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Completed in 1885, the church had an organ installed at the front of the nave, and although it spoke on the main axis of the room, much of the organ was buried behind a wall in a very cramped chamber, originally a small apse. In a previous renovation, the apse had disappeared from view to become home to the Swell division. The Great and Pedal, typical of the organs of the 1960 Organ Reform movement, were displayed on chests cantilevered on the front wall. The choir could not hear the organ well, especially the Swell division, thus making organ accompaniment of choral works difficult at best. Since major repairs were needed on the old organ, whose internal design left many parts inaccessible for tuning and maintenance, the final recommendation was to build a new instrument incorporating several of the best ranks of pipes from the old organ. The plan for a new organ evolved to design a case that would stand on the chancel floor against the front wall. Because floor space was at a premium, slider chests became an important factor in space conservation. The existing shallow apse was reopened behind the case to house the balance of the instrument, including the larger pedal stops. In order to provide for better choral accompaniment possibilities, the Recit was located just behind the lower left side of the casework with shutters opening both forward the nave and to the left side where the choir is seated. The Grand Orgue and Pédale divisions were situated at the post level of the case, where they speak directly into the nave. Acoustic improvements were carried out so that now all surfaces are hard and reflective. The floors under the pews are hardwood, the center aisle is slate, and the chancel has a wood parquet floor. The main organ is built to provide the maximum amount of color and variety in a well-developed two-manual design. * The Grand Orgue has a complete principal chorus based on the Violonbasse 16', which incorporates 24 pipes from the previous organ's pedal division. The old pipes were completely revoiced and placed on new chests. The stop is available on both the Grand Orgue and Pédale at 16' and 8' pitch levels. Flute colors include the Flûte à cheminée 8' and the slightly tapered Flûte conique 4'. Many solo sounds are available, including a warm-sounding, large-scale Flûte harmonique 8' and the principal-scaled, brightly colored Sesquialtera II, which provides contrast to the wide-scaled Cornet décomposé of the Récit. The Clicquot shallots of the Grand Orgue Trompette 8' gives a brilliant color in contrast to the darker, rounder tones of the Recit Trompette, which has Cavaillé-Coll shallots. For added flexibility, the Récit Douçaine is available at 16' and 8' pitch on the Grand Orgue. * The Récit Bourdon 16' was retained from the previous organ and revoiced to blend with the new stops. The 14-stop Récit has a rich resonant sound, from the soft, warm string and céleste to the chorus of reeds, which gives a powerful effect to the full Swell ensemble. The swell enclosure is made of thick panels of solid maple and the shades have specially designed gaskets that dramatically increase the dynamic range of expression from completely closed to fully open at 90 degrees. * The Antiphonal plays from the bottom manual of the three-manual console and while its name is indicative of its location at the back of the nave, its manual location reveals a hint of its function as a kind of Choir division within the organ as a whole. Because the room acoustic is so favorable and the physical distance from the front of the church to the back is not great, this division functions quite well as a third manual division of the main organ. Yet its spatial separation provides a charming, special effect to music played in dialogue with the other divisions. The Antiphonal division is completely under expression except for the Montre 8', whose polished bass pipes are en façade over the rear door of the church. Pipes from five stops of the previous organ were completely revoiced to blend with the new ranks, yielding a small but solid plenum. The division's eloquent Flûte douce and Flûte céleste are the softest stops on the instrument and can be made to sound quite ethereal by closing the Antiphonal shades. * The abundant supply of generously scaled 16' flue resources and the Dom Bédos shallots of the Bombarde 16' give the organ a solid foundation in the room, where the sturdy structure of walls, floor, and ceiling reinforce rather than weaken the bass. The above is a portion of an article by Jean-Louis Coignet, Jacquelin Rochette, Stanley R. Scheer The American Organist, February 1996
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