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France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

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engrssc

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France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

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jerrymartin

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostSun Jul 26, 2020 8:53 am

This is such sad and devastating news. Thank you for sharing the updates. Prayers for the community at Nantes.
Jeremiah Martin,
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engrssc

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostSun Jul 26, 2020 9:27 am

The fire on 18 July 2020 is all too reminiscent of the blaze that ravaged Paris’s Notre Dame just one year previously. Unlike in Nantes, however, the cathedral’s Cavaillé-Coll, the 19th-century French builder’s masterpiece, was practically undamaged.

Reports by most media that the organ is 400 years old only tells part of the story. Like all large-scale organs, Nantes Cathedral’s instrument had undergone considerable change over the centuries to keep in line with changing musical fashion and demands.

A 27-stop, two-manual organ was built in 1619 by Jacques Girardet, which remained intact for 160 years before builder Adrien Lépine enlarged the organ in 1768, adding a bombarde reed pedal stop among others.

But it was the famous French builder Clicquot who completely rebuilt the organ in 1784, adding 49 stops and installing a five-manual console and 33-note pedalboard. By the late 18th century, French organ music by the likes of Claude Balbastre were writing music that evoked a more thunderous, colourful revolutionary spirit.

1868 saw Clicquot’s organ ‘restored’ by Merklin-Schütze, with several stop additions and replacements. The instrument by now was a far cry from its original make-up.

A pneumatic keyboard action replaced its original mechanical action in the 1930s, before a new restoration and a console came along in 1971, replacing the organ’s stop jambs with then-fashionable tabs. The organ emerged unscathed from a fire, just one year later, having survived World War II bombings.

Built in 1619, with its 5,500 pipes, perched on its platform, the organ of the cathedral of Nantes was very damaged by the fire that ravaged the building, Saturday morning. Invited from Europe 1 on Sunday, the last organist to use the instrument’s keyboard, Michel Boursier, testified to his sadness and called for the organ to be rebuilt.
“By now I should be at the keyboard to prepare for mass,” sighs Michel Boursier Sunday morning. He is the last to have played on this instrument with “characteristic sounds”. He remembers a sound that echoed “the whole volume of the cathedral”. “It’s great to play such sounds in such a place.”

During the 18th century revolutionary period, authorities had wanted to melt down its pipes for scrap, but the organist argued it could instead be used for “revolutionary ceremonies”, according to historian Paul Chopelin.

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https://www.time24.news/2020/07/we-will-not-find-the-organ-as-it-was-according-to-the-head-of-instrument-revisions.html


Rgds,
Ed
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engrssc

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostSun Jul 26, 2020 9:26 pm

Are there any recordings of this organ?
Found very few pictures.

Rgds,
Ed
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tf11972

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostMon Jul 27, 2020 4:39 am

Marie-Therese Jehain made a recording, but I don't like the sound.
Best regards
Thomas

Forestpipes - Virtual Pipe Organs
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ostrovitch

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostMon Jul 27, 2020 6:45 am

He is not an arsonist. He is a clandestine from Rwanda, voluteering for the cathedral, he tried to become a regular resident but French government refused and asked him to leave the country. So he didn't find a better idea than burning this cathedral
as he considered he had not been helped enough administratively to stay.
At least now he gave the proof that French government was right to refuse him, but unfortunately too late.
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Lauwerk

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostTue Jul 28, 2020 12:07 am

Ed -

Marie-Thérèse Jehan recorded at least three discs in Nantes Cathedral, though only the first two listed here used the grand orgue:

Augustin Baríe, L'Œuvre pour orgue (Solstice SOCD 917 [or 17])
Félix Moreau, Œuvres pour orgue (Solstice SOCD 209)
René Vierne, Œuvres choisies (Edition Lade, EL CD 0007 = Trésor de l'Orgue français 5)

The third disc is a recording of the 1896 Debierre / 1993 Renaud orgue de chœur. The second disc includes a "Hymnal" that employs both organs playing off each other, no doubt more effectively in person than in stereo. Along the lines of what Thomas wrote, I find these recordings more distinguished for their repertoire than for the instruments themselves. The performances are thoroughly satisfying.

The photos of the twentieth century console slapped onto the front of the Clicquot case make it apparent that Max Reger would have felt -- and looked -- perfectly at home at it, if not for the very un-German voicing.

The Moreau CD (my favorite of the three) is currently available at amazon for a svelte $970.43, and you even get a break on the shipping: $3.84 instead of the once-universal $3.99. Seriously, both of the Solstice discs are available at amazon as mp3 downloads for $8.99 each.
Don Vlazny
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engrssc

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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostTue Jul 28, 2020 1:11 am

Thank you for that, Don. Unfortunately if it had not been for this terrible event, I probably would not have known of the organ and this cathedral.

Rgds,
Ec
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Re: France - Nantes Cathedral / organ destroyed by arsonist

PostWed Jul 29, 2020 4:02 am


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