January 2023 — a better protection and highlighting of historical organs in Franche-Comté

A new non-profit named Organisteries has been founded to further “the protection and the creative use of little-known historical organs in Franche-Comté.” For further information about concerts and other activities and projects centering on these instruments please write to:

Association Organisteries / 9 rue de Bavans / 25113 Sainte-Marie

contact.organisteries@gmail.com

12 December 2022

By decree published on 17 October by the Ministry of Culture. Georges Lartigau, former president and henceforth Honorary President of our association, was made a Chevalier in the French Order of Arts and Letters. The laconic qualification as a “Concert Organist”given after his name is far from doing justice not only to his fundamental importancea for the history of our association but also for several decades as a member of the Historical Monuments Commission for musical instruments, as well as a long career as Professor of Organ and leader of non-profit cultural organisations and academies in his adopted département of Aveyron. We congratulate him on this distinction which is highly deserved, thanks to but also well beyond his activity as a performer

15 October 2022

Forty years ago to a day, The High Commission for Historical Monuments (5th Section — Musical instruments) voted for the restoration of the main organ of the Basilica of Saint-Denis, the first masterpiece by the young Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in partnership with his father and brother. The crucial importance of this instrument to the history of the French organ is well-known. Yet certain elements of the project as approved by the commission on that day, the instrument being basically unplayable at the time, were deemed highly alarming to numerous specialists all over the world whom the association alerted. As the project slowly advanced, La Flûte Harmonique recounted the events in its Editorial pages, over several years… ‎ Read the compilation of these articles: https://www.cavaille-coll.fr/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/editoriaux-st-denisa-1.pdf)

A new face for our association

With the intention of better adapting our site to the actions we are presently undertaking, as well as to internet practices which have greatly evolved over the past years, we have carried out the major overhaul thereof which we present to you today. The goal is first and foremost to streamline use with smartphones. You will of course find for the most part the same menu items as in the past, some of them slightly modified, and others recently added to take into account various new projects being implemented (“Scores”…). As always, we are intent on offering ample information to internauts concerning the history of Cavaillé-Coll and his instruments; obviously these will be supplemented in the coming weeks and months by older articles from La Flûte Harmonique, the third pedagogical video, the production of which was long held up by the restrictions due to the covid pandemic, and more numerous references within the heading “Resources.” Lastly, we hope to be able to take current events much more fully into account and wish you considerable pleasure in exploring our new website. —Kurt Lueders, President

The Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Association

Founded in Paris in 1975 and chaired for four decades by Georges Lartigau, the association aims to obtain respect and a better knowledge of the organs of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, his contemporaries and successors . According to demand, it organizes concerts, visits to instruments, conferences, study days and reflections on restoration projects, symposiums, etc. all kinds of events that allow you to better know and appreciate the work of the greatest organ builder of the 19th century.

Since its creation and until 2018, the association has regularly published a magazine, La Flûte Harmonique, which reflects all these activities. (Regular publication of the journal ceased in 2019.) You can consult several extracts on this site (pages in progress). You will also find there all kinds of information on the career of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, but also on those of his contemporaries (Merklin, Abbey, Puget, Debierre, Wenner, etc.) thanks to the Bibliography, the Discography, the Chronology, the Videos and lists of instruments that we will offer you as this site develops.

We can also enrich each other by offering us your partnership through individual or collective membership if you represent an association. We will help you to make your activities better known and automatically benefit our members, most of whom are located in France, but also in several European countries, the U.S.A. and Japan.

Kurt Lueders, President.