Cathédrale
Saint-Denis
Place de la Légion d'Honneur, 93200 Saint-Denis
1841 - Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
1857 - Aristide Cavaillé-Coll
1901 - Charles Mutin
1987 - Danion-Dargassies & Boisseau-Cattiaux
2000 - Charles Sarelot
Orgue de choeur
1860 - Cavaillé-Coll
Photo: Jeroen de Haan
The Saint-Denis cathedral was the centre of innovation at
two moments in history:
(1) in 1140, Abbot Suger started the work of enlarging the
basilica, the result being often cited as the first example of
Gothic Architecture.
(2) in 1841 a new organ was inaugurated, built by a young
organ builder, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899), on one
hand still standing in the tradition of the organs built in the
past centuries by the Thierrys and the Cliquots, on the other
hand adding several revolutionary and outstanding
innovations which would form the basis for the French
symphonic organs which would dominate the second half of
the 19th century.
The church
On the remains of a Gallo-Roman cemetery, a first
church was built in 475 by St. Genevieve and a second,
greater, one in the 7th century by Dagobert I. In the 12th
century the Abbot Suger rebuilt the abbey church using
innovative structural and decorative features that were
drawn from a number of other places. He created thus
the first truly Gothic building
In 1836, architect François Debret designed a new organ
case replacing an old organ which did not survive the
revolution. A competition was held to select the builer
and several well-known organ builders (Erard, Abbey,
Dallery and Callinet) submitted a design for the new
organ. A few days before the competition was closed, a
young organ builder from southern France arrived in
Paris: Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (aged 24 years). He was
informed about the competition, went directly to St.
Denis, worked for two days continuously on a plan and
submitted a superior and innovative design. He won the
competition, which can be seen as the birth of the french
symphonic organ tradition.
The organ was inaugurated in 1841, with several
innovations:
- the swell box operated by a spring-loaded (later
balanced) pedal
- new stops imitating orchestral instruments (basson,
hautbois, clarinet) and the harmonic flute
- windchests divided into sections with different wind
pressures for fonds and reeds and introducing a pedal to
add or cancel all the reed stops of a manual
- use of many 8' stops (fonds)
- the Barker pneumatic lever machine to couple all the
manuals together and play without too much effort.
All these innovations allowed a seamless crescendo from
pianissimo to fortissimo, which was not possible before.
On the other hand, this organ was still very 'classic', with
a full 32' grand plein jeu, the second manual for the
Great Organ and a classical 'French' pedal with a
'ravallement' from F and a small swell.
In 1901, Charles Mutin carried out restoration works and
the number of stops was increased to 69, the pedal was
extended to C-c' (the c#' till f' are mute and speak only
when coupled).
In 1983-1987 the organ was restorated by
Danion/Dargassies (mechanical part) and
Boisseau/Cattiaux (harmony and voicing). The stops
added by Mutin were removed.
Organiste titulaire
Quentin Guérillot
Famous organists in the past:
Pierre Pincemaille (died on January, 12, 2018)
Concerts
Regularly
Messes avec orgue
Saturday 6.30 PM, Sunday 11.15 AM
Vidéo
Pierre Pincemaille
ORGUES DE PARIS 2.0 © Vincent Hildebrandt LES ORGUES
I (C-f ‘’’)
Bourdon 8
Gambe 8
Dulcine 4
Trompette 8
II (C-f ‘’’)
Flûte harmonique 8
Prestant 4
Doublette 2
Hautbois 8 (dessus)
Pédale (C-g)
Tirasse GO
Tirasse Récit
Copula
Expression