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Notre Dame organ gone

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Antoni Scott

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Notre Dame organ gone

PostMon Apr 15, 2019 7:54 pm

Because of the fire at Notre Dame, the organ has been completely destroyed. Words cannot describe the loss to Christianity and the organ community. This being said, I was wondering if this tragedy may make churches that refuse to allow their instruments to be sampled, take note of what just happened. It would have been easy to allow an audio engineer "sampler" to document ("sample") their instrument. They allow audio engineers to record their instruments when a CD or LP record was made. So I guess we will never hear those magnificent Cavaille-Coll pipes ever play again.Gone like water under a bridge.

I use to be told that "when life deals you lemons, make lemonade". Perhaps this tragedy will make the other churches re-evaluate their "no-one samples this organ" position.
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smfrank

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostMon Apr 15, 2019 8:05 pm

Antoni Scott wrote:Because of the fire at Notre Dame, the organ has been completely destroyed

That appears to not be true. We must wait and see for sure.
Stevr
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Antoni Scott

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostMon Apr 15, 2019 8:30 pm

Sorry for any misinformation. I have heard several times on the news that the organ was gone. I hope what you told me is correct.
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adri

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 4:33 am

Latest news is that the organ is still there, but probably damaged, but to which degree remains unknown.
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 4:47 am

A friend of mine in Sydney - who has given recitals at Notre Dame - has just passed on word that it appears that the organ has survived the fire. I do hope this can be confirmed.

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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 4:53 am

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monorganist

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 5:34 am

The main organ of Notre-Dame de Paris miraculously preserved: "Nothing burned, nothing melted":
https://www.tellerreport.com/news/--exc ... zXQ9V.html
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Andrew Grahame

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 6:34 am

Just heard further news. The grand organ has been miraculously spared. It appears that the roof over it is formed from a flagstone linking the two towers, so there was no timber roof In that area. Water fell each side of the organ but this is apparently not seen as a major issue. At the other end of the building the choir organ received a thorough soaking but remains intact. It is now thought that the organs should be removed to safe storage pending restoration and reinstallation in the long term.
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Antoni Scott

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 4:16 pm

My information was selective mis-information. It seems that the Choir organ was heavily damaged but not the main organ. Yesterday, the media (who we are supposed to trust to give us accurate information, ha, ha) said the organ was "gone". Mr. Coignet, Organ Advisor to the City of Paris, learned that the Choir organ was "heavily damaged" and that we have to wait for news about the main organ. Thank God the main organ was saved.
But my original concern remains, which was that as a result of this fire a priceless object, could have been lost. Today we have the technology (sampling) to preserve this instrument in the form of a virtual instrument, not perfect but pretty close.
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murph

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostTue Apr 16, 2019 5:38 pm

The only comments I can find says the choir organ was "heavily sprinkeled" . To save the choir stalls.
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lefranc22

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostWed Apr 17, 2019 2:17 am

There was a rather long comment about Notre-Dame organs last night in the French TV news (France 2). Neither burned but they are unusable. Subject to a thorough examination of the condition of the pipes which have been brought to high temperature, the Main Organ appears to be intact but is filled with ash and dust. To preserve the historic stalls that are below him, the choir organ was soaked and the chests have probably suffered a lot. Both organs will be dismantled as soon as possible, pending their restoration and reconstruction of the church. President Macron said he wanted the work to last no longer than 5 years; but it's probably a very optimistic estimate.
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organassist

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostWed Apr 17, 2019 11:52 am

There is an article on the BBC website with the first photo I have seen of the organ.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-47959379
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SomeChap

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostThu Apr 18, 2019 1:04 pm

Can I suggest this thread be renamed? I keep getting heart attacks every time I load the topic list!
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magnaton

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostThu Apr 18, 2019 2:00 pm

I 2nd the thread name change. A simple change like Notre Dame organ almost lost.
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Joris

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Re: Notre Dame organ gone

PostWed Apr 24, 2019 7:51 am

Message from 'Orgues Quoirin' on FB:

"Very good news from the great organ of Notre Dame.
After two hours of examination of the instrumental part I did not notice any damage that could have been caused by the fire. Simply dust, a clean, light brown dust a bit like sand, non sticky dry dust.
There was a thermometer with memory inside the instrument, it indicates a temperature of 17 degrees the day of the fire. So no degradation of the piping and all the electronic components.
In a fortnight we will be able to put the organ back in order to be able to make a more detailed diagnosis, in particular on the state of the sommiers *, but frankly I am very optimistic.
The ideal will be to confine the organ in a well sealed and air-conditioned cage. Then do the dusting, plan ** by plan and play the organ regularly. And finally, dismantle the confinement when the vault will be rebuilt, and grant it."

* sommier = wind chest
** plan : the author means 'division'
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