Paris is like a candy store to pipe organ afficionados. Not only are some of the world's finest instruments here, but some of the biggest names in organ music composition, organ construction, and organ playing have established themselves here. I took a quick count today and we've managed to hear six different organs in our brief stay here without exerting too much of an effort; next time we'll do better. We heard the instrument at the American Church in Paris on our first Sunday here, and when we visited the cathedral at Reims a few days ago we were lucky to be there when the organist decided to get in a little practice session. And today we heard four. Not bad for a day's effort.
We started at St. Sulpice. (Sorry about the perspective--they just don't give us poor photographers enough room for a good shot.)
The month of July is perhaps not the best month for full-on concerts and recitals, but St. Sulpice has a strong tradition of a weekly brief recital between the 10:30 and 12:00 masses on Sunday. So if you go to mass and wrap it with the recital, you get to hear quite a bit of good organ. We got there early enough to hear the choir organ in the 9:00 mass as well as the grand organ for the 10:30 mass and the inter-mass recital. A little Bach, Brahms, Mendelssohn, and Schumann is always good for my soul, especially if it originates from a box like this:
And on the subject of souls, please indulge me in a little aside. I spent many years in a church tradition that did not use a recited creed, so the term "communion of the saints" never meant much to me until Anita and I changed traditions. I will tell you this: an excellent way to get a grasp on the meaning of that term is to attend a worship service in a land that is foreign to you and in a manner of worship that is foreign to you. St. Sulpice is a thriving Catholic community, with perhaps 300 or so at the 10:30 mass, to say nothing of the 9:00, noon, and other masses. It felt good to be there, even when the organist was keeping his silence, and even when the singing was done without my participation, and when the homily (sermon to us Protestants) was given in a language I don't quite have down cold yet. (A big thank-you to all my music directors for all the Latin masses and requiems that helped me through that part of the service!)
But our day wasn't over. At the behest of our own organist in Albuquerque, we trekked over to the church with a long name but generally known as "La Madeleine". It looks a lot like the Parthenon in Athens:
Here we heard a violin-organ recital by the Gough (pronounced Goff) Duo from England. The violinist stood before this altar, giving a visual backdrop that added to the event. Note the console to the right. This is the console for the "choir organ", used for half of the concert. The grand organ (sorry--no photo) was used for the second half. A solo violin and a grand organ seemed like an odd combination before the recital began, but I got over that pretty quick.
Those of you who were fortunate enough to hear the inaugural Quintessence
Summer Choral Festival today might be interested to know that Gabriel Fauré was
organist at La Madeleine for ten years. So I kind of felt like I was there with you. Kind of.
Tomorrow--Midnight in Paris.
