Youtube — Dupré's home organ

[acc]

Sounds like a fantasia on BWV 565 don't you think??

Also amazing that his "house organ" is four manuals, good GOD, where are all the pipes?

Yes, there are some clear hints to BWV565.

There is no need to worry about room for the pipes: on one hand, as Kh said, there are “only” 37 ranks (i.e. much less than a typical four manual organ), and on the other hand, the length of the auditorium is even greater than its width (see for example the picture on this page).

Moreover, the electronics of the combination system and (I think) the blower are in the basement, right below the organ.

[acc]

Wasn't it also this organ that inspired Albert Alain to build his (which I think was/is also 4 manuals)?

Albert Alain (who built his organ himself!) started his project much earlier, in 1910. The Grand-Orgue was finished in 1912, the Positif in 1914, the Récit in 1922. Although the fourth manual was only finished in 1950, he started working on it in 1929, i.e. five years before Dupré transformed his organ in Meudon.

Therefore, I don't think there is any reason to believe that Dupré inspired Albert Alain with his organ in any way.

I gather that the odd-looking "breadboard" right next to the console is the aforementioned stop combination system?

Yes, it's the combination system.

Also, is the house still in the Dupre family or is it now some sort of museum?

It's no longer in the Dupré family, but it's still privately owned.

[Contratrombone64]

acc - again, thanks for sharing these wonderful facts about this "house organ" the fact that it's only 37 ranks is irrelevant, I think the four manuals mean that diversity is achieved. Personally, I'd go the 150 rank five manual digital organ and save about 90% on space AND cost, but that's personal.

[Soubasse]

Thanks acc for all that. Yes I was confusing myself as well as others and I realised after I pressed send that it looked chronologically inept. I meant to say that the original Guilmant instrument (ie, prior to Dupre's purchase and subsequent additions) was, so I gather, a reference point for Albert Alain's rather unique construction. I recall Marie Claire telling me that some of the wind trunkings were apparently made of cardboard!! She also said something about old cigar boxes being used but I don't remember the context ... will have to dig out the interview and have another listen.

One day I hope to get to Romainmotier to hear that organ ... sigh, one day

[acc]

the fact that it's only 37 ranks is irrelevant, I think the four manuals mean that diversity is achieved.

Well, I only mentioned the number of ranks to explain why there is nothing miraculous about fitting all the pipes behind the case. But of course, I agree with you: one can achieve great diversity with a limited number of stops. My favourite example for this is the Kleuker organ at l'Alpe d'Huez (designed by Jean Guillou): it has incredible diversity with only 24 stops!

[acc]

I meant to say that the original Guilmant instrument (ie, prior to Dupre's purchase and subsequent additions) was, so I gather, a reference point for Albert Alain's rather unique construction.

That is indeed possible. Albert Alain studied with Guilmant in 1906–07 (the same year as Dupré, by the way), so he may very well have visited his house organ in Meudon. And this was three years before he started working on his own instrument, so the chronology certainly fits.

[acc]

I meant to say that the original Guilmant instrument (ie, prior to Dupre's purchase and subsequent additions) was, so I gather, a reference point for Albert Alain's rather unique construction.

Update to my previous reply: I've looked it up in the Alain biography by his granddaughter, Aurélie Decourt, which has a whole section entitled « Les influences principales » (pp. 81–83). In that section, she enumerates a number of influences on Albert Alain as an organ builder, and Guilmant's house organ is indeed mentioned as “model for his first organ project.”

So our esteemed friend Soubasse is absolutely right!

[Corno Dolce]

Hi ACC,

Oh yes indeedy - the Kleuker at Alpe d'Huez designed by Guillou is a marvel of diversity and it is also my favorite amongst small organs. It has to be heard(preferably live) to be believed. I take it that you are well-versed as to what is going on with the *organ of variable structure* that Guillou and a few others with Klais Orgelbau contracted to build it. Its a project I hope to see finished in the not-so-distant future.

Humbly,

CD

Well, I only mentioned the number of ranks to explain why there is nothing miraculous about fitting all the pipes behind the case. But of course, I agree with you: one can achieve great diversity with a limited number of stops. My favourite example for this is the Kleuker organ at l'Alpe d'Huez (designed by Jean Guillou): it has incredible diversity with only 24 stops!

[acc]

Hi Corno,

I must confess that I am not following up on Guillou's “structure variable” ideas very closely.

But involvement of Klais doesn't surprise me: only last Sunday, Guillou gave a concert in Lille (Northwestern France) for the inauguration of this organ, which was newly rebuilt by Klais (and of which an esteemed but, alas, lately very quiet member of this board is assistant organist).

[Corno Dolce]

Hi ACC,

Yes by golly - I remember reading about the Lille instrument. Did not that instrument at one point have some stops that were by Cavaille-Coll? The original Trocadero organ? Might you know anything about that? Well, at least the organ is now in an acoustically reverberant space and will be able to really *sing*. I hope to get over there next summer to hear it.

Cheers,

CD

[acc]

The Trocadéro organ ended up in the Auditorium Maurice Ravel in Lyons, where it was transferred by Danion-Gonzalez in 1977 (but it has been heavily transformed and must now be very different from the original Cavaillé-Coll organ).

The one that is now in Lille is a different instrument: it was newly built in 1966, also by Danion-Gonzalez, for one of the concert halls of Radio France in Paris.

[Corno Dolce]

Hi ACC,

Thanx for clearing up my conflation of two different instruments. I had known about Danion-Gonzalez doing some *unspeakable* things with C-C's oeuvre. Ah well.......

Cheers,

CD

[Contratrombone64]

chronologically inept

what a marvellous little phrase ... I'm going to use it next time someone attempts to sneak into a meeting late.

[Soubasse]

Cheers - I'd be interested to hear how it goes down! It was mostly a 'note to self' kind of thing from marking far too many music history essays in which the chronology of some composers and eras was more tangled than my own intestines after a bad night on the curry. I even read one where apparently Bach had recorder lessons with Mozart.

I did end up actually saying it though to a class one time "I'm sorry to have to say that many of your assignments were chronologically inept."

So our esteemed friend

Oh, I wouldn't go that far!

is absolutely right!

Well I was sure I'd heard it somewhere, whether it was in sleeve notes or from MCA herself. I'd love to be able to read those Alain biogs of Decourt ... and Gavoty ... and Schaurte, but I'd have to get them translated first!