Notre Dame Cathedral's Pipe Organ Unscathed In Fire

Joe Holden reports.

[@organbuilder272]

The organ was not damaged by fire and neither was the West Rose window behind it. How do we know - Organ pipes melt at about 700* F. The organ case is standing, no pipes show damage, bending or signs of melting. The rose window is intact indicating that the lead ams between the glass segments did not melt either. Thus all the pipes behind, many of which are enclosed in chambers, are in good order. Now, the question of the action and the chests - If steam got in there - trouble. If water leaked through the vaulted ceiling (The roof burned, the vaulted stone ceiling did not though it did collapse in 2 area around the crossing) then there could be trouble. How much - well, that depends on how fast the organ technitians can get to it and see the conditions. The towers, between which the organ is situated, are structurally sound and there is no danger of the cailing vaults falling at the west end of the nave. Work can begin tomorrow. - if they are smart. They habe the funds - do the job.Cleaning - yes, How long - 4 to 6 months. How much $100,000 to 200,000. It is likely that the organ needs a good cleaning in any case. Wood and metal pipes cleaned of dust and possibly fly ash. Reeds cleaned and reset. The chests cleaned and if necessary revarnished. All wood should be given a coat of some form of preserving material to prevent drying and keep dust off the wood fibre. Cleaning is not a big problem. This is regularly done every 25 to 40 years as routine maintenance.

[@borisc6714]

The organ will probably have to be dismantled, and put in storage for the duration of the rebuilding, same for the stained glass windows, and most of the fine arts piece housed in the cathedral. Despite the assurance President Macron, it could be decades before everything is put back in its rightful place...

[@OrganNLou]

I Wonder if the smaller Choir organ is alright?

[@borisc6714]

@@OrganNLou I heard that it was salvageable. Lets hope so.

[@Ken_Weber_organist]

Pipe organ leathers/pouches are sensitive to environmental extremes, both heat and moisture, even more so if the chests are "Pitman chests" as many American Classic organs such as E M and Aeolian Skinner organs have. Wickes patented direct-electric actions are more rugged.

[@organbuilder272]

@@Ken_Weber_organist Wicks valves are NOT good for tonal response of the pipe. They also consume huge amounts of current compared to the C-65 Reisner magnets. The Wicks hinge pins rust in humid conditions causing the valves to fail. Pitman chests, (Skinner style is not a good examples) are fast, reliable and last 60 odd years until the leather - same as used in Wicks valves - deteriorate. ALL LEATHER ROTS because it is biological material. Pitman chests have only ONE extra valve. It is a light thin disc of any low permeable material. Cork, paper, plastic, leather. If it is high grade leather it will NOT be affected by humidity and certainly not by temperature. This attack on pneumatic chests by tracker fanatics forgets one thing. Those damned pallet valves are made of that same material - Leather that is Sooooo vulnerable to environmental extremes and SO ARE THE CHESTS STRUCTURES. Far more so that any pitman chest ever though of being. ALL organ chests, pipes and leather is vulnerable to water, fire, dirt and decay. To say otherwise is a blatant lie. It is, by the way, environmental extremes that cause tracker chests - as used in the A.C-C organs to split the tables, separate the tables from the channel frames, split the glue joints in the channel frames and cause the wood pallet valves to warp. Remember, boy, before you start throwing stones at pitman chests, tracker organs and DE organs live in glass houses. By the way, the DE magnets have proven more troublesome than Reisner magnets by a mile. For the record, I have built many pitman chests. None have failed without the effects of direct water from a leaking roof. All we did was replace the pouch valves. The leather pitmans were just fine even surviving and environmental extreme. By the way, in less than a year I had re-tabled TWO tracker organs, In the last 20 years I have seen no less than 12 slider chests split in high humidity conditions. One of these was only five years old. The others less than 25 years old. Go away with your bothersome pitman chests. I would almost bet you have never built one or services one. Skinners last a long time. Their primary system in poorly designed and the magnet connections are brittle. Unless there is direct water intervention, they rarely fail structurally. Dirt is the enemy of every valving system, regardless of the action..... NEXT???

[@joe_chill1060]

Thank God

[@loganmckinney1285]

Ive heard it didnt get hit by water and fire, but will most need a restoration due to the smoke

[@reedweldon2312]

logan McKinney it will I am a organist and it will need a lot of restoration.

[@eeeeee1630]

@@reedweldon2312 organs are creepy asf, thats why i am scared of churches 😂🤣😅😅🤣😂

[@johnw2026]

@@eeeeee1630 pipe organs maybe, but not a good Hammond B3.

[@johnw2026]

@chief tp awesome. I don't get to play organs much, but it's a real treat when I do. I first learned on an old Wurlitzer, I think from the late 70's (this was in the mid 90's, I was around 12). From there I first played a Hammond in a large church, and just fell in love with them. Played a piper once. Not bad, but the Hammond is much better....pipe organs get an attitude if you don't let them get enough air. Ain't got that problem with a Hammond, lol!

[@johnw2026]

@chief tp I'm not familiar with the M class...mostly just the B class, maybe the A100...

[@aemiliacarolphonetube9749]

I hope it is okay

[@itswagon]

Acknowledge it or not there were at least two organs, one in the Sanctuary, There was one high above the sanctuary called the "Emporer's Organ".

[@echo3325]

YES! SHE WILL RISE AGAIN!

[@dalerider3124]

We organist-musicians so believe and pray it to be so! Soli Deo Gloria!

[@organbuilder272]

@@dalerider3124 Yeah!!! Right!!! while you fool waste your time praying, real organ builders will go in there and do what it takes to salvage some or all of the organ. The main organ was already ruined by Cochereau when he ripped out several sets of C-C pipes and replaced them with screaming Mixtures to make the organ sound more Baroquen. It is no longer an A. Caville-Coll organ. It has been electrified as well

[@thebrideoffrankenstein2415]

Awesome

[@V01cez]

0:27 Lol

[@lesb_socal]

The clip does NOT address the headline. Bogus posting.

[@TheJakeman789]

Shut the fuck up.

[@jmeyer3rn]

Such a sad thing

[@gabrielsfrost]

“no dur daem”

[@lohphat]

THe main part of the organ in the back of the cathedral was spared but the choir pipes in the nave by the altar was destroyed.

[@borisc6714]

the latest reports say that the Choir Organ was damaged, but could possibly be salvaged. I do hope that it is true.

[@organbuilder272]

@@borisc6714 It is. there was a lot of heat and of course humidity from the steam generated by water on the fire. However, with the ceiling vaults gone fresh air was surely circulating and the chests and wood pips could have dried out fairly rapidly. The metal pipes.... You have to hope the temperature didn't get above 400 degrees F. The lead in the windows and pipes in the organ would melt at about the same temperature.

[@j.suis9668]

*No der daym’s* pipe organ 🙇🏻‍♂️🤦🏻‍♂️

[@Bailey2006a]

Thanks be to God

[@elgar57]

Why not lean to prounounce Notre -Dame properly.

[@thekathal]

Why not stop wasting youre time getting pissed off at people on the internet and go outside or read a book.

[@ScottDLR]

Yes but can it play Enter Sandman?

[@Engineer9736]

Why not? It will only sound very strange/boring. Enter Sandman needs some shredding guitars. Pipe organ is more for classical music like Bach. If you don’t understand classical music then just stay away from the organ and stick to the guitars.

[@tommypetraglia4688]

"In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" - kzbin.info/www/bejne/p4SmhpunqN5nhM0

[@DavidSmith-sb2ix]

@@Engineer9736 You might be surprised with what a French Romantic organ this big could do with Metallca.

[@michaelheeheejackson7255]

Notre DAAAAAAAAHHHHHHM... DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

[@michaelheeheejackson7255]

NOHTRE

[@borisc6714]

@@michaelheeheejackson7255 yes we do