#cavaille-coll

[charlesreeza]

The choir stalls at Bayeux Cathedral were built in Renaissance style in 1589. They were made in the workshop of Jacques Lefèvre, a sculptor working in Caen.  There were originally 104 stalls that were “reworked” in the 19th century, leaving only 50 stalls in the church.

The choir organ was built in 1861 by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, a distinguished builder of the 19th century who revolutionized the face of organ building, performance, and composition.

Photos by Charles Reeza

[tfbotmblr]

Avoid Paris Syndrome By Curbing Your Expectations

On my first trip to Paris in 2015 (which was part of Expat Explore’s Ultimate Europe tour), I knew what to expect. I expected it to be a lot more like the Paris in the DiC series Madeline (and later - *coughs* - CUTIES) than what the movies and even European versions of the Disney’s Sing-Along-Songs video series have depicted.

The France pavilion in Epcot’s World Discovery doesn’t hold a candle to the REAL Eiffel Tower in her fall fashion! Taken 11/1/2015.

And the trip took place in October as opposed to the springtime.

The Paris in Madeline is a mixture of the candy-coated, sanitized version of Hollywood’s (including spring flowers surrounding the iconic Eiffel Tower, couples kissing, and posh boutique shops) as well as the rough parts.

My hotel I stayed was located in the La Defense district, which was similar to the location Miss Clavel, the maid, her bloodhound Genevieve, and the dozen female students (who’d mostly file in 2 straight lines) moved to in the episode “Madeline and the Old House.” They are forced to relocate to a modern but cramped apartment because Lord Cucuface deems their former convent school edifice that is covered with vines inhospitable.

There were those rough places in Paris as well as the vagabounds, the refugees, and homeless kids mingling with the fashionistas and romancers. Those parts looked just like some of the scenes in Madeline: Lost in Paris, in which the titular student of the convent school was kidnapped by an impostor who pretended to be her Viennese uncle.

And did I suffer from Paris Syndrome, a phenomenon in which travelers have too-high expectations stemming from fictional media of a place they wanted to visit, but were left disappointed after staying there? Not much.

Yeah - try finding scenes including those piles of human bones at the Catacombs in An American in Paris or Gigi! Visiting there late October made for one of the BEST HALLOWEENS EVER! Taken 10/30/2015.

Paris Syndrome initially referred to Japanese tourists who raised their expectations of the moniker city TOO HIGH. Paul McQueen of Culture Trip explained about why it’s SO REAL:

First and foremost is the language barrier between the vast majority of the visiting Japanese and their French hosts. Tied to this is our second factor: differences in manner that can be extremely upsetting: decreased levels of formality in communication, frequent fluctuations in mood or tone, and incomprehensible humor.

Thirdly, there is physical exhaustion, plain and simple. Travelers, whether they are in Paris for business or pleasure, pack their schedules so tightly that their brains essentially explode. And finally, add serious jet lag to that mix and you have yourself one stressed out cookie.

And Paris Syndrome also can be experienced in other cities worldwide.

For instance, Orlando - home of Walt Disney World, SeaWorld Orlando, and Universal Orlando - also disappoints most of its tourists who have high expectations in some ways. As a Catholic vagabond who declares the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe my favorite attraction in the metro area outside the theme parks, they are often too hard-pressed to find under-the-radar locations to visit.

Seeing Adam J. Brakel work the Schoenstein at the Basilica of the National Shrine of Mary, Queen of the Universe - let alone include scenes from said mission Catholic church - is hen’s teeth in the Visit Orlando ads!

Karen McCann, an expat and travel blogger, ties the factors to curated reality. She explains in the blog Enjoy Living Abroad:

And here we get to the seriously worrying part of the story: the casual assumption that travel destinations should be predictable, with everything organized for our amusement in what some call “curated reality.”

Ten years ago, when we were still adapting to living online, Cyborgology wrote, “Social media allows us to essentially ‘curate reality,’ cultivating an environment in which we generally see what we want to see.” By now that expectation has spread so deeply into all facets of our lives that some travelers are demanding the same predictability from cities they visit. For me, the whole point of travel is to experience the glorious rush of surprise that comes with stumbling upon something completely unexpected, such as Albania’s warm hospitality, the zingy coffee culture of Greece, and Sarajevo’s 500-year-old public restroom.

On the same day I, my DM, and her university classmate toured the Catacombs, I had them stumble upon St. Sulpice. My three wishes were the same ones I’d make in every visit to a new church, and good holistic health (Paris Syndrome is a mental health issue, and I DID pray for that) is one of the three.

And click - I snapped the picture of St. Sulpice’s FAMOUS Cavaille-Coll jewel people don’t usually see in those Hollywood movies set in Paris.

I saw THAT organ in Howard Goodall’s Organ Works (which I have watched almost religiously after school and during weekends on Ovation TV) and many YT videos of organs, but there’s almost 0% chance you’d see it in a blockbuster film set in Paris. It looked SO MUCH BETTER in real life. Taken 10/30/2015.

Whitney Brown, of Passion Passport, offers the lessons I learned from my Paris trip that made me not suffer Paris Syndrome much:

There’s danger in being too firmly attached to your preconceived notion of how a destination should look or feel, or in setting your expectations too high. You can only get to know a new place by immersing yourself in that setting, and even then, you’ll only scratch the surface.

So, if you leave some wiggle room in your expectations, you’ll learn more as you travel, and you’ll have more fun along the way. You’ll get to know the real Paris or Peru or Portugal, not a wishful projection of that destination.

You might experience some disappointments, but you’ll also be more receptive to the destination’s good qualities. You might find a hidden gem — a secret garden, a speakeasy, an old arthouse theater — or learn something fascinating about the local culture.

In short, you’ll allow that destination to teach and surprise you, and you’ll return home with more nuanced, realistic insights about what life is actually like in other parts of the globe. You’ll realize that you don’t know everything about the places you’ve explored, but you’ll understand them much better than you did before.

And really, isn’t that what travel is all about — recognizing that the world is more surprising and less predictable than you previously thought? That it doesn’t always deliver everything you’d hoped for, but that it’s always bigger and better than what you could ever dream up?

Despite the pickpockets and the scammers with strings around Montmartre, Paris was just like what Madeline and documentaries that show both sides of the city like the third episode of Howard Goodall’s Organ Works depicted. Watching media that sees it from ALL socioeconomic angles have made me felt like it exceeded my expectations (not as much as Prague, where I visited a small church that is the shrine of the Infant Jesus) and made me suffer Paris Syndrome less.

I describe Paris as a rose - there are thorny parts mingling with the idyllic ones Hollywood would ALMOST ALWAYS depict.

And didn’t I mention that I heard the FINAL organ Aristide Cavaillé-Coll built being played during Vespers at Sacre Coeur! It sounded as AMAZING in real life just as it looked. Taken 11/1/2015. 

[redhobbit-pixels]

The Cavailé-Coll organ at Notre-Dame de Paris.

[flute-a-pavillion]

Daniel Roth improvises at Saint-Sulpice

[flute-a-pavillion]

I think it’s really clever how Cavaille-Coll broke up the XII rank mixture on the Grand-Orgue at Saint-Denis into four III rank mixtures.

Besides giving the organist more choice with regards to playing plena based around different pitches, it also makes the organ way easier to tune. Large mixtures are a titanic pain to tune because it can be difficult to isolate notes and most mixtures >III ranks require pipe silencers, which make things take a while longer. While many smaller mixtures take up more space on the chest than one large one due to needing more room for the stop action, I think it’s very much worth it and an idea I’m going to steal.

[theatheistorganist-blog]

Final of the Vierne organ symphony 3 - Sarah Soularue 

Sometimes Youtube recommends things I like