On
the History of the A. Cavaillé-Coll
Organ at St. Bernhard, Mainz-Bretzenheim
"To
this day, the name "Cavaillé-Coll"
continues to electrify the organ
world that celebrated ehe 100th
anniversary of his death in 1999.
His works represent a highly romantic
sound ideal aiming at rich orchestral
colors, a good tonal blend and opulent
sonority combined with tonal flexibility.
Rich, saturated colors instead of
lighter tonal qualities are preferred.
Aristide
Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899) is considered
the creator of the so-called symphonic
organ; his influence on the development
of English and German organ building
cannnot be exaggerated. He created
a synthesis combining the classic
French organ with the characteristic
overblowing flutes (Flûte harmonique),
the Swell Organ and (Spanish) horizontal
trumpets (Trompettes en chamade)
as well as (South German) strings.
In
the masterworks of this acoustical
engineer and researcher, we find
high-quality workmanship and fine
materials coupled with brilliant
sound designs of individual and
elegant intonation.
To
numerous French composers in the
second half of the 19th century,
his organs provided inspiration
and the inherent possibility to
realize a new symphonic compositional
style. The greatest organ composers
in France - like Franck, Widor,
Vierne to Messiaen - were deeply
irnpressed and motivated by the
rich sonority of his instrurnents.
The
A. Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Bernhard,
the very first in Germany, has an
eventful history that could be reconstructed
through information by the family
of the former owner, architect Patrice
Comte, Paris, as well as by research
of the organ builders Berger and
Swiderski: the origins of the instrument
go back to the seventies of the
19th century. lt was built
in 1876/77 for St. Ferdinand
et Thérèse de l'enfant de Jésu,
a small Paris church located on
the corner of Rue St. Ferdinand
and d'Armaillé,
not far from the Place de l'Etoile.
Unexpectedly, the congregation found
the means to purchase a larger organ.
Cavaillé-Coll took advantage of
the opportunity, built a larger
instrument for St. Ferdinand and
put up the smaller organ in his
workshop for testing of new techniques
and as a show and demonstration
instrument. The lavish design as
well as the complicated mechanism
of the organ show a level of organ
building that Cavaillé-Coll applied
at St. Ouen in Rouen (1890), so
that the experts assume a date no
later than the beginning of the
nineties (1890-92) for the completion
of the work. The organ has remained
unchanged since that time.
Considerably
older than the interior part of
the organ is the case of massive
oak. lt was quite customary for
Cavaillé-Coll to use the historic
cases of predecessor organs. Parts
of the organ front are more than
250 years old, as could be acurately
shown by the original screws. The
cabinet maker Cavaillé integrated
the historic materials in a masterful
way and decorated even the organ
bench with corresponding friezes,
scrolls and angel heads.
Patrice
Comte's great grandmother Cécile
(1869-1950), daughter of the Alsacian
metal factory owner Jakob Holtzer,
bought the organ from Cavaillé-Coll's
immediate successor Charles Mutin
in 1912, for her musical daughter
Hélène, the best friend and first
student of Nadia Boulanger. The
famous organist at Paris' St. Madeleine
knew and appreciated the valuable
instrument standing in the Paris
mansion of the family in the Rue
d'Anjou until the death of the great-grandmother
in 1950. In 1951 the mansion was
sold and the organ transferred to
the Oratoire de Louvre, the largest
Lutheran church in Paris. It was
in service there until the end of
the sixties. In 1971, Nadia Vergniaud,
Patrice Comte's mother, herself
a former student of Nadia Boulanger,
generously placed the instrument
at the disposal of the small Lutheran
congregation of Suresnes near Paris
for their reconciliation church.
There it served every Sunday until
1997 when a large-scale renovation
became necessary for mechanical
fatique and the deteriorating wind
supply. In order to limit the expense,
the congretation tried to do the
repairs themselves, but the amateur
volonteers were to realize that
only an expert restoration they
could never afford was going to
save the organ. With the help of
organ builder Francois Delangue,
the parish of St. Bernhard was able
to establish contact with the congregation
of Suresnes and the owner. P. Comte
was interested in the preservation
of the instrument and the installation
of the organ in an adequate place
in Germany and sold the organ to
the Catholic parish of St. Bernhard
in Mainz.. The commitee of the parish
decided on a large-scale restoration
by the French organ company Claude
Berger, Clermont d'Hérlaut (near
Montpellier) who performed the work
in conjunction with master organ
builder Jean-Pierre Swiderski, Paris,
with great care and diligence.
On
December 17, 1999, the vicar General
of Mainz, prelate Dr. Werner Guballa,
consecrated the first Cavaillé-Coll
organ in Germany. Daniel Roth, titular
organist of the great A. Cavaillé-Coll
organ at St. Sulpice in Paris, played
the solemn service for the consecration
and the consecration concert in
connection with an international
symposium for the 100th anniversary
of the death of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
of the academy of the bishopric
Mainz, Erbacher Hof".
(Text
by Dr. Peter Reifenberg, Translation:
Steven Clarc)
Recording technique
The organ was recorded an processed in January 2004 with 44 kHz, 16 bit, 4-channels for Hauptwerk
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