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
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
Next concert
21 • 09 • 2024, 5 PM
Olivier Penin (titulaire)
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.
Norbert Dufourq , musicologist and
organist of St Merry 1923 - 1990
(Les Amis de l'orgue, 30-31, 1937, p. 112)
Before the war, you could refer to the
organ at Sainte Clotilde as a ‘masterpiece’
with no fear of being mistaken [...]. It is
shocking that after the Couperin family
organ at Saint-Gervais, the organ at Sainte
Clotilde was not in turn listed [as a
Monument Historique], as the most
valuable example of Cavaillé-Colls work
should be. How we love to remember
those beautiful foundation stops, that
mysterious Récit buried in its box, that
delicious Clarinette, those piercing reeds,
that fervent and oh so personal Grand-
Choeur.
Les amis de l’orgue nr 30-31 (1937), pg 112
The sound of the foundations with the 8-
4 reeds of the Récit was unique. No other
organ sounded like that. At Sainte-
Clotilde, you could draw anything and it
would always sound beautiful. That
sound of the 16-8-4 coupled with the 8-4
reeds in the distance was a kind of
gentle rustling, simply extraordinary. Just
a little touch. Then there was that swell
box, so sensitive. It was incredibly
effective. When it was shut, you could
barely hear a thing, and when it was
opened, it suddenly made its presence
known… Sainte Clotilde was the most -
‘interesting’ is too dull a word - the most
thrilling organ I have ever played.
Interview in La Flûte Harmonique nr 63-
64 (1992), pg 7
"It was in the darkness of this tribune, which I cannot remember myself without
emotion, that the best part of his life passed, it was there that, for thirty years,
every Sunday, every day of celebration and the last times, every Friday morning,
he came to stoke the fire of his genius in admirable improvisations often much
higher in thought than many pieces of music chiseled with skill, it was there,
certainly, that he foreshadowed and given birth to the sublime melodies that
were to form the musical framework of his Beatitudes. Oh! we his pupils knew
well the path that led to this blessed tribune – an arduous and difficult path as
the Gospel presents heaven to us – where, after having climbed the dark spiral
pierced by rare loopholes, one suddenly found oneself face to face with a kind of
monster of antediluvian appearance, to the complicated framework, to the
heavy and uneven breathing, which on closer examination was recognized as
the vital organ of the organ operated by two vigorous blowers. There, it was still
necessary to go down a small staircase of a few steps, low, tightened and
absolutely deprived of light, last fatal test to the hats top of form and cause of
many missteps for the uninitiated. After which, opening the narrow janua caeli,
one found oneself suspended halfway between the pavement and the vault of
the church and one forgot everything in the contemplation of the attentive
profile and especially of the powerful forehead from which emerged without
apparent effort a whole theory of inspired melodies and subtly exquisite
harmonies which, wrapping a few moments around the pillars of the nave, were
finally going to get lost at the very top, at the curvatures of the warheads. »
Vincent d’Indy
In « César Franck – Les Maitres de la Musique », 1921