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New console Notre Dame de Paris


flûte harmonique

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Good to see your splendid photos, pcnd, and to be reminded of your own website via the second photo. I enjoyed the Cornwall photos too - I played at St John's Penzance with an old friend of David Drinkell's - Ian Sadler, in about 1974. A whopping sound if I remember correctly. There's another huge organ in Penzance at the methodist church in Chapel Street? Have you been there? St Mary's has got a Lance Foy re-cast of an organ from Oxford (?) following the devastating fire in about 1984/85. Are plans coming together for your organ - it must be due for some work - perhaps a PM would be good if you cannot broadcast details yet!

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Hmmm, actually I'm starting to appreciate this new NDdP console, with the curves, terraces and sort of 'visual forward direction'. I think the right hand jamb has stobknops for the couplers, hence the tablets black to make them unobtrusive? The light colored wood looks a bit cheap maybe (probably isn't), but that may well be due to the photo.

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... I think the right hand jamb has stobknops for the couplers, hence the tablets black to make them unobtrusive? The light colored wood looks a bit cheap maybe (probably isn't), but that may well be due to the photo.

 

In which case, I wonder why they bothered to duplicate them as nasty black rocking tablets. Then they could also have positioned the music desk lower.

 

In any case, if the rocking tablets are rendered unobtrusive thus, surely the inescapable corollary is that individual tablets will be harder to locate quickly.

 

For the record, I do not like HWIII consoles, for the same reason - although at least he made the rocking tablets of ivory. (And then ebonised just about every other surface on the console....)

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Good to see your splendid photos, pcnd, and to be reminded of your own website via the second photo. I enjoyed the Cornwall photos too - I played at St John's Penzance with an old friend of David Drinkell's - Ian Sadler, in about 1974. A whopping sound if I remember correctly. There's another huge organ in Penzance at the methodist church in Chapel Street? Have you been there? St Mary's has got a Lance Foy re-cast of an organ from Oxford (?) following the devastating fire in about 1984/85. Are plans coming together for your organ - it must be due for some work - perhaps a PM would be good if you cannot broadcast details yet!

 

Thank you, Martin - this is much appreciated.

 

I have a few new(-ish) galleries to add, which I shall endeavour to do soon, including Lincoln Cathedral. On my facebook page, I also have some new pictures of Wimborne and the Minster - including several taken inside the instrument - and several which I took from the inner two galleries of the central tower.

 

Penzance - indeed. The instrument came from Saint Mary the Virgin, Oxford - the 'University Church'. Having played it in its new home, even I must agree that it is too loud. At one stage, the organist was stockpiling further ranks of pipes, in order to add another section. I hope sincerely that it was planned to make this an Echo Organ. It really does not need any more power as it stands.

 

I shall try to reply to your other point by PM when I finish work later.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Recently published by the organbuider Quoirin the details on the arrangements made in 2012 with regards to the console as well as with the electronic parts of the organ.

Sorry, this is not translated...

http://www.atelier-q...risND_etude.php

 

Thank you for this, flûte harmonique. I shall have a good look through this when I have finished teaching this evening.

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Thank you, Martin - this is much appreciated.

 

I have a few new(-ish) galleries to add, which I shall endeavour to do soon, including Lincoln Cathedral. On my facebook page, I also have some new pictures of Wimborne and the Minster - including several taken inside the instrument - and several which I took from the inner two galleries of the central tower.

 

Penzance - indeed. The instrument came from Saint Mary the Virgin, Oxford - the 'University Church'. Having played it in its new home, even I must agree that it is too loud. At one stage, the organist was stockpiling further ranks of pipes, in order to add another section. I hope sincerely that it was planned to make this an Echo Organ. It really does not need any more power as it stands.

 

I shall try to reply to your other point by PM when I finish work later.

 

 

St Mary's Pz is indeed a whopper - far too big for the church. In Oxford it was free-standing on the stone choir screen in a large building. It moved to Pz and was placed on a west gallery the sound being reflected down into a - not small but - much smaller building. The result is very unsatisfactory. So much to use but you dare not!

 

The stock-piled pipework came from up the road. St Paul's church had closed in 2000 and the Robson/Hele organ was partly dismantled and there was the idea of replacing some of the 'Oxford' pipework with that from St Pauls' to help make the organ a little more useful. The, then, assistant organist subsequently moved and nothing happened. Whether the stored pipes are still in the galley at St Mary's, I do not know.

 

The old organ in St Mary's was magnificent or perhaps aristocratic would better describe it. It had gentle majesty. Yes a few extra bits would have been nice and the choir organ never received the intended enclosure. The Diapasons rich, warm and round: the Stopped Diapsaons wonderfully 'Old World' and the pedal Trombone was one of my favourites - rich, incisive, clear - all that could be required.

 

St John's Pz is very good. I played it a great deal before the rebuild and it was always a joy, apart from, perhaps, the slightly sluggish pneumatic action. I also played a lot on and quite enjoyed St Paul's Pz. Unfortunately the organ stood in it's own chamber with not very large openings through rather massice Cornish granite walls which made it rather distant. Given a more open position this could have been very good indeed. The great Trumpet was splashy and free and the choir reed quite correctly engraved, 'Clarionet et Bassoon 8' it having a true bassoon bass octave. This too had a rustic charm.

 

St Paul's had an interesting history. St Mary's (church) had been rebuilt in 1835 and was typical of the period as an auditory church (galleries on three sides) though the building is quite lofty and presents a majestic outline high on the headland (this being the origin of the town's name form the Cornish 'Pen Sans' meaning Holy Headland...the land of Saints, St john the Baptist' head on a charger being the - old - Borough Arms and he being the patron Saint of the town) above Penzance with a very fine tower (and all in granite). Henry Batten was the vicar (actually the Perpetual Curate at that time, but that is more history!) and was/must have been at the fore-front of the religious revival - the Oxford Movement. He had St Paul's built as a private chapel and held 'High' services there with a robed choir. It was noted for miles and miles around and was only the third church in the C of E to revive the Christmas Midnight Mass (the others being, I think, Margaret Street in London and St Hilda's Leeds). So 'advanced' as it was that 'The Times' sent a special correspondent down to the midnight service - and that before anything like a significant railway service!

 

The Methodist chapel just up the road from St Mary's has a 'collision' organ. Parts of their own old Walker and most of the 1867 Bryceson organ from St John's Hall (The Town Hall). That was, again, before a properly integrated railway system ran all through to Pz; was then the largest organ in Cornwall and opened by W T Best. Regretably it had been dismantled at some time (during the war or shortly afterwards?) and stored in the cellars. The then organist of Chapel Street* Wesleyan Chapel, Hugh Branwell, a local wealthy business man offered a pitiful amount for it and it was 'let go'! Then the Sweetland Organ Company of Bath rebuilt the two organs together in two 'cases', perhaps boxes would better describe them, in the chapel gallery controlled by a console between. In recent years Lance Foy has cleaned and done some other work to this organ including turning some of the 16' Violones around so that the very fine stencil desgin can now be seen. (It is my secret wish to, firstly become immensely rich, and then return the grand old Bryceson to the Town Hall!).

 

 

 

*Chapel Street itself is not named after the Weslyan Methodist Chapel but firstly after St Mary's 'Chapel' as it was until 1870 when it bacmae a sepearate parish the church of Madron being the ancient mother Church of the district and before the Reformation an for some time after was actually called 'Our lady Street'.

 

Father-Willis

(Cornishman in exile!).

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Incidentally, can anyone recommend some good free photo editing software, please? It needs to have a re-sizing facility - with the option to constrain the proportions. I downloaded Picasa 3, on a recommendation, but having trawled through all the menus I can find, there appears to be no option to re-size images.

 

Thank you.

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Incidentally, can anyone recommend some good free photo editing software, please? It needs to have a re-sizing facility - with the option to constrain the proportions. I downloaded Picasa 3, on a recommendation, but having trawled through all the menus I can find, there appears to be no option to re-size images.

 

Thank you.

Try GIMP http://www.gimp.org/

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Except that it looks as if this photograph was taken from a standing position - and perhaps by someone who was quite tall. If one is seated on the bench, I am willing to bet that the view is not anything like as helpful. In any case, I do not see how it can be so: there are five claviers, then the row of couplers, then a strip of wood. I am fairly sure that it would not be possible to achieve the view above, from a seated position.

 

Having seen the above view, I cannot imagine what they were thinking - this console is incredibly ugly. Look at the ridiculously wide stop jambs with the multiple rows of stops - and the wasted space above several of the outer rows. Clearly the stepped part is integral to the 'design' - the music desk (such as it is) is in place. The whole thing looks like part of a spaceship control panel from a budget 1960's film set.

 

Compared to the previous somewhat more dignified console, this just looks absurd. Why, oh why, did Latry, Lefébvre and Leguay think that it was necessary to replace the previous console with this monstrosity? In any case, with the advent of flat-screen TVs, I can see no need to attempt to make this console so squat.

 

If this is what they consider to be a good, elegant and ergonomic console design, I shudder to think what they may do to the instrument tonally, during its rebuilding next year. I still regard the re-casting of the G.O. and Positif compound stops as progressive mixtures* in 1992 as a mistake, on this instrument. The removal of both Récit chorus mixtures was also unnecessary. If one does not like them, do not draw them.

 

If this were a car, it would be a Citroën 2CV.

 

 

 

* Cavaillé-Coll only used such stops for around ten years or so; after this, he reverted to repeating - or breaking - mixtures.

 

The photographer has tried to achieve everything and in so doing has created a dog's dinner. Undoubtedly a very wide-angle lens has been used from a too close position and not surprisingly caused a great deal of distortion of the subject. I suspect it's not half as ugly, but I also suspect the photographer had little room to move back from the console and thus considerably minimise distortion.

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I got a letter from François Carbou PC's assistant, confident and friend for 30 years.

Translation is mine:

 

In 1992, the great organ of Notre Dame de Paris, one of the most famous organ in the world was completely restored, consisting in the dismantling of the 8000 pipes taken outside Paris for a general cleaning (quite necessary) then a winding up and a new harmonization which, according some numerous experts ,has deeply affected the original Cavaillé-Coll feature. These works were completed with a new electronic transmission called Synaptel . The old Cochereau's console was considerably modified, since only the stops, the manuels, the pedall and the bench were kept.

This restoration has been costly ( the equivalent of today 2,2 M€) but over the following years, it was necessary to earmark again some money for the Synaptel failures !

Twenty years after from january 2012 until november 2012, it appears that the GO has to be restored again, financed by State budget since the organ is its property (Monument historique).

At this occasion Pierre Cochereau's console is destroyed and only the ivory stops and the pedall are reused, whereas it should have be « decent » to preserve this console in the same conditions than Vierne's was preserved. But this item full of marvellous souvenirs as well as the bench have been put in a dustbin.

The initiators of this infamy are so proud of themselves that nothing about tthe details of the works is explained in the layout displayed on NDP site, and that the new console photo has been displayed only by mid january 2013.

Last but not the least, it is planed a new campaign of restoration works en 2014 including again the dismantling of the organ !

 

All this costly circus is of course financed by the taxpayer, when time has occured to cut into the Culture ministry expenses which leads to the death of cultural entities unable to be supported by public funds.

 

That's it

 

François Carbou

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I got a letter from François Carbou PC's assistant, confident and friend for 30 years.

Translation is mine:

 

In 1992, the great organ of Notre Dame de Paris, one of the most famous organ in the world was completely restored, consisting in the dismantling of the 8000 pipes taken outside Paris for a general cleaning (quite necessary) then a winding up and a new harmonization which, according some numerous experts ,has deeply affected the original Cavaillé-Coll feature. These works were completed with a new electronic transmission called Synaptel . The old Cochereau's console was considerably modified, since only the stops, the manuels, the pedall and the bench were kept.

This restoration has been costly ( the equivalent of today 2,2 M€) but over the following years, it was necessary to earmark again some money for the Synaptel failures !

Twenty years after from january 2012 until november 2012, it appears that the GO has to be restored again, financed by State budget since the organ is its property (Monument historique).

At this occasion Pierre Cochereau's console is destroyed and only the ivory stops and the pedall are reused, whereas it should have be « decent » to preserve this console in the same conditions than Vierne's was preserved. But this item full of marvellous souvenirs as well as the bench have been put in a dustbin.

The initiators of this infamy are so proud of themselves that nothing about tthe details of the works is explained in the layout displayed on NDP site, and that the new console photo has been displayed only by mid january 2013.

Last but not the least, it is planed a new campaign of restoration works en 2014 including again the dismantling of the organ !

 

All this costly circus is of course financed by the taxpayer, when time has occured to cut into the Culture ministry expenses which leads to the death of cultural entities unable to be supported by public funds.

 

That's it

 

François Carbou

 

Thank you indeed for this, flûte harmonique - it makes interesting, and rather sad reading.

 

For what it is worth, I too regret the ignominy with which the console of someone as famous as Pierre Cochereau has been treated. I wonder why the keyboards were discarded - were they really worn out, after fifty or so years? They were of high-quality ivory, and originally supplied by Herrburger Brooks, of Long Eaton, Nottingham, England.

 

Furthermore, the tonal alterations and additions seem to be rather pointless - and, in my view, take this once-grand instrument even further from its Cavaillé-Coll roots. The Resonnance division appears to me to be entirely superfluous. It certainly has little in common with any instruments by Cavaillé-Coll. Presumably, as has been suggested, this is the former Petit Pédale, completed to fifty-six notes, and made available on every clavier - including that of the Pédale Orgue. As for the chimes - what were they thinking?

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The photographer has tried to achieve everything and in so doing has created a dog's dinner. Undoubtedly a very wide-angle lens has been used from a too close position and not surprisingly caused a great deal of distortion of the subject. I suspect it's not half as ugly, but I also suspect the photographer had little room to move back from the console and thus considerably minimise distortion.

 

This makes sense - there is indeed little room behind the console to take a decent photograph.

 

What a pity this new console did not fall from the hoist (like its predecessor), as it was being winched up to the tribune....

 

I still think that it is the organ equivalent of a Citroën 2CV.

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This makes sense - there is indeed little room behind the console to take a decent photograph.

 

What a pity this new console did not fall from the hoist (like its predecessor), as it was being winched up to the tribune....

 

I still think that it is the organ equivalent of a Citroën 2CV.

 

I agree completely - and your last sentiment sums up exactly the impression I had when I saw some images of the new console.

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Irfan view seems to do most things in terms of picture manipulation - and it's free. It's what I use to reduce image file sizes for NPOR.

 

Every Blessing

 

Tony

 

Thank you, Tony. I shall also have a look at this one. All I need, is to be able to re-size images for my website; so this sounds as if it might fit the requirements.

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