Notre Dame: 15 April 2019

There are no words.

This building, where all roads in France converge.... It survived the French Revolution, centuries of wars and tumults, including two world wars and Nazi occupation in the last century. And now much of it is gone.

In the larger grief over what has been lost, I grieve for Olivier Latry, organist of Notre Dame, who has lost the instrument and place that he loves.

I commend to you two videos: the first is a short excerpt which has been noted by many, wherein Kenneth Clark begins his work "Civilisation"

"What is civilisation? I don't know. I can't define it in abstract terms - yet. But I think I can recognize it when I see it." He turned toward the cathedral, Notre Dame: "And I am looking at it now."

The second video is long, almost an hour. Among other things, it includes a lovingly detailed tour of the insides of the instrument, in its present form built by Cavaille-Coll and much modified, including a major restoration finished in 2012.

"In the belly of the organ of Notre Dame" (French, with subtitles).

If nothing else, watch the first moments, wherein Mr. Latry climbs the stairs, turns on the blower, seats himself at the console in the darkened church, and begins the Carillon de Westminster (by Louis Vierne, former organist of Notre Dame), and the lights of the church come on.

And now it is gone, or at the least extensively damaged.

When I wrote this earlier today (April 16), initial reports had been that the three rose windows were destroyed; now we know that they survived. Likewise, initial report was that the organ was destroyed; at this writing, they are saying its status is not yet known.

Another, more encouraging update on the organ, important enough that I made a new posting so that more people would see it:

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From the conservative columnist and blogger Rod Dreher: I think that his thoughts on the survival of the rose windows apply as well to the survival of at least major portions of the organ.
Hope in the ruins

So: I see the image above [in the linked essay] — of the light shining through the rose window, onto the ashes of Notre Dame cathedral — and I see a Sign. Beauty, order, and harmony were not consumed by the fire. The light that streams into the cathedral through the rose windows passes through colors arranged in such a way as to illustrate scenes from humanity’s mortal life. The rose window tells us that God — who, to the medievals, is Light — manifests Himself by passing through the stains of our mortality. He is everywhere present, He fills all things. Even when we sin — as some of the smaller in the west portal rose window depict — God is present, illuminating the sacredness of life, drawing even our frailty and brokenness into harmonious lines bursting with color, and life, and meaning.

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To hear all of the Vierne piece, it is here.
There is a YouTube channel for the instrument and its music: The Great Organ