150 years CC organ St. Sulpice Paris

[lupo9696]

on 29th april, a concert in St. Sulpice will take place. It begins at 16h.
The organists are:
- D. Roth
- P. Lefebvre
- Y. Castagnet
- J.P. Leguay
- S.V. Cochefer-Choplin

Listen to a short impro from Daniel Roth:
http://www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/c...rovisation.mp3

The official web site : http://www.stsulpice.com/

[GoneBaroque]

Sounds wonderful, but for me it is a long swim.

[Corno Dolce]

Ah yes, the C-C at St. Sulpice anniversary - I'll see if I can make it there.

[wljmrbill]

i would love to go..but as others it is a long swim..maybe win the lottery...ya right.....

[dll927]

So the great organ is 150 years old --- testimony to craftsmanship and expertise. And between Widor and Dupre, only two organists presided over it for an entire century, 1870 to 1971.

Little ever gets said about how much maintenance the organ requires. Many churches with important organs have 'curators' in charge of maintenance. I assume the S-S organ is still pretty much in its original condition, although I have heard otherwise, too. Does anyone have informaton on who maintains it and what is required to keep it going? Is most of thre pipework still original, for instance?

Many original Cavaille-Coll organs have been replaced with more modern instruments -- Notre Dame being a case in point. As with some other countries, France has a "ministry of culture" that exercises at least some control over such matters. Is St. Sulpice such a jewel that nobody dares do much with it? How much longer can it last?

As for Roth's "short imporvisation", I sometimes get ready to tear my hair out over tapes that have only sound and no visual support.
Why do they do that?

[Corno Dolce]

So the great organ is 150 years old --- testimony to craftsmanship and expertise. And between Widor and Dupre, only two organists presided over it for an entire century, 1870 to 1971.

Little ever gets said about how much maintenance the organ requires. Many churches with important organs have 'curators' in charge of maintenance. I assume the S-S organ is still pretty much in its original condition, although I have heard otherwise, too. Does anyone have informaton on who maintains it and what is required to keep it going? Is most of thre pipework still original, for instance?

Many original Cavaille-Coll organs have been replaced with more modern instruments -- Notre Dame being a case in point. As with some other countries, France has a "ministry of culture" that exercises at least some control over such matters. Is St. Sulpice such a jewel that nobody dares do much with it? How much longer can it last?

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The curator of the St. Sulpice Wonder Machine is Michel Goussu - An affable gent who expresses Love with anything he touches in re to the St. Sulpice wonder machine. As you might well know Widor wanted a Principal 16 and Principal 8, both made of metal, to be installed in the pedal department - And I believe it was Charles Mutin who installed said ranks. Oh yes, the St. Sulpice is under direct supervision of the Ministry of Culture - Woe betide anyone who messes with the "Jewel"!!!

Quite alot of ranks made by Clicquot were retained by C-C in the redispositioning and enlargement of the instrument. The pipework receives regular cleaning and the winchests and bellows get new leathering. All the action is minutely scrutinised and repaired if needed be. Any and all preventive maintenance is performed with the highest possible attention to detail. Nothing is left to chance!!!

With that kind of loving care, the instrument can last for...Who knows????????

[dll927]

Having seen the specifications of any number of original Cavaille-Coll organs, it seems that many of them had rather sparse pedal divisions. Apparently the usual solution was to depend on thre "tirasses" (pull-downs, aka manual-to-pedal couplers) to put some zip in the pedals. Maybe C-MW figured his notorious "Toccata" needed more heft in the pedals.


Recently I read somewhere that Widor regarded the Voix Humaine and the Tremulant as "abominations". Has anyone else heard this? If it's true, he would have differed from Franck in that regard.

Thanks for the input on the organ's caretaker. Many of them probably get little credit for their work.