Notre Dame de Paris

THE ORGAN
Though several organs were installed in the cathedral over time, the earliest ones were inadequate to the building. The first noteworthy organ was finished in the early 1700s by the noted builder Cliquot. Some of Clicquot's original pipework in the pedal division continues to sound from the organ today, almost 270 years after being installed. The organ was almost completely rebuilt and expanded in the nineteenth century by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The position of titular organist at Notre-Dame is considered as one of the most prestigious organist posts in France, along with the titulaire post of Saint Sulpice in Paris, Cavaillé-Coll's largest instrument. The organ has 7800 pipes with 900 classified as historical. The organ has 109 stops, five 56-key manuals and a 32-key pedalboard. In December of 1992 work was completed on the organ that fully computerized the organ under 3 LANs (Local Area Networks). Among the best-known organists at Notre Dame was Louis Vierne, who held this position from 1900 to 1937. Under his tenure, the Cavaillé-Coll organ was modified in its tonal character, notably in 1902 and 1932. Pierre Cochereau initiated further alterations (many of which were already planned by Louis Vierne), including the electrification of the action between 1959 and 1963 (the original Cavaillé-Coll console, which can still be seen at the organ loft as a tribute to Louis Vierne, was replaced by a new console in Anglo-American style) and the addition of further stops between 1965 and 1972, notably in the pedal division, the recomposition of the mixture stops, and finally the adding of three horizontal reed stops "en chamade". After Cochereau's sudden death in 1984, four new titular organists were appointed at Notre Dame in 1985: Jean-Pierre Leguay, Olivier Latry, Yves Devernay (who died in 1990), and Philippe Lefévre. This was reminiscent of the eighteenth century practice of the cathedral having four titular organists, each one playing for three months of the year. Beginning in 1989, another restoration to the instrument was undertaken, which was completed in 1992.