Elsaute (Thimister-Clermont, B) | Saint Roch

This organ is likely to have been built by one of the most prestigious organ builders of the 18^th century, Jean-Baptiste le Picard, probably built as choir organ for the Saint-Lambert Cathedral in Liège, now demolished. It is a typical example of a single-manual instrument based on an 8’ voice enriched by all the typical colour shades of the orgue liégois, strongly influenced by the French classical ideal.

 

The shape of the cornice case with its mighty moulding constitutes a rather rare exemplary.

 

The restoration was based upon the reconstruction of the original design, entailing the replication of the keyboard and wedge-bellows, and of various missing ranks, most notably of mutations. Because of the comparatively much smaller room space, we decided to privilege the inclusion of an 8’ Cromorne instead of the original 4’ Clarion. The single independent Pedal rank – Soubasse 16’ – had been added during the 19^th century. We retained the independency of that division but replaced the pipes by a new small-scaled 16’ Bourdon built in the classical style. The organ has now two interchangeable pedal boards: a little coupling board à la française and an independent board with 27 notes.