Sad French news for organists and organ-lovers
  • R J StoveR J Stove
    Posts: 302
    Make of this report what you will. It certainly saddened me to read it:

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jun/04/organs-paris-notre-dame-cathedral
  • MHIMHI
    Posts: 324
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  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,191
    Its always been a difficulty to keep up the organs in Paris. Ste. Clotilde received its recent restoration through private funds. And remember the concert tour that Vierne did to restore ND de Paris in the early part of the 20th century to raise money

    La vie de grande orgue est difficle.
    Thanked by 1R J Stove
  • hartleymartin
    Posts: 1,447
    They clearly didn't think through exactly what they were doing in 1905...
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,191
    Make the connection between 1905 and the Revolution of the 18th century and it makes perfect sense.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Randolph Nichols
    Posts: 398
    Though tragic, there is a sense of inevitability about this situation. Organs in Paris are maintained only as revenue from the tourist industry dictates. On my last visit there I spent a whole morning at St. Clotilde wandering about imagining the great things that had happened there. (E.g., Where was Liszt sitting when attending that acclaimed recital by Franck?) I was, by the way, the only person in the building.

    Lest we feel in any way more fortunate, there is an ominous trend in this country. Although one can argue that the quality of recital-level organists coming out of our best music schools is as high as it has ever been, there has been a precipitous decline in mid-level players - the sort of people who can play for example works from the Orgelbüchlein, standard preludes like Vaughan Williams’ Rhosymedre, and select movements from the Mendelssohn Sonatas. These are the people who traditionally gave life to the AGO and supplied music for the majority of churches. With each passing year there are fewer of them and we are paying a bitter price.
    Thanked by 1kevinf
  • CharlesW
    Posts: 11,982
    I have noticed among local musicians my age and younger, that most of them came from fairly well-off families. Consequently, they could afford the expenses of studying music. As I know, it isn't cheap. Add to this the fact that any young "mid-level player," as you say, could look into the future a bit and not see that much of a financial return on the investment in a music education. How many Catholic churches don't even have organists? I visited one recently that has an organ, but not anyone hired to play it. Their praise band handles all the music. The decline in organists is a symptom of the diseased state of music in churches, and is not an exclusively Catholic problem.
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    So sorry to hear this. I've been reading Pope Benedict XIV's encyclical Annus qui hunc (1749) in which he discusses at some length the history of the organ in church music.

    I didn't realize the use of the organ at liturgical functions was quite a hot topic back in the day. Pope Benedict cites scholars who note that "at the present time renowned churches in France that ignore the use of the organ." The Church at Lyons "spurns innovations, and still does not accept it." One scholar complains particularly of "that terrible noise which comes from bellows and which expresses more thunderous din than the sweetness of song."

    Happily, though, the general consensus was that the organ might be allowed for "the sake of the weak." St. Cajetan thought the use of the organ "is, however, lawful, because one must regard the faithful who are still carnal and imperfect."

    This, however, is my favorite commendation of the organ by Cardinal Bona:

    "The moderate use of them, etc., in the church must not be condemned. The sound of the organ causes joy to the sad soul of man and recalls the happiness of the heavenly City, stirs the lazy, spurs on the diligent, inspires the just to love, recalls sinners to penance."
    Thanked by 3CHGiffen R J Stove Richard Mix
  • GavinGavin
    Posts: 2,799
    We know the organ is the divine instrument, for in its sounding we know God's majesty, and in its ending we know God's mercy.
    Thanked by 3Adam Wood CharlesW CHGiffen
  • SalieriSalieri
    Posts: 3,177
    The Revolution was the beginning of the end of Catholic France and of Catholic Europe; no wonder that it is praised so much in the public education system.
    Thanked by 1CharlesW
  • Adam WoodAdam Wood
    Posts: 6,482
    the general consensus was that the organ might be allowed for "the sake of the weak." St. Cajetan thought the use of the organ "is, however, lawful, because one must regard the faithful who are still carnal and imperfect."


    1. There must be bumper-stickers and t-shirts made-
    ORGAN: For the weak, the carnal, and the imperfect.

    2. If I composed for the organ, I would immediately write a piece in three movements, with those subtitles.
    Thanked by 4R J Stove kevinf IanW JulieColl
  • JulieCollJulieColl
    Posts: 2,465
    I'm trying to imagine what each of those movements would sound like.
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