Very well said. As a French, I couldn't agree more, even though the ugliness of the vestments is disappointing.

Well said. When they started the Totus Tuus I cried. Gave me chills. The te deum was a delight too.

I confess I was irked when the France24 commentators described President Macron as the “‘owner’ (as it were) going to visit his property”. I had to sigh; the world ransomed the cathedral back for 800 million dollars. But Davido is right: it is a stunning thing to think that the same republic that once defiled the temple led the charge to see it restored. May our Lady have mercy upon France for it too.

i loved the music, the organ improvs, the archbishop's chanting, the single announcer of the general intercessions, and, yes, the colorful vestments.

This is rather typically French; I've unfortunately run into it myself. I've never encountered it in the US, where it's all sung or it's all recited.

Americans don't understand this but yes the "state" is the owner of the churches built before 1906. You need to know French history.

No, I don't. I lived in France for a time. (Paris, specifically.)

My point is that it was a gross injustice that the apostate state stole all the Church's property. So yes, on paper, the french govt. does own the church, but my point was that it should not be so, and if anything, the 800 mil in donations from around the world which paid to rebuild it from ruin, ransomed the cathedral back on behalf of all catholics.

The organ of Notre-Dame resonates in the cathedral, for the first time since the 2019 fire

https://youtu.be/CLLFxQhWmeY

because if they don't raise money, the organs are left to rot, because the state wont fix them.

Because France is basically broke. The state was better at one time but now its really bad. They are dealing with many of the same problems that the US is/will deal with. Personally, I am thankful for all the money given to repair Notre Dame or repair the organ in Reims or even my wife's little town church organ of Halluin in the north. They do what they need to do. And the state does what it can. The present cathedral of Bordeaux is struggling to raise money to repair the organ becuase the state cannot do so. It did not help that NDdeP was getting a lot of money.

I didn’t see anyone holding a program

Does anyone know who composed the setting of the Litany of Saints?

PDFs of the reopening Vespers and inaugural Mass

and, yes, the colorful vestments.

really… truly?

Assumption, Nashville TN.

@francis totally agree with you- those vestments are horrible. Its not that it needed to be fiddleback or Neri etc... but come on, thats horrible. This is why fashion designers (https://aleteia.org/2024/12/05/top-french-designer-created-new-vestments-for-notre-dame) shouldnt be designing vestments, please just leave it to Nuns next time.

Apparently they plan to remove all the stain glass windows and replace with modern ones (https://www.ncregister.com/cna/new-stained-glass-windows-at-notre-dame)

Poor Mary.

Olivier Latry, one of the 4 titulaires, was very dismissive of the criticism of the improvisations and was angered by the responses. One has to know that his work is very stylistic and you know it when you hear it.

As an organist, Latry can go pretty far out there and does not hesitate. His argument is that this is the French tradition of improvisation. For me, its "his" style. Sometimes its wonderful, sometimes it simply bizarre. I just heard him on the new Cathedral organ in Richmond,VA and his improvisations were edgey but nice. And his repertory work is stunning. The man has more technique than all of us and can use it. He also understands the various traditions of style. He is more than capable.

Were the improvisations off the wall? Many of his colleagues in France don't say. But I know a few were appalled. But they will not say publicly. So, the organ world is not of one of unity on the question. Does that surprise you? It should not. Latry and his confreres at NDdeP are some of the finest in France. But personally, I will be glad to hear an improvisation from Phillipe Lefebrve, the one who is no longer there, anyday over Latry. He is of a different generation and in my mind one of the greats, after Cochereau or Daniel Roth or even Naji Hakim, who is more or less the same generation as Latry.

One needs to understand that improvisation is very sacred in France. They are just simply so much better at it because it is a hallowed and very much taught art form. Can it be very atonal? Yep...and its not discouraged. You either take it or leave it. Incidently, I have left NDdeP during the sorties twice because they were not conducive to prayer after Mass. But that is just me. And one can tell who is the titulaire "du jour" by their improvisations....well, at least I used to be able to do that. With Thierry Escaich and Vincent Dubois and the new kid whose name escapes me, it may not be possible to do so anymore. We'll see as I will be there this summer.

The discussion goes on and on. As for me, the altar is nothing short of ugly, Thats the real travesty.

The discussion goes on and on. As for me, the altar is nothing short of ugly, Thats the real travesty.

Sad to say, travesty may be the defining marker for our age. There is plenty to go around.

People can make it whatever they want. That’s the nature of a forum, and while I tend to disagree, well, the organ part was a big deal, and a turnoff, for people.

Two different events, quite different from each other. On Dec 7th a state occasion, despite the religious ceremonial emphasis was on the ownership of the building, and presumably the organ, by the secular state. Colourful vestments in the formless use of colour I remember from 70 years ago, very much as I was also reminded the formless use of sound from the same era by the 'dialogue' between the archbishop and the organ. It threw me back to when as a teenager I listened on the radio (BBC) to a lot of Pierre Boulez, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, and Iannis Xenakis.
Dec 8th, the Mass of consecration of the altar was quite different. The details are no longer fresh in my mind, but I thought the ceremony visually excellent as well as meticulous in respecting the rubrics. And the music also served the liturgy well.

and presumably the organ, by the secular state.

Well you would be totally and utterly wrong. The organ is maintained, sometimes, by the state, if you can convince them that it is a cultural object, but since its primary role is for divine worship, it is under the church’s domain.

The state ceremony was very brief and only due to the weather inserted in between religious rites, in the cathedral. Obviously the organ being woken up by the archbishop meant that the republican ceremonies were over, to resume on the parvis with La Marseillaise.

@davido

Yes… I read and reread your OP.

I will have to watch the entire vid myself… sure there are “elements” of beauty in the event, but when they are intertwined with the elements of “assault” and then overlooked or ignored, THAT is the issue that is more than concerning.

This has been my consistent argument for years about the novelties that destroy liturgy… it’s the big tent disease. Identity confusion leads to identity crisis. Some call it culture rot.

2nd Installment

https://www.youtube.com/live/77bG9DJ8hF8?si=yb2QTUWNcA69aboY

Global Pomp and circumstance…

Where is the Mass? After this?

francis & CharlesW the service on 7th Dec was opening of the doors, blessing of the organ, and (truncated) Vespers, embedded in a state function. There was no Mass on the 7th. On 8th Dec there was an inaugurating Mass with consecration of the new altar. That was not a state function, though Pres. Macron and some other dignitaries were present. The orders of service were posted earlier in this thread by Liam. There are many recordings online, mostly just fragments. This from EWTN with commentary in English shows the whole Mass.

Watched “this” from beginning to end… (Thank you @a_f_hawkins)

Was there a piece of polyphony in all of the musical repertoire? Seems like they threw a bone to tradition… the Credo and Pater Noster… Can someone show me a closeup of both the front and the back of the cross on the brass bowl “altar”?

So… as it seems, the opening “celebration” EXCLUDED the Roman Catholic Rite?! A total sellout to A global political oecumenical grandstanding event… the stone was whitewashed to expunge the history of tradition? … xplains the vestments and the organ which also had to match…

Done.

You can never say you were never informed! Don’t need a positive spin.

Our Dearest Mother has a stern warning out for France… she has appeared and spoken directly herself and through her seers… this is the closing and opening of chapters, but the rest of the story is going to be surprising IMVHO.

Does anyone know who composed the setting of the Litany of Saints?

Hey… what composer living or not yet born thinks he/she can compose something better than the Litaniae Sanctorum in the official books?! Rubbish! And the Becker started that nonsense.

There was some monophonic chant, but most of the music was polyphonic.

I loved it ALL.
In tribute, my son Max is building a Lego Notre Dame.