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Casavant Frères is a prominent Canadian company in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec
Saint-Hyacinthe is a city in southwestern Quebec east of Montreal on the Yamaska River. The population as of the Canada 2006 Census was 55,823. The city is located in Les Maskoutains Regional County Municipality of the Montérégie region, and is traversed by the Yamaska River which flows...

, which has been building fine pipe organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...

s since 1879. As of 2008, they have produced over 3800 organs.

Company history

Brothers Joseph-Claver (1855-09-10 – 1933-12-10) and Samuel-Marie (1859-04-04 – 1929-11-23) got their start in organ-building in the shop of their father Joseph Casavant
Joseph Casavant
Joseph Casavant was a French Canadian manufacturer of pipe organs.Originally a blacksmith, Casavant gave up his trade at age 27 to pursue classical studies. He happened upon a 1766 treatise by Dom Bédos de Celles on organ building, called L'Art du Facteur d'Orgues, which he subsequently used to...

 under his successor Eusèbe Brodeur. Claver worked with Brodeur during 1874–1878, then went to France for a 14-month apprenticeship with the firm of John Abbey
John Abbey
John Abbey was an English organ builder, who built organs for the cathedrals of many French cities, as well as the organ at the Salle Le Peletier of the Paris Opera...

 in Versailles. He and Samuel then visited many organs and workshops in western Europe before establishing their factory on the site of their father's workshop on rue Girouard in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1879.

Technical innovations

Their instruments boasted many innovations unique for that time, such as concave pedalboards, balanced expression pedals, keyboard improvements, and other enhancements. Their reputation as organ builders of international status was cemented in 1891 with their construction of the organ for the Notre-Dame de Montréal Basilica
Notre-Dame Basilica (Montreal)
Notre-Dame Basilica is a basilica in the historic district of Old Montreal, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The church is located at 110 Notre-Dame Street West, at the corner of Saint Sulpice Street...

, a four-manual organ of eighty-two stops. This famous organ features adjustable combinations and speaking pipes of thirty-two foot length in the façade.

They won the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition held in Antwerp, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 in 1930.

They built organs around the world, including Canada, the United States, France, the West Indies, South and Central America, South Africa, and Japan. Their organs have been praised by many famous organists over the last 100 years, including Guilmant, Vierne, Widor, Bonnet, Lemare, Dethier, Courboin, Bingham, and many others who inaugurated and played Casavant organs.

Casavant organs are also found in leading colleges, universities and conservatories in the United States and Canada.

After the death of the Casavant brothers, the company continued to add new innovations to their instruments. These include an extraordinarily reliable key contact and tracker touch mechanism, which is a hallmark of the Casavant playing action.

During the 1960s, Casavant pioneered new electronic technology to the capture system of combination actions.

In 1960, the company returned to mechanical action technology (while continuing to build electropneumatic action instruments as well) and has since built over two hundred tracker action
Tracker action
Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe of the corresponding note...

 instruments ranging in size from a single manual portable Continuo of four stops to two, three, and four manual organs.

New technology, such as solid-state coupling and switching systems, multiplex, multi-memory combination actions and MIDI have been adopted. Other improvements, such as more effective expressive enclosures, continue to be made.

The sound and style of Casavant organs has varied throughout the company's history. The Casavant brothers themselves, Samuel and Claver Casavant, reflected mostly influences from contemporary France, but they traveled widely and visited many European instruments. They later brought in an Englishman, Stephen Stoot, under whose direction the tonal palette reflected additional influences from England. Later tonal directors, Lawrence Phelps and Gerhard Brunzema, contributed styles from the German "Organ Reform Movement." The most recent tonal directors, Jean-Louis Coignet and Jacquelin Rochette, are rooted in but not limited to the various French organ building traditions.

Some significant Casavant organs


Recordings

There have been many recordings performed on Casavant Frères organs. Many recent recordings are listed on the firm's website.

Celebrated Canadian pianist Glenn Gould
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach...

 recorded his 1962 album The Art of the Fugue by Bach (Columbia Records) on a 1960 Casavant Frères organ in All Saints' Kingsway Anglican Church in Toronto - available with other Art of Fugue recordings on Sony 87759. Destroyed by fire in 1966. A new Casavant organ, opus 3874 (2009) is now in the building.

External links

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