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| Cathedrale Saint-Pons de Cimiez, exterior |
After leaving
Beziers on Sunday, May 16 (Day 7 of the tour), we drove into the mountains to
the town of Saint-Pons-de-Thomieres, to visit the Cathedrale Saint-Pons de
Cimiez on our way to Carcassonne, perhaps the most extraordinary town in all of
France (possibly next to Paris).
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| Magnificent gilded baroque organ and inlaid marble walls, interior of Cathedrale Saint-Pons de Cimiez |
The organ in
the Cathedrale Saint-Pons de Cimiez is a baroque instrument, built in 1771 by
Micot and Son; it was restored in the 1980s, but all the original features
(pipes, casing, stops) have been retained. It is a magnificent looking organ
and one of the oldest we have seen and heard. Although the exterior of the church has a
simple Romanesque style, the interior is clearly baroque, with gilding and
abundant inlaid marble on walls and fixtures.
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| Michael Barone at the console, Saint-Pons |
From Saint-Pons, we drove on to
the fairy-tale city of Carcassonne, which is one of my two favorite
cities/towns in France, along with Strasbourg. The sky was overcast as we
approached the city, so I couldn’t get a good, well-lit photo of the iconic
walled medieval city. We visited three churches in the city.
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| The medieval walled city of Carcasonne |
The first
church was the Cathedrale Saint-Michel, which boasts two organs--a
great organ and a choir organ--both built by Cavaille-Coll in the mid-19th
century. The organist played some very dramatic pieces; intense sound filling the
church, then some lighter pieces, perhaps improvisations, that included clear,
enchanting tones of bells and cymbals. The church was very dark and musty, and
they may have been doing some remodeling; I had to leave before the
presentation was over because of a paroxysm of coughing in reaction to the
dust, mold and incense that pervaded the interior space
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| Organ, Cathedrale Saint-Michel |
The next
church we visited was the Eglise Saint-Vincent, where I waited by the side for
the others to come. I had left the other church before group members had
played because the smell in the church was causing me to cough, sneeze, and
wheeze. The rain had pretty much let up, and the sun came out briefly, but
dark, ominous clouds covered it once again. This is another fortress-like
church, but in the middle of the city. Again, the church had a great organ and
a choir organ, originally built in the early 18th century, modified
by Cavaille and Cavaille-Coll in the late 18th century, and then
completely rebuilt by Puget in the 19th century. Several in the
group played a Widor piece on this organ. The high notes had a very pure tone; the sound was
mellow in the middle range, and the lower chords almost seemed to overwhelm the
space. According to AB Culver, the reverberation was greater in this church
than in any of the others we’d visited. So the combination of the organ and the
space gave the music a very special sound and feel.
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| Beautiful stained glass windows in the Eglise Saint-Vincent |
Finally, we
went into the walled city of Carcassonne itself. There the church was the
Basilique Saint-Nazaire, whose original organ was built in 1637. It has been
overhauled and restored several times since then by notable organ builders. The
sound of the organ was good, but not as dramatic or melodic or versatile as
some of the other instruments we’ve heard so far. The church was very dark
inside, so I didn’t get a decent picture of the organ, but I did manage to get good potos of
stained glass windows in this church and the previous one. Walking up and down the city's narrow passageways with a few others in the group, I took as many photos of the city as I could before dark set in. It touched
my deepest sense of self and personal continuity as I relived--in memory and
imagination--my other trip to Carcassonne in 1957, more than a half century ago.
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| Striking stained-glass windows, Basilique Saint-Nazaire, Carcasonne |
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| The magic city of Carcasonne, twilight |
