Cavaillé-Coll, 1884

Paris, Église Notre-Dame d’Auteuil

Cavaillé-Coll was the greatest organ builder of the 19th century

Born in France, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (1811-1899) is considered the most influential organ builder of the nineteenth century. He was notable enough to have a planetoid in our solar system named after him.

Connoisseurs particularly praise his work in building symphonic organs, which can mimic the sound of separate instruments as well as ensembles. His pipe organs were so phenomenal in their construction that various major composers, including Charles-Marie Widor and Louis Vierne, were inspired by his instruments in writing their organ symphonies.

Within France and beyond, Cavaillé-Coll left an impressive legacy of organs to musical history. He built nearly eighty organs in all. One of his exceptional instruments stands in the Église Notre-Dame d’Auteuil in Paris. Its 52 stops, including numerous reeds and many 2, 4, 8, 16 and 32’ registers, express the characteristic tones of French symphonic organs in the way they blend together.

Note: depending on your Johannus LiVE model, the stoplist may differ from the original.