Member
- Posts: 386
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:23 pm
- Location: Calne, Wiltshire, UK
One of the first samplesets I bought was Metz, which I never found entirely satisfactory. Recently I bit the bullet and stumped up the cost of Caen, which has reignited my interest in French organ music, particularly Cesar Franck, and so I have decided to learn the second Chorale.
Although he never lived to perform the Chorales, I understand that after writing them he returned to St. Clotilde, where he was the titular organist, to determine the registration. His instructions in the score are quite detailed in this regard, and are clearly an important starting point, but at times I find the sound a bit muddy, and there must have been differences between Caen as it is now and St. Clotilde as it was then (it has been rebuilt so many times since then that recordings of it probably don't bear much ressemblance to how it was in Franck's day). In any case there are several places where I am not entirely clear about his intent.
For a start he never specifies the use of any 4 foot stops. Whichever division is being played it is always either "fonds 8" or "fonds 8 et 16", with or without the anches. It seems to me that a chorus consisting of 8 (and 16) foot foundation stops plus anches (consisting of all the upperwork and reeds) would be incomplete without any 4 foot flues, but the foundation stops on their own would sound different with the addition of 4 foot prestants and flutes and I am not sure quite what he had in mind here.
When it comes to the anches, he is much less specific. Is the intent simply to draw all of them? There was originally no 16 foot reed on the recit at St. Clotilde, so should that be left off, or drawn along with the others because Cavaille-Coll voiced the chorus that way? Personally I think it sounds better without most of the time. So to my mind the full Recit chorus is all the 8 foot flues (except the celeste) the basson-hautboy, flute octaviante 4, octavin 2, trompette 8, clairon 4 and cornet, but perhaps not the plein jeu and the nazard, which seem to reduce the clarity rather than increase it. I am also assuming that the clarinette and voix humaine are solo stops that aren't intended to reinforce the chorus, and I am not sure about the quintaton, which I suppose is there to add weight at the bottom.
When it comes to the Positif and Grande Orgue anches I would think that Franck's intent is to draw all of them in order to achieve an appropriate crescendo.
There is a section in the middle where the Recit anches have already be muted and he specifies that the hautboy and gambe should be taken off and the voix humaine drawn, along with the tremblant. Does that mean that he is expecting the bourdon, the flute harmonique and the flute octaviante to remain? This gives a very different sound from the voix humaine on its own, which is very quiet and to some extent drowned out by the pedal. At this point the pedal is specified as bourdon 32, which I think works by itself without any 16 or 8 foot stops to reinforce it.
It is clear that his instructions are written with the Cavaille-Coll ventil system, operated by the feet along with the couplers, as the main registration aid, though there are places where 16 foot foundation stops have to be drawn manually. Of course the Hauptwerk stepper and piston systems allow a great deal more flexibility but I am trying to stick to the sort of sounds that Franck would have had in mind, though I am sure that if he had additional stops available (e.g. a 32 foot reed) he would have made use of them.
I have found a link to an article about the St. Clotilde organ listing its original and current disposition
https://www.thediapason.com/notes-organ ... ilde-paris
My last organ lesson was over 40 years ago when I was at school, learning the third Chorale in A minor on the beautiful Hill organ in Eton College Chapel. I came back to the organ a few years ago when I discovered Hauptwerk and since then I have been trying to puzzle things out for myself. Being able to play such a variety of instruments in my own home has been a revelation, and it is quite clear that the whole concept of a Cavaille-Coll organ, as well as the sound, is quite different from an English romantic instrument. It seems to me that the art of registration involves adapting the music to fit the organ one is playing, but when Hauptwerk allows the use of an organ that at least somewhat resembles the instruments that a composer had available I want if possible to recreate the sounds that he had in mind.
Although he never lived to perform the Chorales, I understand that after writing them he returned to St. Clotilde, where he was the titular organist, to determine the registration. His instructions in the score are quite detailed in this regard, and are clearly an important starting point, but at times I find the sound a bit muddy, and there must have been differences between Caen as it is now and St. Clotilde as it was then (it has been rebuilt so many times since then that recordings of it probably don't bear much ressemblance to how it was in Franck's day). In any case there are several places where I am not entirely clear about his intent.
For a start he never specifies the use of any 4 foot stops. Whichever division is being played it is always either "fonds 8" or "fonds 8 et 16", with or without the anches. It seems to me that a chorus consisting of 8 (and 16) foot foundation stops plus anches (consisting of all the upperwork and reeds) would be incomplete without any 4 foot flues, but the foundation stops on their own would sound different with the addition of 4 foot prestants and flutes and I am not sure quite what he had in mind here.
When it comes to the anches, he is much less specific. Is the intent simply to draw all of them? There was originally no 16 foot reed on the recit at St. Clotilde, so should that be left off, or drawn along with the others because Cavaille-Coll voiced the chorus that way? Personally I think it sounds better without most of the time. So to my mind the full Recit chorus is all the 8 foot flues (except the celeste) the basson-hautboy, flute octaviante 4, octavin 2, trompette 8, clairon 4 and cornet, but perhaps not the plein jeu and the nazard, which seem to reduce the clarity rather than increase it. I am also assuming that the clarinette and voix humaine are solo stops that aren't intended to reinforce the chorus, and I am not sure about the quintaton, which I suppose is there to add weight at the bottom.
When it comes to the Positif and Grande Orgue anches I would think that Franck's intent is to draw all of them in order to achieve an appropriate crescendo.
There is a section in the middle where the Recit anches have already be muted and he specifies that the hautboy and gambe should be taken off and the voix humaine drawn, along with the tremblant. Does that mean that he is expecting the bourdon, the flute harmonique and the flute octaviante to remain? This gives a very different sound from the voix humaine on its own, which is very quiet and to some extent drowned out by the pedal. At this point the pedal is specified as bourdon 32, which I think works by itself without any 16 or 8 foot stops to reinforce it.
It is clear that his instructions are written with the Cavaille-Coll ventil system, operated by the feet along with the couplers, as the main registration aid, though there are places where 16 foot foundation stops have to be drawn manually. Of course the Hauptwerk stepper and piston systems allow a great deal more flexibility but I am trying to stick to the sort of sounds that Franck would have had in mind, though I am sure that if he had additional stops available (e.g. a 32 foot reed) he would have made use of them.
I have found a link to an article about the St. Clotilde organ listing its original and current disposition
https://www.thediapason.com/notes-organ ... ilde-paris
My last organ lesson was over 40 years ago when I was at school, learning the third Chorale in A minor on the beautiful Hill organ in Eton College Chapel. I came back to the organ a few years ago when I discovered Hauptwerk and since then I have been trying to puzzle things out for myself. Being able to play such a variety of instruments in my own home has been a revelation, and it is quite clear that the whole concept of a Cavaille-Coll organ, as well as the sound, is quite different from an English romantic instrument. It seems to me that the art of registration involves adapting the music to fit the organ one is playing, but when Hauptwerk allows the use of an organ that at least somewhat resembles the instruments that a composer had available I want if possible to recreate the sounds that he had in mind.