Aristide Cavaillé-Coll – A Compendium of Known Stoplists by Jesse Eschbach (ISBN 3-928243-05-5) published by Peter Ewers $US 90, Euros 80:00.

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This handsomely produced volume contains the original stoplist of every known organ by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, over five hundred in all. These instruments were – and many still are – to be found throughout France: over one hundred went to other countries in Europe and the Americas. From these collected lists, it is possible to trace the development of the builder’s ideas. Pedal departments grow from an octave and a half of keys with few – or no – pipes of their own to the large full-compass divisions of his later instruments. His views on the function of the Récit changed similarly, with this department becoming increasingly important in his tonal schemes.

Historical notes accompany each list: these usually include the prices charged – and they go far to explain why Cavaillé-Coll died a poor man. Some throw interesting sidelights on the political history of his time. The organ in the Jesuit church at Mongre required extensive work replacing and repairing pipes stolen and damaged by troops garrisoned in the building during the Franco-Prussian War (1870). As Dr Eschbach points out, the notes also show that this great French builder was not a man of fixed ideas, but one always ready to amend his schemes in the light of circumstance.

The book's cover photo, by Gene Bedient, is of the organ at Saint-Francois-de-Sales, Lyon.

This book with its technical data will, of course, delight organ-buffs. It will also be of the greatest use to performers seeking authentic performance of works written for these instruments. This is especially important because time has taken its toll. Some have been lost through war or natural disaster. Many have been modified, sometimes almost beyond recognition, by unsympathetic and sometimes incompetent builders. As the author observes “ a seemingly countless number of instruments [has] been lost to the neo-classical frenzy”.

The bubble-and-squeak merchants have much to answer for.

Perhaps even more misleading than wholesale alterations, have been the many lesser changes that have occurred over the years – a stop transposed in pitch here, another replaced there, leaving many a Cavaillé-Coll less “authentic” than it is believed to be. Now it is possible to double-check such matters.

The collection and interpretation of this data has, clearly, been an enormous task. This has been magnified greatly by the dispersal of original records from 1859 onwards as well as by the builder’s own changes to originally planned specifications and by conflicting contemporary accounts. The author has made a point of confirming each list from at least two contemporary sources and of pointing up areas of uncertainty. In some cases, it has been possible to supplement printed accounts by reports of recent inspection by competent authorities.

Excluded from the list are those organs signed as by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll but constructed by Charles Mutin after the founder’s death. The first thing for a discoverer of an organ missing from this list to do, is to check the date: if it is post 1898, it will be by Mutin. On the other hand, a number of instruments proposed by Cavaillé-Coll but never built are included. The 5-manual, 124 stop organ suggested for St Peter’s, Rome, must rank as a great musical “if only”……

This book will appeal to every serious student of the history of the nineteenth-century organ and of music of the French school. It is a substantial contribution to the greater understanding and enjoyment of this. Extensive use of French, German and English translation and a technical glossary in these three languages are bonuses.

Those who can afford to buy it should do so: it is excellent value. Those who can’t will surely find a copy in their University library.

Reviewed by David Bridgeman-Sutton.

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