Small and Musical in Paris

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One of my favorite pastimes in France is to wander into a church when music is playing. A few weeks ago, I got a two-for-one organ bonus at the lovely Abbaye Saint-Michel de Frigolet in the Provence countryside.

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The secluded monastery traces its origins to the tenth century and has two main churches, the romanesque Eglise Saint Michel, church of Saint Michael, and the basilica of Notre-Dame du bon remède. It must have been music practice day since the monastery organists were hard at work in both sacred spaces. The basilica’s organist in particular was quite good – I sat down for a while to hear him thundering out Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor. Hardly another soul was around – it was like having a real organ concert all to myself.

I started the habit of entering French churches in hopes of an impromptu concert when living in Paris. With beautiful églises (churches) located almost every other block in the city, I found that opportunities abounded for musical moments. And too, you can only do the cathedral of Notre Dame so many times before branching out to smaller places with spires.

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Church of Sainte-Clothilde on the Rue Las Cases in the 7th arrondissement

Right in my former Left Bank neighborhood is the picturesque basilica of Sainte-Clothilde. While not that old, the nineteenth century gothic edifice had already caught my interest for its architecture and also for the charming, small garden right in front. Over time, I came to realize that the church had a spectacular musical history. Its original organ was a Cavaillé-Coll, and there has been a succession of famous composers who have been Organiste Titulaire including César Franck (1859-1890), Charles Tournemire (1898-1939), and Jean Langlais (1945-1987). I have managed to catch a few organ moments at Sainte-Clothilde over the years – it is definitely on the top of my smaller Paris churches list.

Another Paris church that merits a musical visit is Saint Eustache in the Les Halles area of the city. The late gothic église was completed in the seventeenth century. A young Louis XIV even took communion here at that time.

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Church of Saint-Eustache located in Les Halles in the 1st arrondissement

The impressive Van den Heuvel organ competes with that of Notre Dame for the title of the largest in France with close to 8000 pipes. It is often possible to catch an organ concert on Sunday afternoons or during some of Saint-Eustache’s music festivals and events. There is even a organ keyboard in the nave of the church which allows concert-goers to see the organist play, a unique feature not often found in church settings.

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The last time I popped by Sainte-Eustache, alas no music was playing. However, it was winter, and La Soupe Saint-Eustache was in full swing. It turns out that the church sponsors a soup kitchen which serves over 250 needy visitors a hot French-style meal a day in the wintertime. It is a real community effort – volunteers staff the kitchen, others prepare food, local kitchens donate soup, and even neighborhood bakeries and pastry shops donate excess stock to help complete the three-course meal.

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There are numerous other churches in Paris worth a look as well as worth a listen. Saint Sulpice and Saint Louis en L’Ile are two others on my short list. But since Paris has been called by some ‘la capitale mondiale de l’orgue,’ the world capital of organs, then just about any church in the City of Light is going to have something to offer music-wise.

If this has whet your appetite for something French and musical in a sacred space – and you don’t happen to be in Paris, then make a point to attend the final stop of the Louis Vierne 2012 concert series in the U.S. On August 18th, rising star organist Christopher Houlihan will finish his six-city tour in Dallas, Texas, playing Louis Vierne’s six symphonies for organ which represent the summit of French romantic symphonic organ composition. Louis Vierne was the titular organist at Notre Dame in Paris from 1900 until his death in 1937, when he expired at cathedral’s organ console itself.

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The final Vierne concerts will take place on Saturday, August 18th, at the Church of the Incarnation on McKinney Avenue in Dallas in two performances:

3:00pm: Symphonies I, III, V
7:30pm: Symphonies II, IV, VI

For more details, please visit the concert series web site at www.vierne2012.com . And on your next trip to Paris, be sure to stop in at a few non-Notre Dame churches for the sacred spaces, the services, the music, the soup kitchen, or something else unexpected and wonderful.

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