Cavaillé-Coll, Aristide

Cavaillé-Coll, Aristide
born Feb. 4, 1811, Montpellier, France
died Oct. 13, 1899, Paris

French organ builder.

He settled in Paris in 1833 at Gioacchino Rossini's suggestion and with his brother and father built almost 500 organs in France, Belgium, The Netherlands, and elsewhere, including those in the Paris churches of Notre-Dame, La Madeleine, Ste. Clotilde, and La Trinité. With the goal of achieving an orchestral richness and variety of timbre, he introduced countless innovations; he is regarded as the creator of the French Romantic organ (which had great influence elsewhere as well), and composers such as César Franck, Camille Saint-Saë ns, and Olivier Messiaen wrote particularly with the Cavaillé-Coll sound in mind.

* * *

▪ French organ maker
born Feb. 4, 1811, Montpellier, Fr.
died Oct. 13, 1899, Paris

      distinguished French organ builder and initiator of the orchestral style of French organ building and composing.

      Descended from a family of organ builders and a talented protégé of his father, Dominique, a well-known builder of Languedoc, he early became a competent and experienced engineer, winning at 22 a prize for the invention of a popular circular saw. At the suggestion of the composer Gioacchino Rossini, Cavaillé-Coll went to Paris in 1833. There he was awarded a contract for a large organ for the basilica of Saint-Denis; completed by 1841, this instrument became in tone and mechanism a model for many later French organs. Napoleon III put Cavaillé-Coll in charge of rebuilding a number of important cathedral organs, and thereafter his fame spread. Eventually over 600 instruments bore his name, a number of them in England, where he had considerable influence.

      Among Cavaillé-Coll's contributions to organ building were a number of improvements in mechanism and pipework aimed at making the organ as expressive and versatile as a symphony orchestra. He largely standardized the layout of keyboards and stop controls and achieved excellent balance and uniformity of tone in each set of pipes through careful voicing, while maintaining the strong contrasts of tone colour characteristic of romantic, symphonic organs. Although Cavaillé-Coll successfully imitated the sound of several orchestral instruments, he sacrificed the transparency and clarity of tone that distinguished Baroque organs, so that his instruments are not well-suited, for example, to the music of J.S. Bach. Yet, he influenced a new school of organ composition, and 19th-century composers of the stature of César Franck, Camille Saint-Saëns, Charles-Marie Widor, and Louis Vierne wrote particularly with the Cavaillé-Coll sound in mind. Many of his instruments are still in regular use.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Cavaillé-Coll, Aristide — (4 feb. 1811, Montpellier, Francia–13 oct. 1899, París). Constructor de órganos francés. En 1833 se estableció en París por sugerencia de Gioacchino Rossini. Junto con su padre y su hermano, construyó casi 500 órganos en Francia, Bélgica, los… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé im Jahre 1865 nach einer Fotografie von Adolphe Dallemagne …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Aristide Cavaille-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé Coll Aristide Cavaillé Coll (* 4. Februar 1811 in Montpellier; † 13. Oktober 1899 in Paris) war ein französischer Orgelbauer. Er gilt als der bedeutendste französische Orgelbauer der Romantik und gehört zu den bedeutendsten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cavaille-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé Coll Aristide Cavaillé Coll (* 4. Februar 1811 in Montpellier; † 13. Oktober 1899 in Paris) war ein französischer Orgelbauer. Er gilt als der bedeutendste französische Orgelbauer der Romantik und gehört zu den bedeutendsten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cavaillé-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé Coll Aristide Cavaillé Coll (* 4. Februar 1811 in Montpellier; † 13. Oktober 1899 in Paris) war ein französischer Orgelbauer. Er gilt als der bedeutendste französische Orgelbauer der Romantik und gehört zu den bedeutendsten… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Aristide Cavaille-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé Coll Aristide Cavaillé Coll (4 février 1811 13 octobre 1899) fut un célèbre facteur d orgue français. Sommaire 1 Biographie 1.1 Origine de la dynastie 1.1.1 Jean Pierre Cavaillé …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — (4 février 1811 13 octobre 1899) fut un célèbre facteur d orgue français. Sommaire 1 Biographie 1.1 Origine de la dynastie 1.1.1 Jean Pierre Cavaillé …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Cavaillé-Coll — Aristide Cavaillé Coll Aristide Cavaillé Coll (4 février 1811 13 octobre 1899) fut un célèbre facteur d orgue français. Sommaire 1 Biographie 1.1 Origine de la dynastie 1.1.1 Jean Pierre Cavaillé …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — Saltar a navegación, búsqueda Aristide Cavaillé Coll. Aristide Cavaillé Coll (4 de febrero de 1811 13 de octubre de 1899) fue un fabricante francés de órganos. Es considerado como uno de l …   Wikipedia Español

  • Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — (4 February 1811 ndash;13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He is considered by many to be the greatest organ builder of the 19th century because he combined both science and art to make his instruments. He is responsible for innovations… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”