Francis O’Gorman was a master at examining the organ from various cultural perspectives. Earlier articles for the RCO looked at the organ as it is portrayed in nineteenth-century literature, on which Francis was a world-leading expert. In this, one of his last articles, Francis takes us on a personal journey which probes the meanings that destroyed (and revived) organs can hold.

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.

This documentary by Fugue State Films charts the development of organ-building in the Netherlands through the 500-year organ history of the Laurenskerk in Alkmaar, a church that includes both an organ from 1511 by Jan van Covelens as well as the world-famous 1646 van Hagerbeer instrument, updated in 1723 by Frans Caspar Schnitger.

Alterations from 1955 to an internationally-recognised baroque organ in The Netherlands are being corrected, with a more historically-informed restoration now underway.

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.

Magnus Williamson recounts the archival and archeological detective work that has taken place at Lincoln Cathedral, in conjunction with the Byrd quatercentenary.  By bringing the building in line with post-Restoration practice in 1702, the Dean and Chapter also ended a spatial arrangement which had once generated the rich pre-Reformation tradtions of organs and voices in ‘alternatim’.  The characteristics of the building, and their musical implications, are probed in detail.

International Organ Day is now in its fifth year, and each year more and more countries have joined in this celebration of organs, organists, and organ music. We report on the huge variety of events, and instruments, that were part of International Organ Day 2024.

Ewan Murray is in his final year of organ studies at The Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, and recently organised and ran an organ outreach event for local schoolchildren, who enthusiastically engaged in organ-building, organ-playing, composing and singing over two days in St Peter’s Collegiate Church in Wolverhampton.

The music of the Northern European school explored on the instruments of its time, on a study trip to Denmark organised by the RCO.