The founding of the Association Cavaillé-Coll goes back to 1975. At that time, modification of the builder’s instruments was taken for granted, their registration as official Historical Monuments was a rarity, and the acceptance of his esthetic as fully valid in itself was at best begrudgingly admitted as hypothetical. It was decided to publish a review, La Flûte Harmonique. The first two years stood out particularly via prestigious concerts at Saint-Sulpice and a movement of protest at the total rebuilding of the first significant Parisian organ of the firm of Cavaillé-Coll père et fils, Notre-Dame de Lorette.
In 1978 a change in the administrative team took place, bringing with it emphasis on enhancing awareness of lesser-known instruments (Saint-Bernard de la Chapelle, Bécon-les-Bruyères, Long-sur-Somme…), on furthering contacts in the provinces (creation of delegations…), and on improving the appearance and content of the review, beginning with a special publication L’œuvre de Cavaillé-Coll à Paris. The association has also brought out nearly one hundred picture postcards of 19th-century organ cases. The defense of instruments threatened with questionable restoration projects (particularly Saint-Denis, 1982-84, with an international petition — see a running account in La Flûte Harmonique from that period) retained its rightful place within our activities next to support and advice offered over the years to proprietors wishing to have their instruments restored (Long-sur-Somme, Sacré-Cœur de Montmartre, St-Pierre in Douai…).
Other events have included concerts and participation in symposiums, organ academies and festivals (Rouen, Angers, Texas…) ; in 1999 at the request of the Culture Ministry upon the centenary of the builder’s death the association organised a major international symposium in Saint-Denis and Paris. Since that time several two-day international conferences have been given, each centering on a specific aspect of the broad area of the esthetics and music of the organ before, during and after Cavaillé-Coll’s career.
The association has always maintained a triple intention of spreading knowledge, of intervention and of historical, technical and above all esthetic study of 19th-century French organs. La Flûte Harmonique in its form as a periodical review reached its 80th issue in 2000 with quite varied contents including in particular monographs on outstanding instruments (Saint-Omer, Saint-Dizier, Saint-Sulpice…) as well as the republishing of period documents otherwise barely accessible. It is henceforth devoted to the publication of the proceedings of the conferences, hence a change in format since 2000 (A4 instead of the former A5) and a considerable increase in the amount of material offered in each issue. From time to time the association, as in the past, devotes special issues to specific subjects, monographs or first publications.
The Association Aristide Cavaillé-Coll — given that our era, in part thanks to its actions for the past thirty years, now acclaims and even copies or imitates Cavaillé-Coll’s instruments which are no longer systematically threatened — is working toward new horizons. The aim is to take the full step into the 21st century by opening up to a new audience, that is to say organ lovers and specialists for whom, in the final analysis, the message heretofore carried by the association has basically been heard : a challenge to a new generation, made all the more promising by the riches that the epoch of Cavaillé-Coll and his successors still holds in store for the organ world…
