Those Terraced Consoles

[Westgate Morris]

Any one have first hand experience with the terraced consoles in Paris. Do the stops move from lowest (at the key cheek) to the highest as you move out along the arc. A builder, who shall remain nameless at the moment, says he builds them going the other way AS WELL AS outlined above. He builds both! ….highest pitches closest to the key cheek.

On the internet I can get all the pics I want of some of the famous Paris consoles but no close up of the stop jambs to read the stops… if you have pics of these I would love to have a look - even UK examples would be fine.

Going forwards, going backwards,

WM

[ajt]

Any one have first hand experience with the terraced consoles in Paris. Do the stops move from lowest (at the key cheek) to the highest as you move out along the arc. A builder, who shall remain nameless at the moment, says he builds them going the other way AS WELL AS outlined above. He builds both! ….highest pitches closest to the key cheek.

On the internet I can get all the pics I want of some of the famous Paris consoles but no close up of the stop jambs to read the stops… if you have pics of these I would love to have a look - even UK examples would be fine.

Going forwards, going backwards,

WM

 

Any help - a very small CC in the UK - http://www.cavaille-coll.co.uk/gallery.htm ?

 

Seems to show lowest pitches nearest the player, higher furthest away.

[AJJ]

This link might help too:

 

http://www.stsulpice.com/Docs/consolediag.pdf

 

Also - email Daniel Roth and you could visit if you wanted to.

 

AJJ

[innate]

Do the stops move from lowest (at the key cheek) to the highest as you move out along the arc. A builder, who shall remain nameless at the moment, says he builds them going the other way AS WELL AS outlined above. He builds both! ….highest pitches closest to the key cheek.

Going forwards, going backwards,

The only en terrace console I've played was the (then unfinished) Copley at St Aloysius in Oxford.

 

http://www.matthew-copley.co.uk/portfolio6.htm

 

ISTR that the stops ascended from L to R in normal spec order so that higher-pitched flues and all the reeds were on the right of the manuals and lower-pitched flues on the left, perhaps with the relevant couplers immediately to the left of the manuals and the tremulants on the extreme right. Even if my memory is wrong this is the way I would like them to be!

 

Michael

[Nick Bennett]

This link might help too:

 

http://www.stsulpice.com/Docs/consolediag.pdf

 

Also - email Daniel Roth and you could visit if you wanted to.

 

AJJ

 

 

That rather confirms my recollection that it is very confusing!

[mgp]

The only en terrace console I've played was the (then unfinished) Copley at St Aloysius in Oxford.

 

http://www.matthew-copley.co.uk/portfolio6.htm

 

ISTR that the stops ascended from L to R in normal spec order so that higher-pitched flues and all the reeds were on the right of the manuals and lower-pitched flues on the left, perhaps with the relevant couplers immediately to the left of the manuals and the tremulants on the extreme right. Even if my memory is wrong this is the way I would like them to be!

 

Michael

I'm afraid the layout doesn't often have much logic about it . St Ouen is mostly as you describe (Tho the Grande Orgue Clairon is far left and the Trompette far right). St Etiene in Caen is laid out as follows (left to Right

Chorus Reeds

Mixtures

2'

4'

Manuals

Montres 8 16

Strings

Flutes

Imitative reeds

 

I have photos and will post later today

[sprondel]

... St Etiene in Caen is laid out as follows (left to Right

Chorus Reeds

Mixtures

2'

4'

Manuals

Montres 8 16

Strings

Flutes

Imitative reeds

Doesn't this order reproduce the Anches-Fonds-division of the chests? Anches left, Fonds right? I guess this is rather practical, since in C-C's concept the Fonds were sort of drawn anyway, the Anches playing the more tricky part in the build-up. The latter could be manipulated with the left, while the right and the feet kept on playing. Together with C-C's system of ventils and couplers, how much more practical can you get in pre-combination-action days?

 

Best,

Friedrich

[mgp]

Doesn't this order reproduce the Anches-Fonds-division of the chests? Anches left, Fonds right? I guess this is rather practical, since in C-C's concept the Fonds were sort of drawn anyway, the Anches playing the more tricky part in the build-up. The latter could be manipulated with the left, while the right and the feet kept on playing. Together with C-C's system of ventils and couplers, how much more practical can you get in pre-combination-action days?

 

Best,

Friedrich

Almost (at St Etienne there are seven 'Fonds'on the left). But at St Ouen its 'Fonds' on the left and 'Anches'on the right. The (pneumatic) console at Sacre-Coeur is different again with the 'Fonds' nearest to the keyboards and the 'Anches' (or 'Combinaisons' to be accurate) at the far end of the arc.

 

Here is St Etienne (RH side above LH) - and the Recit Plein Jeu (1954) has now been removed.

 

[sprondel]

...

Here is St Etienne (RH side above LH) - and the Recit Plein Jeu (1954) has now been removed.

It has? I wasn't aware of that. Hadn't it been added on Dupré's suggestion?

 

The photos are from Robert Davy's splendid book, aren't they? A dream of an organ monography it is, especially the drawings truly are a love's labour.

 

Best,

Friedrich

[mgp]

It has? I wasn't aware of that. Hadn't it been added on Dupré's suggestion?

 

The photos are from Robert Davy's splendid book, aren't they? A dream of an organ monography it is, especially the drawings truly are a love's labour.

 

Best,

Friedrich

Yes it was removed as an anachronism - it never really worked to my mind. Of necessity it was incorrectly placed on the 'fonds' (tubed 'off' in between two other ranks), interfered with the speech of other stops (by being placed over them) and didn't fit tonally (no other principal tone above 8' on the Recit).

 

The photograph is indeed from M Davy's book - my own were less clear when I scanned them. I was privileged to meet him, play for a service and talk extensively about the organ in 1989 and on subsequent occasions. He was a real gentleman and a great lover of the St Etienne organ. Many of his drawings decorate the passages between the staircase and the console.

 

I'm very grateful to Alain Mabit (then co-titulaire) for his hospitality on several occasions (and the odd glass or more of 'porto').

[pcnd5584]

Yes it was removed as an anachronism - it never really worked to my mind. Of necessity it was incorrectly placed on the 'fonds' (tubed 'off' in between two other ranks), interfered with the speech of other stops (by being placed over them) and didn't fit tonally (no other principal tone above 8' on the Recit).

 

The photograph is indeed from M Davy's book - my own were less clear when I scanned them. I was privileged to meet him, play for a service and talk extensively about the organ in 1989 and on subsequent occasions. He was a real gentleman and a great lover of the St Etienne organ. Many of his drawings decorate the passages between the staircase and the console.

 

I'm very grateful to Alain Mabit (then co-titulaire) for his hospitality on several occasions (and the odd glass or more of 'porto').

 

Ah - has M. Mabit retired? I too have cause to be grateful for his hospitality - not the least for his willingness to allow me the freedom of the console during a service or two at a moment's notice.*

 

Do you happen to know if it is still possible to obtain a copy of M. Davy's book, please - and, if so, how I might achieve this?

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

* However, I am less grateful for the experience of being given a lift around Caen at night by Alain Bouvet (the other titulaire). Apart from bumper-pushing some really quite nice shiny cars, in order to get out of a parking space, he only stopped once at a red light or a junction. Even then, this was only because, at the last second, he noticed the police car which was about to bisect our path. I cannot say that I enjoyed suddenly having my face pressed up against the windscreen whilst simultaneously being hit from behind by a box of tissues, a large, hard-back copy of a Victor Hugo novel (Le Dernier jour d'un condamné) and a bag of courgettes, as Alain stood on the brake pedal and created a skid-mark (on the road) about twelve feet long, which stank of burnt rubber.

[OmegaConsort]

However, I am less grateful for the experience of being given a lift around Caen at night by Alain Bouvet (the other titulaire). Apart from bumper-pushing some really quite nice shiny cars, in order to get out of a parking space, he only stopped once at a red light or a junction. Even then, this was only because, at the last second, he noticed the police car which was about to bisect our path. I cannot say that I enjoyed suddenly having my face pressed up against the windscreen whilst simultaneously being hit from behind by a box of tissues, a large, hard-back copy of a Victor Hugo novel (Le Dernier jour d'un condamné) and a bag of courgettes, as Alain stood on the brake pedal and created a skid-mark (on the road) about twelve feet long, which stank of burnt rubber.[/font]

 

 

that has cheered me up no end - in fact I fell of my chair. Every wednesday I do some consultancy work for a health and safety company.........it is worse than watching paint dry, so thanks again!!

[pcnd5584]

that has cheered me up no end - in fact I fell of my chair. Every wednesday I do some consultancy work for a health and safety company.........it is worse than watching paint dry, so thanks again!!

 

You are welcome!

 

I am sorry that my post induced you to fall from your chair - particularly in the light of the company for whom you were working! This sounds like the short conference on Safety at work which took place in Nottingham several years ago. Unfortunately, during a coffee-break, one of the display boards collapsed and injured several people; some were bruised, some scalded by hot liquid - and, perhaps most bizarrely, a man was injured when a woman's handbag hit him squarely in the crotch.*

 

 

* Apparently, the owner of the handbag was one of the unfortunate souls to suffer injury at the collapse of the display board. As it fell, her instinctive reaction was to attempt to ward-off the danger. Sadly, all she succeeded in doing was arresting permanently the ability of a gentleman from Chipping Sodbury to increase the size of his family in the future.

 

 

[mgp]

Ah - has M. Mabit retired? I too have cause to be grateful for his hospitality - not the least for his willingness to allow me the freedom of the console during a service or two at a moment's notice.*

 

Do you happen to know if it is still possible to obtain a copy of M. Davy's book, please - and, if so, how I might achieve this?

I've lost touch with Alain & Sylvie - he may well still be at St Etienne (and at St Eloi in Rouen). I haven't seen them since the mid 1990's.

 

I got my copy of the Davy (in German) the hard (and expensive) way - via www.abebooks.com

 

Alain M was also a bit of a lad in his BMW - I still remember him leading me from Falaise (church locked alas) to Caen the wrong way up two one-way streets and then taking an (illegal) left turn off a dual carriage-way. His car, of course, was happily tucked into the gap in the crash barrier but the 'stupid Brit' was left with his tail hanging out waiting to be hit (I certainly learnt several new French gestures!!). I don't recall too much adherence to speed limits either! On the other hand he was (is) a heck of a player - one night he accompanied my wife (a mezzo) through most of Die Walkure on a harpsichord without turning a hair.

[Westgate Morris]

Taking a quick left in my tin can I seem to be back at the topic.... Those Terraced Consoles. I think I am going backwards trying to find the 4' Flute. Darn, they put it where the turn-signal should be. I will apply the CRES pedal and go for a real ride.

[mgp]

Taking a quick left in my tin can I seem to be back at the topic.... Those Terraced Consoles. I think I am going backwards trying to find the 4' Flute. Darn, they put it where the turn-signal should be. I will apply the CRES pedal and go for a real ride.

Hmmn - just remember that not all the stops work until you press the right pedal!!