OHS Press announces a new book, The Great Organs of the Churches of Paris ($44.95), by Félix Raugel. Published in French in 1927, this book has been a classic study of the organs of the French capital, now available for the first time in an English translation by Rollin Smith. Fifty chapters discuss famous organs in Paris and its environs through 600 years from the 15th to the 20th centuries, with a history of each, one or more stoplists, and illustrations.
A member of Paris’s Historic Monuments Commission, Raugel knew musicians from Saint-Saëns, Widor, and Vierne to Duruflé and Messiaen, and his research in various archives and libraries allowed him to bring to light details of the organs’ construction, their cases and decoration, the galleries, and the churches that house them. His descriptions of the architectural elements of the organ cases are blended with documentation of the organbuilders and the organists who succeeded one another at prestigious posts.
For information: ohscatalog.org.
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