ORGANS, TRAINS………AND CHAMPAGNE

 

In September, for the fourth year in a row, I visited France for what is described as an “organ holiday”.  Arranged by an organist from Romsey, Hampshire, our aim was to visit a region of France and play several historic instruments.  We visited Alsace in 2005, Toulouse in 2006, Burgundy in 2007, and this year we were centred on the area around Reims, in the heart of Champagne country.

 

Having flown to our destination in previous years, this year we decided to use the Eurostar service from London  to Paris, walk the short distance from the Gare du Nord to the Gare de l’Est, and then continue by TGV to Reims.  I have travelled by train in France before, but only on what are called the “classic” lines.  Staying over- night in London before our departure made it possible for me to join a former member of the choir, Lee Taylor, for dinner.  Some of you will know that Lee is now a verger at Southwark Cathedral, just across the Thames by London Bridge.

 

We stayed just outside Épernay, where many of the Champagne houses have their headquarters, and a visit to one such establishment was included in the itinerary, but most of the time was spent travelling round the region to sample the organs.  The oldest instrument we played (at St Michel-en-Thiérache) dated from 1714, and the newest were built in the in the twenty-first century, but there were also be some examples of the late nineteenth-century romantic instruments by the great French organ builder of that period, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.  On past holidays, one of the highlights has been a visit to the cathedral to play there, and certainly at Strasbourg, Toulouse, Rodez and Dijon, the cathedral organs left a lasting impression.  Apparently the organ at Reims Cathedral is not all that impressive to hear or play, so we visited instead the Basilica of St Rémi (known as Remigius in the Prayer Book calendar) where the draw-stops on the organ console were shaped like champagne corks!  We also crossed over into Belgium to visit the builder of two of the organs we played.

 

There was not time for sightseeing in Reims itself, so I have still not visited the cathedral there, but on the Thursday, we had lunch in the town of Laôn, when there was time to look round the five-towered former cathedral (the diocese was amalgamated with Soissons after the French revolution), and it is a quite spectacular building both inside and out.  Just by the west door is a memorial to the one million British soldiers who died in northern France during the First World War.

 

You may not think there is any connection between organs and champagne, but I am sure the name Veuve Clicquot – Ponsardin is known to you as one of the main brands sold in this country.  Veuve means widow, and Madame Clicquot (née Ponsardin) had married into the family of the most famous organ-builders in France during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.  Unfortunately, there were no surviving Clicquot organs in the area we visited, nor did we visit their headquarters (which happened to be in the next village), but we did see the names of familiar and unfamiliar champagne houses posted outside almost every village we visited!  We visited the caves of Champagne Vollereaux, just south of Épernay, and were shown round by M.Vollereaux himself, the great-great-grandson of the founder.  He assured us that he started every day with a glass of his own champagne at 6.00 a.m., after which the radio or television news did not seem quite so depressing, and even Mr Bush sounded intelligent!  In the caves beneath the vineyards they have storage space sufficient for two million bottles: however, he mentioned that one of the “big” names (Moët et Chandon) have a stockpile of ninety million bottles!  Several of our party bought a bottle - at 13.70 euros (about £11.00) not the cheapest of their range: one of these kind gentlemen shared his bottle with us on his birthday, and I can assure you it was very good.  (Vollereaux is available in the U.K., but I suspect it retails here at considerably more than £11.00!)

 

The fire in the Channel Tunnel happened just two days before we were due to return, and there were conflicting reports about the train situation.  We returned from Reims to Paris by TGV (top speed 203 m.p.h.!), and walked over to the Gare du Nord.  Here we were given replacement seat allocations for an earlier train, though in fact because there were so many passengers to board (due to the reduced service) we left shortly after our original booked time.  Passage through the tunnel was perhaps slower than normal, and a “technical hitch” at Ashford made our arrival back at St Pancras about forty minutes behind schedule.  If this is what the press call “chaos” then I think I can cope with it!  There was plenty of time to have a substantial meal at Euston before catching my train back to Manchester. 

                                                                                                                   

G.A.D.