France is divided into “départements” that represent the political subdivisions of the country. Much work has been done in the last decade by governmental agencies to have a ready inventory of organs by departments, and although the work has not yet been completed in the entire country, it has progressed very well in the area of the Rhône valley. Quite a bit of information is available, and the inventory of the organs of the department of l’Isère, which encompasses the dioceses of Grenoble and Vienne, is available in book form. The last edition was published in 1996, and it is easy to check out the various instruments and to see what the stylistic trends have been over the years.
L’Isère is one of the most scenic areas in all of France because of the magnificent mountain ranges that come together to form part of the Alps, including the impressive Mont Blanc. And in this area there are some great organs that demonstrate the development that has taken place over the last two centuries. At one point there were practically no organs of any significance in this area, but that is not the case now.
Government ownership
In France, organ maintenance, including rebuilds and restorations, as well as the building of new instruments, oftentimes comes under the aegis of some governmental agency, thereby relieving the pressure on an individual church to provide the total financing for the work. Often it is the municipality that owns the organ of a church, and this applies throughout the country, including Paris, where the city owns a good number of the organs of the various churches. In the book, Les Orgues de Paris, Jacques Chirac, mayor in 1992, notes in the preface that 130 of the 250 organs at that time were owned by the city, making Paris one of the major proprietors of organs in the world.1
This situation has prevailed in France since 1905, the year of rendering final the separation of church and state. In the interest of fairness, a system of ownership that depended on the year of construction of the organ was established. If it preceded 1905, the organ became the property of the municipality; this was also the case if it had been rebuilt after 1906 but included parts of an older organ. In theory everything new after 1906 was to be the property of the parish or some other organization. An older organ could become the property of the parish if it had been bought back at the time of the application of the law of separation of church and state.
The government of the French Republic owns the organs of cathedrals that are considered “immeubles par destination” (buildings by their nature of being cathedrals).2 This explains why the organ of Notre-Dame de Paris is owned by the French state and not the city of Paris. This clearly indicates the desire of the country to document the cultural heritage that is represented by the master organbuilders over the centuries. In effect a great organ is a significant aspect of French culture and worthy of public support. On the other hand, government financing of work is not automatic. A request is made to the commission that oversees such things, and a positive or negative judgment is rendered, depending on the circumstances.
L’Eglise Saint-Louis en l’île Saint-Louis
From the information provided on the website of l’Eglise Saint-Louis en l’île Saint-Louis, one can see a good example of how an organ project develops. In spring 2005, the installation of the new organ (III/51) by the organbuilder Bernard Aubertin took place. L’île Saint-Louis represents a very scenic location inasmuch as it is directly behind l’île de la Cité where Notre-Dame de Paris stands. As far back as 1977 the titulaire, Georges Guillard, expressed an interest in the idea of a new organ for the church because the Mutin organ (III/33) at that time was in an unplayable state. In 1983 the city of Paris became interested in this project, which was supported by L’Association des grandes orgues de Saint-Louis-en-l’île, because the new organ was to be a special instrument suitable for baroque music of North Germany and that of Bach in particular. In 1993 the commission approved the project in principle, but it was only in 1999 that Bernard Aubertin was chosen from eleven organ builders to realize the work. The case is absolutely stunning and makes a statement in its own way. It has a baroque grandeur that is difficult to equal. The construction of this instrument took place over the span of six years at a cost of one million euros. About a dozen members of the Aubertin team dedicated more than 20,000 hours of work to the project. [For a detailed report on this organ, see “A New Aubertin Organ in the German Baroque Style,” by Carolyn Shuster Fournier, The Diapason, March 2006, pp. 22–25.]
Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye
Aubertin did the restoration work on the organ of Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye, which was completed for the most part in 1992. This organ is easily the most famous instrument in the department of l’Isère. Numerous recordings have been made there; it is generally considered to be one of the finest examples of a French classic organ. The restoration was completed in 2001 when Michel Gaillard, an associate of Bernard Aubertin, added the final four stops to bring the total specifications to IV/44.
As of 1996 there were 72 organs in the department of l’Isère, and their ownership was divided between municipalities and parishes, with the emphasis on the municipalities. More than half of the organs extant in the department have been built since 1960. The organ of the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Grenoble belongs to the state, but that of the Cathedral of Saint-Maurice in Vienne belongs to the municipality. The church of Saint-Louis in Grenoble has the largest and one of the better-known organs in the department (III/60). This was built by Bartolomeo Formentelli in 1982 and belongs to the municipality. The choir organ (I/6) was built in 1981 by a local builder, Michel Giroud, and its main purpose was for use in the liturgical services while the installation of the large organ was taking place. It is owned by the parish. The acquisition of the Formentelli organ by the church of Saint-Louis is interesting because it is related to the intriguing story of the instrument at Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye, which is within an hour’s drive of Grenoble.
An organ at the Abbey Church goes back to 1491, and the elegant walnut case of five turrets for the Grand-Orgue and Pedal divisions dates from around 1634, but there is no information on the designer or the builder.3 The case for the Positif de dos matches that of the rest of the organ and has three turrets. Bernard Aubertin, who did the restoration work in 1992, believes that the Positif case from 1639 was replaced in 1748 when the Swiss builder, Samson Scherrer, did the work for the new organ.4 The current organ loft was built in 1678, and further work on the instrument was done through 1700. But 1748 was the year that the organ achieved its current character with 40 stops on four manuals and pedal. Scherrer, originally from Saint-Gallen, had established himself in Geneva and had chosen to do much of his work in France between the years of 1746 and 1755. He constructed an organ for the church of Saint-Louis in Grenoble in 1746, and in 1750 built organs for both the Collegiate Church of Saint-André in Grenoble and the Cathedral of Embrun, which is in the nearby department of Hautes-Alpes.
The success of the organ at Saint-Antoine resulted from the stoplist, the mechanical action, the materials used, the positioning of the instrument, and the excellent acoustics of the church. People at the church stated that they had an organ “de huit pieds, sonnant seize, à quatre claviers et deux octaves de pédales, avec un positif en saillie sur la tribune du grand portail” (of eight feet, sounding like sixteen, with four manuals and two octaves in the pedal division, and with a positif that projected from the organ loft of the main portal).5 This was a perfect organ for the works of Couperin, de Grigny, Charpentier, Boyvin, Muffat, Böhm, Lebegue, Titelouze and Sweelinck as well as for the music of the liturgy. It is interesting that the Dom Bedos organ that was restored in 1997 and is currently in the Abbey Church of Sainte-Croix in Bordeaux was built in the same year of 1748.
Not much seemed to happen at Saint-Antoine between 1750 and 1805, and the organ was primarily used for accompaniment during services. The French Revolution did not bring damage to the instrument, but in 1805, by a bizarre set of circumstances, the organ was removed and placed in the church of Saint-Louis in Grenoble. In March 1805 the municipality decided to sell the organ because funds were badly needed to repair the bridges of the gates of Lyon and Romans, which were in danger of collapsing. The town had no money, and therefore it was proposed to sell the organ to the municipality of Vienne, which had expressed an interest in it. But either Saint-Antoine wanted too much or Vienne was offering too little, and the transaction fell through. A number of other communities were interested in the organ for which the municipality of Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye was expressing little need. The church of Saint-Louis in Grenoble had enough influence with the authorities that the Minister of Finance decreed that the organ should be sent to Grenoble posthaste. On November 22, 1805, the people of the town were not permitted access to the church by the army so that workers could complete their dismantling of the organ for its removal to Saint-Louis. The people of Saint-Antoine used the term “enlèvement” to describe the affair, and the word can be translated by “removal,” “abduction,” or “kidnapping.” Ultimately the coup de grâce was that Saint-Antoine received absolutely nothing for the organ.6
This brings us to 1981 when the organ was finally returned to Saint-Antoine. For many years the inhabitants of Saint-Antoine had clamored for the return of the instrument and in 1968, thanks to the efforts of Father Jouffre, a priest at Saint-Antoine, and others in the area, some progress was made. On January 14, 1971, the High Commission for historical monuments (organ section) gave a favorable opinion to the question of returning the case and the older pipes to Saint-Antoine; the transfer of the organ was to be done as soon as the new organ for Grenoble was ready for installation. The old pipework was classified as historic by a decree of April 10, 1974. It was stated that “the Minister of Cultural Affairs and the Environment has classified as Historical Monuments: Isère. Grenoble. Eglise Saint-Louis. The organ coming from the Abbey Church of Saint-Antoine. The old pipework of the instrument: 530 pipes from Joli, XVII century, and Scherrer, XVIII century. Around 300 pipes from Zeiger (1850).”7
The organ was dismantled at Grenoble in January 1981 and arrived at Saint-Antoine on February 7; it had taken 175 years for this to take place. Monsieur Damien, the cabinetmaker at Saint-Antoine, needed seven coats of paint for the restoration of the case. The case was placed in the west gallery at the beginning of 1984, and the façade pipes were cleaned and re-installed in June 1984 by Promonet and Steinman, organbuilders from Rives. Next came the question of giving it back its voice, and that is what was done by Bernard Aubertin.
Organbuilding in the 1990s
The inventory of organs that was published in 1996 traces the work that was done through that year, and one finds that there was only one new instrument built in the 1990s, at l’Eglise Saint-Nicolas in Autrans, a small village in the mountains near Grenoble. There were rebuilds and modifications of organs at a number of churches, and some small instruments were installed in the 1980s in some of the picturesque villages of the department.
There had not been a history of great interest in the organ in this region during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In the area near Grenoble there is the monastery of La Grande Chartreuse that played a great role in the economic development of the department, but the monks never expressed much interest in the organ as part of the liturgy; that is one of the reasons why there were so few organs in the region until the eighteenth century.9 The Chartreux made generous donations to a number of churches in the department, but that involved funds for stained-glass windows, choir stalls or the construction of nineteenth-century grandiose churches such as those at Voiron and Bourgoin-Jallieu. But they never gave funds for organs. Their factory for the production of the famous green and yellow liqueurs is in the city of Voiron, which is very close to Grenoble and which has one of the best-known organs in the department.
Both the organs of Saint-Bruno at Voiron and Saint-Jean-Baptiste at Bourgoin-Jallieu were mentioned in the inventory as major instruments in need of work, and it was regretted that nothing had been done with them up to that time. It was good to find in the fall of 2004 that both of those organs had recently been completely restored. In the case of Saint-Jean-Baptiste, major work had also been done to the interior of the church, and the sound of the instrument at the present time is absolutely magnificent.
Saint-Bruno in Voiron
Let us begin with the instrument at Saint-Bruno in Voiron. The financing of the work that was done from 1999–2002 involved the State, the region of Rhône-Alpes, the Department of l’Isère, and the City of Voiron. This clearly showed how important the organ was in the life of the community from an historical point of view. This organ (IV/41) was originally built for the church of Saint-François de Sales in Lyon in 1838 by the Callinet brothers. In 1864 Cavaillé-Coll replaced the two small manuals (Récit and Echo) with a récit expressif of ten stops as well as adding four new stops and a new console. Through the intercession of François Widor and his famous son, Charles-Marie, the parish acquired a new organ from Cavaillé-Coll in 1879 and put the modified Callinet up for sale. A neo-gothic case that harmonized with the style of the interior of Saint-Bruno, which was constructed in 1864, was built in 1881 when the transfer to the church was made. The actual inauguration took place in 1883, and modifications took place during the following years; in 1973 it was classified as an historic monument. Twenty-nine stops by Callinet and four by Cavaillé-Coll had been retained, but it was evident by that date that the instrument was in a pitiful state, and therefore talk of restoration surfaced. By 1992 a decision was made in favor of work but it was not until 1999 that the contract was given to Daniel Kern of Strasbourg. The crowning point of the work was the return of the organ to the west front gallery in 2002. It was indicated in a church brochure that Kern kept most of the Callinet stops and some stops of Cavaillé-Coll from the Récit expressif.10 Saint-Bruno is of cathedral size and has magnificent acoustics. The sound of the organ is rich, airy, and majestic with no sense of harshness. This is a first-class instrument that is surely worth seeing and hearing.
Saint-Jean-Baptiste at Bourgoin-Jallieu
The organ at Bourgoin-Jallieu is an impressive instrument of some 40 stops on three manuals from the workshop of Joseph Merklin of Lyon in 1880. The church is situated at the Place Carnot in the heart of Bourgoin-Jallieu, which is near Lyon but still in the department of l’Isère. It is a vast structure of cathedral proportions and has been refinished in white in the interior, which gives it an impressive allure. Previously the interior was dark and gloomy. One interesting characteristic of the organ is the borrowing of stops in both the Grand-Orgue and the Positif. This technique of borrowed stops with mechanical action considerably augments the resources and variety of the instrument.11 This organ was made for the French romantic repertoire and makes a most favorable impression, given the excellent acoustics of the church. The restoration work was done by the Manufacture provençale in Carcès (Var), which is directed by the organbuilder Yves Cabourdin, who did the restoration work on the Isnard organ (IV/41) of the famous royal basilica of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine of Saint-Maximin-La-Sainte-Baume in Provence. The latter is considered to be an excellent example of the French classic organ and ranks with that of Saint-Antoine l’Abbaye and the Dom Bedos instrument at Sainte-Croix in Bordeaux as a marvelous venue for baroque repertoire.
Cathedral of Grenoble
The first mention of an organ at the Cathedral of Grenoble goes back to 1426. In the nineteenth century Cavaillé-Coll installed an organ of eight stops there. The instrument was enlarged by different builders over the years, but has not been used since 1990 because of all the construction work being done. There are no services at the cathedral because the entire nave is a building site. Work on the organ will be done eventually, but it is not clear when that will take place.
A Cavaillé-Coll organ of 11 stops was installed in l’Eglise Saint-Marcel in the town of Allevard in 1874. Work by Tschanun and Schwenkedel was done in 1922 and 1965, but the organ now (II/23) has had the benefit of major additions and restorations over the past 30 years at the hands of Xavier Silbermann, who is still listed as the curator of the instrument.12 Silbermann comes from the Strasbourg wing of the family and had his workshop in the Rhône Valley area until his recent retirement. Even so, he has continued to work in tandem with the titulaire, Dr. Henri Perrin, to upgrade the instrument. Monsieur Perrin is a virtuoso organist and pianist and presently dedicates most of his time to composition. Even though this is not a large instrument, the sound is very impressive as it speaks into the nave of the church. It can be used to good effect in the music of Vierne and Widor as well as the music of Bach. Monsieur Perrin demonstrated the organ in a piece of his own, Lamento e Trionfo.
Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, Alpe d’Huez
Very close to Grenoble is the town of Alpe d’Huez, which is known by anyone who follows the Tour de France because of the 21 hairpin curves one must negotiate in leaving the highway at Le Bourg d’Oisans to go to the top of the mountain. The stage to Alpe d’Huez was not used two years ago in the tour, but one could still read the names of different riders on the road in November 2004 as well as noticing the placards in honor of riders at each curve. Most of the names are from the distant past, but there are two curves in honor of Marco Pantani.
Alpe d’Huez is very much a resort town, which means that it is virtually deserted out of season. In 1968 a remarkable church, Notre-Dame-des-Neiges, was built, the tower of which looks like a lighthouse. The architect, Jean Marol, worked with the German organbuilder, Detlef Kleuker, to give the organ (II/24) the form of a hand, “La Main de Dieu.” The celebrated organist and musicologist, Jean Guillou, was instrumental in the design of the organ. In his book, L’Orgue Souvenir et Avenir, Guillou points out that the organ is in the choir of the church, which is in the middle of this church in the round, immediately behind the altar. The pipes of the 16¢ Flûte make up the four fingers, and the thumb contains the case of the Grand-Orgue. The swell box of the Récit is in the palm of the hand. The entire case is made of American beech wood.13
Guillou notes that it was necessary to decide which stops would provide the most sound from the instrument, given that the budget was limited to 24 stops. The specifications of the Grand-Orgue and the Récit give a brilliance, clarity and presence to the ensemble. The Pedal division gives a solid foundation to the ensemble. From Guillou’s point of view, this small organ is ideal. The proof of its quality can be seen in the quantity of concerts, masterclasses and recordings that have been made since its construction. He further mentioned that there have been few works from the baroque era to modern times that have not been played on this organ to the complete satisfaction of musicians.14
Church of Saint-Nicolas, Autrans
In the town of Autrans, a small village in the mountains very near Grenoble, there is the one new organ built in the 1990s in l’Isère. The Church of Saint-Nicolas has an austere stone tower that dates to the twelfth century, and the organ case of oak stands tall against the right wall of the choir. This organ (II/13), built by Dominique Promonet of Rives, owes its existence to the generosity and dedication of the parish priest, Father André Chabrier, who died on February 27, 1995, just a month before the instrument was installed. It is something that he thought about for a long time, and it was his way of saying thanks to the people of the Vercors for all they had given him over the span of 50 years. On the left side of the case there is an inscription which reads “En lui le Souffle de la Vie”—P. A. Chabrier, donateur. (“In it there is the breath of life”—P. A. Chabrier, donor.) And on the right side it is added “Je me tiens debout pour que mon chant / monte au-dessus des paroles.” (I stand erect so that my song will rise above the words.) When asked about why he did not use his funds in a different manner, he said that the organ would be there for everyone and would last for centuries. The all-enclosed case stands impressively against the right wall of the church, and the instrument with its 16¢ Soubasse in the Pedal division produces a resonant and weighty sound to accompany the liturgy.
Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul in Crolles
Saint-Philibert in Saint-Ismier
Two organs by local builders are worthy of mention; they are fairly typical of what one would see in the small villages in the area. The organ at Saint-Pierre et Saint-Paul in Crolles was built by Promonet & Steinmann in 1982. The two symmetrical cases in the gallery give the impression that the organ (II/15) is much larger than it really is. It is used for the liturgy and concerts, and the sound is quite impressive because of the good acoustics.16 At l’Eglise Saint-Philibert in Saint-Ismier there is an interesting instrument from the workshop of Michel Giroud, who did the original installation in 1981 and further work in 1993. This organ (II/17) serves the church very well in the liturgy and has the resources that are necessary for concerts. Olivier Vernet was featured in a concert of baroque music in October 2004.
One can easily see that the organ scene in France is a very interesting one and that there are treasures to be found in any of the departments.17
