The making of Lemare Affair IV

Lemare

Pamela Ruiter-Feenstra  is Associate Professor of Music & University Organist at Eastern Michigan University.

The University of Michigan's 38th Annual Conference on Organ Music took place October 11-13, 1998. The conference began with three consecutive organ degree recitals performed in Hill Auditorium by U of M graduate students David Hufford, Edward Maki-Schramm, and Jeffrey Blersch. Hufford performed the Ann Arbor premiere of William Albright's Flights of Fancy and dedicated the performance to the memory of Albright, who had coached him on the piece.

Paul Collins, Organist of Holy Cross Church in Dublin, Ireland, began the October 12 morning session with a lecture entitled, "The North German Organ School--Diligent Fantasy Makers?" Collins presented the concept of stylus phantasticus by making comparisons in North German repertoire and by discussing the treatises of 17th-century Athanasius Kircher and 18th century Johann Mattheson. He then played a recital of North German organ works (Scheidemann, Hasse, Weckmann, Ritter, Buxtehude, Böhm, Bruhns) on the Fisk Silbermann-style organ in Blanche Anderson Moore Hall at the School of Music.

The afternoon session featured a concert of music by composer Daniel Pinkham, who also delivered a lecture, "Reflections on Composing for the Organ." Pinkham provided humorous anecdotes from his career, and urged other composers to be attentive to and specific about sound character. He suggested giving general registrations such as soft flute or aggressive reed to accommodate different instruments and settings.

The final afternoon event spotlighted U of M graduate students (Stephen J. Warner, Scott Hanoian, Hae-Jin Kim, Jeremy Tarrant, Noriko Ernst, Jeffrey Blersch, and David Hufford) in an organ recital followed by a reception. As a prelude to the evening recitals, Todd Fair, acting University Carillonist at the University of Michigan, and Dennis Curry, Associate Organist and Carillonist, Kirk in the Hills, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, each performed a carillon recital at Burton Tower. Both recitals included works by Daniel Pinkham.

James Kibbie was the featured faculty recitalist on Monday evening. His program included the Tournemire Cinq Improvisations, William Albright's Sweet Sixteenths (in tribute to the late composer), and a series of pieces based on Christmas tunes (Gigout, Rhapsody on Noëls; Purvis, Greensleeves; Milford, Pastoral Dance on "On Christmas Night"), which are featured on his CD recording, Merrily on Hill: Christmas Organ Music at Hill Auditorium.

A substantial component of the conference, the Sixth Annual Jean & Broadus Staley Hymn-Playing Competition, was held on October 13 on the Wilhelm organ at First Congregational Church. The finalists selected from the first round on October 10 included Jeremy Chesman, David Henning, Shawn McDonald, Richard Schneider, Joy Schroeder, and Rose van Mersbergen. Each of the finalists was required to perform two hymns and one repertoire piece. David Henning was named first prize winner.

Irene Greulich, concert organist in Naumburg, Germany, lectured on the pipe organs of Zacharias Hildebrandt, highlighted by details of the Naumburg organ restored by Hildebrandt. The two recitals on Tuesday afternoon featured music of Bach. Greulich performed the A-minor Concerto, chorales from Clavierübung III and from the Leipzig chorales, the B-minor Prelude and Fugue, and the Passacaglia on the Wilhelm organ at First Congregational Church. Harpsichordist Edward Parmentier performed Bach's Partita IV in D, BWV 828, and the Rameau Suite in E/e.

Marilou Kratzenstein presented a lecture, "Movable Feast: Mexico's Processional Organs," relating Mexican culture, history, and her travel experiences related to recent research. She acknowledged Susan Tattershall's collaboration in her research. Visually and aurally colorful and spontaneous, the processional organs reveal a new dimension to the vast possibilities available on a single manual divided stop instrument.

Topping off the conference was Thomas Trotter's recital Tuesday evening at Hill Auditorium, which included Bach, Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542; Howells, Master Tallis' Testament; Parry, Fantasia and Fugue in G; Schumann, Two Canons, Op. 56, Nos. 4 & 5; Liszt, Fantasia and Fugue on BACH; Lemare, Rondo Capriccio; and Prokofiev, Toccata for Piano, arr. Guillou.

Thanks to the organizers of the conference, U of M professors Marilyn Mason, Robert Glasgow, James Kibbie, and Michele Johns, and to the presenters for a successful conference.

Bill Halsey was born in Seattle, where he studied piano and composition from an early age, and began organ lessons in his teens. While a student at the Sorbonne, he had access to the two-manual unmodified tracker-action Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint Bernard de la Chapelle, in a northern arrondissement of Paris. This fueled his interest in historic organs, and after spending fifteen years serving in organist positions at St. John Cantius, St. Peter Claver, Church of the Assumption, and the Basilica of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, all in Brooklyn, New York, he took a permanent leave of absence to explore historic organs, first in France, and later in Italy.

After living in Italy, I had the
opportunity to go to Egypt to study Arabic. I had always been fascinated by Arabic literature and music, as well as the prayer chants that are so much a part of life in the Moslem world. They are similar to Gregorian chant and synagogue chanting, and remind me of the days when I was 17 and singing in a Gregorian chant choir. You can tell time by the call to prayer, and what’s especially nice is the antiphonal effect from different mosques “going off” at slightly different moments.

All Saints’ Cathedral, Cairo
I found a job playing organ for the English Mass at the Anglican All Saints’ Cathedral of Egypt and the Horn of Africa, working primarily with the English chaplain, Father Mike. The cathedral is a modern concrete monolith, the interior all open and designed to have the upturned folds of a Bedouin tent. The organ is placed high in a rear gallery, and benefits from good acoustics. All Saints’ dates from 1988 and was a replacement for the old cathedral in Tahrir Square, built in 1938 but torn down in the 1980s to make way for one of the ubiquitous Cairo freeways.
I was immediately struck by the quality of the organ, which I was told came from the old cathedral but seemed even older than 70 years, more like at least 100 years old. It was a small two-manual tracker action, everything—console, pipes, bellows, windchest—contained in a rather plain-looking wooden framework. It had a nameplate, Bevington and Sons, but no date or opus number, and was in remarkably good condition for its age. It reminded me of small Italian organs, but lacked the most minimal solo stop like Vox Humana that even the smallest Italian organ has. However, the quality of the Open Diapason and the principal chorus on the Great make it quite serviceable for a wide variety of organ music. The Swell division, as often happens even in much bigger organs, is too weak to compete with the Great.
In summer I took a trip to Italy. I had plans to do a concert with a violinist friend in Ostuni. The violinist specializes in Hispanic music and we were going to perform, among other pieces, a violin and piano partita I had written on songs by Luz Celenia Tirado, one of Puerto Rico’s most famous composers. However, the concert, through a series of unfortunate events, was endlessly delayed and then didn’t come about, and I finally returned to Cairo at the end of September.
Father Mike gave me my job back, which rather surprised me, since I had been absent so long, and he also excitedly informed me that two Belgian organbuilders had visited the organ while I was gone. They were going to come back, do a complete cleaning and tuning, and there would also be two recitals and a masterclass with an organist from Belgium. I was pretty surprised by this, thinking Cairo cut off from the world of organbuilders and masterclasses. He said the work was financed by a foundation, which I found out later was called Ktesibios, after the Alexandrian inventor of the hydraulus organ; they worked on Egyptian organs in exchange for accommodations and the cost of their airfare. The reason for their visit also included presenting the renovation they had been doing on the organ at the Basilica of Heliopolis, with a concert and masterclass by the same organist from Belgium.
I had never seen an organ dismantled, cleaned, and tuned, and the two organbuilders, Gerard Pels and Filip Willems, had asked for a helper, so I volunteered for the job. The two couldn’t have been nicer or more informative about the progress of the work. We took out all the pipes except the heaviest façade pipes; several pipes were missing, which led to a call to their firm in Belgium to see if the factory could supply the required small pipes.
During the work, I learned a number of very interesting things about an organ I thought I knew well. Gerard Pels, who besides being president of the Ktesibios Foundation is also the head of Pels Orgelbouw, an organbuilding company his family has operated for generations, had also come to the conclusion that this organ was more than 70 years old. Research was done, leading to the discovery that the organ came from another All Saints Church that predated the old cathedral, and that the organ was probably built around 1900. But alterations had been made, whose date is not altogether clear; for example, a stop was added, a Mixture on the Great, on electric action. Moreover, the whole pedal register, 16′, 8′, and 4′, is a unit rank on electric action. The history of this pedal stop is unclear, whether it existed in the original organ, or was simply added at some point, perhaps in 1938 to give more gravitas to the organ. The Mixture, in Pels’s opinion, was added for the new cathedral to give the organ a more Baroque sound.
One of the most interesting things I learned concerned the Swell, which includes 8′ 4′ 2′ flutes and a Larigot, and is quite weak because there is no diapason. But, during the dismantling, Gerard Pels was quite surprised to discover that the 2′ flute had the scale not of a flute but of a diapason, causing it to overbalance the 8′ and 4′ stops. Since the weakness of the Swell came from the fact it lacked a diapason chorus, this led me to consider playing melodies on the Swell down an octave, to mimic at least a 4′ diapason. This also gives the effect of having a 16′ on the Swell, which is very useful.
The work was limited by the time frame, only two days, and the pipes were cleaned and put back, and a few problems were fixed—most importantly, replacing a broken pipe on the Great Octave, and repairing a broken tracker on the Swell. The missing pipes were replaced by pipes from Pels Orgelbouw, some from the 18th century, brought to Cairo by Gerard Pels’s 84-year-old mother.
The organist from Belgium, Pieter Van de Welde, titular of the organ at the Antwerp cathedral, chose to do all Baroque works for both his noon and evening concerts. At noon he played Bach’s “St. Anne” Prelude in E-flat and a fugue by C. P. E. Bach; he went on to skillfully demonstrate the whole gamut of different stops with various chorale preludes and trio sonatas by Bach. In the evening he played, among other works, pieces by Buxtehude and Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor. I had really never heard the organ from downstairs played by a professional, and was impressed not only by the massive power it had in the big tutti but also the strength of just a single diapason.
The masterclass, which came between the two concerts, was a little strange. A number of people who played at other Cairo churches came just to watch and ask questions, and a few young people tried out piano pieces on the organ, but I was the only organist to actually play organ pieces, Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in G major. Pieter Van de Welde gave me some very useful tips and corrected some mistakes I was making.

Heliopolis Basilica
The city of Heliopolis was built in the early 20th century as a new modern development by the Belgian Baron Empain, who constructed churches and mosques for the new neighborhood, including the Catholic basilica for the large foreign Catholic community. There is something of a mystery about the organ itself. It was installed in 1914 by Theofiel Boeckx, an apprentice of Gerard Pels’s great grandfather, but there is debate about the actual builder. The nameplate reads Theophile Boech, Facteur, 10 mars 1914, but Gerard Pels found evidence inside the organ that some of the parts or pipes were made in Georges Cloetens’s factory.
Theofiel Boeckx’s name on the organ was, however, the inspiration for the Ktesibios Foundation. Raymond Batroussi, the basilica organist until recently, when he left Egypt for Canada, had asked Gerard Pels to take him on as an apprentice organbuilder and restorer in Belgium, but he couldn’t get a visa for Belgium. He did, however, arrange for Pels to visit the Heliopolis Basilica and see the organ, to give him advice about restoring it. When Pels saw the organ and the nameplate, he was intrigued by the family connection. He realized the restoration would be a delicate affair, so decided to found the Ktesibios Foundation to fund his own involvement in the project. Pels’s blog, <http://www.ktesi bios.eu/ktesibios emails.html>, provides a good history of the restoration, done in November 2009. It’s in Dutch, but Google translate provides an adequate English version.
Apparently one of the major problems was the wind system, an unusual and novel system. Pels and his coworkers had to order a new blower from Belgium and solve problems in order to reduce the noise of the system and make it more efficient. The organ has three manuals, and the third, which is devoted solely to a type of reed organ, remains unusable because the workers didn’t have the equipment in Egypt to repair it.
This time the masterclass took place the day before the concert, and was even stranger than the masterclass at All Saints’. Again, I was the only one to play real organ music. There were a few kids doing piano pieces, but Pieter Van de Welde understandably seemed in a hurry to start preparing for the next day’s concert. The concert at the basilica, a presentation of the restored organ, was going to be a very prestigious affair. Susan Mubarak, the wife of the Egyptian president, was coming. The Belgian ambassador and a big group from the embassy would be there. The Ktesibios Foundation had even sold tours from Belgium, including the pyramids with the concert, for 890 Euros a head!
On Friday, security was tight, and the concert started over an hour late because Mrs. Mubarak was late. The church, which seats about 500, was filled to bursting. Mr. Van de Welde performed a mostly lightweight program starting with Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D minor, ending with Widor’s Toccata; in the middle were Verdi’s Triumphal March from Aida and other softer pieces, such as Flor Peeters “Oh God, thou faithful God,” and Aalaiki’ssalaam by Naji Hakim. It’s fair to say the soft pieces worked best. The diapason chorus on this organ seems quite weak. To get any power, Van de Welde had to use a really annoying 16′ Trombone on the Pedal that drowned out the manuals. 1914 was a strange era in organbuilding; many builders, including very prestigious firms, were trying innovations that didn’t really work. The emphasis was on symphonic stops with fancy names and this led to neglect of the basic diapason chorus or the 8′ and 16′ foundations that are so important for the Romantic repertoire.
In December I was hired to play the basilica carol service and formed a more nuanced view of this organ. Obviously, any true evaluation of it must wait for a complete restoration that includes the reed organ on the third manual, which may make up for the lack of solo reed stops—clarinet or oboe—on the organ. The Positif to Grand Orgue coupler is not at present usable because when it is engaged there is a cipher. The most usable solo stop is the Grand Orgue Viola di Gamba. The trumpets on the Grand Orgue and Positif are not really solo stops; they are the reeds that in the French system make up the Grand Jeu. The organ in many ways seems like a collection of spare parts—but over the course of a day and half of rehearsal and the carol concert, where I accompanied not only singers but also a flautist and violinist, I began to realize that this organ has a lot of good elements; it’s just necessary to find out where they are and how to use them.
But the cathedral organ is undeniably a better instrument. The moral of this story is that bigger isn’t necessarily better. The cathedral organ has no reeds or solo stops, but the strength of its foundation stops means it is suitable, with creativity, for a wide variety of solo music, while perhaps really being optimal, and certainly designed primarily, for accompanying Anglican choral music and chanting. That said, the basilica organ has many interesting capabilities that would take more time to explore and recognize.

Bevington organ at All Saints’ Anglican Cathedral, Zamalek, Cairo

GREAT
8′ Open Diapason
8′ Hohl Flute
4′ Principal
2′ Octave
Mixture II

SWELL
8′ Lieblich Gedeckt
4′ Flute
2′ Flageolet
11⁄3′ Larigot

PEDAL
16′ Bourdon
8′ Bass Flute
4′ Octave Flute

Couplers
Swell to Great
Great to Pedal
Swell to Pedal

Heliopolis Basilica

GRAND ORGUE
16′ Bourdon
8′ Montre
8′ Flute Harmonique
8′ Viola di Gamba
8′ Bourdon
8′ Quintatön
4′ Prestant
4′ Flute Harmonique
2′ Doublette
Mixture II
Cornet V, starts at middle C
8′ Trompettetuba

POSITIF
8′ Diapason
8′ Flute Harmonique
8′ Salicional
8′ Voix céleste
6′ Quinte
4′ Violine
4′ Eoline
4′ Flute echo
2′ Flageolet
8′ Trompette Harmonique

PEDAL
16′ Contrebasson
8′ Octavebasse
16′ Trombone

Couplers and expression pedals:
Octave aiguë sur Grand Orgue
Tirasse au Positif
Tirasse au Grand Oruge
Positif au Grand Orgue
Crescendo
Tremolo
Vibrato
Playing aids, fixed combinations: Piano, Mezzoforte, Tutti, General Cancel.

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

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

GRAND-ORGUE

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

POSITIF

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

RÉCIT

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

PÉDALE

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

Pédales de Combinaisons

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

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

GRAND-ORGUE

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

POSITIF

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

RÉCIT

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

PÉDALE

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

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

Conclusion

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

Translation of French terms:

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

Martin Pasi, Organbuilder, held an open house December 18, 2005 in his Roy, Washington shop to showcase the new organ for Church of the Ascension, Dallas, Texas. Opus 16 is an innovative and well-proportioned instrument of two manuals and pedal that features a full ensemble, including Cornet stops on the main division, with a rich palette of accompanimental stops on the secondary manual.

Susan Ferré was consultant for the project and demonstrated the organ at the open house. These events are well received in the Seattle-Tacoma area, and Ms. Ferré became well known and much admired for her role on the organ faculty of Pacific Lutheran University, following the untimely death of James Halloway several years ago.

A special treat for those who attended the open house was the presentation of a magnificent antique Italian organ of six stops, built by Domenico Traeri of Bologna and dated 1742. Martin Pasi and a former associate Robert Wech restored the organ to playing condition so that its antique characteristics remain charming and musical in every way. The two organs were in separate rooms in the Pasi shop, so that visitors could listen to formal demonstrations or try the organs out for themselves. This was a musical treat indeed! Martin Pasi set up the open house as an informal affair, and people were encouraged to try the organs whenever they were available. Music was provided and the afternoon event featured music on both organs, non-stop.

There is nothing quite so fine as a musical afternoon in a pipe organ shop, and this event seemed to top them all. All the Pasi organs can be investigated in detail at and photos for this open house can be downloaded at
.

—Herbert L. Huestis


GREAT
16' Bourdon
8' Principal
8' Suavial
8' Rohrfloete
4' Octave
4' Spitzfloete
3' Quint
2' Octave
13?5' Tierce
Mixture IV


SWELL
8' Gamba
8' Celeste
8' Bourdon
4' Principal
2' Gemshorn
16' Bassoon
8' Trumpet


PEDAL
16' Subbass (Gt)
8' Octave (Gt)
16' Bassoon (Sw)
8' Trumpet (Sw)



Normal Couplers

Tremulant

Compass 58/30