Béziers Cathedral Organ

A contract for the construction of a new organ in Béziers Cathedral was signed on September 28, 1623 with Flemish organ builder Guillaume Poncher. The organ had two manuals; a Grand Orgue based on a 16' Montre, with a smaller positif. There was also a 19-note Pédale with just one 16' wooden stop. The organ and its gallery were completed in 1633 and they have been preserved until today, including their splendid and rich decoration. In 1680, Jean de Joyeuse repaired the bellows, modified and added various stops, and enlarged the Pédale. In 1775, Guillaume Monturus made a repair and further modifications. Some of his pipes still exist today, especially the Positif Montre. Later, Joseph Isnard and Jean-François L'Épine worked on the instrument. The instrument suffered damage during the French Revolution, when almost all the pipes of the Grand Orgue were lost.

The organ loft and case were listed as historic monuments in 1840. In 1841, Nicolas Chambry was commissioned to rebuild the organ. The organ was enlarged to 5 manuals but remained based on 18th-century models, with a pedalboard that included a grand ravalement to F0. In 1849, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll was called to bring the instrument up to date. But Cavaillé-Coll's plans to improve the organ were hampered by the limited resources available to the organ committee, and in 1868, a new reconstruction was entrusted to the Théodore Puget et fils factory from Toulouse. He radically transformed the organ into a Romantic instrument. He provided new windchests, new bellows, three highly differentiated Romantic-style divisions. However, he respected the old pipework, particularly that of the Positif that was still made up mainly of old pipes. In 1881, Eugène Puget slightly modified the composition to bring the instrument into line with symphonic aesthetics.

In 1930, Maurice Puget increased the number of stops from 45 to 50, the range of the keyboards from 54 to 56 notes and the pedalboard from 27 to 30 notes. Full restoration of the instrument was completed in 1993 by Manufacture Languedocienne de Grandes Orgues under the artistic direction of Georges Danion and voicing by Jacques Bertrand. The instrumental section of the organ was listed as a historic monument on March 11, 1986. The consultants, Xavier Darasse and Jean-Pierre Decavèle, opted for a return to the 1868 composition, while retaining the reed stops rebuilt in 1881. The inauguration took place on February 20 and 21, 1993, by Marie-Claire Alain and André Isoir.

The organ has 45 stops, 59 ranks, on 3 manuals of 54 notes and a 30-note pedalboard. The console layout is by Théodore Puget, with Grand Orgue being the first (lowest) manual, then the Positif and finally the Récit expressif. Key action is mechanical, with Barker pneumatic assistance for the G.O. and its couplers.

The pipework is quite disparate, with pipes by:

Poncher - G.O. Montre facade pipes, and other six stops: Cornet, Bourdon 8', bass of Doublette in the G.O.; Flûte 4', bass of Nazard and bass of Doublette in the Positif

de Joyeuse - top of the Voix humaine in the Récit and Trumpet in the Pos.

Monturus - facade pipes of the Positif Montre, wooden bass of the G.O. Bourdons 16' and 8' and of the Positif Bourdon 8' and a few pipes in the Flûte 8' de Pédale

Isnard - oboe in the Récit from C3

Chambry - principal chorus of G.O. and Positif

Cavaillé-Coll (Solicional 8' in the G.O. and Trompette in the Récit)

Puget - all remaining pipework, plus he revoiced the complete instrument to bring it to a coherent whole.

Further reading:

• Wikipaedia
• Inventaire national des orgues