There are no data other than newspaper articles from that time which contain the precise composition of the organ in 1859. However, a reconstruction of the composition from later sources clearly indicates that the instrument delivered in 1859 was very different from the preliminary design of 1853.The main differences were:•changing keyboards function: the design of 1853 was still classical: the Great played on the second keyboard, the positif on the first keyboard; on the instrument delivered in 1859 the Great was the first keyboard, the positive the second keyboard;•extension of composition with six stops by elimination of some stops and adding other; •different distribution of the jeux de fonds and the jeux de combinaisons, with consequently some new windchests*; •second machine Barker (positif); •new mechanics; •adaptation of the wind supply•the size of the pedal was extended from 25 to 27 notes.An indication of the seriousness of these interventions are the costs, which were finally almost 1 ½ times higher than expected. Cavaillé-Coll explained these higher costs to Ballu claiming that the circumstances were very unusual, involving much more work and expenses than expected.
The organ was harmonized by Gabriel Reinburg. It was not Franck who made the instrument sound first. Lefébure-Wely was commissioned to play the new organ on the occasion of two social weddings celebrated on 20 and 29 September at the insistence of the Duchess of Alba and the Bishop of Carcassonne who officiated that day.The inauguration** of the organ, originally scheduled for 5 December, took place on 19 December 1859. Franck and Lefébure-Wely shared the keyboards on this occasion. The program was as follows:•César FRANCK: Final (by César Franck)•J.S. BACH: Prelude & Fugue in E minor BWV 533 ( by César Franck)•L.J. LEFEBURE-WELY : Three improvisations on famous Christmas hymns (Adeste Fideles, Grand-Choeur on Il est né le Divin enfant).Canon Hamelin, the parish priest, proceeded to his blessing some time later.
Cavaillé-Coll wrote a few lines on the subject of the sound conception and mechanics at the time of the construction of the organ of Ste Clotilde : ****Cet orgue est complètement conçu dans une perspective dynamique en vue d’un gigantesque crescendo. Le Basson-Hautbois du Récit, qui intervient dans la nuance piano, boîte fermée, accouple aux jeux de fonds des autres claviers, est sur la laye des fonds, de façon à réserver celle des jeux de combinaison aux anches de batterie. Pour jouer de plus en plus fort, il suffit à l’organiste de tirer presque tous les jeux (ceux composant le grand chœur), de fermer la boite du Récit (fonds+hautbois), de mettre l’accouplement Récit/Grand Orgue – mais cela ne fonctionnait pas à Sainte Clotilde - et de jouer au Grand Orgue, puis d’ajouter l’accouplement Positif/Grand Orgue, puis l’appel Grand Orgue, puis, parvenu à ce stade, d’appeler les jeux de combinaison du Positif et enfin du Grand Orgue et de la Pédale. Il y a deux tirasses, celle du Positif entraine l’accouplement Récit, celle du Grand Orgue entraine l’accouplement Positif, on aura soin de ne mettre la tirasse Grand Orgue qu’au moment de jouer sur ce clavier. Certains auteurs et interprètes remarquent l’absence de Tirasse Récit et d’accouplement Récit/Grand Orgue, qui sont inutiles dans la mesure où les accouplements Récit/Positif et Positif/Grand Orgue fonctionnent en cascade.
Maintenance works on the organ 1859-1933
Before the major works in 1933, the organ had maintenance in 1891 (without significant changes) and at the beginning of the 20th century (at that point, the 'Pédale d'orage' was replaced by a 'Tirasse Récit') by Mutin (Cavaillé-Coll's successor). Probably also in this period, the spoonlike swellpedal (with three positions: closed, half-open and open) was replaced by balanced pedal.***
The blowers of the great organ of Sainte-ClotildeBefore being equipped with an electric motor in 1906, the blower of the Grand-Orgue de Sainte-Clotilde was set in motion by humans! Organ blowers have long been essential to the organist to move the action of the blower and simply to make the instrument sound. While the organist was playing, one or more blowers perspired by operating, with his arm or foot, the pump of the mechanical bellows, in the shadows, incognito. A job that could be considered thankless, of which there is no trace in the meagre remnant of the parish archives.We know that given the size of the instrument, there must have been several of them. The latter went up by the staircase to the right of the narthex, leading to the gallery and the west tower (the organist took the pendant which was more worked with an ironwork banister).Well hidden in the tower, a device connected to a bell, called "the blower's bell" allowed the organist to communicate with the blowers to give them the order to pump.A unique piece of equipment that deserves to be noted, the Sainte-Clotilde blowers had a brazier to warm up. The conduit and crucible still exist in the west tower.
The organ was harmonized by Gabriel Reinburg. It was not Franck who made the instrument sound first. Lefébure-Wely was commissioned to play the new organ on the occasion of two social weddings celebrated on 20 and 29 September at the insistence of the Duchess of Alba and the Bishop of Carcassonne who officiated that day.The inauguration** of the organ, originally scheduled for 5 December, took place on 19 December 1859. Franck and Lefébure-Wely shared the keyboards on this occasion. The program was as follows:•César FRANCK: Final (by César Franck)•J.S. BACH: Prelude & Fugue in E minor BWV 533 ( by César Franck)•L.J. LEFEBURE-WELY : Three improvisations on famous Christmas hymns (Adeste Fideles, Grand-Choeur on Il est né le Divin enfant).Canon Hamelin, the parish priest, proceeded to his blessing some time later.
Maintenance works on the organ 1859-1933
Before the major works in 1933, the organ had maintenance in 1891 (without significant changes) and at the beginning of the 20th century (at that point, the 'Pédale d'orage' was replaced by a 'Tirasse Récit') by Mutin (Cavaillé-Coll's successor). Probably also in this period, the spoonlike swellpedal (with three positions: closed, half-open and open) was replaced by balanced pedal.***