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Notre Dame Cathedral - a major loss to the music world


Amicus717

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Been following the horrible news out of Paris. I come from a family of liturgical musicians, and my uncle once had the privilege of playing the pipe organ at Notre Dame Cathedral. It was iconic and a really glorious instrument with a sound like no other -- a one of a kind creation to which other pipe organs were compared. And it is apparently gone, or so I am hearing. No confirmation on that yet, but I can't see how it could survive. 

Edited by Amicus717
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Besides all other aspects, the incredible amounts of historical architecture and items that have been lost is very sad.  I've been there - very impressive!  This is going to hit the Parisians hard both emotionally as well as financially.  They get something like 13 million tourist visits to the cathedral every year...

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been following it too... very sad day indeed

apparently, officials are saying that they have saved the the main structure:-

Quote

Reuters news agency is quoting an official with the French firefighting team as saying: "We can now say that the structure of Notre-Dame has been saved from total destruction".

AFP is also reporting that the main structure has been "saved and preserved", citing an official.

 

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Sad day for sure.   

3 hours ago, Amicus717 said:

Been following the horrible news out of Paris. I come from a family of liturgical musicians, and my uncle once had the privilege of playing the pipe organ at Notre Dame Cathedral. It was iconic and a really glorious instrument with a sound like no other -- a one of a kind creation to which other pipe organs were compared. And it is apparently gone, or so I am hearing. No confirmation on that yet, but I can't see how it could survive. 

That must of been a treat to play a pipe organ in such a majestic building.

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21 minutes ago, InstrEd said:

Sad day for sure.   

That must of been a treat to play a pipe organ in such a majestic building.

I am told it was beyond description. That was the mother of all pipe organs, and the sound was apparently extraordinary.  The current organ was technically installed in the mid 1800s, but had pipes from the previous two or three installation still active as part of the overall assembly, so it was several centuries worth of tones and timbres acting together. There is some word that possibly it may have survived. Apparently the interior was not as damaged as expected...https://mobile.twitter.com/areinaud/status/1117916691353067521?fbclid=IwAR3ma9YEfcrgmggR74Ri9tucUHgq0BKg1XbSnpsu9EsDRvvqyqgRW5yAHkU

 

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I once got to play on the second-largest pipe organ on the West Coast at my parent's church in San Diego (yes, I got away with playing Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water - I'm not an organist!).  Unbelievable experience none-the-less.  I can only imagine what it must have been like to actually know what you're doing on such a unique organ like the one in Notre Dame...

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Just now, craigb said:

I once got to play on the second-largest pipe organ on the West Coast at my parent's church in San Diego (yes, I got away with playing Deep Purple's Smoke on the Water - I'm not an organist!).  Unbelievable experience none-the-less.  I can only imagine what it must have been like to actually know what you're doing on such a unique organ like the one in Notre Dame...

Oh I bet that was amazing. A big pipe organ is the most powerful piece of gear you'll ever play in terms of sheer volume and space-filling ability. 

It can be a fun instrument. I play a lot of weddings as an organist, and once got a $100 bonus from a groom because I managed to sneak a wee bit of the Darth Vader / Imperial March theme into the wedding processional, right at the end (the bonus was null and void if the bride noticed and the poor guy got his marriage started off with a fight at the altar).  Worked surprisingly well. Bride didn't notice, groom burst out laughing but passed it off as joy at seeing his wife-to-be, and I'm told the pastor glanced at me with an eye-brow raised but otherwise said nothing.

So I am told NBC is confirming Notre Dame's pipe organ was NOT damaged;

Great news!

 

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13 minutes ago, Amicus717 said:

Oh I bet that was amazing. A big pipe organ is the most powerful piece of gear you'll ever play in terms of sheer volume and space-filling ability. 

It can be a fun instrument. I play a lot of weddings as an organist, and once got a $100 bonus from a groom because I managed to sneak a wee bit of the Darth Vader / Imperial March theme into the wedding processional, right at the end (the bonus was null and void if the bride noticed and the poor guy got his marriage started off with a fight at the altar).  Worked surprisingly well. Bride didn't notice, groom burst out laughing but passed it off as joy at seeing his wife-to-be, and I'm told the pastor glanced at me with an eye-brow raised but otherwise said nothing.

So I am told NBC is confirming Notre Dame's pipe organ was NOT damaged;

Great news!

 

That's some good news!  The ironic part I neglected to mention in my prior post, is that the organ was heavily damaged by a fire that started in a side kitchen that was located right under the organ...  When they rebuilt things, the organ was a mere shadow of its original glory.

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12 minutes ago, craigb said:

That's some good news!  The ironic part I neglected to mention in my prior post, is that the organ was heavily damaged by a fire that started in a side kitchen that was located right under the organ...  When they rebuilt things, the organ was a mere shadow of its original glory.

Ah man. Yeah, that is irony. I've heard of that happening in other places, too. The problem with pipe organs is that they are usually way too expensive to fix if something goes sideways. What a shame.

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More positive news.......

Following earlier fears that a cool box containing all the workmen's sandwiches may have also perished it has now been found intact although slightly deformed on the back. 

Reuters: breaking news......Lunchpack of Notre Dame survives blaze.

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