After the baroque church organs of Silbermann et al; the nineteenth century, with its background industrial revolution facilitating the process, produced larger and larger instruments that were installed in both cathedrals and (with music’s new public face) in concert halls.
Names, such as Cavaillé-Coll and Walcker became synonymous with these giants and composers responded to the availability of a multitude of new sounds/stops and the sheer power/volume available by not only writing solo works but also sometimes including the concert hall organs in their orchestral music.
A tour, with subtitles, of the Cavaillé-Coll instrument at the St-Sernin Basilica, Toulouse:
00:00 Presentation
00:51 Flutes
02:24 Strings
05:21 Principals
07:05 All 8′ foundation
08:12 Foundation ensemble + Basson-Hautbois
09:07 Foundation 32-16-8-4
10:20 Foundation ensemble + Reeds
11:28 Mixtures
12:38 Cornets
13:44 Carillon
14:33 Basson-Hautbois
15:00 Vox Humana
15:21 Clarinette + Cor de Nuit1
5:52 Trompettes
17:12 Trompettes + Clairons + Bombardes
18:20 Tutti
The repertoire.
César Franck :
Charles-Marie Widor: from his Fifth Organ Symphony
Louis Vierne: Berceuse (showing the composer’s stopping instructions)
The organ at York Minster playing the famous Toccata finale of Widor’s Fifth Symphony (see above):
… and, to finish, if you ever wondered what a 128 foot stop (four octaves lower than the standard pitch eight foot stop) sounded like…
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The Art of Listening 