Incarnate

I was at the library a couple weeks ago, picking up a book I'd put on hold.  On a whim, I thought I'd see if Jodi Meadows' Incarnate was in - didn't expect it to be, as this was the small, local branch library.  I was pleased to discover that it was.

Horse magic

Last night was magical.

A three-sectioned curtain hides half the stage from us.  Over the course of the next two and a half hours, the two-level arena, with sections which can be curtained off, opened up, and turned into a small ring - becomes a Roman arena, a snowy wonderland, a Western plain, a sylvan fantasy.

More organ pictures

Since I had to be kind of choosy about the pictures I shared in Robin McKinley's guest blog post (part three is here), I'm putting up some of the less good (or less relevant) photos here.  A few may be duplicates of photos already posted, but in higher resolution.

Birds

In mid-June, G, his parents and I went to the Parc Ornithologique de Pont du Gau - a large wildlife preserve in the Camargue delta, where hundreds on hundreds of water birds spend time.  We got lucky - a few minutes after we arrived, a walking tour started, allowing us to learn far more about the various species we were seeing than we would otherwise be able to.  The Parc does avian rehabilitation, has several birds on display (mostly raptors, most of which I presume are injured and cannot be released).  I also got to use G's father's nice camera to play with.  Which I think is about all the introduction to this than you need. (sorry, this post is a little picture-heavy) :)

Organ guts

Here is the second part of G and I's visit to the organ :)

http://robinmckinleysblog.com/2012/07/11/the-organ-of-eglise-notre-dame-la-dalbade-part-ii-2/

Visiting an organ (part 1)

Back in May, G and I had the wonderful opportunity of seeing the insides of a 19th century church organ.  Since Robin McKinley's piano teacher also plays organ, she has posted occasionally about organs, and I thought perhaps some of her regular blog readers might enjoy an account of our experience.

The post is a bit long, so Ms. McKinley has split the post into pieces.  The first installment was posted today.

http://robinmckinleysblog.com/2012/07/05/the-organ-of-eglise-notre-dame-la-dalbade-part-i/

------

edit 2018

Robin McKinley rebooted her blog, and the archives are no longer accessible to the public. I managed to find the original text lurking in the depths of my computer, but will have to do some hunting in order to find the photographs, but the captions are there...

------

This post is all Robin’s fault. After all, if she hadn’t mentioned folding origami the other day, I would not have desired to fold some origami myself, then gotten lost looking a little paper shop, seen an intriguing old-looking building in the process of finding the correct street, gone around to the front of the intriguing old-looking building, gone inside, and discovered that there was going to be something that involved organs the next day.

And if Robin hadn’t, in the past, posted occasionally about Oisin and his obsession about organs, and a little bit about how organs are really cool, I might not have gone to said event involving organs. But being sort of a musician, and thinking that organs might be kind of interesting, my boyfriend and I went.

I was expecting a recital or something. What we got was a brief recital… followed quickly by the opportunity to go up into the organ loft, see the keyboards, the stops, the pedals, hear the organ from the galleries as well as from the organ loft, go into the back and see (some of) the insides of the organ, see and hear the various pipes, hear how the different stops affect the sound of the instrument, watch a little of how the mechanics of this incredible instrument work, and then get to doodle around a little on the instrument myself.

---

The Eglise Notre-Dame La Dalbade is in the Carmes neighborhood of Toulouse. Surrounded by other old buildings*, it stands on one of the many twisty streets that meander through this medieval city. When I made a wrong turn looking for the paper store and saw the high walls with the old gothic buttresses, I had to investigate. Built of the red brick that gives the city its nickname of La Ville Rose, it has an entrance with carved columns and a beautiful mural depicting the coronation of the Virgin Mary surrounded by angelic musicians.

<IMG 4857 : Front of church.>

It seems that the original church, built in the 6^th century, was white – hence its name**. After being destroyed in a fire in the 15^th century and rebuilt in the 16^th, it acquired its current red brick and the tallest bell tower in Toulouse. It houses an organ, built by Eugène Puget in 1888***. In 1926, the bell tower collapsed, taking a small secondary organ and a large portion of the church with it****. Luckily, the main organ was minimally damaged, and the church was rebuilt in the 50s (some of the organ’s restoration at that time was performed by Eugène’s grandson Maurice).

When I ventured inside Friday afternoon, I admired the vaulted ceilings, the stained-glass windows, the paintings and statues in the alcoves… all the usual things I look at when I enter these old churches. Some churches, including this one, have fabulous organs – the detailed carving of the dark wood is always amazing to behold. This organ was designed to frame a beautiful rose window. I was a little surprised to hear someone playing on it, though – all the other organs I’ve seen have been silent when I visited. They were clearly practicing – the same run was played several times, the music stopped and started, and after a while, I became aware that there were two people in the organ loft – the player and someone who seemed to be instructing the player. I enjoyed the music, such as it was, and after taking several photographs of the church’s interior, I prepared to leave.

<IMG 4885: Rose window.>

As I turned to the exit, I took a quick look at the bulletin board. A poster caught my eye – Presentation de l’orgue historique Puget 1888, it said. The date was, serendipitously, that of the next day. I took a picture of it (so I’d remember) and showed it to my boyfriend that evening after he got home. He thought it might be interesting – why not go?

<IMG 4892: Flyer. Background is a drawing (I believe by Puget) of the original organ’s conception and/or construction (I am not completely clear on that part).>

And so, as the morning turned to noon on Saturday, we entered the church. Again, there was somebody practicing at the keyboards as we wandered up the center aisle. There were very few people there – maybe a half dozen at first, though there were perhaps as many as fifteen or twenty by the time we left. Shortly after we sat down in the pews, a man came down, asking if we were here for the organ? We were. Were we organists? No… Ah well, come on up anyway.

<IMG 4898: The organ. Unfortunately the best picture I got was crooked.>

Initially, after climbing the twisty wooden steps to the level of the organ loft †, we were led into the galleries along the right (as you face the altar) side of the church. The organist, a young woman from Japan, played an arrangement of a CPE Bach cantata (I think). The acoustics of this spot were different from where we had been on the floor of the church and the difference in how the echoes reflected back to us was audible. I also was able to see the stained glass windows around the church better from this elevated viewpoint, and noticed some of the little carvings at the tops of the columns and other details that had not been visible from ground level.

<IMG 4913: View from galleries.>

After the Bach, our little group was then treated to an informal couple of hours of playing, demonstration, and explanations by the professional organist, Mr. de Miguel (the instructor I’d seen up there the day before) and a young man who we believe to be an apprentice organ builder. Unfortunately, my French was unequal to the task of comprehending everything that was said, but even the 1/3 – 1/2 that I understood was extremely interesting. Anything I get wrong is entirely due to the fact that I know almost nothing about pipe organs to start with, the men who explained things talked really fast, and my understanding of French is as yet rather imperfect. Many thanks to boyfriend, who, as a native of this country actually understood most of it, and was later able to explain things to me that I didn’t quite follow at the time.

<IMG 4920: The pipes from the organ loft.>

Eugène Puget, the second of four generations of organ-builders in Toulouse, built this organ, which was inaugurated in 1888. Its most recent restoration, about two years ago, was due to damage during the droughts and heat of 2004, and cost more than €500,000. It is apparently unusually playable, having a relatively light action ††. There are three manuals, a pedalboard and fifty stops, each labeled with a different instrument and pipe length. It also has the ability to control dynamics and has a number of “effects” pedals which affect the tonal quality of the instrument. These features provide this organ an extremely versatile range of tones and colors, and allows for everything from a simple, pure sound to a fully symphonic sound.

<IMG 4910: The keyboards and stops.>

<IMG 4925: The pedals. The flat wood pedals in the center above the keyboard pedals control volume. The metal pedals on either side control other effects.>

An electric air generator now replaces the original man-powered bellows, forcing air up toward the organ’s pipes continuously. When all the stops are in, airflow to the pipes is blocked, and no sound emerges if you press a key. When a stop is pulled out, a particular “instrument” is activated, and air flows to the pipe corresponding to the key pressed by opening a hole by means of some really very clever mechanics. The more stops are opened, the more “instruments” sound when a key is pressed. As I understand it, each manual corresponds to some of the stops, and you can hook things up so one manual controls more than one manual’s worth of stops†††.

<IMG 4942 - 4943: Stops in and out.>

The current organ has been modified from its original design. At one time, there was a small organ that was in the same location as the keyboards. This is a holdover from a time when organs actually were portable instruments! ‡ The pipes associated with this organ have since been moved inside the main instrument, and are surrounded by a series of vertical levered wooden slats which can be opened and closed by means of two foot-pedals to control the volume of the sound produced.

We got to see the insides of the organ – hundreds of pipes in all different sizes crammed into a fairly small space – and we could only see about 1/3 of the pipes (there’s not a lot of space in there for visitors, and access is via a trap door and a rickety wooden ladder). There are both metal and wood pipes. The pipes can be tuned (this is not a job I would want!) by means of adjusting curls of metal on the metal pipes, or adjusting a sort of stopper thing on the wood pipes‡‡‡. Not all the pipes sound by means of air moving past appropriately shaped holes – some have a vibrating piece inside instead.

<IMG 4927: Just a few of the smaller pipes. The pipes in the foreground are about waist-high.>

<IMG 4936: Note curls on metal pipes. These can be rolled to varying degrees to tune these pipes.>

<IMG 4938: Note handle above wooden pipes and slot in side with a slidey thing inside. The stopper can be moved up and down to tune these pipes.>

<IMG 4940: Another view of the handle/stopper tuning mechanism of wood pipes.>

<IMG 4933: The vibraty bit for some of the pipes.>

The organists of Toulouse rotate churches they play in on a regular basis. Mr. de Miguel was amazing to watch as he navigated the several manuals, pedal board and stops (often reaching arm-over-arm to pop a stop in or out as he kept playing with the other hand, as well as manipulating the tone color with his feet), and kept track of music with THREE staves (as a primarily string player, who only has to keep one track of one staff at a time, I found it dizzying to just follow along). There were Post-It notes on the music to help him remember what stops he wants set on this instrument, and hand-written markings all over indicating when to change the stops. We were treated to demonstrations of some of the versatility of this instrument. It can do the full-out classic organ sound one associates with Bach’s famous Toccata and Fugue… or a light, fluty sound suitable for Fauré or Debussy… a symphonic richness for orchestral rearrangements... music reminiscent of an oboe concerto… the list goes on and on.

Anybody who wanted to was also allowed the opportunity to play a little on the organ. I was surprised at how easy the action was – it felt more “solid” than a piano, and had the peculiar quality that it didn’t matter how hard I pressed the key, it didn’t affect the volume§. Each manual has the same octave range as the other two (the pedals seem to be what play the deep bass) but based on how the stops are arranged, one can get a full range of notes, from almost-inaudibly low to tooth-achingly high, as well as imitating the sounds of different instruments. I was also surprised at how quickly the sound responded. The quiet wooden shuffle-clack of the Barker mechanism behind the bench was a little distracting at first, but apparently do their job well, as the sound was almost immediate when the key was depressed. The sound was a little muted from the vantage of the bench, compared to elsewhere in the organ loft, but easily audible and it was not at all difficult to hear what I was doing (and realize when I’d made a mistake!)

<IMG 4961: What’s easily visible of the Barker mechanism. The “wall” behind the organist is actually a sliding door which hides this. The “room” where we were with all the pipes is above and behind that.>

I’m not much of a keyboardist – it’s been months since I’ve had access to a piano, and years since I’ve played much – but I made some attempts at the first third or so of Bach’s cello suite in C§§, a few lines from a Mozart piano sonata and the first section of Für Elise§§§. The organist adjusted the stops as I went – it was fascinating to hear how the different pieces sounded and changed as the stops went in and out. It was very much fun. I didn’t do much with the pedals – played a few notes just to do it, but what keyboard ability I own lives in my fingers, not in my feet.

All in all, the afternoon was wonderful. Apparently Saturday was National Organ Day, and Toulouse, being the second most organ-populated city in France, had to do something, and this is what was planned. Mr. de Miguel was very passionate about how the organ has declined in popularity, and how many instruments are unplayable (including another, almost identical Puget organ in a theater in Paris), and is hoping that publicizing and demonstrating this amazing instrument, more people will become interested in learning more about the organ.

There’s apparently going to be an organ concert at the Basilique Saint-Sernin next weekend…

* The building across the way, for example, has a plaque on it dating it to the 16th century.

** That would be the Dalbade part (dealbata = whitewashed in Latin)

*** According to this website ( http://www.toulouse-les-orgues.org/les-orgues/instruments/toulouse-16/toulouse/eglise-notre-dame-la-dalbade.html ), Puget actually rebuilt and expanded on a previously present organ built in 1850 by Prosper Moitessier.

**** The French Wikipedia site has a couple photos of the tower before and after its collapse. http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89glise_Notre-Dame_de_la_Dalbade

† The floor of the loft trembled slightly as people moved around. I found this somewhat alarming at first, though I did get used to it. Being a Californian by upbringing, all I have to say is, thank goodness they don't seem to get earthquakes around here. Most of the city would be rubble.

†† Mr. de Miguel, the organist, mentioned another organ in town (I think this one: http://www.toulouse-les-orgues.org/les-orgues/instruments/toulouse-16/toulouse/eglise-du-gesu.html?lang=fr ) that is very difficult to play due to the heaviness of the keys, which is related to the mechanism that transmits the key movement to the air-opening-bit of the organ.

††† It’s rather odd to watch someone playing on one manual (or the pedals) and seeing other keys on the other manuals moving simultaneously).

‡ From poser (to place), it is called the “positif." Again according to the website above, the positif of this organ is mostly what's left of the Moitessier organ.

‡‡ Boyfriend thinks they said over 3000 pipes. We do know that they ranged in length from less than a foot to 32 feet in length. The stops are labelled, plus we could see them.

‡‡‡ Mr. de Miguel mentioned that they had tuned most of the pipes Friday night in preparation for Saturday - a task that took two people over six hours, and lasted til past 1am.

§ This is sort of like many unsophisticated electric keyboards – but those are “bouncy” and difficult to play in my experience. This keyboard was much more substantial.

§§ I started with that on the theory that it’s really hard to mess up a descending C major scale, followed by some broken chords before it got to the more interesting bits, and I thought I could probably mostly sound it out as I went along.

§§§ It happens that at one time, I had all of the afore-mentioned piano music memorized... about ten years ago. It was kind of embarassing how little I could remember. I so need a piano.