The Genius of Cavaille-Coll

A film by Fugue State Films exploring the life of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, the greatest organ builder of the 19th century and also probably the most famous of all organ builders. Creator of such instruments as those in St Sulpice, Paris, and St Ouen, Rouen, he devised a new way of building organs that led directly to the development of the French Romantic school of organ composition.

New discoveries in Cesar Franck’s Trois Chorals

Richard Brasier investigates the sources that are known to have survived of Franck’s Trois Chorals, comparing sketches, engravers’ copies, and fair copies to reveal a wealth of interpretative details.  This article has benefitted from the comprehensive work the author has done to produce a complete edition of Franck’s organ works for Lyrebird Music in recent years.

Building an organ in nineteenth-century France

Drew Cantrill-Fenwick traces the processes whereby an organ was build for La Madeleine, Paris, by an increasingly influential Aristide Cavaille-Coll.  His archival research allows us to see, stage by stage, the construction history of this much-lauded instrument.  The project was a multi-disciplinary affaire in which the influence of the artisan was replaced by that of the scholar, the administrator, and the politician.