LDV113-4

53 MICHEL BOUVARD Inaugurated by Alexandre Guilmant in April 1889, the organ of the basilica of Saint-Sernin (54 stops on three manuals and pedalboard) was immediately deemed a masterpiece; this listed historical monument is a well-preserved witness to the excellence of the great art of French symphonic organ building in the late nineteenth century. The instrument belongs to the last creative period of Cavaillé-Coll, who never ceased to evolve and progress throughout his life in the conception of his organs, from his revolutionary beginnings at the Royal Basilica of Saint-Denis (1841) to his splendid late instruments, including those in Lyon (1880), Caen (1885), Rouen (1890) and Azkoitia (Spanish Basque Country, 1898), not to mention the huge organs, models of inventiveness, of Saint-Sulpice (1862, 100 stops) and Notre-Dame de Paris (1868, 86 stops). Alas, his most prestigious project, for St Peter’s in Rome (1875, 124 stops on five manuals and pedalboard), was rejected; all that remains are the magnificent plans and the eminently Romantic dream of ‘the greatest organ in the world for the greatest church in the world’.