Saint Eugène

4 bis, rue Sainte-Cécile, 75009 Paris

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Saint-Eugène (home of the ‘Paroisse St-Eugène-Sainte Cécile’) was built in 1854-1856 in a 13th century style (exterior) and a neo-gothic style (interior), using metal instead of stone. The remarkable preserved 19th century interior shows an abundance of lights and a richness of the colours. The architects were Louis- Auguste Boileau and Adrien-Louis Lusson.

C1 The organ of Saint Eugène is of the utmost importance: it was the first organ of Merklin and his voicer Friedrich Schütze in France/Paris, built in 1854-55. It is almost entirely authentic and a rare example of a synthesis between French and German-Flemish organ building traditions at that time. The organ case, in perfect harmony with the surrounding building, was designed by Louis-Auguste Boileau, the church architect. The organ was largely constructed in Bruxelles, just before Merklin moved to Paris and acquired the Parisian firm of Ducroquet (former Daublaine-Callinet firm). The organ was presented at the Paris World Fair in 1855, and was awarded a First Class Prize. Since Merklin wanted to present a master piece at the World Fair, he enlarged the organ (originally designed as a two-manual organ) with a third keyboard and five additional stops. The enlarged organ was installed and inaugurated in Saint Eugène in 1856. There are several distinctive features which make this organ exceptional and remarkable: 1. All windchests are cone-valve chests, each pipe having its own valve. Merklin learned about cone-valve windchests from Walcker of Ludwigsburg during his appprentice years. 2. The Récit is a real third manual (in contrast to the small ‘Echo’ which was common before) 3. The action of the organ is mechanical with a Barker machine on the Récit division to which the coupler machine is linked. The Récit manual (added after the original conception of the instrument) is thus the accumulating keyboard. By acquiring the Daublaine- Callinet firm, Merklin was assured of the expertise of Barker, who was the leading expert of this former firm. 4. The stops are almost entirely original, with a large variety (11) of eight foot stops, three flûtes harmoniques (flûte ouverte GO, flûte octaviante 4 GO and the flûte harmonique Récit (the flûte harmonique 4 Récit is in fact not harmonic!) and the use of stops of German origin: gemshorn (Corne de Chamois), Dolce (very soft flute), Dolciana. A Voix Céleste is missing. The Clarinette is an extraordinary stop, having two ranks: a free reed 8 (Clarinette) and a Bourdon 8 starting at c. These two ranks sound together, but it is possible to open or close only the reeds in the interior of the organ. This is useful for the tuning of the bourdon and, by closing the reeds, one creates one additional foundation stop! 5. The first use in France of voicing curls (in French: entailles d‘accord). The organ was restored with great care and craftsmanship by Olaf Dalsbaek (Dalsbaek - Merklin company at Miribel ) and inaugurated in 2005. Source: Olaf Dalsbaek & Roland Galtier L’orgue Merklin-Schütze de l’église Saint-Eugène-Saint-Cécile à Paris : une singularité dans la facture du Second Empire. La Flûte Harmonique Numéro 92, année 2011 - Association Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (in French)

Organiste titulaire Touve R. Ratovondrahety Concerts Seldomly Masses with organ Sunday 9:45, 11:00 AM (Forme Extraordinaire), 5:45 PM(Vêpres), 7:00 PM (Messe basse) Videos Touve R. Ratovondrahety Philippe Ourselin Photo GO: Jeroen de Haan Other photos: Gaspard de La Motte