Never in a Million Years!

Never in a million years did I ever think I would attend a Catholic mass and never in a million years did my sister, Kathleen, think she would have the opportunity to meet and chat with Daniel Roth, the world renowned organist for Eglise Saint-Sulpice in Paris.  Both of these events happened today!  I think for her it was like I would be if I met Rod Stewart!

Before we left on this vacation, we had watched a Rick Steves' video showing that sometimes visitors were allowed in the organ loft during mass at this church to meet and chat with the organist and watch while he played mass.  After learning that, I wrote the church to see if we could be afforded that opportunity.  My sister has been a church organist for over 40 years so the possibility of having this experience certainly piqued her interest.  We received a positive response to my email; M. Roth agreed we could visit the organ loft during mass on May 8th.  So, Sunday at 10:30, we climbed the very steep and narrow circular stairs to where the organ is located.  Those stairs were not for the faint of heart - although M. Roth, who is 79 years old certainly had no problem with them!  

First, some information about the church, Saint-Sulpice.   Located in the Latin Quarter of the 6th arrondissement, it is only slightly smaller than Notre Dame and thus the second-largest church in the city.  Construction of the present building, the second church on the site, began in 1646.  

While the church was of interest to my sister, the main reason for the visit was to see the organ and meet the organist.  

The organ dates from 1862 and was built by Aristide Cavaille-Coll, a famous French organ builder.  When it was built, it was one of the three largest in France and it is the largest one Cavaille-Col ever built.  The organ has 6600 pipes.  Unlike modern organs, it only has memory to store one set of registrations.  So, it requires an assistant on either side of the console of five keyboards to manually to pull the 110 stops.  

The church has had many famous French organists including, in the 20th century, Charles Widor and Marcel Dupre.  Widor is best known for his Toccata in F from his 5th symphony.  Daniel Roth has been the resident organist there since 1985.  He is one of the leading French organ virtuosos. 

We were able to watch while Daniel prepared for the service and the assistants pulled the stops according to instructions.  Then we listened while he played the mass.  It was an incredible experience and one that my sister will not soon forget.