ORGANS OF PARIS © 2024 Vincent Hildebrandt ALL ORGANS
After the revolution
19th - 20th - 21th century
The 19th century: an exciting era in Paris!
During
the
first
decades
of
the
19th
century,
the
organ
building
activities
in
Paris
are
scarce.
The
town
and
its
churches
are
still
recovering
from
all
the
devastations
endured
during
the
revolution.
In
the
first
three
decades,
it
is
mainly
Dallery
who
performs
maintenance
works
on
some
organs
and
who
even
builds
a
new
organ
(for
the
chapel
of
the
Sorbonne
,
1825).
Dallery
and
this
organ
can
be
seen
as
the
last
representatives
of
the
French
classical
organ
building
era.
From
1830
onwards,
organ
building
activities
do
increase
slowly,
with
Daublaine-Callinet
in
the
lead
in
the
third
decade
and
Cavaillé-Coll
taking
the
lead
in
the
rest
of
this
century,
starting
a
new
and
exciting
chapter
in
the
Parisian
organ
history.
In
the
second
half
of
the
19th
century
(and
continuing
in
the
first
decade
of
the
20th
century),
the
organ
building
reaches
a
unprecedented
booming
era
in
Paris,
with
Cavaillé-Coll
being
by
far
the
market
leader,
and
Merklin
and
Abbey
being
his main competitors.
The table shows the main organ builders of the 19th
century and the numbers of organs they built or restored
and/or renovated.
This table shows clearly the dominance of Cavaillé-Coll.