Grand-Orgue Ste-Clotilde

COMPOSITION 1933

The original console

The history of the César Franck console appears straightforward at first glance. Charles Toumemire (1870-1939) received the old console from the pastor of Saint-Clotilde - Toumemire bestawed it to Flor Peeters, 'because of all his friends, he was the most loyal' - Peeters legated it to the Royal Conservatory of Antwerp - the Conservatory donated it to the Vleeshuismuseum, where it still is. At the request of Orgelkunst for the occasion of the Cavaillé-Coll year 2011, Annelies Focquaert began to more thoroughly delve into this mostly orally-recounted story, upon which previously unknown sources surfaced. The matter of the right of ownership in 1933 is uncertain, but it is likely due to the efforts of the pastor and Toumemire that the console still exists today Toumemires testament contains no information whatsoever about the console, which, together with some letters, confirms the working hypothesis that it was Alice Tournemire who, immediately before WWII gave the console to Flor Peeters. Although a letter by Peeters to Alice Toumemire indicates that Tournemire wanted the consoleto be transported to the city of Liège after Alices and Peeters'deaths, Alice did not comply with this wish and offered the console to Peeters 'because she did not want to await her death'. The console remained in Peeters' house in Mechelen from 1946 or 1947 onwards. After his death in 1986, the console was placed in the directors office of the Royal Flemish Music Conservatory in Antwerp. In 1991 it was given on laon to the Museum Vleeshuis. After an exhaustive search through files and texts supposed to be lost, most of the pieces concerning the history of this consolehave finally fallen into place. Abstract of a paper by Annelies Focquaert The history of the Cesar Franck console (in Dutch) published in Orgelkunst 34, 2, 82-96 (2011) Photos of the console: Victor Weller

THE RECORDINGS OF 1930-1932

Tournemire experienced the start of phonographic recording. In 1930 and 1931, just before Beuchet's work, Tournemire made a series of recordings for Polydor. His recordings are contained in a series of 9 discs of 78 turns, 25 cm or 30 cm. The recorded program consists of works by César Franck as well as two movements of his Mystical Organ and improvisations, all performed on the Great Organ of the Basilica. In May 1931, thanks to these recordings, he received the Grand Prix du Disque for Franck's 3rd Choral (2 Polydor discs 566057 and 58). His 5 improvisations (on Te Deum, Petite Rapsodie, Cantilena, Choral on Victimae Paschali, Fantasy on Ave Maris Stella, discs 561048, 561050, 566058, 566060, 566061) were later reconstructed by Maurice Duruflé on the basis of these recordings, and published in 1958 (Durand). • Two parts from l'Organiste by César Franck : "Chant de la Creuse" et "Noël angevin" • César Franck: Pastorale • César Franck: Cantabile • César Franck: Choral III • Improvisation Fantaisie • Improvisation on Victimae Paschali laudes • Paraphrase-Carillon (L'Orgue Mystique 35 - V) • Andantino (L'orgue Mystique XIIè Dimanche après Pentecôte) • Improvisation on Te Deum

THE ORGAN OF CESAR FRANCK 2/2

COMPOSITION 1859

EYEWITNESS REPORTS ON THE ORGAN

BETWEEN 1859 AND 1932

Since its inauguration in 1859, the organ of Ste Clotilde has been considered one of the major masterpieces of the work of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Because of the importance of musical life in the Basilica, it soon attracted great renowned organists. A few have written down their impressions with respect to this organ. • Martineau, Minard & Bourgault- Ducoudray • Louis Vierne • Maurice Duruflé • André Marchal • Norbert Dufourq • André Fleury • Vincent d’Indy

THE GREAT ORGAN 2/5 the organ of Franck 1 - the organ of Franck 2 - the organ of Tournemire - the organ of Langlais - the organ of Taddei

BUFFET 1925

CONSOLE

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08 • 03 • 2025, 5 PM Bert Mooiman (Pays-Bas)

Extrait d'un journal du voyage effectué à Paris en 1866, par MMrs Martineau

(maître de chapelle de la cathédrale), Minard (organiste du grand orgue de la

cathédrale de Nantes) et Bourgault-Ducoudray (Grand Prix de Rome). Ces

derniers ont fait ce voyage dans le but d’y entendre et d’y examiner les

principaux orgues d’église et d’y visiter les ateliers des plus habiles facteurs dans

le but de rédiger un rapport détaillé d'une commission chargée de proposer un

plan de reconstruction de l’orgue de la cathédrale de Nantes.

Source: Etienne Delahaye, L’Orgue N° 300 – 2012, pages 77 à 97, que dirige M.

François Sabatier, grâce à l’obligeance de l’abbé Félix Moreau.

L’orgue que nous allons examiner a à peu près la même importance que celui de

St Vincent de Paul ; mais nous nous apercevons, de suite, que l’église de Ste

Clotilde présente des conditions d’acoustique beaucoup plus favorables. Mr

Franck nous fait entendre d’abord les jeux de fond, sans les jeux de 4 pieds. Il a

l’habitude de combiner ces jeux avec le hautbois du récit pour leur donner plus

de mordant. Il en résulte une sonorité pleine de charme. La personnalité du

hautbois disparaît dans l’ensemble des jeux de fonds ; mais il agit d’une manière

latente. La sonorité des fonds de cet instrument est belle, grave, très homogène.

Elle gagne en force, lorsqu’on joint les jeux de 4 pieds aux autres jeux de fond.

Alors les dessus se détachent davantage , mais sans excéder une juste mesure, et

de manière à ce que la sonorité qui en résulte soit parfaitement équilibrée. Après

les jeux de fond, Mr Franck nous fait entendre les jeux d’anches. Même entendus

seuls, ces jeux sont exempts de dureté. Ils ont du brillant, mais de la plénitude et

de la rondeur.. Enfin le grand-chœur, c’est à dire la réunion des jeux d’anches aux

jeux de fond donne lieu à un effet puissant et harmonieux, qui est dans une

proportion excellente avec la grandeur de l’église.

Après ces préliminaires destinés à nous faire connaître les divers effets

d’ensemble de l’instrument, Mr Franck nous fait apprécier avec une habileté rare,

les ressources nombreuses que présente cet orgue pour la variété des effets et la

combinaison des timbres. Bien qu’en général les compositions de cet organiste

soient plutôt faites pour le concert que pour l’Eglise, elles ne sont pas moins très

remarquables, et admirablement faites pour faire valoir l’orgue de Ste Clotilde.'

En somme, cet instrument touché par un organiste habile, qui le possède à fond

et peut en faire ressortir toutes les qualités, qui, de plus, ne se fie pas à

l’inspiration du moment, laquelle fournit des idées plus ou moins heureuses aux

organistes-improvisateurs, mais joue des morceaux écrits, longuement médités,

et remplis de mérite sous le double rapport des idées et des développements, cet

orgue, dis-je, nous a causé une satisfaction pleine et entière.

Dans les effets d’ensemble, comme dans les jeux de détail, la sonorité est toujours

claire, égale nette et harmonieuse. Elle se fait remarquer par un équilibre parfait

dans la composition des timbres, et par je ne sais quoi de vif, de chaud, de coloré.

Parmi les jeux solos qui nous ont semblé les plus remarquables, nous citerons la

clarinette-cromorne qui a quelque chose de plus timbré que la clarinette, mais

n’en a pas moins un grand charme et beaucoup de rondeur. La voix céleste, le

hautbois, se font remarquer aussi par leur bonne qualité de son. Ces jeux, bien

que placés dans la boite expressive, perdent moins de leur sonorité que les jeux

de récit de l’orgue de St Eustache. Mr Cavaillé ne nous montre pas le mécanisme

de cet orgue, se réservant de nous faire voir dans tous ses détails celui de St

Sulpice, qu’il considère comme la manifestation la plus complète et la plus

considérable de son talent de facteur.

In 1881, Louis Vierne ( a boy of 11 years old) visited for the first time the mass at Sainte Clotilde and heard Cesar Franck play: I clearly remember that Mass. We arrived early and I waited impatienty. The organ played a mysterious prelude, quite unlike any I had heard at Lille; I was bowled over and became almost ecstatic. There was more to come at the Offertoire, where the master had more time; the theme so unfamiliar, yet so attractive, such rich harmonies, such subtle figurations, and a pervasive intensity that astounded me. I reveled in such delights and wished they would never end. We listened to the Sortie right up to the last note; it was a long paraphrase on the "Ite missa est," full of lyrical flights of fancy that conjured up for me heavenly visions of processions of angels chanting ‘Hosanna’. At the same time, certain melodic progressions and harmonies made me feel uneasy and sensual at the same time. I could not hold back my tears. I knew nothing; I understood nothing; but my natural instinct was violently shaken by this expressive music echoing through my every pore. Faint premonitions of the true meaning of music arose in me. I could not express it in precise terms, but when my uncle asked me what I had felt and what it had done to me, I replied ’it's beautiful because it is beautiful; I don't know why, but it is so beautiful that I would like to play such music and die immediately afterwards’. My aunt was alarmed at my reaction and took me home in a carriage, my legs refusing to carry me. She discussed the matter with her husband and expressed concern. Wisely he reassured her, convincing her that, almost inevitably, this reaction proved my future lay in music. Louis Vierne, Journal (excerpts), Cahiers et Mémoires de l’Orgue, No. 135bis (Paris: Les Amis de l'Orgue, 1970) 129 (English translation found in : Louis Vierne- organist of Notre Deame cathedral. Rollin Smith, Pendragon Press Hillsdale, N.Y. 1999).

André Marchal, organist at St Eustache 1945 - 1963 (Source : Disque CD Erato Hommage à André Marchal 1958/1994) In 1912, the date at which Ch. Tournemire invited me to touch it for the first time, this organ had had maintenance only once since the death of C. Franck. At the beginning of the century, Mutin added a coupler to the Swell which did not exist yet. This explains that in written passages on the Swell with pedal, Franck doubled the last with the left hand. This organ is considered the most poetic of all the Cavaillé-Coll instruments. It was harmonized by Gabriel Rimburg, being the most artistic of the harmonistes of Cavaillé-Coll. Its sound is characterized by a great poetry of the foundation stops and an extreme lightness of the reeds. The great organ has a composition similar to that of many other organs of that time, only the lack of a Cornet and the clarity of the Mixture of VI ranks, brighter than most mixtures of Cavaillé-Coll, is characteristic for this organ. The pipes of the GO are arranged on each side of the positive, the latter being located in the front. The positive, almost as important as the Great, has a clarinet which tone color and power allowed Franck to use the full closed Swell (funds and reeds) as accompaniment (the Grande Pieèe Symphonique - Andante). The impact of the positive is still improved by its location in the front. Responding to these two, a small Swell of 10 stops is located behind the positive. The poetry of this keyboard was unique: the smoothness of the foundation stops, the mysterious Voix Céleste and Voix Humaine, the clarity of the Haubois and the exceptional light Trompette and Clairon, they all together allowed this keyboard to equilibrate with the other two. The Swell produced an exceptional effect and allowed a pianissimi of such a restrained character that, when mixing the foundations and reeds, the latter disappeared almost completely when the box was closed. This explains why Franck often retained the reeds of the Swell in his registrations: it was sufficient to close the Swell because then all of the foudatinos dominated. This is hardly ever seen in other organs, even those of Cavaillé-Coll, and that is why the registrations of Franck as he wrote them down can almost never be applied literally.

THE GREAT ORGAN 2/5 the organ of Franck 1 - the organ of Franck 2 - the organ of Tournemire - the organ of Langlais - the organ of Taddei

THE ORGAN OF CESAR FRANCK 2/2

The original console

THE RECORDINGS OF 1930-1932

Plus d’information sur la version « desktop »

EYEWITNESS REPORTS ON THE ORGAN BETWEEN 1859 AND 1932 Since its inauguration in 1859, the organ of Ste Clotilde has been considered one of the major masterpieces of the work of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. Because of the importance of musical life in the Basilica, it soon attracted great renowned organists. A few have written down their impressions with respect to this organ. • Martineau, Minard & Bourgault- Ducoudray • Louis Vierne • Maurice Duruflé • André Marchal • Norbert Dufourq • André Fleury • Vincent d’Indy See the desktop version.

The Great Organ Cavaillé-Coll

of the basilica Sainte-Clotilde Paris

Next concert 08 • 03 • 2025, 5 PM Bert Mooiman (Pays-Bas)