Organ in danger?

[subcontrabass]

This news report indicates that there is some risk of damage to the organ at the basilica in Nantes. A specification of the organ is given here: http://orgue.free.fr/of1070.html.

[mercia]

can an organ survive being doused in water ? - electrics can be replaced I guess

[ardcarp]

Pipes probably can, but woodwork can't (slider chests and all that). It is, I think, a mechanical action organ, so I don't know to what extent electrics are involved. I'm sure it and the church will be rebuilt via insurance. Just hope they don't spend the organ money on an electronic monstrosity.

[subcontrabass]

Mechanical action for the keys, but electric for the stops. I cannot find where the organ was located within the church. Interior photographs showing east and west views show no sign of the organ, so I presume that it was in one of the transepts. One account states that the organist was practising when the fire started.

[ardcarp]

the organist was practising when the fire started

...con fuoco ?

[subcontrabass]

. One account states that the organist was practising when the fire started.

Correction (from a fuller account): he was rehearsing in the parish hall.

[ardcarp]

Even more impressive.....

[ardcarp]

An afterthought. A church burning down is not always a Bad Thing. A ghastly Victorian church containing a ghastly ditto organ burnt down in the West Midlands in the 1960s. The nave was rebuilt in 'Coventry Cathedral' style with a brand new Harrison organ. Not werk prinzip, exactly, but all independent stops apart from a tiny bit of borrowing on the pedal. Its striking feature is a 16' Gemshorn which forms the facade.

http://www.npor.org.uk/cgi-bin/XMLFunctions.cgi?Fn=GetPicture&Rec_index=D03405&Number=1

and

http://www.npor.org.uk/NPORView.html?RI=D03405

Sidney Campbell gave the opening recital.

[subcontrabass]

A further report today states that the fire started above the organ and was caused by a leaking blowtorch. ( http://www.breizh-info.com/27811/act...-la-basilique/ )

[ardcarp]

Well, I never knew a 'chalumeau' was a blow-torch. Funny it's the same word for an early form of clarinet...and indeed for the lower register of a modern clarinet. Presumably the workmen were fixing the cheneau (gutter) with molten lead which dripped down and ignited the wood of the roof.