Interpréter à l’orgue ? Étude d’un « cas-limite »

Abstract

Acting historically as a medium between God and men, the organ seems to deliver a poetical idea of the relation existing between a music player and his instrument. However, regarding the concept of interpretation, the organ represents a true questioning item. The organist is indeed devoid (most of the time) of any kind of close contact with the listeners due to the remoteness of his keyboard. In addition, he is unable to take directly part in the quality of the sound of his own instrument. But why, then, such deep differences in the playing of organists ? Can we truly speak of « interpretation » ? Moreover, the organ builder being in large part responsible for how the instrument sounds, how can we conceive of his role in the interpretation too ? Through the exploration of the organist’s musical action, will be described interpretation as an art of sculpting the outlines, giving the organist the ability to act upon the birth and the death of the sound but never to act upon the moments in between, contrary to most of other musicians. That wich is all around the sound (or « beside » the sound) is of greatest interest to the organists and truly enlight the music player's point of view : contact areas, envelope, borders, limits, etc. These margins actually border the periphery of the mythical place where the sound of the instrument meets the silence of the world.