It has more than 3.000 pipes.
The four keyboards of the organ
François-Henri Clicquot
9 wedge-shaped bellows provide
a pressure of 125 mm of water. |
It is one of the few great 18th century French instruments which is still in its original state.
It is called “great 16” organ because the longest pipe in the frontage emits a sound corresponding to a 16 feet wavelength, that is to say
over 7 meters with its base.
Five rows of pipes, with a 7 seconds echo
The organ has two cases, one called the great organ and the other one, the positive organ situated near the railing of the loft. Those two
cases are the work of two local artists: Favre and Berton.
The sound part of the F.H. Clicquot organ is operated by 4 manuals and a pedal-board placed between the 2 cases and facing the rose-window at the back of the Cathedral. When the organist plays, he has his back to the Congregation.
So there are 5 sound tiers, (4 manuals and the pedal-board) to enhance the excellence of the instrument and the acoustic of the cathedral (
7 seconds echo).
The keyboarg
| The positive organ |
The first keyboard, the nearest to the organist is the “positive” ‘Choir organ”. It has 12 stops placed in the small case. |
| The great organ |
The second keyboard id that of the great organ, the most important of the instrument. It has 19 stops.
The pipes are laid out behind the frontage of the big case and fill the two thirds of that one. The positive organ can play at the same
time as the great organ by means of manual coupling of the keyboards. |
| The swell |
The third keyboard is a swell, which has 4 stops for recitative parts, hence its name.
Its pipes are placed half-height behind the frontage of the great case which makes them sound clearly in the cathedral..
|
| The echo |
The fourth keyboard is an echo whose pipes are placed in the under frame of the organ.
Such a place gives it a far-away sound, thus its name, “the echo”. It consists of 3 stops. |
| The pedal-board |
At lasts, the pedal-board whose pipes are placed in the side turret of the great case. It has 6 stops with a lowering to the A0 for the
three reed stops. |
So, the instrument has over 3.000 pipes: a hundred are made of oak-wood and the others of high-grade Cornwall tin hammed all of exceptional
quality.
Beside the great poetical sound of its basic stops, the reed-stops –trumpet, clarion, bumbardon … - constitute one of the choir organs whose
power and beauty make this instrument very famous, almost unique.
To make all those pipes sound, wind is needed, i.e. air in motion. To this purpose on each side of the loft, the organ is endowed with 9
wedge-shaped bellows providing for a water pressure of 125 mm.
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