Short Introduction and History

The organ was built in 1854 by Alexandre Ducroquet, successor of the firm Daublaine et Callinet in Paris. Ducroquet built the new organ on the Gospel side in the genuine former chest, constructed by Isnard, the famous organ builder of St. Maximin . Cavaillé-Coll did tonal adaptions and restorations in 1880, added/replaced some stops, details to follow.

The pedal compass was enlarged by Merklin 1915, who also replaced some stops. The restoration committee of 1972 had the difficult task to decide, to which organ they should go back, the original Ducroquet or Ducroquet-Cavaillé-Coll? They decided for the excellent 1880 Cavaillé-Coll state

The big restoration and reconstruction by organ builder J. Dunand started in 1973. The inauguration concert took place on March, 19, 1975, performed by Marie-Madeleine DURUFLE and Maurice GAY. The last restoration took place in 2002. Titular organist has been Chantal de Zeeuw since 1979.

The Ducroquet-Cavaillé-Coll is a transitional romantic-symphonic instrument of very high quality and therefore was classified as a historical monument. Due to the Cromorne, the Sesquialtera and the brilliant Fourniture and Plein Jeu, which are normally not existing or have a darker colour within Cavaillé-Coll organs, one is able to play the complete (French) organ repertoire, beginning from late baroque up to modern pieces.

Recording technique

The organ was recorded in February 2005 with 44 kHz, 16 bit, 6-channel for Hauptwerk 2 using multiple release levels for short and long key attacks for authentic acoustical mapping.

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