THE INSTRUMENT

At the end of the 19th century, a first (modest) organ, purchased second-hand from the Saint-François-Xavier Church of the Foreign Missions in Paris, was in very poor condition. It was therefore decided to appeal for donations to change it.

 

Maurice Monier de la Sizeranne, born in Tain (1857-1924), blind since the age of 9, founder of the Valentin Haüy association, joined the Institution for Young Blind People (INJA) 56 boulevard des Invalides in 1872. the 7th arrondissement of Paris. He became a music teacher there. He composed and played the music for the marriage of his sister Marie-Alix (1855-1920) with Baron Louis Marie de Séréville (1846-1938), celebrated on Thursday July 12, 1877 in the Saint-François-Xavier church, both establishments being side by side.

This is how, coming from the said church, a second organ (Callinet) was recovered by Merklin. Installed in the parish church of Tain, it was blessed on November 29, 1885 by Monseigneur Cotton, Bishop of Valence, under the pastorate of Louis-Ange Lavoine, parish priest. At this time, there were two blind organists in Tain. The best known is Jules Lefèvre, music teacher with the Daughters of Charity. The second, had been placed by Maurice de la Sizeranne at the church of Tain in 1885. Sick and bedridden, he had not

was able to play at the inauguration.

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The organ only had a keyboard. In 1922, 1925 and 1929, Merklin added a second, expressive story with a new window console. “The arrangement of the keyboards in windows, in the classical manner, would seem to indicate the reuse of old elements (Chanoine Pinet 1946)”. The crankset is a tie-rod and pneumatic traction.

In 1970, numerous works were undertaken in the church because of flooding through the roof. The first bay above the organ was then restored. The instrument has suffered some damage and no longer sounds like it used to.

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It was in 1980 that the Town Hall called on Henri Saby, organ builder in Saint-Uze, to rebuild it and remove the rose window from the portal. The organ is then increased from 15 to 21 stops. Henri Saby. install a new bed base for the story and a new bed base for pedals. The transmission became mechanical and on July 4, 1981, a concert was given in the Tain church by Abbot Georges Beyron, choir organist of Lyon Cathedral.

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Sources:

• The Drôme: organ mine, by Jean-François Murjas

• The Drôme des Collines organ route, by Annie Friche. Journal published by the Society of Archaeology, History and Geography of Drôme.

• Statistics of the church organ in the diocese of Valence in 1946. Chanoine Pinet.ain daily, Claude Genest

• Municipal archives and parish registers of ​