"Organists, scholars of the organ and its music, and listeners who love French romantic organ music will all welcome this definitive account of the early career of Aristide Cavaille-Coll, the greatest organ builder of nineteenth-century France. Based on the author's earlier Cavaille-Coll and the Musicians, this book describes Cavaille-Coll's relationships with Cesar Franck and such other contemporary composer/organists as Lefebure-Wely, Danjou, and Lemmens.

Fenner Douglass draws on previously unavailable primary archives to highlight the projects that were pivotal to Cavaille-Coll's success, among them the magnificent instruments he designed and installed in St.-Denis, La Madeleine, St.-Vincent-de-Paul, and other churches in and around Paris. Of special interest is the documentation Douglass presents pertaining to the instrument for Franck at Ste.-Clotilde in Paris."--BOOK JACKET.

"In the final chapter, the author discounts the popular belief that Cavaille-Coll in his old age foresaw the future popularity of electro-pneumatic key action and regretted his inability to become involved in that development. In fact, Douglass says, the organ builder had little interest in the use of electricity as a supplementary source of energy for the organ."--BOOK JACKET.