Montreal workshop creates massive organ
A workshop in Montreal is preparing to ship a massive organ to Virginia, where I suppose they must still have enough churchgoers to pay for an instrument of this size.
Lots of photos in this Radio‑Canada piece, but it’s the one where you can see the relative size of the whole thing vs. the keyboard and controls that you realize it’s the size of a building.
…Note that all the stops are labelled in French, as of course they should be.
Blork 12:21 on 2024-02-29 Permalink
Many people: “Wow, what an impressive organ! What an achievement of human engineering and craftsmanship.”
Many other people: “Why don’t they just make a “church organ” playlist on Spotify?”
Nicholas 18:14 on 2024-02-29 Permalink
Thanks for the article! The cathedral in Richmond getting this organ houses the bishop and diocese for most of Virginia, comprising about 5 million people, with about a quarter million Catholics through 142 parishes. Catholics are uncommon but not rare in Richmond, but their population is shrinking, even with the continual arrival of Latin Americans. It is by far the biggest, most ornate and most important Catholic religious building in the region (its only Catholic cathedral), and one of the most important buildings of any kind in the city. I doubt that it is due to huge numbers of Catholics, but more that this is an important building. It’s not Quebec, so this is no Mary, Queen of the World, but they are going to find the money for this regardless of the size of their diocese.