume, Ulldemolins. This 2-manual instrument with full choruses, bright reeds, and lovely Cara featured painted case doors of the Annunciation by an anonymous female artist. An El Greco painting behind the altar and Catalan icons completed the space. The organ, brought to the church via an enthusiastic priest and funded by parish and town, is a source of regional pride. Back in Barcelona, Gerhard Grenzing welcomed us to his workshop, where we saw several works in progress. Grenzing’s repertoire of over 170 organs includes significant European restorations and new instruments (e.g., Brussels Cathedral IV/60).

Cathedral de Santa Maria, Castello d’ Empúries
On our last day in Catalonia we saw the great Gothic Cathedral de Santa Maria, Castello d’Empúries, originally with an 11th-century instrument by Pere Granyera. The 51-stop, 4-manual gallery instrument (Scherer circa 1600/Grenzing 2004) combines Spanish and classical French characteristics with an expanded 16′ Pedal and stops of Spanish and continental nomenclature (e.g., Alemanya IV on the Orgue Major, Oboe, but also Trompeta Batalla and Magna). This is one of the great organs of this region of Spain and France.
Following a visit to Salvador Dalî’s seaside home and his fantastical museum at Figueras, the rolling hills and meadows of France welcomed us to the Abbey of Sainte-Marie, Fontfroide. Following Cistercian tradition, this vast Romanesque abbey church never had an organ; the Offices and Mass were all chanted a cappella.

Basilica of SS. Nazarius and Celsus, Carcassonne
Many great (now former) monasteries and churches are along ancient pilgrim and trade routes. In the walled city of Carcassonne, the Basilica of SS. Nazarius and Celsus has a Romanesque nave around which, in 1269, a Gothic cathedral was built. Fourteenth-century stained glass illumines the 1522 organ case. The instrument combines a 1679 organ by Jean de Joyeuse (III/24), with renovations and an 8-stop Récit added by Jean-Pierre Cavaillé in 1775 (III/32). Fomentelli integrated the two instruments in 1985 (IV/40). Here is an example of the late French classic style, with cornets on every manual, Grand Cornet, and powerful bombardes. Unique to the Carcassonne organ are two Positif divisions (Positif Intérieur and Positif de dos), in addition to the Récit and 28-note Pédale. The upraised faces of tourists and pilgrims toward the loft attested to this captivating instrument as Marilyn Mason gave an impromptu lesson on de Grigny.
A visit to L’église Sainte Marie de Cintegabelle brought us to Moucherel’s splendid 1741 instrument, restored in 1989 by Boisseau & Cattiaux, with its sparkling Plein Jeu, voluptuous Grands Jeux, and stunning wide and shallow case topped by golden angel musicians.

Toulouse, Languedoc, Dordogne
In Toulouse, organist Jean-Claude Guidarini led us to Saint-Pierre des Chartreux, where high over the former Dominican choir area in the large apse presides the 1683 Delauney (IV/51) instrument, restored by Joseph Cavaillé-JB Micot in 1783, and Grenzing 1983. Several hours later we walked to Saint-Sernin and the towering Cavaillé-Coll organ of 1889, with pipework from Daublaine-Callinet (1845). Following Guidarini’s brilliant improvisation, our group enjoyed hours of playing in the empty basilica.
At Albi in Languedoc, Mary Prat-Molinier met us high in the loft at the red brick fortress of the Cathédrale Sainte-Cécile, built at the end of the Albigensian crusade (13th century). Built in 1735 by Christophe Moucherel as a 43-stop organ, Lépine added a Bombarde manual in 1747, and Formentelli restored it in the mid 1970s, incorporating many remaining pipes. Each division has a Cornet séparé, and the Voix humaine is new, after that of Cintegabelle. Next door we enjoyed the Toulouse-Lautrec museum in the former bishop’s palace.
At Sarlat-la-Canéda in the Dordogne valley, near a lively public market in this medieval city, Henry Jullien, a former pupil of Susan Landale, improvised and shared console time on a unique 37-stop Jean-François Lépine organ of 1750, restored by Cattiaux in 2005, in the Cathedral of Saint-Sacerdos. From a family of builders, Lépine (who built for Saint-Roch in Paris) was a pupil of Dom Bedos, who inspected this instrument. The organ is 80% original, with drawings and clues in the gallery floorboard greatly aiding in the reconstruction of the action, chest layout, and winding system.

Bordeaux
The next day at Sainte-Croix Abbey in Bordeaux, we heard Daniel Tappe (a graduate of Oberlin, now at the Musik Hochschule at Hanover) in a recital of Clérambault, Froberger, Bach, and Kerll on Dom Bedos de Celles’ masterpiece. The 18th-century verdigris case with golden filigree and 16′ Montre glistened as the room filled with the sound of brilliant, powerful trompettes and cornets, full flutes, and the gravitas of the 32′ Bourdon and Grand Plein-jeu XIII of the Grand Orgue. One of the hallmarks of every great organ that we saw were the foundation stops, which, given the materials and acoustics of the churches, provided a richness and warmth supporting the tonal edifice. In the restoration, Pascal Quoirin of Carpentras followed Bedos’ 1766–78 L’Art du Facteur d’Orgues and used early inventories of the instrument as well as extant pipes, including the battered façade. With a full complement of couplers, reeds on all manuals, manual bombardes, and the ability to create terraced dynamics, the organ is capable of a more diverse repertoire and is clearly along the road toward the new symphonic style.

Poitiers
Following the Loire valley, we arrived at the Cathédrale Saint-Pierre in Poitiers. A lack of money prevented Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s planned rebuild of François-Henri Clicquot and son Claude-François’ masterpiece, a 16′ ‘Grand Orgue’ of four manuals, 44 stops, and 28-note Pedale, with its original temperament including four perfect thirds. Organist Jean-Baptiste Robin pointed out that while of classical disposition, the organ carries the power and presence of later organs and is capable of a more diverse repertoire. Later in the week at St. Godard in Rouen, titular organist Nicholas Pien conversely spoke of their 1885 Cavaillé-Coll (III/38) and its ability to perform Vierne as well as French Baroque pieces. Widor, who dedicated the St. Godard organ, called it ‘Raphael’ to distinguish it from the Cavaillé-Coll in St. Ouen, which he called ‘Michelangelo’. With its piquant Swell Gambe and powerful intense reeds, it has an immediate presence in this smaller Gothic structure with wooden floor and ceiling. A Cavaillé-Coll choir organ (II/16) graces the apse.

Loire Valley
In the Loire Valley, we toured Fontevrault Abbey, a former monastic community of men and women under an abbess (later a prison where the author Jean Genet spent time), and the burial place of Eleanor of Aquitaine. That afternoon, following the Loire River, we came to the Cathédrale Saint-Maurice in Anjou province. The carved neo-Gothic staircase to the gallery matched the spired towers of the 1879 Cavaillé-Coll, containing earlier pipework, including a 1742 Positif. Restoration after World War II included electrification and additional stops.

Chapelle Royale at Versailles
Our gateway to Paris was the gilt and marble Chapelle Royale at Versailles, with its IV/37 instrument in the musicians’ gallery over the high altar. François Couperin premiered the Etienne Enocq/Robert Clicquot organ in 1711, and Gonzalez rebuilt it in 1936 (Widor wanted to keep the earlier 1873 Cavaillé-Coll rebuild). Recently, Boisseau et Cattiaux scrupulously restored the 1710 organ, keeping the 1736 (Louis-Alexandre Clicquot) and 1762 (Francois-Henri Clicquot) additions. Its console has features of the Poitiers organ, and it is also a 16′ instrument.
Paris, La Madeleine
We arrived in Paris to play the 1847 Cavaillé-Coll organ at the church of La Madeleine (IV/46). Here is Cavaillé-Coll’s first Voix Céleste and first reverse console (now electrified). Planned-for 8′ and 4′ Trompettes-en-Chamade have been added. Organiste-Titulaire François-Henri Houbart improvised à la Dupré, starting from the wide breadth of the Flûte Harmonique and colorful solo stops through waves of mixtures and reeds to full organ and powerful choruses anchored by the Bombarde. It was a thrill to play the Tournemire Te Deum in this grand space on this venerable instrument.

Saint-Gervais
Our last few days in Paris saw visits to still more instruments. The final Sunday of the tour found some of our group in the loft with Jean-Paul Leguay at Notre-Dame Cathedral, some at Saint-Eustache, and others at Mass at Saint-Sulpice with the sublime improvisations and service playing of Daniel Roth. That afternoon at Saint-Gervais where eight generations of Couperins worked, Elise Frist, an assistant organist, ably demonstrated the organ (V/41, 1628 Thierry, 1768 FH Clicquot, 1843 LP Dallery, 1974 Gonzalez, 2003 Muhlrisen). Indeed, the Couperins’ music fitted the organ well, with its balanced ensembles and clarity of voicing evoking that of Lépine, Delauney or Clicquot. Much original pipework remains, and the console has the oldest keyboards in Paris. The original pedalboard is mounted on the rear case, which is also embellished with etchings and photos of the many organists who have played and worked there.

Sainte-Marguerite and
Notre-Dame de Chartres
Sunday evening found us again in recital, this time featuring music of Widor, Tournemire, Dupré, and improvisations at the church of Sainte-Marguerite, built in 1624, and where the young Dauphin Louis XVII is buried. The organ is an 1878 installation by Stoltz Frères of Alsace.
A side trip to Notre-Dame de Chartres found us in the gallery with headphones on to be able to properly hear the instrument (IV/68, Relevage Jean-Marc Cicchero 1996). Without them we were surrounded by sounds of the Pédalier.

L’Église Saint-Antoine des Quinze Vingts
At l’Église Saint-Antoine des Quinze Vingts we found a unique 1894, 48-stop Cavaillé-Coll originally built for the Baron de l’Espée, who wished to play Wagner in his personal hotel on the Champs-Élysées. A purely symphonic instrument, it was moved to the church and enlarged in 1907.

Notre-Dame d’Auteuil and
Sainte-Clothilde
The Grand-Orgue of Notre-Dame d’Auteuil (Cavaillé-Coll 1884, Gloton-Debierre 1937–38) is a shining example of Cavaillé-Coll’s mature work. Dedicated by Widor in 1884, its sound evoked that of Saint-Sulpice. It is one of the most glorious instruments this organist has ever experienced. The 1938 renovation, under the auspices of a committee with Tournemire, Vierne, Duruflé, and Dupré, preserved the entire organ (III/52), enlarged and enclosed the Positif, and added pedal and manual mixtures. Josef Franck, the brother of César, was organist here, and in 1884 Widor and Dellier played the dedication. Its full flutes, generous fonds, and bombardes of great gravitas are well balanced and perfectly blended in the room. This was a favorite organ of the Duruflés and much of Paris; Marie-Madeleine Duruflé attended Mass here in her later years. Titular organist Frédéric Blanc told us that the original instrument intended for the church was loaned to the French government, whereupon Cavaillé-Coll enlarged it and installed it in the Trocadéro, which opened in 1878. At Sainte-Clothilde, assistant organist Olivier Penin improvised on the 1859 Cavaillé-Coll, renovated by Dargassies in 2004. It was a thrill to also play the instrument of Langlais, Pierné, Franck and Tournemire.

La Trinité
The La Trinité organ was built by Cavaillé-Coll in 1869 and reconstructed after the Paris Commune in 1871. Merklin rebuilt it in 1901, and in 1934 Pleyel-Cavaillé added combination action, batteries of reeds and mutations, and mixtures. It was again rebuilt in 1965 by Beuchet-Debierre, with further alterations and additions in 1984 and 1992. Messiaen referred to the remaining older pipework as the most admirable sounds on the instrument and considered the instrument a masterpiece.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont and
Saint-Roch
Our final afternoon found us at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, with organist titulaire Vincent Warnier improvising in the style of Duruflé, after which we spent several hours at the console. In 1930 when Maurice Duruflé was appointed here, the ailing 1873 Cavaillé-Coll (a rebuild of a 17th-century organ with original case) was renovated in consultation with Tournemire and Dupré. Work resumed after World War II (Marilyn Mason recalled her lessons on the front choir organ shortly after the war). Now electrified and enlarged, the main organ has been transformed and still possesses many pipes from all of its incarnations. Its brightness and color complement the wonderful late flamboyant Gothic sunlit nave of the church and indeed the music of Maurice Duruflé.
The last church we visited was Église Saint-Roch and its III/54 Cavaillé-Coll (1840, 1862), restored by Renaud in 1992, including the mechanical action with Barker levers on the Grand Orgue. At Saint-Roch, Cavaillé-Coll used pipework from previous organs dating to 1751. That evening, the group celebrated our final dinner near Sacré-Coeur Basilica on Montmartre.
Historic Organ Tour LVI showed us many treasures of the organ world from Catalonia and France. These instruments and the music written for them become vibrantly alive when yet again the organist places hands on those historic keys. From the camaraderie of our tour group to the magnificent organs of the Catalonian Renaissance and French classical and symphonic traditions, to the food and wine enjoyed on terraces in the warm evenings, our venture was a fun and enlightening two weeks.

 

Tour members
Betsy Cavnar
Jeffrey Chase
Christine Chun
Joanne Vollendorf Clark
John Clark
Ronald DeBlaey
Richard Ditewig
Bela Feher
Janice Feher
Esther Goh
Steven Hoffman
Timothy Huth
Jerry Jelsema
Gale Kramer
Evelyn Lim
Rose Lim
Marilyn Mason
Enid Merritt
Paul Merritt
Mary Morse
Winnifred Pierce
Jean Savage
John Savage

Almar Otjes (tour guide)

Oberlin’s Organ Tour de France

Simon Thomas Jacobs

Despite the best efforts of Winter Storm Hercules, all but one of our group of seventeen made it to Paris’s Charles de Gaulle Airport as scheduled on Friday, January 3. Once we had gathered our luggage, we headed off to our first point of interest: a cemetery . . . where else!?

The cemetery at Montparnasse is the final resting place of a number of notable figures from French history and culture. Among the graves we visited were those of Jean-Paul Sartre, Louis Vierne, César Franck, and the tombs of the Cavaillé-Coll, Saint-Saëns, and Guilmant families. Interestingly enough, while the map at the entrance to the cemetery (marking the burial locations of those considered worthy of listing) includes Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, César Franck, and Camille Saint-Saëns, Louis Vierne and Alexandre Guilmant were not listed. Fortunately, Professor James David Christie knew where they were and many a photograph was taken!

We then took the wonderful Train à Grande Vitesse (TGV)—France’s high-speed rail service—for a three-and-a-half-hour trip to Bordeaux where, after a glass (or two!) of wine, we rested in preparation for what would be a life-changing two weeks for all involved.

 

Bordeaux

The next morning, we rose early and made our way to the eleventh-century abbey of Sainte-Croix, home to the only remaining instrument of Dom Bedos, a monk and secretary of the abbey as well as a mathematician, clock builder, and author of the monumental treatise The Organ-Maker’s Art. We gathered in the large church as Professor Christie demonstrated the instrument with Louis Marchand’s Grand Dialogue in C. It was clear from the first few notes on the mighty reed chorus, the Grand Jeu, that this organ was to set the tone (no pun intended!) for our entire visit. It is impossible to describe just how powerful this instrument is—it must be heard to be believed. The entire space was filled with a raw brilliance supported by one of the finest acoustics I have ever experienced. Next we heard the instrument’s other “big” chorus—the Grand Plein Jeu—made up of foundations and mixtures. On this instrument the Grand Plein Jeu is built on a 32′ foundation and its 23 ranks of mixtures produce thrilling and rich sound.

The original instrument was constructed in 1748; during the nineteenth century it was moved to the cathedral in Bordeaux and tonally romanticized, while the organ’s case remained in the abbey church, now fitted with the former cathedral organ. Thankfully, the organ was saved in the second half of the twentieth century and restored and returned to the abbey church, with Dom Bedos’s aforementioned treatise acting as an incredibly detailed guide as to what should be done. As part of this restoration, the red paint that then covered the case was stripped, initially so that the case could be repainted. In the process, the instrument’s original green was revealed along with the beautiful stop labeling at the console. As a result, we have today one of the finest and most aurally and visually beautiful organs in all of Europe, if not the world.

After hearing the instrument in the church, we made our way up to the large organ gallery, walking through the enormous blower room (where, before electricity, the instrument required seven people to pump it!), eventually arriving at the exquisite five-manual console: Positif de dos; Grand-Orgue; Bombarde; Récit; Echo. The Positif de dos and Grand-Orgue contain the majority of stops. The Bomdarde contains only two large reed stops—this was for practical reasons concerning the winding of the instrument. Nevertheless, the Bombarde can be coupled down to the Grand-Orgue to create an astonishing Grand Jeu chorus built on the 16′ reed. This is neither common nor necessarily appropriate for a majority of the so-called French Classical repertoire, but used judiciously and in the right pieces, this registration creates one of the greatest sounds in all organ music.

Perhaps the most “alien” aspect of the French Classical organ is the Pédale division. Unlike its German or Dutch counterparts, the pedalboard and stops of a French Classical instrument are not designed for counterpoint, but to provide a bass part centered around an 8′ flute pitch (with occasional 16′ pitch added by use of manual couplers) or to play the cantus firmus on the 8′ Trompette, accompanied by the Plein Jeu of the manuals. In the case of the Sainte-Croix Dom Bedos, the Pédale division has both flue and reed stops at 16′ pitch as well, but this was by no means common. We all had some challenges negotiating the odd pedalboard at Sainte-Croix: not only was its design different from anything else we had ever encountered, its compass stretched down to F below the C where modern pedalboards stop. This meant that no note was where we thought it should be! That being said, the mighty 16′ Pédale Bombarde extended down to low A, allowing Bach’s French-inspired Pièce d’orgue, BWV 572, with the usually unplayable low B in the middle section, to be played on this instrument. As with everything on this organ, the sound of these low reed notes was something to experience!

We were incredibly fortunate to spend the entire day and much of the evening with this wonderful instrument and were soon to discover that the organ’s uncompromising mechanical action and the church’s glorious acoustic could teach us a great deal about how to play—certainly something that would be a recurring theme throughout the trip. I should also mention that the food and wine in Bordeaux were exquisite, and I could not help but think of Julia Child—it was easy to see why she fell in love with French cuisine!

The next morning, a number of the group attended Sunday Mass at Sainte-Croix. Titular organist Paul Goussot, a winner of the improvisation prize at St. Albans in 2011, and the winner of the Haarlem International Organ Improvisation Competition in 2012, improvised brilliantly during the Mass. 

Then we took the train to the city of Toulouse, in southwest France, near the Spanish border. Toulouse is, without a doubt, one of the great organ “capitals” of the world, and we had four days to explore some of its treasures.

 

Toulouse

Following a wonderful supper of bread, cheese, foie gras, and “king’s cakes” (in honor of the Epiphany) at the home of Michel Bouvard, as well as a private fortepiano performance by Madame Yasuko Bouvard, we made our way to the stunning Romanesque Basilica of Saint-Sernin, where Professor Bouvard is titulaire. The organ, built in 1889, was among the last instruments of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll and, for many of us, the first Cavaillé-Coll we had ever encountered “in the flesh.” Although based in Paris for most of his professional career, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was originally from Toulouse and came from a family of organ builders. From the age of twenty, he worked with his father; this included restoring a number of instruments in Spain. The Spanish influence can be seen in a number of Cavaillé-Coll’s instruments that make use of en chamade reeds, and Saint-Sernin is no exception.

Saint-Sernin is a vast church with an incredibly long nave extending into a choir that certainly had an influence on Cavaillé-Coll’s concept for the organ. There is one word to describe the tutti of the Saint-Sernin Cavaillé-Coll: TERRIFYING! The huge wall of sound produced was definitely intended to travel from the organ gallery to the high altar, and it does so with ease. That being said, Professor Bouvard treated us to a spectacular performance of César Franck’s Grand Pièce Symphonique in which we also heard the more lyrical side of this outstanding organ.

Every evening during our time in Toulouse, we had unfettered access to the organ in Saint-Sernin, which, while very different from the Dom Bedos in Bordeaux, also had a great deal to teach. Much of the time was spent adjusting to the large space, Barker-lever action, and a very heavy swell shoe! As was the case with nearly all the organs we played, “inflicting one’s self” was not an option—you had to listen, feel, and respond to what the instrument and room were telling you in order to achieve the most satisfying musical results. It was also huge fun to “let rip” on full organ, although after 11 p.m. the tutti had to be used sparingly owing to its audibility throughout most of the surrounding area.

While the name of Cavaillé-Coll is well known among organists throughout the world, the name of Théodore Puget is perhaps not quite so well known. . . but it should be! We encountered two instruments by the Toulouse-based organ builder in his native city: Notre Dame du Taur—Puget’s first large instrument in the city, inaugurated by Guilmant in 1880; and Notre Dame de la Dalbade, inaugurated by Widor in 1888. We were all in awe of these exceptionally fine instruments placed in churches with glorious acoustics. In contrast to the fiery directness of the Cavaillé-Coll in Saint-Sernin that bellows “I’m here,” the two Puget instruments enveloped the listener with a far warmer sound. While perfect for the music of the great French Romantic composers, it was unfortunate that none of us had brought along any Howells or Whitlock, which would work equally well. Sadly, Puget never built a major instrument in Paris owing to Cavaillé-Coll’s monopoly in that city.

We also spent time at the church of Saint-Pierre des Chartreux, home to a four-manual French Classical instrument dating from 1683, with rebuilds in 1783 and 1983. While more modest in scale than the instrument at Sainte-Croix, it was perfectly suited to the ornate Baroque church and gave us another chance to work on our French-Classical pedaling!

On the evening of Wednesday, January 8, four students—Nicholas Capozzoli, Mitchell Miller, Alcee Chris, and I—performed a short concert at the Musée des Augustins. This former monastery, which was used to store horses during the French Revolution, became a museum in the nineteenth century and is home to a North-German influenced organ built in 1981 by Jürgen Ahrend. It was here that we probably encountered the largest acoustic of our entire visit—nine seconds, which would have been closer to twelve were it not for an exhibition at the back of the space.

This was followed by a visit and reception held at Toulouse les Orgues, headquarters for the annual organ festival that brings countless organ enthusiasts to visit the numerous musical masterpieces of this city. The festival staff, headed by Yves Rechsteiner, is housed in the former Church of the Gesu, a stunning Victorian Gothic edifice. The rear gallery of the nave houses a modest two-manual Cavaillé-Coll organ in absolutely original condition.

The next day we took the train to Albi, whose cathedral dedicated to St. Cecilia—claimed to be the largest brick building in the world—is home to one of the most impressive organ cases in Europe. At the neighboring (and considerably smaller) church of Saint-Salvy, parts of which date back to the eighth century, we heard the 1930 Maurice (grandson of Théodore) Puget organ. While containing some seventeenth-century pipework and being housed in the original case (which had once been in the cathedral) this was certainly a twentieth-century instrument in the French-Romantic style.

We then returned to Toulouse; a small group of us visited the church of Saint- Nicholas, home to an 1844 organ by Callinet. This was certainly one of the hidden gems of the trip—an instrument indebted to its French-Classical predecessors, but also looking forward to the larger romantic instruments that would follow it, particularly in its foundation and solo voices.

We then took the TGV to the city of Poitiers—the birthplace of Louis Vierne. We made our way to the beautiful cathedral, home to the 1791 François-Henri Clicquot organ—one of the crown jewels of all the organs in France. Compared with the “rustic” and almost bombastic Dom Bedos in Bordeaux, this instrument was incredibly refined, with a sweet, singing tone, even in the Grand Jeu. It was therefore not surprising to learn that this is the same Clicquot family who make the famous Veuve Clicquot champagne—everything about the instrument suggested elegance and class. Our gracious host was the cathedral organist, Olivier Houette. A couple of hours later we arrived in Paris, where we were to spend the remainder of our visit. 

The next morning we took a train to the small town of Houdan, about 40 miles west of Paris, to visit the church of Saint-Christophe Saint-Jacques and play the church’s Louis-Alexandre Clicquot (father of François-Henri) organ. This was certainly an unexpected highlight of the whole trip: the instrument has remained almost completely untouched since it was built in 1734, with some of the pipework dating from as far back as 1667, making it one of the most ancient instruments in France. Sadly, this is only one of a handful of such instruments in the Paris area that survived the French Revolution. The sound of the instrument was absolutely exquisite and it was a joy to play; the pitch (ca. A=390) and meantone temperament added additional spice and color. Its modest size also made it particularly suited to playing the works of earlier French Classical composers such as Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, François Couperin, and Nicolas de Grigny (to name but a few), despite having been constructed relatively late in the period. The organ was demonstrated by its titulaire, Régis Allard. In addition to its delightful organ, Saint-Christophe Saint-Jacques also had the distinction of being the coldest church we had visited to date, making all that French ornamentation a little tricky!

On our return to Paris, we stopped in Versailles. After a private tour of the King’s and Queen’s Apartments and the Hall of Mirrors, our host and organist of the Royal Chapel at Versailles, Jean-Baptiste Robin, gave us a wonderful demonstration of the 1994 Bertrand Cattiaux organ, which is housed in the original and lavish 1709 case. Although a modern instrument, it is a faithful reconstruction of what would have reigned supreme in the early eighteenth century. Sadly, the original Robert Clicquot of 1711 was subjected to a number of changes over the centuries eventually being replaced by a Cavaillé-Coll which was, in turn, rebuilt by Gonzales. 

The chapel itself is a fascinating space, and it would be impossible to describe in words just how beautiful and ornate it is. For one, there are no “hard” edges—everything, including the organ case, is curved—quite a contrast to the more conservative cases in Houdan and Poitiers. Unusually, the organ is above the altar, but it is customary in French churches for the organ to be behind the congregation, and in the Royal Chapel, the congregation faced the King, who would be seated in a gallery at the back of the chapel, facing the altar and the organ. Jean-Baptiste also informed us that the Holy Trinity is very important to French Roman Catholics and drew our attention to a number of allusions to the Holy Trinity in the Royal Chapel. He went onto say that it is perhaps not coincidental that the French-inspired organ works of J. S. Bach, namely Pièce d’orgue, BWV 572, and the Prelude and Fugue in E-flat, BWV 552, can also be viewed in a Trinitarian light.

 

Paris

On our only Sunday in Paris, we were encouraged to attend Mass at one of the city’s many churches. While some opted to go to Notre Dame or Saint-Sulpice, a few of us went to the church of Saint-Gervais, perhaps most famous for its association with the Couperin family who served as organists of the church for almost 200 years. The church was full for this celebration of the Mass in French. One of the most pleasant surprises was the music: although the organ provided a number of interludes at certain points of the liturgy in a variety of styles, a majority of the service was sung without accompaniment. While the singing was led by a large chorus of nuns, it was wonderful to hear the congregation joining in enthusiastically. Perhaps the most unusual, yet incredibly effective and beautiful moment of the service was during the Eucharistic prayer, when the clergy around the altar started singing in three-part harmony, accompanied by slow moving chords hummed by the nuns. It was nice to be involved in a real French parish Mass and to see that, although very different to what the Couperins would have known, music still plays an important part in the life of the parish.

Later that afternoon we made our way to La Madeleine for an organ recital performed by Vincent Grappy. It was quite a welcome surprise to see the church almost full—several even likened the audience size to an AGO convention recital. This magnificent church is perhaps most famous for hosting the premiere of Fauré’s Requiem, and we even had a chance to briefly glance at the intact Cavaillé-Coll choir organ which was used at that performance. 

Following the recital, it was time to make our pilgrimage to perhaps one of the most famous and important (especially for organists) Parisian churches—Saint- Sulpice. We received a warm welcome from the present titulaire, Daniel Roth, one of a line of distinguished musicians who have held this important and coveted post. Both Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers and Louis-Nicolas Clérambault were organists there, although neither knew the present building that was commenced in the middle of the 17th century and finally completed 100 years later. The great five-manual, 64-stop organ by François-Henri Clicquot was dedicated in 1781. It was reported that Clicquot was so happy with the results that he danced for joy during the dedication, and the organ became very famous throughout Europe. The organ survived the French Revolution in 1789 thanks to a blind organ pumper who, wishing to save the instrument, cleverly stamped the official seal of the government on the door to the gallery, making it seem as though that part of the church had already been inspected and approved.

Mendelssohn visited the church in 1833, and it was clear that the organ was in desperate need of restoration, with the renowned composer likening its sound to a choir of old women! In 1835, the builder Callinet began a restoration project that took ten years; it was ultimately unsuccessful and left him bankrupt. In 1854, one of the priests at Saint-Sulpice, a great admirer and friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, declared that such a beautiful church needed two beautiful organs. And so it was that Cavaillé-Coll began work on the instrument in 1857. When it was completed five years later it was one of the three largest organs in the world. By retaining all of the Clicquot stops—which account for about 40 percent of the instrument—Cavaillé-Coll not only demonstrated his respect for the craft of his predecessors but also created an instrument that successfully melds old and new styles into a coherent whole.

If there was one thing we learned about Cavaillé-Coll, it was that he was a consummate artist whose concept was perfectly suited to the space for which it was intended. While he had very little to do with the actual building of his instruments, the concepts were his and he knew just whom to employ to get the results he wanted. This project was clearly very important to Cavaillé-Coll: following the aborted Callinet project that had cost the church a fortune, with nothing to show for it, Cavaillé-Coll’s initial proposal was for a four-manual, 74-stop instrument. Over time, the instrument grew larger with the addition of a fifth manual and 26 more stops—none of which had been contracted or paid for. It is no surprise that Cavaillé-Coll was often close to bankruptcy with many of his projects, but if he had not cared so much, we probably would not have some of the great instruments we have today.

After Saint-Sernin, we were all rather surprised at how elegant and soft-spoken the Saint-Sulpice Cavaillé-Coll was in comparison, even the tutti. The overall tone was darker and more rounded than Saint-Sernin, and this seemed totally in tune with the majestic building, creating a wash of sound that filled the room rather than launching a battery of sound directly to the other end of it. Another contributing factor to the sound is the enormous case, with its huge 32′ façade pipes and colossal statues, keeping the sound contained to a certain extent.

Finally, a lucky few had the opportunity to play the instrument, and it was such a privilege to be able to hear the sounds Widor and Dupré knew and worked with. I played Dupré’s exquisite Prelude and Fugue in F minor, op. 7, no. 2. I had been warned that after playing this piece at Saint-Sulpice it would be difficult to play it anywhere else, and after hearing the first few sixteenth notes of the Prelude, on the 8′ Gamba and 2′ Octavin of the distant Récit, I understood—the eerie sound combined with the building’s acoustic was like nothing I had ever encountered before.

The vast five-manual console required some getting used to; the Récit is the fourth manual—it used to be the fifth (!)—and therefore presented the more vertically challenged among us with quite an extensive reach. At one point, Monsieur Roth kindly held on to my shoulders to prevent me falling off the bench while both hands were playing on the Récit! He was also gracious enough to operate the hitch-down swell pedal which, being located to the far right of the console, would have required my left foot to be considerably busier than it wanted to be. Cavaillé-Coll used these until 1870, when he introduced the more convenient but certainly less expressive balanced swell pedal. 

Upon playing a wrong note, I apologized, but was told by Monsieur Roth, “Don’t worry, he [Dupré] is not here, but with Widor, we have to be far more careful . . .” Yes, Widor’s tomb is down in the crypt and we were taken down to pay homage, following our evening with Professor Roth.

The next morning we made our way to the church of Saint-Louis-en-l’Ile to hear and play the church’s Bernard Aubertin organ, in North-German Baroque style. This is one of the finest of its kind in Paris and somewhat of a rarity. It was a welcome palate cleanser at this point of the trip to hear the sound of baroque-inspired principals and a particularly beautiful double-flute stop.

Having never been inside Notre Dame, a number of us stopped in briefly to gaze in awe at the gorgeous stained glass of one of the most famous buildings in the world. Unfortunately, the main organ was then undergoing restoration work and was unplayable. We then headed up to La Trinité, the church of Guilmant and, more recently, Olivier Messiaen.

This was somewhat of a pilgrimage for me personally, being particularly devoted to the music of Messiaen, and upon arrival at the church, I was greeted with a deeply moving vision: it had been raining, but as I approached the church, the sun came out, and a perfect rainbow appeared over the church—it could not have been more appropriate with Messiaen’s love of nature and the importance of color in his music.

The organ’s curator, Olivier Glandaz, was our host and had been a close friend of Messiaen. The organ has been well cared for and is in excellent condition. It was incredibly special to be able to hear Messiaen’s music on his organ, the combination of instrument and room creating what I can only describe as a glorious “shimmer.”

Day 12 was spent in the old French town of Rouen, perhaps most famous for being the place of Joan of Arc’s martyrdom. It is also home to Cavaillé-Coll’s last organ—the mighty four-manual instrument in the former Abbey Church of Saint-Ouen, which knocked the church in Houdan to second place as the coldest building of the entire trip! While in need of thorough restoration, it was wonderful to hear (and play) this “Grand Old Lady,” and yes, that 32′ reed really is as earth shattering as it sounds on recordings! Our hosts were the titular organist Marie-Andrée Morisset-Balier and her husband, trumpet virtuoso Michel Morisset.

Upon our return to Paris, we visited the van der Heuvel organ at Saint-Eustache, beautifully demonstrated for us by Vincent Crosnier, Jean Guillou’s assistant. 

Our penultimate day in France began at the Paris Regional Conservatory where those students who didn’t perform in Toulouse played a concert on the school’s Grenzing organ—the same instrument used for the preliminary rounds of the Chartres International Organ Competition. The performers were Richard Gray, Rees Roberts, Abraham Ross, Jillian Gardner, Albert Bellefeuille, Matthew Buller, Donald VerKuilen, and Jay Yau. Following the concert, Sylvie Mallet, the current professor of organ, and Marie-Louise Langlais, professor emerita of organ, were our hosts and joined us for lunch at a small restaurant that was once frequented by the likes of Debussy, Ravel, and Poulenc.

That afternoon, we visited the church of Saint-Roch where Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely, and Pierre Cochereau are among its most notable titulaires. The instrument, built by Cavaillé-Coll but retaining all the reeds from the previous Clicquot organ, is equally suited to French Classical music as it is to French Romantic music. The magnificent oak case also dates from the original Clicquot organ and contained the only clock we had seen which actually worked! While the music of Lefébure-Wely may not be all that sophisticated, hearing it on this thrilling instrument, in the highly-ornate Baroque church only a short walk from the Paris Opera certainly helped to put the music in context. Our host was the present titulaire, Françoise Levéchin-Gangloff.

The Cathedral Basilica of Saint-Denis was our final stop for the day. This former Benedictine Abbey—the first gothic building in the world—was incredibly powerful in its day and is particularly famous for being the final resting place of the French Kings. This association with French royalty, however, meant that it suffered greatly during the Revolution. One of the most damaging occurrences was the removal of the abbey’s roof (almost certainly so it could be melted down and made into other things), leaving the large and fine eighteenth-century organ open to the elements for twenty years. This organ was eventually removed in the hope that it would be restored one day, but it ended up being poorly stored and was entirely lost. It is quite likely that much of the instrument still exists in pieces throughout the organs of Paris, but we shall never know for certain.

In 1833, the French State decided to have a new organ built for this important church, and the 22-year-old Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who had just moved from Toulouse to Paris (at the suggestion of Rossini), submitted a proposal that won the contract. The organ was eventually completed in 1841, having been delayed due to the lack of an organ case, which was the responsibility of the church’s architect. The delay, however, worked in Cavaillé-Coll’s favor because it was during this time that he met Charles Barker. Owing to the size of the instrument, the mechanical action was incredibly stiff and heavy, but the new “machine” of Charles Barker changed all this.

The Saint-Denis Cavaillé-Coll, while by no means perfect, was revolutionary in organ building and was the prototype for everything that followed, especially in Cavaillé-Coll’s own work. Not only was it the first instrument to make use of the new Barker machine, it also had the first harmonic flute and trumpet stops. That being said, Cavaillé-Coll never cited the instrument as one of which he was particularly proud.

Pierre Pincemaille has been titulaire at Saint-Denis since 1987 and is one of the greatest improvisers in the world, having studied with the legendary Pierre Cochereau. He improvised for us on the hymn tune Down Ampney, enabling us to hear the many colors of this important instrument.

Our final day in Paris began at Saint-Gervais, where everyone had the opportunity to see and play the 1768 François-Henri Clicquot organ, which retains much pipework from the c. 1680 organ of François Thierry. Here again, while several of us had the opportunity to listen to the organ during Sunday liturgy, now we all had the unique opportunity to experience the masterpiece firsthand.

That afternoon, we reconvened at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde—set back almost out of sight except for its two spires, which can be glimpsed on the Paris skyline. A number of great organists have been associated with this famous church: César Franck, Charles Tournemire, and Jean Langlais. Sadly, very little of the organ Franck knew remains, the instrument having been electrified and, beginning with Tournemire, altered tonally to embrace the aesthetics of the new neo-classical movement. Nevertheless, it was interesting to hear the music of Tournemire and Langlais on the instrument for which it was conceived. The original Franck console is now in a museum in Belgium, having been bequeathed by Tournemire to his friend, Flor Peeters. The organ was rebuilt in 1999–2005 by former titulaire, the late Jacques Taddei, with the addition of two new consoles, a 32′ Contra Bombarde, and a Trompette-en-chamade, placed on the floor of the second gallery at the location of the old console.

And so, as our two weeks drew to a close, we arrived at the final church of our visit, Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, where Monsieur and Madame Maurice Duruflé had spent many years working and living in a small apartment just across the street. It felt especially humbling to be so “close” to these two towering figures in the world of organ music, and while we all have our favorites, I’m not sure I can think of anyone who doesn’t adore the music of Monsieur and the playing of Madame.

The church itself is very elegant—not unlike Duruflé’s music—and is home to the only rood screen (a beautiful, stone structure) and the oldest organ case in Paris, dating from 1633. Duruflé was also influenced by the neo-classical movement and this can be heard in the clear and bright sound of the instrument, making it especially good for counterpoint. After a stunning improvisation by Thierry Escaich on “Happy Birthday” (performed in honor of Donald VerKuilen’s 19th birthday), Alcee Chris performed Duruflé’s Toccata from Suite, op. 5, and Nicholas Capozzoli performed Escaich’s Évocation II for the composer.

I shall confess that writing this report has been incredibly difficult. It is almost impossible to express in words all that we experienced and learned on this amazing trip. One could easily write an entire article on just one of these churches and its rich musical and cultural heritage—we visited 31 organs in 13 days! Nevertheless, it is my hope that this overview will inspire further research—the Internet has a wealth of information and recordings of almost all the instruments we visited—and if you are able, go to France to see these masterpieces for yourself. We could not have been more warmly welcomed and it was clear that all those whom we met were very proud of their history and delighted to share it with others. Just be prepared to do LOTS of walking! 

Saint-Louis-en-l’Isle Church, Paris, France

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

Carolyn Shuster Fournier is a French-American organist and musicologist living in Paris, France where she is titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité Church. An international concert organist, she wrote her doctoral thesis on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s secular organs. Her writings on French music and organs have appeared in numerous journals.

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.

Paris Week, July 2-9, 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.

The ninth biennial seminar attracted 80 participants who assembled in Paris anticipating the first week of playing time on the great instruments, lessons and classes with master teachers, participants' recitals, and the hospitality of our gracious hosts. At the Paris Conservatory, director Christina Harmon introduced co-director Marie-Louise Langlais, who received a warm round of applause. Participants introduced themselves and greeted old friends from previous seminars. Two student scholarship winners were announced: Josh Melson of Cherry Hill, New Jersey and a student at Centenary College in Shreveport, Louisiana; and Victor Johnson, a student at the University of Texas at Arlington and organist/composer-in-residence at Hamilton Park Baptist Church in Richardson, Texas.

 

The seminar always includes discourses about the instruments, improvisations by resident organists, and playing time for participants at the Schola Cantorum, Notre Dame de Paris, Les Invalides, Saint-Roch, La Madeleine, Sainte-Clotilde, La Trinité, Notre-Dame-des-Champs, Saint-Severin, Saint-Etienne-du-Mont, and Saint-Sulpice. The itinerary this year added visits to Notre Dame d'Auteuil, Saint-Augustin, Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, Saint-Eustace, and Dupré's home at Meudon.

Group and private lessons took place throughout the week with instructors Yanka Hekimova (Saint Eustace), Naji Hakim (La Trinité), Françoise Levechin (Saint-Roch), Lynne Davis (American Cathedral), François Espinasse (Saint Severin), Susan Landale (Les Inva-lides), and Marie-Louise Langlais (Sainte-Clotilde).

Participants who had contributed to the student scholarship fund were treated to a lovely wine and cheese reception at the apartment of Daniel and Odile Roth. Roth led everyone to his basement studio which houses a two-manual organ and a grand piano. The walls are filled with posters, memorabilia, and photographs, including those of Schweitzer, Widor, Bach, Franck, and Conrad Bernier. Letters and musical quotes from Kodály, Widor, Schmitt, Messiaen, Guilmant, and Deutilleux overlook the study. Later in the week, Roth, titular organist at Saint-Sulpice, would give the history of the instrument, improvise, and spend nearly six hours assisting participants to play.

Paris Conservatory

At the Conservatory, Jean-Charles Robin, 19-year-old student of Mme. Langlais, improvised on the tune "National Hymn" (God of Our Fathers), given an interesting twist by David Erwin who submitted it. Mme. Langlais solicited literature and performers for the participants' recital at St-Roch.

Saint-Augustin

Saint-Augustin, within short walking distance of the Paris Conservatory, was Gigout's church. He was titulaire there from 1863 until his death in 1925. Assistant organist Didier Matry played Gigout, a Cochereau improvisation, and his own improvisation.

Saint-Roch

Sylvie Mallet, David Erwin, and Mme. Langlais assisted for the recital at St-Roch. Advertised in the Paris weekly publication for arts events, the program attracted a great number of listeners. Eighteen participants played the marvelous four-manual, 53-stop, 1770 Clicquot instrument which was restored and enlarged by Cavaillé-Coll from 1840 to 1862. It boasts reeds which are among the most powerful in Paris. Literature included works by de Grigny, du Mage, François and Louis Couperin, Clérambault, Hakim, Vierne, Honegger, Langlais, Salomé, Widor, Sejan, and Lanquetuit. Performers included Mary Milligan (Denver, Colorado), Yolanda Yang (Irvine, California), Jay MacCubbin (Providence, Rhode Island), Helen Van Abbema Rodgers (Fairhope, Alabama), Shinook Lee (New York City), Josh Melson, Thomas Hanna (West Palm Beach, Florida), Jack W. Jones (Palm Beach, Florida), Esther Wideman (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), Kay McAfee (Arkadelphia, Arkansas), Carl Schwartz (Silver Spring, Maryland), Eunice Ford (Huntsville, Alabama), David Erwin (Alexandria, Virginia), John Walko (San Francisco, California), Barbara Reid (Dallas, Texas), Lois Holdridge (Fullerton, California), Angela Kraft Cross (San Francisco), and Randy Runyon (Oxford, Ohio).

La Trinité

Naji Hakim, titular organist at La Trinité, was protégé and designated successor of Messiaen. New seminar participants as well as returning veterans enjoy the devotion of Parisian organists to the heritage of their instruments and the tribute paid their predecessors. None is more enthusiastic than Hakim. Guilmant's heritage at La Trinité includes the story of his horror at returning from America to find his instrument dismantled and destroyed. Cavaillé-Coll rebuilt the organ and today it exists as the instrument best suited for Messiaen's music.

Hakim played the outer movements of Messiaen's Messe de la Pentecôte. He spoke of Messiaen's improvisation and how he freely moved within many styles: Classical, Mendelssohn, Widor. The Livre du Saint Sacrement exploits Messiaen's improvisatory gifts. Hakim played his newest composition, The Last Judgement, which incorporates plainsong melodies: "Dies Irae," "In Paradisum," Alleluia of the Epiphany, and Gloria from Missa de Angelis. He improvised on "The Star Spangled Banner" since this group was there on July 4.

Notre-Dames-des-Champs

Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, titular organist at Notre-Dame-des-Champs, treated participants to the sound of the 90% original Cavaillé-Coll design and disposition. It contains one of the most beautiful harmonic flutes and rich montres.

Saint-Vincent-de-Paul

At Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, where Léon Boëllmann served as titular organist, Marie-Louise Langlais introduced Pierre Cambourian, the current titulaire, who played the 1849 Cavaillé-Coll choir organ. Its action and stops have remained untouched and it enjoys exquisite balance of foundations, mutations, and reeds. Of three manuals with a short Récit, it has a beautiful harmonic flute, vox humana, and 16' basson on the Récit. The church was designed in the Neo-Classical style, after La Madeleine. The four-manual Cavaillé-Coll Grand Orgue, originally comparable to the La Madeleine organ, is now of Neo-Classical design, refurbished by Gonzalez in 1970, and nothing plays on the fourth manual. It is of 66 stops, although 91 were originally planned. Participants enjoyed generous playing time.

Saint-Louis des Invalides

In the evening the entire group gathered at Église Saint Louis des Invalides to hear informative discussion and playing by Susan Landale, who is one of three organists for the church. The Thierry family built the first instrument, a four-manual organ, from 1679 to 1687. The Clicquot family (who were also in the champagne business) looked after it. Louis XIV's architect, Jules-Hardouin Mansart, designed the case with its gilded sculptures. Some pipework remains from Thierry: the cromorne, fonds, bourdon and doublette in the Grand Orgue, and Positiv nazard and 2'. In 1843 a full-scale restoration was ordered. Three firms submitted proposals: Cavaillé-Coll, Ducroquet, and the winner of the contract, Gadault. Gadault built a third-rate Romantic organ, completely destroying the Classical organ of Thierry. There are, however, very fine reeds in the Swell. The Gadault organ was dedicated in 1853.

In 1942, Bernard Gavoty, a pupil of Dupré and a respected and feared music critic, was appointed organist at Les Invalides. He moved within elegant Parisian circles, and was the right person to collect money for a rebuild of the organ. In 1955, it was decided to engage the Beuchet-Debierre firm, which was instructed to build a Neo-Classical instrument. The console was electrified and the compass of manuals and pedals extended. The chamades were added in 1979.

According to Landale, the principal miscalculation of the Neo-Classical movement was the idea that if there were mixtures one could play Bach. It didn't matter if the mixtures didn't fit well with the foundations. The other problem was cramming a large amount of pipes into a small space (the original case) in order to get more ranks. As a result, the scaling went smaller and the sound was thinner. But to consider the music of Tournemire, Duruflé, Messaien, and Langlais from 1930 to 1970 is to hear music which was influenced by the Neo-Classical sound.

The last overhaul of cleaning and tuning the organ was in 1980. There are plans for another overhaul in 2003 which will include rewiring the organ. The organ contains 61 stops, including cornets on both the Great and Swell.

Ms. Landale discussed Tournemire, his work and his legacy, and played two of the improvisations: Ave Maris Stella and Te Deum. These improvisations had been recorded at Sainte-Clotilde to wax discs in 1913. Duruflé transcribed the improvisations in the 1950s. Besides the two Tournemire improvisations, Ms. Landale played a piece by Petr Eben, who followed Tournemire's lead in the prodigious use of Gregorian chant.

Sainte-Clotilde

The entire group assembled at Sainte-Clotilde to hear Marie-Louise Langlais discuss the organ, to hear participants play, and to enjoy a demonstration and improvisation by Jacques Taddei, titular organist of Sainte-Clotilde and director of the Paris Conservatory. Mme. Langlais met the group outside to talk about the history of the church.

The parish was wealthy and Cavaillé-Coll was engaged to build the organ. The organ is 46 stops, small by Cavaillé-Coll standards. Franck served as organist here from 1859-1890. Pierne served from 1890-1898, Tournemire from 1898-1939, and Langlais from 1945- 1987. Mme. Langlais mentioned that she tried to get Langlais to retire in the mid-1980s, as he really was not able to climb the steps to the loft. He declared that he was determined to "stay one year longer than Tournemire," and he did.

Tournemire was a devotee of Baroque music, both German and Spanish. He tried to transform the Sainte-Clotilde organ to accommodate these styles. In 1933, he enlarged the Positiv by adding mutations and he also directed enlargement of the Swell. This changed the balance of the organ. More changes were made by Langlais in 1962. With Jacques Taddei 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 organ builder in charge is Bernard Dargassies, who also has worked at Saint-Augustin, La Madeleine, and Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Restoration of the original wind pressure, addition of a second motor for the blower, and restoration of the stop action is in process. The organ, and especially the 8' foundation ensemble, sounds more powerful, while the reeds have remained unchanged. At this point, the organ is as close to the original Cavaillé-Coll since the restoration by Tournemire in 1933.

David Erwin played the Franck E Major Choral using exclusively the Franck stops including signature stops of great beauty: vox humana, Swell trompette and hautbois combined, and the solo harmonic flute. Mme. Langlais played part of the Seven Words of Christ by Tournemire, and Angela Kraft Cross played "La Nativité" from the Poèmes Évangéliques by Langlais.

Mme. Langlais introduced Jacques Taddei, who demonstrated the solo and ensemble stops of the organ: 1. Positiv and Grand Orgue flutes in a scherzo; 2. The Récit gamba and celestes with the beautiful Positiv clarinet (really a cromorne); 3. Grand Orgue trumpet with fonds of the Récit; 4. Positiv cromorne with cornet of the Grand Orgue; 5. Ensemble of fonds of the Grand Orgue and Positiv and fonds of the Swell including oboe; 6. Flutes of the Grand Orgue and Récit which have been restored as harmonic flutes; 7. Restored larigot and 1', added by Tournemire in 1913, are now more integrated into the organ. Taddei then improvised on two themes submitted by Mme. Langlais: a Breton folk song and the hymn "If thou but suffer God to guide thee."

For the July 8 Sunday Mass at Sainte-Clotilde, six seminar participants were invited by Mme. Langlais to present musical offerings during the service. Literature included: Improvisation on Ave Maris Stella (Tournemire), Louise Bass (Albuquerque, New Mexico); Grand Jeu (Corrette), John Walko; Choral Dorien (Alain), Jack Jones; "Mon âme cherche un fin paisable" (from Nine Pieces, Langlais), John Walko; "Communion" (from Suite Médiévale, Langlais), Kay McAfee; Variations on a theme of Janequin (Alain), Jill Hunt (Evanston, Illinois); "Final" (from Symphonie I, Vierne), Angela Kraft Cross.

Saint-Sulpice

At Saint-Sulpice, a massive Roman style church with rounded interior arches, tourists are dazzled by the huge paintings in its side-chapels, two of them by Delacroix. The imposing case of the Grand Orgue, designed by the 18th-century architect of the church, Monsieur Chalgrin, matches the enormity and weight of the interior. Organists at Saint-Sulpice have included Guillaume Nivers, Clérambault, Lefébure-Wély, Widor, Dupré, Grunenwald, and presently, Daniel Roth. Clicquot built the first instrument in 1781. That organ was of five manuals: Half-Récit, Half-Echo, Récit, Bombarde, Grand Orgue, and Positiv. In 1835, a proposed restoration by Callinet was begun but was abandoned; 60,000 francs and twenty years later, Cavaillé-Coll undertook the project. At the time there were three organs in the church, the Grand Orgue, a Choir organ, and a smaller instrument owned by the Dauphin. Cavaillé-Coll restored all of them, and the choir organ survives today. The grand orgue is of 102 stops, including the original Clicquot pipework which Cavaillé-Coll carefully preserved. At the completion of the work in 1862, the dedication featured César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Alexandre Guilmant, and Gaylord Schmidt (the titulaire at the time). In 1863 Lefébure-Wély was appointed organist, and when he died six years later, Cavaillé-Coll recommended Widor as titulaire. Because of Widor's youth (26) and the observation that "he plays like a German," many letters of protest were written. However, Widor was named "provisional" organist and remained for 63 years. Further maintenance of the organ occurred in 1903 (Mutin, Cavaillé-Coll's successor) and in 1991 (Renaud).

Neither Widor nor his successor Dupré (1933-1971) allowed any major changes in the pipework at Saint-Sulpice through the Orgelbewegung and neo-classic movements of the 20th century. Widor supervised cleaning of the organ three times and in the 1920s an electric blower was added. Dupré had the organ cleaned and repaired in the 1950s. The unbroken tenure of over 100 years by these two organist-composers effected the presence of a largely unaltered example of Cavaillé-Coll's tonal design.

Notre Dame d'Auteuil

At Notre Dame d'Auteuil in a quiet, upscale neighborhood close to the southwest boundary of Paris, Frédéric Blanc, who was one of the last students of Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, introduced Mme. Duruflé's sister, Elaine Chevalier. She is a member of the parish and head of the new Duruflé Foundation. Blanc, a gifted musician, has been titular organist here for 21⁄2 years. The organ is very special because it is an unaltered 1885 Cavaillé-Coll. Widor and Dallier played the inauguration. Mutin restored the organ in 1912 and again in 1937-38 under the direction of Vierne and with approval from Duruflé and Dupré. An electrified console was added.

The organ was virtually ignored through the Neo-Classical movement and managed to remain untouched, primarily because the organist who preceded Blanc was there for fifty years, and the instrument remained "closed." It is of three manuals and 53 stops with both Récit and Positiv under expression.

Blanc then conducted a session concerning the tradition of improvisation practiced by French organists who study the art from the time they are young children. Improvisation is always a mix of composition and freedom. Control is necessary, with effective use of stop combinations: flutes and fonds, solo stops with celestes, and with a mixture of counterpoint and chordal harmonies. Blanc: "Start simply. Control the harmony according to theoretical principles. A chosen theme should have both melodic and rhythmic interest. In preluding for the service or providing meditation for communion, there should be a plan for the shape of the form." He talked about how ideas come quickly for the good improviser and that those ideas have to be molded quickly. The time spent practicing improvisation will result in the tools for being free with those ideas that come quickly.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

Across from the Pantheon and near the beautiful Luxembourg Gardens is located Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the church where Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé served for over 50 years. There was an organ here first in 1633 to which François Clicquot contributed. Today only the magnificent case survives along with some of the original Clicquot pipes. Randy Runyon, French professor at Miami of Ohio University, introduced and translated for Vincent Warnier, the talented young winner of the Grand Prix International d'Orgue de Chartres in 1992, who assumed the post of titulaire here upon the death of Mme. Duruflé.

Warnier related the history of the organ, which evolved very differently than other Parisian instruments. In the 19th century, when the romantic and symphonic sound was valued, Cavaillé-Coll was asked to restore the organ, the work for which was completed in 1863. He added many Romantic voices--fonds, harmonic flute, an expressive Récit with voix celeste--and a Barker machine.

In 1930, at age 28, Duruflé was named titlular organist. He arrived to find the organ virtually unplayable, and with Vierne and Dupré, they envisioned a restoration. But WWII intervened. Duruflé had to play a choir organ of only 12 stops for 25 years. In 1955 the organ was finally restored. Duruflé had been Vierne's assistant at Notre-Dame and he very much wanted to recreate that organ here. The 48 ranks became 90, and the new electrified console was placed to the right of the instrument.

Because the original case was small, the pipes were spread out. Above the west entrance doors, pipes are visible with some placed on their sides. The Echo manual is completely to the side of the original case, and gives a sense of mystery to the tonal palette. This is not an historical restoration, but the dynamic range is enormous, with impressionistic colors and an impressive tutti. In 1989, Mme. Duruflé enlisted the Dargassies firm to restore the organ. At that time the console was further modernized, mixtures were revoiced, and fonds and an en chamade were added. Today the organ is an eclectic instrument.

La Madeleine

At La Madeleine, François Henri-Houbart, titular organist for the past 22 years, related the history of the colorful musicians and composers who have served this most civic and visible of Parisian churches. During Lefébure-Wély's era in the early 19th century, the church was considered "an annex of the Opéra Comique," because the music heard was often of the salon and theatrical varieties. When Houbart arrived, the organ was in a poor state of repair. Houbart oversaw a restoration of the windchests, the restoration of the wind pressure as prescribed by Cavaillé-Coll, and the modification of the newer stops so that they integrate well within the original pipework.

The organ (1845-46) is Cavaillé-Coll's second large instrument after Saint-Dénis and Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. This instrument, originally of 48 stops, represents the transition to the Romantic-symphonic ethos of Cavaillé-Coll. The fonds, reeds, and plein jeu provide a Classic foundation (after Dom Bédos). There is no cromorne or cornet. The Récit is the same as Sainte-Clotilde but without the voix celeste. The organ has a large quantity of flutes, especially harmonic flutes, representing Cavaillé-Coll's transition to the orchestral organ. Today the organ has 58 stops, with 46 from the original instrument.

The organ underwent a restoration in 1927 for which Widor played the dedicatory recital. The program included his Suite Latine, which was written for the occasion. The console was electrified in 1971. The heritage of organists include Fessy, Lefébure-Wély, Saint-Saëns, Dubois, Fauré, Dallier, and Demes-sieux. Fauré was first the choir organist and he assisted Saint-Saëns. When Fauré became titulaire, Nadia Bou-langer was his assistant. Clara Schumann, Franz Liszt, and Anton Rubenstein frequented the organ loft.

The choir organ was also built by Cavaillé-Coll. At first it had only one keyboard, but he added another to encompass 20 stops. It was restored in 1997. The bassoon, oboe, and clarion are original stops. Houbart's fine improvisation included demonstration of the Cavaillé-Coll stops, then of the newer stops, then all together. Houbart related that once every three years he plays an all-Lefébure-Wély Mass, which he would do that evening at 6 pm, Sunday at 11 am, and Sunday evening at 6 pm. For participants who wanted to attend, about ten people at a time could visit the organ loft. He mentioned that Lefébure-Wély  wrote a number of excellent anthems and choral music for the Mass, and that Saint-Saëns, who was a detractor, actually admired his improvisations.

Schola Cantorum

At the Schola Cantorum, Mme. Langlais told of the school and its Mutin organ (Mutin took over the firm after Cavaillé-Coll's death). Founded in 1896 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant, and Vincent d'Indy, it was established for the study of the restoration of Gregorian chant after Solesmes and to re-introduce the Grand Orgue. The Schola was not as competitive as the Conservatory. A temple of "non-official" music, teachers included Guilmant, Vierne, the Duruflés, Grunenwald, Langlais, Satie, Martin˚u, and Turina. Students included Milhaud, Roussel, and Debussy.

One of Mme. Langlais's students, Verouchka Nikitine, played a fine recital which included Vierne, "Allegro et Cantilene" (Symphonie 3); Widor, "Allegro" (Symphonie 6); Langlais, "Communion" (Suite Médiévale); and Jean-Louis Florentz (b. 1947), two movements from Laudes. Participants enjoyed a light buffet supper prepared by Mme. Langlais and her daughter Caroline.

Participants chose among several churches to attend Sunday morning. The afternoon event was a recital at Notre-Dame-de-Paris which consisted of music of Mendelssohn and Bach. The church was full and pleasantly respectful as the recital proceeded. The organist experienced difficulty with registration changes, and it was somewhat disappointing to hear an all-German recital on this, the largest instrument in Paris. Playing time was allowed after the cathedral closed its doors to the public.

Saint-Étienne, Caen, Chartres

Participants boarded a bus for the 200 kilometer drive through the lovely countryside to Normandy and the city of Caen. Saint-Étienne houses a large Cavaillé-Coll instrument which is a-mong the three finest and largely unaltered organs of the builder. The others are at Saint-Sulpice and at Saint-Ouen in Rouen. Phillip Klais, president of the Klais firm of Bonn, Germany, introduced tonal director Heinz-Gunter Habbig. Habbig studied with the last voicer of the Cavaillé-Coll tradition, and he has made extensive studies of the organs at Saint-Ouen, Saint-Omer, Saint-Sulpice, and Saint-Sernin. Habek has directed several Cavaillé-Coll restorations, and his presentation of this instrument and discussion of the Cavaillé-Coll ethos was filled with reverence for the work of such a master craftsman.

The Abbey Church of Caen was a famous center of art education in the Middle Ages, but there is no record of an organ until the 15th century. In May of 1562, Protestants ransacked the church and ruined the organ. 200 years later, in 1737, the monks engaged a builder in Ouen and that organ's oak case, from 1741, its towers crowned with flower pots, remains today. On February 10, 1745, the organ was completed, a remarkable 18th-century specimen with five manuals and 61 stops. The first three manuals had a compass of 53 notes, a first in France, and the pedal was complete with a 16' and cornet.

The organ was endangered during the French revolution but suffered only neglect. In 1859 there was a restoration, and by 1877 more repairs were needed, and Cavaillé-Coll was asked to give an opinion. It was decided, with approval of Guilmant, that the old case and old façade pipes would be retained, with an addition of 8 stops. New wind chests and blower, new action, and new pipework were built in one year; the manual compass was increased to 56 notes. On March 3, 1885, Guilmant played the dedication recital. Repairs were needed in 1899 and the organ was given excellent care through to 1944. In January of 1975, the Secretary of Culture placed the instrument on the National Register of Historic Monuments. In 1998-99 there was another restoration.

Lynne Davis, a native of Michigan who has lived in France for 30 years, has for five years been Professor of the National Regional Conservatory at Caen. She studied with Marie-Claire Alain, Jean Langlais, and the Duruflés. Her studio of 20-25 students is privileged to practice and take lessons at Saint-Étienne and also to play the choir organ which is a Baroque instrument. After speaking of her immense affection for this great instrument, Ms. Davis played "Nef" and "Rosace" from Byzantine Sketches by Mulet, Cantabile by Franck, and Toccata by Vierne. Participants were then allowed generous playing time.

Part of the group continued on to Chartres to hear assistant organist Laurent Bois play and then all had the opportunity to play the great 1971 Danion-Gonzalez organ of 69 stops.

Participants returned to Paris and prepared to depart for Alsace for the second week of the French Organ Music Seminar.

(A report on the Alsace week will appear in a later issue of The Diapason.)

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

A French-American organist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster was organist at the American Cathedral in Paris. In 1989, she was appointed titular of the Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at the Trinité Church and founded their weekly concert series. She has performed over 500 concerts in Europe and in the United States. She has also contributed articles to Revue de musicologie, La Flûte Harmonique, L’Orgue, Orgues Nouvelles, The American Organist, and The Diapason. Her recordings have been published by EMA, Ligia Digital, Schott, and Fugue State Films. In 2007, the French Cultural Minister awarded her the distinction of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters.

On November 12, 2017, the liturgical and international concert organist Michel Chapuis died. Also an eminent professor, historian, and organ reformer impassioned by architecture, acoustics, and organbuilding, he immensely contributed to the renaissance, conservation, and restoration of early French organs. He delighted in supporting artistic beauty: his noble, graceful, and poetic interpretations vibrated with rhythmic pulsation, a natural flowing expression, and a spiritual elevation that was filled with mystery and joy.

 

His inspiration to become an
organist and initial training

Michel Chapuis was born January 15, 1930, in Dole, situated in the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. His father was a primary school teacher, and his mother worked as a telephone operator at the post office. In 1938, when his grandmother brought him to a Mass celebrating First Communion in Notre-Dame Collegiate Church,¹ he was overwhelmed by its historic organ by Karl Joseph Riepp (1754)/François Callinet (1788)/Joseph Stiehr (1830, 1855, 1858).² Its grandiose sonorities, which resonate beautifully in such marvelous acoustics, inspired him to become an organist. The organ possesses one of the finest examples of the French Grand Plein-Jeu. This characteristic combination of the Fourniture and Cymbale mixtures with the foundation stops is a full, brilliant, and noble sound that contains all its various inherent harmonics—with up to fifteen pipes that sound on a single note. For Michel Chapuis, this sonority symbolized God, eternity, and the entire color spectrum.

Noting their son was extremely talented, his parents purchased a piano for him at the music shop of Jacques Gardien, an ardent defender of the Dole organ.³ Michel Chapuis acquired a firm and supple piano technique with Miss Palluy, a disciple of Alfred Cortot. For six months, he took lessons with Father Barreau on the harmonium in the Collegiate Church and helped him accompany Masses there. He then began to study organ with Odette Vinard,⁴ who played at the Protestant Church in Dole, and continued with her professor, Émile Poillot,⁵ organist at the Dijon Cathedral.

In 1940, his family left Dole during the German occupation and went to Brive-Charensac, a village in the Haute-Loire, where he accompanied church services on the harmonium.⁶ When he returned to Dole in 1943, he accompanied vespers in the Dole Collegiate Church, even improvising verses between psalms. Delighted to discover a collection of Alexandre Guilmant’s Archives of Organ Masters in the personal library of the Marquis Bernard de Froissard⁷ in Azans, near Dole, he began to play the early French organ repertory, using registrations mentioned in these scores. His grandfather and the church janitor pumped the organ bellows for him! In 1945, he began to study organ with Jeanne Marguillard, organist at Saint-Louis Church in Monrapont, Besançon, where he accompanied two church services each Sunday for two years on a Jacquot-Lavergne organ.⁸

 

Musical training in Paris

After the Second World War, in 1946, Jeanne Marguillard came to Paris with Michel Chapuis, to introduce him to Édouard Souberbielle.⁹ At the age of sixteen, Chapuis began to study organ and improvisation with him at the César Franck School. This “true aristocrat of the organ” possessed a vast culture and an eminent spirituality that deeply influenced all his students. He encouraged them to expand their musical knowledge by listening to great classical works, and Chapuis appreciated his methodical spirit. This master enabled him to maintain a solid yet supple hand position and taught how to “touch” the organ by varying articulations, how to improvise fugues and trio sonatas, and used Marcel Dupré’s improvisation method books to prepare him to study at the Paris Conservatory. Michel Chapuis completed his solid musical formation there by taking piano lessons with Paule Piédelièvre,¹⁰ courses in harmony and counterpoint with Yves Margat,¹¹ and fugue with René Malherbe.¹² His fellow students there included Simone Michaud¹³ and her future husband, Jean-Albert Villard,¹⁴ Father Joseph Gelineau,¹⁵ and Denise Rouquette, who married Michel Chapuis in 1951.¹⁶ They lived on Clotaire Street, near the Panthéon.

To launch a career as an organist in France, it was indispensable to obtain a first prize organ in Marcel Dupré’s class at the Paris Conservatory. After auditioning with Dupré in 1950, playing J. S. Bach’s Sixth Trio Sonata and Louis Vierne’s Impromptu, thanks to his solid technique, Michel Chapuis enrolled in the Paris Conservatory the next October. Nine months later, in June 1951, he obtained his first prizes in organ and improvisation, as well as the Albert
Périlhou and Alexandre Guilmant prizes, awarded to the best student in the class.¹⁷ Gifted with mechanical ingenuity, he followed Gaston Litaize’s advice and apprenticed with the organbuilder Erwin Muller from 1952 to 1953, in Croisy, just west of Paris.¹⁸

 

First three church positions in Paris

From his youth, Michel Chapuis loved the ritual aspects of liturgical music. During his studies in Paris, he substituted for many organists. Highly respected for his fine accompaniments of congregational singing, his vast liturgical knowledge, and his repertory, he was appointed titular organist in several Parisian churches. From 1951 to 1953, he accompanied the liturgy on the Gutschenritter choir organ at Saint-Germain-des-Prés. From 1953 to 1954, he played the 1771 Clicquot/1864 Merklin organ at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church, following in the footsteps of Alexandre Boëly.

In 1954, he succeeded Line Zilgien¹⁹  as titular of the 1777 Clicquot/1839 Daublaine & Callinet/1842 Ducroquet/1927 Gonzalez organ at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs and kept his title there until 1970. Nicolas Gigault played there from 1652 to 1707 and Louis Braille, the inventor of the language for the blind, served at the church from 1834 to 1839. This church, located near Arts and Métiers, was reconstructed in a flamboyant Gothic style in the twelfth century and attained its present form in the seventeenth century. Its historic Clicquot organ was the key that opened the doors to Michel Chapuis’ comprehension of the early French organ. He also learned a great deal there from two organbuilders, Claude Hermelin²⁰ and Gabriel d’Alençon.²¹

In 1954, Michel Chapuis succeeded Jean Dattas as titular of the two-manual, seventeen-stop Merklin choir organ in Notre-Dame Cathedral, in the heart of Paris. There, he accompanied the
Maîtrise choir, directed by the quick-tempered Canon Louis Merret until 1959; then by a marvelous musician, Abbot Jean Revert, who allowed the congregation to sing during alternated verses at vespers. Michel Chapuis accompanied all the daily Masses and nearly all the canonical offices in Gregorian chant: prime (on feast days), tierce, the grand Mass, sext, none, vespers, and compline. One day, a priest sang too high and reproached Michel Chapuis for playing a pitch that was too high, when, in fact, he had mistaken a tourist boat whistle on the Seine for an organ note! In spite of the hordes of tourists that invaded this church, this position brought great joy to Chapuis for nine years: it enabled him to unite his capacities to resonate universal beauty in such a breath-taking setting, with its traditional liturgy and its fantastic acoustics that enhance any musical note. Michel Chapuis strongly believed that music ought to pacify, console, and comfort humanity. Above all, he hoped that his musical offerings would illuminate other people’s lives.²²

Michel Chapuis collaborated closely with the two titulars of the grand organ: Pierre Cochereau²³ and Pierre Moreau.²⁴ Each Sunday the two organs dialogued, continuing a tradition established in 1402, when Frédéric Schaubantz installed the grand organ in its present location. This dialogue, issued from the Gallican ritual, had remained intact, except during the Revolution, from 1790 to 1798. A 1963 Philips record documented Pierre Cochereau playing his own Paraphrase de la Dédicace and Louis Vierne’s Triumphant March, with Michel Chapuis accompanying Jean Revert’s choir singing works by André Campra and Pierre Desvignes. In September 1984, when Pierre Cochereau decorated Michel Chapuis with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, he recalled his improvisations at Notre-Dame and had wondered if J. S. Bach had composed a seventh trio sonata!

 

A pioneer in early French music
interpretation

Impassioned by early French Classical music, Michel Chapuis realized that most of the Parisian organs by such builders as Cavaillé-Coll, Merklin, and Gutschenritter were symphonic or neo-Classical in style, thus unsuitable for the early French repertory. While organists did regularly play the repertoire, however, they did not use notes inégales in their playing. For example, in 1956, when Michel Chapuis went to Marmoutier to meet the American Melville Smith, during his rehearsals for the first complete recording of Nicolas de Grigny’s Livre d’Orgue by Valois, he was surprised that he did not dare to use notes inégales there, even though he had been playing them for over thirty years, simply because he did not want to appear to be original (“Je ne veux pas paraître original”).²⁵ Chapuis concluded that he was a bit timid, probably since the great master organists in Paris at that time had not used them. Nonetheless, Melville Smith’s landmark recording highlighted Muhleisen and Alfred Kern’s 1955 restoration of this historic 1710 Silbermann and received the Grand Prix du Disque.

Curious by nature, Michel Chapuis carried out extensive research to understand the performance practice of notes inégales. His departure point was Eugène Borrel’s book on the interpretation of French music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries [The Interpretation of French Music (from Lully to the Revolution)].²⁶ This book, well in advance of its time, remained the continual reference point that guided Chapuis’ interpretations. It emphasizes that to enchant auditors, one must play like a singer, with clear pronunciation, an appropriate emotion, expression, and character: serious, sad, happy, or
pleasant.

An organist in the seventeenth century knew how to bring out the main themes, such as plainchants, and could boldly improvise counterpoint on them. Like harpsichordists, they “touched” keyboards by holding their fingers as close to the keys as possible. They played vividly on the Positive Plein Jeu, interpreted Récits tenderly, and played Tierces en tailles with emotional melancholy. Their fingerings enabled them to play notes inégales naturally.

During his nine years at Notre-Dame, Michel Chapuis did not need much time to prepare his work there: this gave him lots of time to consult hundreds of early French organ and singing treatises and prefaces from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, beginning with Loys Bourgeois (1530), who had indicated that eighth notes should be sung in groups of two to render them more graceful. Thanks to his musical intuition, his solid supple technique, and his courageous spirit, he then incorporated notes inégales, appropriate ornaments, and registrations into his interpretations of early French music. Michel Chapuis acknowledged Jules Écorcheville’s research.²⁷ In 1958, Chapuis gave a conference with Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume²⁸ at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs Church, presenting musical illustrations of the application of notes inégales and dotted rhythms. The interpretation of the French national hymn, La Marseillaise, is an excellent example of the natural application of notes inégales: although notated with eighth notes, it is sung with dotted notes. Of course, when one uses early fingerings, one plays naturally with notes inégales. This landmark conference inspired organists such as Marie-Claire Alain²⁹ and marked the beginning of a new era in early French music interpretation.

Michel Chapuis brought early French repertory to life, expressing past rhetoric naturally, with nobleness, simplicity, and good taste. Guided continually by Eugène Borrel, his playing was “elegant, distinguished, and animated without excessiveness” [“élégant, distingué, chaleureux sans outrances”].³⁰ In fact, when he gave a concert on the Gonzalez organ at Saint-Merry Church in May 1963, interpreting works by Titelouze, D’Aquin, and Dandrieu Noëls, no one even noticed that he had played with notes inégales.³¹ Nicole Gravet’s book on registrations in French music from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries was a guide to him.³² His numerous recordings of early French music in the 1960s testify to his natural assimilation of notes inégales: Dandrieu, Guilain, and Raison on the Clicquot in Poitiers (by Lumen) and others by Harmonia Mundi: François Roberday at Manosque and Isle-sur-Sorgue, François Couperin’s two organ Masses on the Isnard at Saint-Maximin, François Couperin at Le Petit-Andely, Louis Marchand and Gaspard Corette on the Clicquot in Souvigny (Grand Prix), Nicolas Clérambault on the 1765 Bénigne Boillot at Saint-Jean de Losne, Gaspard Corette and D’Aquin in Marmoutier (the only restored organ),³³ and his improvisations on the 1746 J. A. Silbermann at Saint-Quirin Lettenbach.

 

Installation near Dole

During his military service at Mont-Valérien (near Paris) from 1954 to 1955, Michel Chapuis met many of his lifelong acquaintances, notably Jacques Béraza (the future organist at Dole, 1955–1998), Jean Saint-Arroman³⁴ (with whom he collaborated in future organ academies and publications of early French music), and the orchestra conductor Jean-Claude Malgloire. Shortly thereafter, he also met the ingenious organ visionary and voicer, Philippe Hartmann.³⁵ From 1955 to 1958, Hartmann lived with Pierre Cochereau’s family, on Boulevard Berthier in Paris. He babysat for his children, Jean-Marc and Marie-Pierre, and enlarged his house organ to seventy stops.³⁶ A few years later, when Michel Chapuis and Francis Chapelet came to visit Pierre Cochereau, they joyfully improvised a trio sonata on his organ, his Steinway piano, and his harpsichord, before savoring some champagne!³⁷

During this period, Chapuis visited Dole regularly. His appointment as organ professor at the Strasburg Conservatory in 1956 assured him a solid income. At Jacques Béraza’s advice, in 1958, he purchased a historic seventeenth-century home in Jouhe, a village near Dole, where he installed his pianos, harmoniums, and his personal library. During this same period, Philippe Hartmann moved to Rainans, a nearby village. Together, their overflowing energy, encyclopedic knowledge, and extraordinary imagination influenced an entire generation of organbuilders who apprenticed there from 1958 to 1969, notably Alain Anselm, Bernard Aubertin, Louis Benoist, Jean Bougarel, Didier Chanon, Jean Deloye, Barthélémy Formentelli, Gérald Guillemin, Claude Jaccard, Dominique Lalmand, Denis Londe, Marie Londe-Réveillac, Jean-François Muno, Pascal Quoirin, Alain Sals, and Pierre Sarelot.³⁸

 

From Saint-SОverin to the Royal Chapel in Versailles

In 1963, at the suggestion of Father Lucien Aumont,³⁹ Michel Chapuis crossed the Seine River to the Latin Quarter to succeed Michel Lambert-Mouchague as titular of the grand organ at Saint-Séverin Church.⁴⁰ Among some of the past organists who maintained a great classical tradition there were: Michel Forqueray (1681–1757), Nicolas Séjan (1783–1791), Albert Périlhou, composer and director of the Niedermeyer School (1889–1914), Camille Saint-Saëns, honorary organist (1897–1921), and Marcel-Samuel Rousseau (1919–1921).⁴¹ After his arrival, Michel Chapuis reinstated the classical system of rotating organists that existed before the Revolution in Parisian churches. Over the years, he shared this post with Jacques Marichal (1963–c. 1972)⁴² and Francis Chapelet (1964–1984),⁴³ then with André Isoir (1967–1973), Jean Boyer (1975–1988), Michel Bouvard (1984–1994), François Espinasse (1988), Michel Alabau (1986–2016), Christophe Mantoux (1994); and two substitute organists: Jean-Louis Vieille-Girardet (1973–1994), and François-Henri Houbart (1974–1979). In 2002, Chapuis was named honorary organist and Nicolas Bucher succeeded him as titular until 2013, when he in turn was succeded by Véronique Le Guen.⁴⁴

In 1963, the 1748 Claude Ferrard/1825 Pierre-François Dallery/1889 John Abbey⁴⁵ organ was in poor shape. In 1963 and 1964, the Alsatian builder Alfred Kern reconstructed the organ according to the plans of Michel Chapuis and Philippe Hartmann,⁴⁶ who decided upon the use of mechanical action. This exemplary reconstruction as a four-manual neo-Classical German-French organ with fifty-nine stops marked a turning point in French organ construction. It used all of the Abbey windchests and existing pipes, including Claude Ferrard’s Positif Cromorne, the Récit Hautbois, and several mutation stops, along with twenty-two new stops. The disposition of its newly constructed Plein-Jeu stops, with its Cymbale-Tierce stop, allowed the interpretation of both early French and German literature for the first time in Paris and enabled Michel Chapuis to accompany the congregational singing with vitality and variety. The third keyboard, Récit-Resonance, enabled him to couple the other two keyboards to it. The natural keys were made of ebony, and the sharps of white cow bone. The Positif de dos was placed mid-height in the church, enabling the organ to resonate fully. Chapuis inaugurated the instrument on March 8, 1964, with two different programs: the first consisting of works by Couperin, Buxtehude, and Bach; and the second, works by de Grigny, Marchand, Sweelinck, Böhm, and Bach.⁴⁷ After initial work by Daniel Kern in 1982 and Dominique Lalmand in 1988, the organ was restored again in 2011 by Dominique Thomas, Quentin Blumenroeder, and Jean-Michel Tricoteaux, respecting Alfred Kern’s work.

Michel Chapuis had arrived at Saint-Séverin during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). This parish’s ecumenical approach mirrored that of the Community in Taizé. With that in mind, Michel Chapuis adapted Bach chorales to the Catholic liturgy with French texts. The organists collaborated with priests to prepare the liturgy in accordance with the texts and the different colors of the liturgical year. Instead of beginning the Mass with Asperges me and an appropriate Gregorian Introit, the chorale “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” served as the opening hymn during the four Sundays in Advent. Before each Mass, Michel Chapuis softly accompanied a rehearsal of the liturgy. After improvising a prelude to the opening hymn on the Positif Plein-Jeu, he accompanied the congregation on the Grand Orgue Plein-Jeu. Father Alain Ponsard requested Michel Chapuis to compose a Sanctus, known as the Saint-Séverin Sanctus, sung throughout France. Later, his former student and substitute organist, François-Henri Houbart, composed a partita based on this Sanctus.⁴⁸

Two recordings by Cantoral⁴⁹ attest to Michel Chapuis’ fine accompaniments. Harmonia Mundi recorded his interpretations of Jehan Titelouze’s hymns and Magnificat at Saint-Séverin. His other recordings in the 1960s and 1970s echoed the repertory he played there: works by Louis Couperin (Deutsche Grammophon), Nicolas de Grigny (Astrée), French Noëls by Balbastre, Dandrieu, and D’Aquin, and the complete works of Nicolas Bruhns, Vincent Lübeck, J. S. Bach, and Dieterich Buxtehude (Valois).⁵⁰ Recording the complete organ works of Bach was extremely difficult: after learning all the scores, he recorded alone at night, set up the magnetic tapes, pushed the “record” button, and went up to the organ loft to play; if there was a noise or the slightest error, he started all over, until it was perfect.

In 1966, Édouard Souberbielle gave a concert at Saint-Séverin. In 1968 and 1969, Chapuis organized a concert series entitled “Renaissance of the Organ,” for the Association for the Protection of Early Organs, on the first Wednesday of each month at 9:00 p.m.: on October 9, Michel Chapuis opened this series with a Bach concert; on November 6, Marie-Claire Alain played Bach and early German masters; on December 4, Pierre Cochereau performed Bach, Mozart, Liszt, and improvised; on January 8, 1969, André Isoir gave an eclectic concert for the Christmas season; on February 5, Francis Chapelet played selections of Art of the Fugue and the Toccata in C Major by Bach; on March 5, Helmuth Walcha was scheduled to play Bach’s Clavierübung III, but, unable to perform, was replaced by Marie-Claire Alain; on May 7, Xavier Darasse performed Messiaen, Bach, and Ligeti; and on June 6, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini performed Frescobaldi, Muffat, and Bach. In the fall of 1969, concerts were given by Michel Chapuis, Heinz Wunderlich, Anton Heiller, and Helmut Walcha. From October 1970 to June 1971, Michel Chapuis performed the complete works of J. S. Bach there.

In 1995, Michel Chapuis was appointed titular of the prestigious historic Robert Clicquot organ,⁵¹ rebuilt by Jean-Loup Boisseau and Bertrand Cattiaux, at the Royal Chapel in Versailles. On November 18 and 19, 1995, he inaugurated this organ and was named honorary organist there in 2010. This position was the crowning summit of his concert career.⁵² At this exquisite historic royal palace, he was truly an ambassador for French culture, receiving artists from the entire world.

 

A. F. S. O. A.: The Association for the Protection of Early Organs

On December 21, 1967, a group of organists, organ historians, and builders, as well as amateur organ admirers, joined forces to protest against abusive transformations of historic French organs and founded the Association for the Protection of Early Organs
[A. F. S. O. A., Association pour la sauvegarde de l’orgue ancien]. Their first general meeting took place on March 1, 1968. Jean Fonteneau, a substitute organist at Saint-Séverin, was president for the first year; the organ historian Pierre Hardouin, its primary editor; Michel Bernstein, editorial secretary; and Michel Chapuis, artistic advisor. Among its honorary members were Jean-Albert Villard and Helmut Winter. Other members included Father Lucien Aumont, Michel Bernstein, Bernard Baërd, Dominique Chailley, Jacques Chailley, Francis Chapelet, Pierre Chéron, Pierre Cochereau, René Delosme, Christian Dutheuil, Robert Gronier (a future president), André Isoir, Henri Legros, Émile Leipp, the architect Alain Lequeux, the astronomer James Lequeux, Charles-Walter Lindow, Pierre-Paul Lacas, Dominique Proust, Jean Saint-Arroman, Gino Sandri, Marc Schaefer, Jean-Christophe Tosi (a future president), and Jean Ver Hasselt. They struggled to renew interest in the unforgotten historic early French organ and its music. In 1969,
A. F. S. O. A. organized an international François Couperin competition for organ and harpsichord at Saint-Séverin and on the François-Henri Clicquot organ (1772), restored by Alfred Kern, at the Royal Chapel in Fontainebleau. It also organized visits to organs, such as the Clicquot at the Poitiers Cathedral, and organs in Alsace.

A. F. S. O. A. ardently defended a respectable restoration of the 1748 Dom Bédos organ in Bordeaux and protested against Gonzalez’s restoration of the historic Couperin organ at Saint-Gervais Church in Paris.⁵⁴ In 1954, this firm, under Norbert Dufourcq’s direction, had already considerably transformed Jean de Joyeuse’s 1694 Baroque 16′ organ in Auch Cathedral: out of the 3,060 pipes there, 620 were considerably altered and 2,240 had disappeared, notably the Grand Plein-Jeu.⁵⁵ Michel Chapuis felt that Victor Gonzalez’s neo-classical Plein-Jeu, although pitched too high, was remarkably well-voiced and suitable for a small instrument installed in a studio or a home, but not for a large organ in a church. When Norbert Dufourcq went to visit the historic eighteenth century Jean-Baptiste Micot organ in Saint-Pons-des-Thomières (in the Hérault), the organist, Jean Ribot, hid the keys so that he could not enter the organ loft to look at the organ.⁵⁶

Michel Chapuis strongly supported research on the French Classical organ Plein-Jeu, notably by his friends Jean Fellot⁵⁷ and Léon Souberbielle.⁵⁸ Thankfully, in 1954, Pierre Chéron and Rochas saved the splendid Grand Plein-Jeu in the 1774 Isnard organ at Sainte Marie-Madeleine Basilica in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.⁵⁹ In 1957, Robert Boisseau voiced a Roethinger organ in the French Classic style that included a Plein-Jeu as described by Dom Bédos, in Saint Louis du Temple Benedictine Abbey in Limon-Vauhallan (in the Essonne south of Paris). It was designed by Édouard and Léon Souberbielle. On November 7, 1959, Claude Philbée made a private recording of Michel Chapuis improvising to demonstrate the organ’s stops.⁶⁰

In 1967, Michel Chapuis pleaded with André Malraux, the minister for cultural affairs since 1959, for new policies concerning the restoration of early organs. He explained that past massacres of historic organs had given a bad name to organbuilding in France. He estimated that around seventy historic organs remained intact in France: thirty large instruments and forty smaller instruments. He suggested that, as in Austria or the Netherlands, a group of experts be appointed to form a new national commission of historic organs in addition to regional commissions. Before dismantling each organ for restoration, it should be completely evaluated and inventoried, with precise measurements, photos, and recordings. However, advocating for drastic changes in the French administration was not an easy task!

As A. F. S. O. A. encouraged, restorations were carried out that respected the past. As a member of the Commission for Historical Monuments, Michel Chapuis travelled in his Citroën van to visit organs and photographed them with his Rolleflex box camera. Here are some of the organs beautifully restored between 1968 and 1998: Perthuis, Malaucène, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Saint-Lizier, Forcalquier, and Sète by Alain Sals; Houdan by Robert and Jean-Loup Boisseau; three cuneiform bellows to activate the wind in the Clicquot in Souvigny by Philippe Hartmann;
Ebersmunster by Alfred Kern; Albi and Carcassonne by Barthélemy Formentelli;
Villiers-le-Bel, Juvigny, and the Dom Bédos in Bordeaux by Pascal Quoirin; Semur-en-Auxois by Jean Deloye with Philippe Hartmann; Seurre in Bourgogne, Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville in Normandy, and Saint-Antoine-L’Abbaye by Bernard Aubertin; the 1790
Clicquot in Poitiers by Boisseau-Cattiaux Society;⁶¹ Bolbec by Bertrand Cattiaux; and the reconstruction of the Jean de Joyeuse in Auch by Jean-François Muno. Between 1994 and 1997, the builders Claude Jaccard and Reinalt Klein built a replica of the Houdan organ (except the case) in the Kreuzekirche Church in Stapelmoor, Germany (in the North of Ostfriesland): Organeum Records recorded Michel Chapuis playing works by Böhm, Boyvin, Dandrieu, and Jullien on this organ on September 17, 1998.⁶²

In the 1980s, Michel Chapuis supported the Cavaillé-Coll Association, which advocated for quality restorations of Romantic organs. He kindly advised this author’s research on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s secular organs. Among the Cavaillé-Coll organs restored between 1985 and 1997: the grand organs in Sacré-Coeur Basilica and in Saint-Sulpice in Paris, by Jean Renaud; Charles-Marie Widor’s 1893 house organ in Selongey, Côte d’Or (1986), and Édouard André’s 1874 house organ in Decize, by Claude Jaccard; the grand organ in Poligny, by Dominique Lalmand and Claude Jaccard, the grand organ in Saint-Sernin Basilica in Toulouse, by Boisseau-Cattiaux.

 

Organ professor

An eminent professor, Michel Chapuis acknowledged that the best way to learn music is to teach it. He loved to transmit his musical heritage and his practical knowledge. His intuition and his astute sense of observation and analysis enabled him to transmit elements of interpretation that cannot always be explained. He taught organ at the Strasburg Conservatory from 1956 to 1979, at the Schola Cantorum in Paris from 1977 to 1979, at the Besançon Conservatory from 1979 to 1986, and then succeeded Rolande Falcinelli at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris, from 1986 to 1995. He also gave masterclasses in numerous academies in France: early French music on the historic Isnard organ at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume Academy, founded in 1962; German and French early music on the 1752 Riepp/1833 Callinet organ in Semur-en-Auxois (in the Côte-d’Or) in the mid-1970s;⁶³ in the Pierrefonds Academy (in the Oise) with Jean Saint-Arroman in the 1980s; and in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges⁶⁴ (in the Haute-Garonne) from 1976 to 2008, notably with André Stricker and Jean Saint-Arroman. He also gave masterclasses in Stapelmoor, Germany (with André Stricker and Pierre Vidal), as well as in the United States and Japan.

At the Strasbourg Conservatory, Michel Chapuis taught in the Catholic organ class, alongside André Stricker,⁶⁵ who was in charge of the Protestant organ class. As the organ department grew, two more professors were added to balance the department: in 1962, Marc Schaefer,⁶⁶ a Protestant, and, in 1963, Pierre Vidal,⁶⁷  a Catholic. In June 1964, Helmut Walcha inaugurated the Kurt Schwenkedel organ (III/64) in the conservatory concert hall. Michel Chapuis helped to determine its stoplist, which he described as being both “classical and personal.”⁶⁸ Of note, the organ case included horizontal Montre pipes.

In 1986, when Michel Chapuis began to teach at the Paris Conservatory, it was still located on Madrid Street, before its transfer to la Villette in 1991. Instead of giving lessons on the dusty 1951 Jacquot-Lavergne organ there, he preferred to teach on beautiful church organs: at Saint-Séverin, in Dole, and in Poligny. Open-minded, he never imposed any particular interpretation on his students⁶⁹ but used his immense knowledge, his fantastic imagination, his humanistic approach, and his witty humor to guide them from the visible text to the invisible spirit of the music. He emphasized the importance of a calm, supple body, notably in hands and wrists, to give great lightness and liberty to fingers, which remain in contact with the keys. With his soft, sweet voice, he calmly encouraged students to go beyond the notes, to recreate the composer’s musical conception in a harmonious and sober manner. He abhorred inadequate and superficial ornaments and inappropriate expression. He enabled his students to understand the inherent marvels in each score, its underlying harmonies, rhythmic structures, and melodic expression, and helped them to incorporate these elements into their interpretations with an appropriate style, with spontaneity, good taste, and excellent registrations.

How fortunate I was to study with Michel Chapuis and Jean Saint-Arroman at the Academy in Pierrefonds in 1983 and 1984. Eugène Borrel’s book on the interpretation of early French music was truly indispensable to interpreting early French music expression in a well-balanced harmonious manner, with natural fluidity and ease. We accompanied singers to understand the underlying nature of a musical text, its pronunciation, its appropriate expression and style, its inherent harmonies. We studied the early French organ and its music: figured basses, dance rhythms, registrations, tempi, temperaments, ornamentations, and learned how to appropriately express and embellish the musical line. Its sweet, gentle expression⁷⁰ finds its summit in the Tierce taille and numerous Récits.

We presented recitals at Saint-Séverin and Saint-Gervais churches. While studying on early historic instruments does not guarantee a beautiful performance, it enables an interpreter to play ornaments, registrations, phrasing, etc., with greater ease. As Jean Saint-Arroman pointed out, it is impossible for early music to be heard as in former centuries because “life and sensibility have changed too much, and, at least for the listeners, the music which was ‘modern’ has become ‘ancient’” [“la vie et la sensibilité ont trop chargé, et, au moins pour les auditeurs, la musique qui était ‘moderne’ est devenue ‘ancienne’”].⁷¹

Michel Chapuis inspired an entire generation of organists, among them: Scott Ross (at Saint-Maximin); Robert Pfrimmer, Étienne Baillot, Antoine Bender, Lucien Braun, Henri Delorme, Alain Langré, François-Henri Houbart, Jean-Louis Vieille-Girardet, Hélène Hébrard, Chieko Mayazaki and Henri Paget (at Strasbourg Conservatory); Régis Allard, Michel Bouvard,⁷² Yasuko Uyama-Bouvard, Makiko Hayashima, Hisaé Hosokawa (at the Schola Cantorum); Marc Baumann, Sylvain Ciaravolo, Pierre Gerthoffer, Luc Bocquet, Éric Brottier, Bernard Coudurier, Roland Servais, Véronique Rougier, Vinciane Rouvroy, Marie-Christine Vermorel (at the Besançon Conservatory); Valéry Aubertin, Valérie Aujard-Catot, Franck Barbut, Philippe Brandeis, Yves
Castagnet, Slava Chevliakov, Denis Comtet, Françoise Dornier, Thierry Escaich, Pierre Farago, Jean-François Frémont, Mathieu Freyburger, Christophe Henry, Emmanuel Hocdé, Jean-Marc Leblanc, Marie-Ange Laurent-Lebrun, Éric Lebrun, Véronique Le Guen, Erwan Le Prado, Gabriel Marghieri, Pierre Mea, Nicolas Reboul-Salze, Marina Tchébourkina,⁷³ Vincent Warnier (at the National Superior Conservatory of Music), and Frédéric Munoz (in numerous academies).

 

International concert artist

Michel Chapuis was a great artist who consecrated his entire life to enriching other people’s lives with beautiful music. Although he often said that he never took vacations, in all truth, he worked too much, giving generously to others: as a teacher, as a member of the national organ commission for cultural affairs, as a church musician, and as a concert artist. He delighted in sharing his passions with others: photography, tramways, historic books, and architecture, among others. Fascinated with movement, he often invited visitors to his home to take a ride in his old train wagons, which he pushed on the train tracks he had installed in his yard: an unexpected experience! His listeners sensed such sparkling joy when listening to his captivating interpretations, from its kindling intense, fiery warmth to its gentle gracious sweetness. Conscious of the acoustical resonance of each room, he knew how to let silences speak fully, thus clarifying the musical narration and providing it with spiritual depth and elevation.

When I met Michel Chapuis in Saint-Séverin in 1984, I admired his noble yet gentle manner of playing. Although his hands were robust and gnarled, as if he had labored as an eighteenth-century tanner along the canals in Dole, once he began to play, they floated just above the keyboards, but his fingers were deeply enrooted in the keys,⁷⁴ like those of J. S. Bach! His vivid imagination and fantasy excelled in the interpretation of
Dieterich Buxtehude’s works. I remember the numerous interesting discussions in the church reception hall after Mass with artists from all over the world.

Michel Chapuis considered himself to be Catholic in the universal sense of the term.⁷⁵ On May 7–8, 1979, during the inauguration of Alfred Kern’s restoration of the 1741 Jean-André Silbermann organ at Saint-Thomas Lutheran Church in Strasburg, he illustrated the mission of the organ in the church by improvising in the French Classical style on themes from the old Parisian Ritual. Like the great humanist Albert Schweitzer, who had preached in this church, he believed that when music is felt deeply, either sacred or secular, it resonates in spiritual spheres where art and religion may meet.

Michel Chapuis played concerts in Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan. He came to the United States at least on three occasions. On November 26 and 27, 1968, he gave a recital and masterclass at Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois, and returned to play at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, in 1978. During this same year, he inaugurated the Yves Koenig organ at Saint-Sulpice Church in Pierrefonds, performing Nicolas de Grigny’s entire Organ Mass. In Japan, he gave his first organ recital in the NKH Hall in Tokyo in 1976. He inaugurated three Aubertin organs there: his opus 48 (III/48), in the French Classical style at Shirane-Cho/Minami-Alps in 1993, where he returned at least ten times to give academies, concerts, and masterclasses, recorded by Plenum Vox in 1999; opus 13 (II/13) in the Lutheran Church in Tokyo in 1999; and opus 22 (II/22) in a home in Karuizawa in 2003. He gave concerts and masterclasses many times in Russia, notably on the Charles Mutin organ at the Tchaikovky Conservatory in Moscow beginning in 1993.

Throughout his entire career, Michel Chapuis collaborated with singers, choirs, and orchestras, as illustrated in several recordings: the 1967 Harmonia Mundi record of François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres with Alfred
Deller, countertenor; Philip Todd, tenor; and Raphael Perulli, viola da gamba, at Augustins Chapel in Brignolles
(Var); in 1997: Quantin CD of four Handel concertos, opus 4, with the Marais Chamber Orchestra directed by Pascal Vigneron; and an Astrée CD of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Port Royal Mass in Houdan, directed by Emmanuel Mandrin; a 1998 CD of his inauguration of Laurent Plet’s restoration of the 1847 Callinet organ at Saint-Pierre Church in Liverdun captured his accompaniments of three local choirs, with works by Scheidt, Rinck, Boëly, Mendelssohn, Ritter, Herbeck, and Berthier.⁷⁶ In 1999, Glossa Records recorded his improvised verses in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Monsieur de Mauroy at Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache with Hervé Niquet’s Le Concert spirituel. In 2000, Plenum Vox recorded his inauguration of Bernard Hurvy’s twenty-six-stop early nineteenth century transitional-style organ in Charbonnières-les-Bains (near Lyon), with the Saint-Roch Choir directed by J. M. Blanchon, with works by Bach, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn, Guilmant, Bruckner, and improvisations on Salve Regina. Ekaterina Fedorova, soprano, the founder of Plenum Vox Records, gave many concerts and recorded with him: Magnificats by Guilain, Dandrieu, Beauvarlet-Charpentier, and improvisations on the Dom Bédos organ at Saint-Croix Abbey Church in Bordeaux in 2002, and Burgundian Christmas carols, vocal works by Clérambault, and improvisations on the 1768 Bénigne Boillot organ in Saint-Jean-de-Losne in 2003.

At the end of each concert, Michel Chapuis improvised in a style that valorized the organ with a wide variety of registrations. In 2004, when he improvised at the end of his concert on Jean-François Muno’s exemplary reconstruction (1992–1998) of the 1694 Jean de Joyeuse organ at Auch Cathedral, he received a standing ovation that lasted for over ten minutes! During the last ten years of his life, even as his vision deteriorated, his luminous and graceful improvisations continued to enlighten his audiences. Many of them were recorded live by Plenum Vox: a 2003 DVD in the Royal Chapel in Versailles and in Souvigny, a 2004 CD in the Romantic style on the Cavaillé-Coll organs at Saint-Ouen and Poligny, and a 2005 DVD in the German Baroque style on Bernard Aubertin’s organ at Saint-Louis-en-l’Île Church in Paris. He had assimilated the early French repertory so well that he was capable of improvising in the style of each composer and each period. He knew how to discern the tonalities that resonated well on each organ: for example, C Major and D Major in Dole, and G Major at Saint-Séverin.

Michel Chapuis’ 2001 Plenum Vox recordings in Dole remind us that this organ remained the star that inspired him throughout his entire career. These three CDs illustrate his eclectic repertory on this versatile instrument with three faces: the German face (Buxtehude, Kellner, Rinck, with improvisations), the French face (Boyvin, Tapray, d’Aquin, Balbastre and improvisations on Ave Maris Stella), and the Romantic face (Mendelssohn, Czerny, Guilmant, Brosig, Boëllmann, and Franck).

In addition to being a pioneer who revolutionized the French organ world in the second half of the twentieth century, this great concert and liturgical organist and professor generously shared his time, knowledge, and documents with his colleagues, students, and friends. His conception of French good taste goes beyond time and space: it encourages us to memorialize the past, far beyond an idea of comfort and superficial rapidity, by embracing beauty with simplicity, constant research, meditation, and spiritual depth. In addition to his beautiful music, his humanistic and fraternal approach to life, his conviviality, his humble simplicity, as well as his liberty of spirit, will continue to inspire us.

 

A French-American organist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster was organist at the American Cathedral in Paris. In 1989, she was appointed titular of the Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at the Trinité Church and founded their weekly concert series. She has performed over 500 concerts in Europe and in the United States. She has also contributed articles to Revue de musicologie, La Flûte Harmonique, L’Orgue, Orgues Nouvelles, The American Organist, and The Diapason. Her recordings have been published by EMA, Ligia Digital, Schott, and Fugue State Films. In 2007, the French Cultural Minister awarded her the distinction of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. 

 

Notes

1. Cf. Marc Baumann, “Interview with Michel Chapuis in Marienthal,” transcribed by Hubert Heller, February, 2003, and in www.union-sainte-cecile.org.

2. Cf. Pierre M. Guéritey, Karl Joseph
Riepp et l’Orgue de Dole, 2 vol. (Lyon, FERREOL, 1985).

3. Cf. Jacques Gardien, “Les Grandes Orgues de la Collégiale de Dole,” L’Orgue, no. 25, March 1936, pp. 6–14.

4. Odette Goulon, her married name, was appointed organist at Temple du Luxembourg in Paris in 1991. The dates of organists in this article are mostly those found in Pierre Guillot, Dictionnaire des organistes français des XIX^e et XX^e siècles, Sprimont, Belgium, 2003.

5. Émile Poillot (1886–1948) was organist of Saint-Bénigne Cathedral, Dijon, 1912–1948.

6. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, Plein Jeu, Interviews with Michel Chapuis (Vendôme: Le Centurion, 1979), p. 34. The Germans occupied Dole from June 17, 1940, to September 9, 1944.

7. Marquis Bernard de Froissard (1884–1962) was an administrator of Société Cavaillé-Coll, Mutin, Convers, & Cie. 

8. Jeanne Marguillard was organist at Sainte-Madeleine Church, Besançon, 1947–1993.

9. Édouard Souberbielle (1899–1989) also taught at Schola Cantorum and at Institut Grégorien.

10. Paule Piédelièvre (1902–1964) studied piano with Blanche Selva and was organist at Étrangers Church.

11. Yves Margat contributed articles to Guide du Concert. 

12. René Malherbe (1898–1969) was organist and choir director at Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou Church.

13. Simone Villard (b. 1927) was appointed organist at Sainte-Radegonde Church in Poitiers in 1952.

14. Jean-Albert Villard (1920–2000) was organist at Poitiers Cathedral, 1949–2000.

15. Joseph Gélineau, SJ (1920–2000), was a Jesuit priest, composer, and French liturgist. 

16. Denise Chapuis (b. 1928). They had seven children: Jean-Marie (†), Claude (†), Bruno, Laurent (who worked with the harpsichord builder Anselm and the organbuilder Alain Sals), François, Claire (†) Christophe, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

17. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 58.

18. Jean-Marc Cicchero, Hommage à une Passion, Éd. O. V., 2018, p. 126. Erwin Muller had apprenticed with Schwenkedel, then as a voicer with Gonzalez. His shop was active in Croissy from 1950–1986.

19. Line Zilgien (1906–1954), organist there from 1940–1954, was close to Claire Delbos, Olivier Messiaen’s wife.

20. Claude Hermelin (1901–1986), began to study voicing in 1923 with Charles Mutin (cf. J.-M. Cicchero, op. cit., p. 64) and wrote articles under the alias Jean Mas.

21. Gabriel d’Alençon (1881–1956) restored the 17th-century organ in Rozay-en-Brie and was interested in temperaments. From 1936 to 1939, Claude Hermelin collaborated with him in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, and they gave courses in organbuilding at Schola Cantorum, Paris.

22. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., pp. 212–213.

23. Pierre Cochereau (1924–1984) was titular of the grand organ at Notre-Dame Cathedral, 1955–1984.

24. Pierre Moreau (1907–1991) played there, 1946–1986. Michel Chapuis wrote the preface to his Livre d’Orgue (Europart Music, 1990).

25. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 96.

26. Eugène Borrel (1876–1962), violinist and musicologist, L’Interprétation de la musique française (de Lully à la Révolution), Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, 1934, p. 150.

27. Jules Écorcheville (1872–1915), musicologist, wrote De Lulli à Rameau—L’esthétique musicale (Paris, 1906). 

28. Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume (1905–2000), Les secrets de la musique ancienne, recherches sur l’interprétation (Fasquelle, 1964).

29. Cf. Jesse Eschbach, “Marie-Claire Alain, pédagogue internationale,” Marie-Claire Alain, L’Orgue, Cahiers et Mémoires, no. 56, 1996—II, p. 59. She mentions that this concert took place in 1958, but this date needs to be verified.

30. Eugène Borrel, op cit., p. 150. 

31. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 98.

32. Nicole Gravet, L’orgue et l’art de la registration en France du XVI^e siècle au début du XIX^e siècle, originally published in 1960, it was reedited with a preface by Michel Chapuis, Chatenay Malabry, Ars Musicae, 1996.

33. In 1996, the European Organ Center in Marmoutier reedited Michel Chapuis’ interpretations of Böhm, Buxtehude, J. S. Bach, de Grigny, and Dandrieu on this organ.

34. Cf. his publications on French Classical music, 1661–1789: Dictionnaire d’interprétation (Initiation), (Honoré Champion, 1983) and L’Interprétation de la musique pour orgue (Honoré Champion, 1988); his early music facsimiles are edited by Anne Fuzeau. He teaches in the early music department at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris.

35. Philippe Hartmann (1928–2014) had apprenticed with Gutschenritter, worked three months for Gonzalez, for Émile Bourdon in Dijon, eight years for Pierre Chéron, collaborated with Georges Lhôte, with Jean Deloye from 1969–1975, worked independently at Le Havre in 1982, and as a voicer for Haerpfer.

36. In 1993, Daniel Birouste incorporated it into the organ at the Saint-Vincent Church in Roquevaire (Bouches-du-Rhône).

37. Cf. Yvette Carbou, Pierre Cochereau Témoignages (Zurfluh, 1999), p. 38.

38. Cf. Jean-Marc Cicchero, op. cit., pp. 104–105.

39. Father Lucien Aumont (1920–2014) lived in a tower of Saint-Séverin Church. From 1947 until 1987, he recorded concerts there and broadcast them in programs at Radio-France-INA.

40. He had been organist there from 1921 until 1960.

41. Cf. Félix Raugel, Les Grandes Orgues des Églises de Paris et du Département de la Seine, Paris, Fischbacher, pp. 100–102.

42. Jacques Marichal (1934–1987) was also choir organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral from 1964 to 1987.

43. Francis Chapelet (1934), a well-known specialist in Spanish organ music, is honorary organist at Saint-Séverin. 

44. The three actual titulars at Saint-Séverin are François Espinasse, Christophe Mantoux, and Véronique Le Guen.

45. John Abbey II (1843–1930).

46. In 1966, Philippe Hartmann built a choir organ (I/7) for Saint-Séverin. Roger Chapelet, Francis Chapelet’s father, painted its organ case.

47. L’Orgue, no. 112, Oct.–Dec.1964, p. 110.

48. François-Henri Houbart, Partita sur un choral dit Sanctus de Saint-Séverin (Delatour France, 2010).

49. Cantoral: UD 30 1299 and 5, UD 30 1385.

50. For a complete list of Michel Chapuis’ recordings, cf. Alain Cartayrade, www.france-orgue.fr/disque.

51. Cf. M. Tchebourkina. L’orgue de la Chapelle royale de Versailles: À la recherche d’une composition perdue // L’Orgue. Lyon, 2007. 2007–IV no. 280. She was organist at the Royal Chapel in Versailles 1996–2010.

52. Plenum Vox (PV 004) recorded a CD of Nivers, Lebègue, Couperin, Dandrieu, Marchand, and Lully there in 1999 and a DVD in 2003.

53. Bärenreiter published the first eight issues of their periodical, Renaissance de L’Orgue, from 1968 to 1970, followed by Connoissance de l’orgue, until 2000. At the end of the 1960s, Jean Fonteneau taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While in the Boston area, he promoted A. F. S. O. A. by organizing concerts and lectures at Saint Thomas in New York City and at Harvard University.

54. In May and June 1967, several articles appeared in the French newspaper Le Monde and L’Art Sacré. This restoration by Gonzalez was highly supervised by the A. F. S. O. A.
55. Cf. Michel Chapuis, notes in the Plenum Vox CD of the complete works of Jacques Boyvin in Auch, PV 011, 2004.

56. XCP Montpellier, recorded Michel Chapuis’ concert there on September 5, 1993: cf. www.france-orgue.fr/disque.

57. Jean Fellot (1905–1967) wrote À la recherche de l’orgue classique (reedited by Édisud in 1993).

58. This book was written by hand and printed by the author at Montoire-sur-le-Loir in 1977.

59. Cf. Pierre Chéron’s inventory in L’Orgue de Jean-Esprit et Joseph Isnard à la Basilique de la Madeleine à Saint-Maximin, 1774, prefaced by Michel Chapuis (Réalisation Art et Culture des Alpes-Maritimes, Nice, 1991).

60. According to Sister Marie-Emmanuelle, this organ had 31 manual stops and its pedal stops were borrowed. Curiously, its action was electro-pneumatic. One can hear Michel Chapuis’ improvisations on https://youtu.be/5u-0eR3BYko. This organ was integrated into a new 42-stop neo-classical organ by Olivier Chevron, inaugurated in the Abbey at Celles-sur-Belle (Charente-Maritime) on May 5, 2018.

61. Cf. Cathédral de Poitiers, 1787 à 1790, L’Orgue de François-Henri Clicquot (Direction of Cultural Affaires in Poitou-Charentes, 1994).

62. This CD also includes Harald Vogel in the Georgskirche.

63. He taught in Semur-en-Auxois with Odile Bayeux (organ), Blandine Verlet (harpsichord), Alain Anselm (harpsichord building), Philippe Hartmann (organbuilding) and Jean Saint-Arroman (French performance practice).

64. This festival was founded by Pierre Lacroix in 1974 under the musical direction of Jean-Patrice Brosse.

65. André Stricker (1931–2003) taught there, 1954–1996. He had studied with Helmut Walcha.

66. Marc Schaefer (b. 1934), a former André Stricker student, taught there until 2000.

67. Pierre Vidal (1927–2010), composer and musicographer, remained there until 1991.

68. Cf. Jean-Louis Coignet, “L’Orgue du Conservatoire de Strasbourg,” L’Orgue, no. 117, January–March 1966, p. 39.

69. Cf. Éric Lebrun article blog SNAPE: www.snape.fr/index.php/2017/11/13.

70. Cf. Eugène Borrel, op. cit., p. 148. 

71. Jean Saint-Arroman, “Authenticity,” in Dictionnaire d’interprétation (Initiation), Paris, Honoré Champion, 1983, p. 13.

72. Michel Bouvard was an auditor and studied with Chapuis at Saint-Séverin.

73. In 1999, Natives recorded the organ works of Claude Balbastre interpreted by Michel Chapuis and his student Marina Tchebourkina on the historic grand organ at Saint-Roch Church, Paris.

74. Cf. Roland Servais, “Ses mains étaient comme des racines,” Chronique des Moniales, Abbaye Notre-Dame du Pesquié, March 2018, pp. 25–27.

75. Cf. Pastor Claude Rémy Muess, “L’église luthérienne Saint-Thomas de Strasbourg retrouve son orgue Silbermann,” L’Orgue, no. 173, January–March 1980, pp. 5–11. 

76. Available at: Association Amis de l’orgue de Liverdun, 1, place des Armes, 54460 Liverdun, France.

Concours Internationaux de la Ville de Paris

Kenneth Matthews

Kenneth Matthews is Director of Music at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

The City of Paris 5th International Organ Competition took place June 1-9, 2004. The Paris Concours d'Orgue, which occurs biannually, has grown in importance each year. One reason for its popularity is no doubt the generous prize money:

Interpretation Competition

1st Grand Prize of the City of Paris: Euros: 9000

2nd Grand Prize, offered by the Academy of Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France: Euros: 6000

3rd Prize: Euros: 2500

Improvisation Competition

1st Grand Prize of the City of Paris (dedicated to the memory of Pierre Cochereau): Euros: 5000

Prize for the best performance of the 6th Concerto for Organ and Orchestra op. 68 of Jean Guillou (commissioned by Musique Nouvelle en Liberté), offered by the Academy of Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France: Euros: 1500

Prize for the meilleur espoir (most promising young artist), offered by SACEM: Euros:1500

Of the 250 organs in Paris, some 130 belong to the City of Paris itself, including many historically important and significant instruments. It was recognition of this great diversity and richness that led to the creation in 1994 of the first Concours d'Orgue, part of the series Concours Internationaux de la Ville de Paris. For the 5th Concours, 57 candidates applied to the recorded pre-selection elimination round, and 39 candidates of 17 nationalities were accepted for the Concours.

One of the principal characteristics of the Paris Concours is that each round of the competition is held on a different organ, the various organs being those most appropriate for the literature being played (for instance, Couperin at the Chapelle Royale, or Franck at Sainte-Clotilde). At the same time, candidates are required to adapt quickly to instruments that are often quite different from each other.

Members of the jury were Michel Chapuis, president, France; José Enrique Ayarra Jarne, Spain; Martin Haselböck, Austria; James Higdon, USA; François-Henri Houbart, France; Leo Krämer, Germany; Roman Perucki, Poland; Ville Urponen, Finland; Yang-Hee Yun, Korea.

For one reason or another, four candidates elected not to attend (one each from Australia, France, USA, and Korea). For the original round 33 interpretation candidates (three of whom were also improvisation candidates) and two more improvisation candidates (for a total of five improvisation candidates) participated, representing 17 countries.

First round of interpretation finals:

Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR

The initial interpretation elimination round was held at the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR on the rue de Madrid, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 1-2, and consisted of two movements of a Bach trio sonata, and one of the 11 Brahms chorale preludes. The organ at the Conservatoire is a three-manual of 32 stops built by the German builder Gerhard Grenzing working in Spain, and was completed in 1996. At the end of the second day, the jury selected nine candidates of the 33 (listed in order of performance). The playing was all of a high level of excellence, worthy of an international competition (although one or two candidates had an off day). Paolo Oreni (Italy) was the only candidate to play the required Bach and Brahms pieces from memory.

Douglas O'Neill, USA

Yevgenia Semeina, Russia

Kirsten Eberle, Germany

Ekaterina Kofanova, Belarus

Elke Eckerstorfer, Austria

Els Biesemans, Belgium

Ghislain Leroy, France

Henry Fairs, UK

Paolo Oreni, Italy

Second round of interpretation finals / First round of improvisation finals:

Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes

The second round of interpretation finals and the first round of improvisation finals began on Friday, June 4, at Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes. The church, in a Romano-Byzantine style with cupolas, was designed in the 1930s and completed in 1957. In the 1990s, the choir was redesigned according to Vatican II ideas, and a new organ incorporated in a new organ tribune. Following an international competition, the new organ was built in 1995 by Pascal Quoirin, who also designed the organ tribune. The organ contains 34 stops on three manuals of 56 notes and a pedal of 30 notes. The specification of the organ is described as “suitable for classical or baroque music.”

Candidates for both the second round of interpretation finals and the first round of improvisation finals were required to play two works of J. S. Bach: one of three Leipzig chorales, Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele, BWV 654; Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659; An Wasserflüssen Babylons, BWV 653; and either the “Dorian” Toccata, BWV 538, or Pièce d';Orgue, BWV 572, or ?Fugue in G Major, BWV 577.

The acoustic of the church is somewhat vast, and candidates were challenged in finding appropriate registrations. The chorale preludes were registered differently of course but every registration I heard was thoughtful and interesting. A preferred approach was accompaniment on an 8 ft. principal, with solos on various mutation combinations.

I found the pedal lightweight in effect except when the 16 ft. reed was engaged (which, when it occurred, was during the middle section of the Pièce d'Orgue), and I suppose it is characteristic of this style of instrument. The French seem to have arrived at a common denominator for a “Bach organ,” as evidenced by the organs at the Conservatoire and at Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes. It seems rather dated when one compares it to work in this country by such builders as Paul Fritts & Co., Richards, Fowkes & Co., or Taylor & Boody Organbuilders.

La Madeleine

The second round of interpretation finals continued on Saturday, June 5, at 8:00 pm at the Church of the Madeleine, home of Cavaillé-Coll's landmark organ of 1841-46. Containing 48 stops on four manuals and pedal, the organ remained more or less intact until 1971, when the firm of Danion-Gonzalez electrified the action and recast the organ in a neo-classic form. Since 1988, organbuilder Bernard Dargassies has made some changes in order to return more closely to the original sound. Recently, he added a chamade, “a stop planned for but not included in the original organ.”

For this round, candidates selected pieces by two composers from the following list of works:

Marcel Dupré

Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, op. 7;

Symphonie Passion (first movement, Le Monde dans l'attente du Sauveur)

Symphonie Passion (second movement, La Nativité)

Evocation (Final)

Cortège et Litanie

Louis Vierne

2nd Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro)

2nd Symphonie (2nd movement, Choral)

3rd Symphonie (Finale)

4th Symphonie (4th movement, Romance)

4th Symphonie (Finale)

Charles-Marie Widor

5th Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro vivace)

5th Symphonie (2nd movement, Allegro cantabile)

6th Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro)

Symphonie gothique (2nd movement, Andante sostenuto)

Symphonie romane (3rd movement, Cantilène)

From these required pieces, we heard quite a bit of the Dupré Evocation, the Cortège et Litanie, and the first movement of the Widor 5th Symphonie. So some of the less frequently chosen pieces took on a bit of added interest: Els Biesemans's playing of the Dupré La Nativité; Ghislain Leroy';s Dupré F-Minor Prelude & Fugue, and then the last two players, Henry Fairs and Paolo Oreni, who offered contrasting versions of the Andante sostenuto of Widor's Symphonie gothique.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

The first improvisation series took place on Sunday, June 6, at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Improvisation candidates were given a theme, a response for the Office of Tierce (“Inclina cor meum Deus in tabernacula tua”) and asked to improvise a triptych lasting around fifteen minutes. Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is famous for being the church of the Duruflés and the 1956 Beuchet-Debierre, which Duruflé had built for his tonal ideas. (The organ, rebuilt by Victor Gonzalez in 1975 and then by Bernard Dargassies in 1991, is the fourth largest organ in Paris, with 83 stops on 4 manuals and pedal).

None of the candidates had any problem treating the theme (or at least the head of it, which is what most of them used) for 15 minutes and using a wide variety of registrations and improvisation skills. However, only one of them, Noël Hazebroucq, was able to communicate (to my listening skills, at any rate) the stated requirement of a triptych. It was almost as if the other players were unwilling to quit playing for even a moment in order to clearly delineate sections of their improvisation. I suppose it would be possible to have a triptych where the sections flow into each other (I am thinking of the Adagio and Choral variations of the Duruflé Veni Creator, which are connected without pause; even so, the diminuendo to a single stop, followed by the plainsong statement on principal choruses, serves as a marker between the two sections). As a result, with the other players, it was not possible to say where sections might have been. One player, for instance, began an adagio on flutes, progressed to fonds, played a mf statement of the theme in canon, followed by a slow crescendo to ff reeds, with the plainsong theme in the pedal, followed by a decrescendo to Gemshorn Celeste plus 32' with quick decorated bits of the theme, followed by a crescendo to fonds, then staccato reeds, then a vivace section on swell reeds, followed by a short toccata figure, followed by a chordal full organ statement of the theme.

Hazebroucq, by contrast, began with a scherzo with the theme in canon, followed by a quick outburst on tutti, followed by the original scherzo with theme in canon, again followed by a short outburst on tutti. Section two began with flutes and bits of the theme, colored by high bell effects; followed by fugal bits on fonds and reeds, then an ornamented version of the head of the theme in dialogue on the cromorne and clarinet stops. The third section began with fast statements on the theme, and subsided into bits on the theme on various piano stop combinations.

Following the improvisation round at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the candidates for the Finale were announced; for interpretation: Els Biesemans, Belgium; Henry Fairs, UK; Ghislain Leroy, France; Paolo Oreni, Italy; and for improvisation: Noël Hazebroucq, France; Robert Houssart, The Netherlands.

Finale

Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles

The first round of the Finale was held at the Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles on Monday, June 7, at 2:30 pm. Interpretation candidates were required to play:

François Couperin, extracts from the Messe pour les Paroisses:

Plain Chant du premier Kyrie, en taille

Dialogue sur les trompettes et tierces du Grand Clavier et le bourdon avec le larigot du Positif

4th couplet, Tierce en taille

6th couplet, Offertoire sur les Grands jeux

or

Nicolas de Grigny, extracts from La Messe:

Premier Kyrie en taille, à 5, qui renferme le chant du Kyrie

Cromorne en taille à 2 parties

Trio en dialogue

Dialogue sur les Grands jeux

or

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Suite du deuxième ton:

Plein Jeu

Duo

Trio

Basse de cromorne

Flûtes

Récit de nasard

Caprice sur les Grands jeux

The organ case at the Chapelle Royale at Versailles originally contained a Robert Clicquot. This organ was rebuilt in turn by Louis-Alexandre and then François-Henri Clicquot, then by Dallery, Abbey, and Cavaillé-Coll, before being replaced in 1938 by an organ by Gonzalez. It took until the end of the 20th century to recreate the famous Clicquot, work entrusted to the builders Boisseau and Cattiaux. The present specification comprises 37 stops on three manuals and a pedalboard à la française. Its tuning (A=415) refers to the time of Louis XIV, and the temperament is meantone. Some of the most famous of French organists have been named to the Chapelle Royale: Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Nicolas Lebègue, Louis Marchand, Jean-François Dandrieu, François Couperin. The current organist is Michel Chapuis.

For the round at Versailles, Biesemans and Oreni played the required Couperin pieces, while Fairs and Leroy played the required de Grigny pieces. (Due to a missed train connection, I had to listen to Ms. Biesemans through the door.) It was interesting hearing the subtle differences between two players, each playing the same literature.

Basilique-Sainte-Clotilde

The second round of the Finale was held at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde on Tuesday, June 8: first that for interpretation, then for improvisation on the very famous organ of the basilica, built originally by Cavaillé-Coll for César Franck. At the moment, it seems impossible to consider the sound of the organ at Sainte-Clotilde apart from recent developments there. I was quite surprised to discover that the console of the organ at Sainte-Clotilde had been relocated from one of the most celebrated of organ tribunes to the choir balcony. Also, according to Les Orgues de Paris (Paris: Délégation à l'Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris, [c. 1991]) and descriptions I have seen of the stoplist, the organ at Sainte-Clotilde has 61 stops. The official handbook of the Concours d'Orgue 2004, published under the signature of M. Jacques Taddei (M. Taddei is the current titulaire of Sainte-Clotilde), describes the organ as having 68 stops. It appears that stops are in the process of being added. (One wonders what they are and if they are there yet.) The work is being done by organbuilder Bernard Dargassies.

The Sainte-Clotilde organ sounds different from the neo-classic 1962 Langlais rebuild of the organ. The Récit seems louder, both the Hautbois and the Trompette sounding considerably louder than before. The Hautbois no longer “disappears” beneath the fonds of the organ, as had been the case, robbing the organ of an effect with which generations of organists had been familiar. The volume of the Récit Trompette seems equally upset, more definitively coloring every registration with which it is used. Now the Positif seems frequently louder than the Grand-Orgue, and the movement from Positif to Grand-Orgue is either minimized (fonds) or seems actually inverted (reeds).

Interpretation candidates were required to play:

any one of the three Chorals of César Franck

and one of the following:

Jehan Alain: Scherzo (Suite)

Maurice Duruflé: Scherzo

Jean Langlais: Arabesque sur les flûtes (Suite française)

Olivier Messiaen: Alleluias sereins d';une âme qui désire le ciel (L';Ascension)

Els Biesemans played the second Choral and the Duruflé Scherzo. Henry Fairs played the first Choral and the Messiaen Alleluias sereins. Paolo Oreni played the second Choral and the Messiaen Alleluias sereins. Ghislain Leroy played the third Choral and the Duruflé Scherzo.

The playing was quite good, even if the organ left something to be desired. One wished for more expressive playing in the Franck from virtually all the players (the exception being Oreni, who phrased very musically). Players were less than scrupulous in following the various crescendi and decrescendi, which are so important to Franck's music. It was interesting hearing the paired linkings of the Duruflé and the Messiaen. I regretted not having had the opportunity to hear Jean Langlais's Arabesque sur les flûtes at Sainte-Clotilde.

Next followed the section for improvisation. Candidates were given a literary text for their improvisation at Sainte-Clotilde: verses from the Apocryphal Prayer of Azariah, additions to the book of Daniel between 3:23 and 3:24. The verses were not in strict order and I was only able to note verse numbers, but the following is a close if perhaps not exact English version of the text given to the improvisation candidates:

52 Let the earth bless the Lord: let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever

37 Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord . . .

60 . . . all people on earth . . .

43 . . . all you winds . . .

44 . . . fire and heat . . .

45 . . . winter cold and summer heat . . .

47 . . . nights and days . . .

56 . . . you springs . . .

57 . . . you whales and all that swim in the waters . . .

52 Let the earth bless the Lord: let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

Noël Hazebroucq and Robert Houssart approached the text from different viewpoints. Hazebroucq, who was first, chose not to approach the text as an opportunity for tone painting, but as the basis for an improvisation with many sections of contrasting effects, linked by a disjunct 4-note motif, closing with a very busy few minutes at the end where all creation seemed to be called to praise. In his improvisation, Houssart seemed to be trying to reflect the various text passages (vivace swell flutes for the angels, ascending and descending chordal passages for the winds, etc).

Saint-Eustache

Wednesday, June 9 found us at Saint-Eustache for the required performances of Jean Guillou's 6th Organ Concerto, opus 68, commissioned by the Concours under the aegis of Musique Nouvelle en Liberté. The administration of the Concours had decided, before the Concours began, to make a cut in the Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (in the interests of time, it was said) of a little less than 200 measures out of a total of 413 measures. Hence, what we heard was a portion of the work Guillou composed. The orchestra was that of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR under the direction of Pierre-Michel Durand; the orchestra and M. Durand also participated in the final concert of laureates Wednesday evening, when the organ concerto was heard one more time.

We heard the two improvisation candidates, Hazebroucq and Houssart, perform the concerto first. As improvisation candidates, they were required to insert two (the entire score called for three) cadenzas. These were followed by the four interpretation candidates, who were required to perform a cadenza written by Guillou.

The organ at Saint-Eustache, built by the Dutch firm Van den Heuvel, with 101 stops on five keyboards and a pedalboard, is the third largest in the City of Paris (after Notre-Dame, 112 stops, and Saint-Sulpice, 102 stops). Van den Heuvel may be Dutch, but the plan sonore of the organ is unquestionably French. All candidates played the console placed in the nave, with its electrical transmission.

Again, the playing was of a uniformly high level. What was interesting (albeit somewhat fatiguing) was six sequential hearings of the same piece: each player managed to bring some personal approach to the piece, even though the broad registrational outlines were indicated. Some elected for a slightly smaller, chamber approach (if one can approach 101 stops as any sort of chamber instrument!), while others used the full declamatory powers of the massive tutti with its five 32 ft. stops.

About 4:30 pm we heard the last required performance. Those attending were invited to either remain or return at 8:00 pm for the awarding of the prizes and a concert by the laureates. I suspect most of us elected to retire to various bars and cafés to pass the time.

Awarding of prizes and concert of laureates

Saint-Eustache, 8:00 pm

First, the members of the jury were presented to the audience by Michel Chapuis, the president of the jury. Following the presentation of the jury, the prizes were awarded.

The SACEM prize for meilleur espoir (most promising young artist) was awarded by the jury to the 21-year-old Russian organist Yevgenia Semeina.

The jury also awarded a "Special Mention" to Italian organist Paolo Oreni.

Third prize for interpretation was awarded to 25-year-old Els Biesemans of Belgium. Second prize for interpretation went to 28-year-old Henry Fairs of the United Kingdom. First prize for interpretation was won by 22-year-old Ghislain Leroy of France.

First prize for improvisation (dedicated to Pierre Cochereau) was awarded to 24-year-old Noël Hazebroucq of France.

The jury also awarded a “Special Mention” to Robert Houssart.

The prize for best interpretation of the 6th Concerto for Organ and Orchestra went to Henry Fairs.

Following the awarding of the prizes, we heard a concert of the laureates. Noël Hazebroucq was given two themes for improvisation: the Salve Regina, and Salut à la mère de la miséricorde. Ghislain Leroy played the Duruflé Scherzo, followed by the first movement, allegro vivace, of the Widor 5th Symphonie.

The concert was then to conclude with Henry Fairs and the orchestra of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR, under the direction of Pierre-Michel Durand, in the seventh (abbreviated) performance of the day of the Guillou Concerto for Organ and Orchestra.

While the orchestra was assembling for the performance, Jean Guillou, organiste titulaire of Saint-Eustache, took advantage of the opportunity to extend a welcome to Saint-Eustache, and to speak for a moment about the concerto he had been commissioned to write. He said that he had not been asked about the substantial cut the administration had elected to make in his piece. He pointed out that he had fulfilled the terms of the commission regarding the length of the piece. Since something like half of the piece was omitted, he pointed out that it was not the concerto that he had written that we were hearing, but rather a “denatured” (or perhaps “diluted”) version. He did not wish any of the candidates any ill will, but felt compelled to make his objections known.

M. Jacques Taddei, the director of the Concours, attempted to explain the reasons for the modification, but his remarks were met with booing. In spite of this, Henry Fairs, Pierre-Michel Durand, and the orchestra of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR presented the seventh (abbreviated) and last performance of the day of the Guillou Concerto for Organ and Orchestra to general acclaim.

So ended nine days of one of the most interesting of competitions (although one not unmarked by strife and controversy), and the opportunity to hear many of the most gifted young organists of the present day.