Orgelbau Th. Kuhn AG, 1997

Restoration

Organ built by
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, 1878
Windchests
slider chests
Key action
mechanical
Stop action
mechanical
Inauguration
10.10.1998
Expert
Maurice Clerc
Voicing
Paul Cartier, Kurt Baumann

Stop list


www.orgelbau.ch/ope=801050

Nuits-St-Georges

II/P/12

France, Côte-d'Or
Eglise Saint-Denis

© pictures Orgelbau Kuhn AG, Männedorf

Orgelbau Th. Kuhn AG, 1997

Restoration

Organ built by
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, 1878
Windchests
slider chests
Key action
mechanical
Stop action
mechanical
Inauguration
10.10.1998
Expert
Maurice Clerc
Voicing
Paul Cartier, Kurt Baumann

The organ in the church of St. Denis in Nuits-Saint-Georges is the only organ by Cavaillé-Coll built in the department Côte d'Or during the same period. It was constructed at the same time as the large organ in the Trocadéro Palace.

Abbé Garnier ordered this instrument just before he died. It was inaugurated on 8 July 1878 by Léon Reuchsel, organist at Saint-Bonaventure in Lyon, together with his brother Félix, organist in Nuits and violinist. Léon and Félix Reuchsel were two of the sons of Jean Reuchsel who was a German musician. He settled in Nuits-Saint-Georges in 1825 and moved later to Lyon. There, several generations of Reuchsel followed: organists, conductors, pianists, composers, up to Eugène Reuchsel who also was a pianist, organist and composer (?-1988)

The programme for the blessing of the organ included inter alia Mendelssohn's Wedding March, Lemmens' Fanfare, an improvisation in the form of a pastoral symphony with thunderstorm, and two compositions for violin with organ accompaniment.

«It made an excellent impression. Now we are sure that we possess a wonderful instrument, housed in a monumental case. The instrument has many possibilities in spite of the few stops. Depending on what is required, it can be used for concerts or for accompaniment. It possesses all the qualities that are necessary to praise God properly and to raise the listeners' souls to Him».

The instrument with its oak case cost 23,000 francs then, of which a mere 16,000 francs for the case. The three pedal stops are transmissions from the great organ and the récit. The planned «Plein-jeu harmonique» was already replaced by a Basson 16 ' during the construction.

In a letter dated October 1876 Aristide Cavaillé-Coll reports that he had an instrument of this type under construction in his workshops, and that he was able to replace the Plein-jeu of the récit by a Basson 16 '. He wrote he had already built an organ of this model in 1870 («before the war») for the church of Saint-Pierre in Orthez. The organ in Orthez, which is located on the gallery in a neo-Gothic case, has been modified and enlarged with several stops; this did not occur with the organ in Nuits-Saint-Georges.

After almost 25 years of use, in 1902 Messrs. Kuhn suggested maintenance work. The company, which was located in Männedorf, had a subsidiary in Bellegarde and was in charge of the organ in the cathedral of Saint-Bénigne in Dijon. Abbé René Moissenet, who was from Nuits-Saint-Georges, had summoned Kuhn in Dijon.

Théodore Jacquot, who also worked on the organs in Pagny-la-Ville and Saint-Jean-de-Losne, restored this organ during the war, in 1941 and 1942, and replaced the Basson 16 ' of the récit, which was estimated «completely unnecessary in this organ», by a Principal 8 '. The whole restoration cost 4,500 francs.

In 1943 Merklin installed a new electric blower in the amount of 14,000 francs.

After the explosion of the bridge in 1944, the organ repairs had to wait until 1947. Merklin identified the following damage:

«The organ of the church in Nuits-Saint-Georges had suffered severely from the humidity in the damaged church. As soon as the panels were opened it was discovered that all the actions were oxidised ... needless to say, the pipes are filled with dust and debris ...»

The organ builders started to dismantle the instrument but the state of the apse ceiling made it impossible to continue. The ceiling had to be restored first. After Jean Lapresté had drawn up an expertise on the war damage, Merklin finally repaired the organ and installed a new blower in 1951.

On this occasion Paul Christophe, Merklin's managing director, had suggested changing the specification and adding stops in the neo-classical style. The suggestion was not carried out, so that apart from a replacement of stops in 1942, the organ is in its original condition.

Different organ builders maintained this instrument until Kuhn Organ Builders authentically restored it in 1997; the Basson 16 ' was again placed in the récit.

Translation 2008: RS