Orgelbau Klais Bonn: Lille/F, Cathedrale Notre Dame de la Treille

Between 1957 and 1966 the French organ building company Danion-Gonzales planned, constructed and voiced the large organ for Studio 104 of the Radio France building in Paris. This organ was dedicated on February 17, 1967 by Gaston Litaize.

In the following years and decades concerts were given on the instrument by Marcel Dupré, Olivier Messiaen, Jean Langlais, Gaston Litaize, Pierre Cochereau, Jean Guillou and Thierry Escaich, to name just a few of a large group of important French organists. The organ world concentrated itself on the instrument in Paris.

In 2006-2007 the decision was reached to give up the instrument from its original location, due to a complete restructuring of the Radio France building (the interior of the building is currently being redesigned, with all studios to be newly developed). This news reached the ears of André Dubois, the titular organist for the Lille cathedral Notre Dame de la Treille, and he envisioned giving this instrument—this organ with 100 stops from Studio 104 of Radio France—a new home in the cathedral Notre Dame de la Treille. Radio France offered up the organ for public sale. Together with organ building firm Klais, André Dubois developed a concept for the preservation of the instrument, for a relocation of this important piece of French organ history from Paris to Lille.

At the beginning of 2007 Orgelbau Klais developed the detailed conception and strategy for the placing of the organ in the Lille cathedral. Although in Paris the instrument spanned a broad horizontal stretch, the cathedral in Lille possessed great height with a decidedly smaller interior width. It was important to develop a design that both respected the architectural language of the instrument and yet suited the new location. In the Lille cathedral the instrument is divided into four visible vertical levels: the Postiv level, the Hauptwerk and Pedal level, the Swell level and the Solo level. Three levels of façade pipes, in conjunction with the cylindrical pipes arranged hanging in front of the Swell level, clearly reflect the vertical element of the instrument. The new structure makes it possible to provide all divisions with optimum access for maintenance.

For the basic concept it was important to all involved that the instrument be preserved in its entirety and respected as an important document of French organ history, including the changes made during the reworking of the instrument by Bernard Dargassis in the 80’s, which in the meantime have also become a part of history. The distinctive features of the instrument, such as the construction of the tremulants, the colourful stop list, the shifting of the scales carried out in 1989, the design of the action—all the intrinsic peculiarities of the instrument were kept unchanged.

News of The Organ Building World Worldwide

Lille/F, Cathedrale Notre Dame de la Treille