The organ builders of

the 20th century

Beuchet-Debierre et al. Boisseau Cicchero Dalstein-Haerpfer Dargassies Fossaert Gonzalez-Danion Gutschenritter - Masset Jacquot Kern Koenig Maciet Muller Mutin – Convers – Pleyel Puget Renaud Rieger Roethinger Swiderski

Organ building in the 20th century:

Back to the Roots!

In the first decades of the 20th century, Parisian parishes turned mainly to Mutin (Cavaillé-Coll's successor) to carry out maintenance, restoration, and construction of new organs. The latter is in the continuity of the tradition of the symphonic organ created by Cavaillé-Coll. At the same time, a new generation of composers, organists and organ builders was trained and became increasingly interested in "early" music and its construction. They then wanted a different type of organ that would allow the interpretation of ancient, romantic and modern music at the same time. The organ builder Victor Gonzalez was a pioneer of this reform initiated by André Marchal, Norbert Dufourcq and Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James. This collaboration led to the foundation of the group "Les amis de l'orgue" whose aim was to reflect on the future of the organ and its construction, in particular through the creation of a new type of organ aimed at allowing "ancient" and "modern" music to be played. They were soon joined by other builders, such as Joseph Gutschenritter (Merklin's successor) and the House of Beuchet-Debierre, who would follow a similar artistic path. In 1963, the reconstruction of the organ of St Séverin made it possible to take a new step in the design of the organ, largely inspired by the French Classical Organ and the Germanic organ of the eighteenth century. This was the starting point for many reconstructions, often entrusted to Alsatian organ builders. In the last decades of the twentieth century, aspirations shifted again: a growing interest in nineteenth-century symphonic organs gave rise to a more conservative policy concerning restorations and the return to their original state of "baroquized" instruments throughout the twentieth century.

After the revolution

19th - 20th - 21th century