The Cavaillé-Coll Organ of Notre Dame de Paris The great organ finds its voice once more. Patricia Stoughton After six months of restoration work, the great organ of Notre-Dame de Paris found Saxe, who was resident organist from its voice once more at the opening ceremony of the 850th anniversary celebrations 1415 - 1436. Olivier Latry writes that of the cathedral on December 12, 2012. A Pontifical Mass was conducted by Cardinal de Saxe’s “nomination by competition André Vingt-Trois of Paris in the presence of the Minister of the Interior, Manuel Valls, gives us an idea of his job description.” and the Mayor of Paris, Bernard Delanoë. And once again the sound of this magnifi- It entailed playing for the twenty-three cent organ filled the cathedral. annual religious festivals, and for all ser- vices from Vespers to a Great Mass. The In addition, as part of the 850th an- The first great or- niversary celebrations, the organ will gan was built during be at the heart of Le jour Mondial de the thirteenth cen- l’Orgue - World Organ Day - on May 6, “a tury. There are no ex- world-wide musical marathon”, organ- isting records of the ized by Notre-Dame cathedral involving first organists to have the performance of more than 850 con- played the instru- certs. Organists from all five continents ment but in 1330 the will play works spanning nearly nine cathedral accounts centuries from some of the famous No- mention the payment tre-Dame composers, including Gervais- of fees to an organist. François and Armand-Louis Couperin, The first of the great Claude Bénigne Balbastre, Louis Vierne, organ’s organists to be Marcel Dupré, Maurice Duruflé and mentioned by name is Pierre Cochereau. Many organists who Jean de Bruges in 1334. have played there over the years have He played a swallow been invited to join in by giving recit- organ suspended be- als in concert halls and churches of all neath an upper win- denominations in their home countries dow in the nave, which but the event is open to all. Each con- was dismantled in cert will include at least one organ work 1425. However, by then originating from Notre-Dame but most it had already been many more. The event is linked to the superseded by a new French Jour de l’Orgue - Day of the Or- organ built by Frédé- gan - taking place from May 4 - 6, to pro- ric Schambantz on the mote the organ with recitals, visits to or- stone gallery above gan builders, demonstrations of how an the great west door. It organ works and educational films. had a keyboard with There are said to have been small 46 keys, a pedal board organs in Notre-Dame from when it and over six hundred was built in the 12th century. However, pipes. Léonin, highly regarded composer and The Schambantz founder of the École Notre-Dame, and organ remained in Pérotin le Grand, (1160 - 1220), who fol- place for two centuries lowed him, are believed to have only played by many organ- played on small instruments in the choir. ists including Henri de 38 No 364 | THE ORGAN | SUMMER 2013 SUMMER 2013 | THE ORGAN | No 364 39.