Rouen Cathedral Plenum - All Saints’ Day, November 1st, 2025

This podcast offers a unique listening experience: the full plenum of Rouen’s Notre-Dame Cathedral, recorded with no editing, no processing - exactly as it sounds from the height of the window where Claude Monet painted his iconic Cathedrals series.

A rare moment, captured on All Saints’ Day - November 1st, 2025 at 10:10 a.m. - when the five monumental bells of the Saint-Romain Tower set themselves in motion and fill the soundscape of the city.

The introduction immerses you in the history of Rouen - a city shaped by centuries of art, power, and defining events.

Capital of Normandy, stronghold of the Viking Rollo in 911, the site of Joan of Arc’s fate in 1431, stage of a triumphant public concert by Frédéric Chopin in 1838, and an endless source of inspiration for Claude Monet, who painted its cathedral more than thirty times.

After this brief historical introduction, the rest is pure sound.

You will hear the plenum - five bells ringing with their full power, nearly 24 tons of bronze, generating up to 40 tons of horizontal force as they swing.

🔔 The five bells

The largest bell, Jeanne d’Arc, casts a deep F2, weighs 9.6 tons, measures 2.47 meters across, and dates from 1959.

Romain, sounding G2, weighs 5.2 tons with a diameter of 2.05 meters, cast in 2015.

Germaine, tuned to A2, weighs 4.7 tons and measures 1.92 meters, originally cast in 1959 and recast in 2015.

Cécile, ringing B♭2, weighs 3.25 tons, with a diameter of 1.70 meters, and was cast in 2015.

Finally, Agnès sounds C3, weighs 2.3 tons, measures 1.54 meters, and like Germaine was cast in 1959 and recast in 2015.

Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and let the cathedral speak.

Enjoy this journey through sound and time.

Acknowledgments

With heartfelt thanks to

the Carillon Association of Rouen Cathedral, and especially Mr. Patrice Latour,

as well as the City of Rouen and Rouen Tourisme.

Recording & production: Nicolas Labatut (Safeguarding Acoustic Heritage / Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Acoustique)

Voice-over: Renée Clancy

Copyright © November 3rd, 2025

[Video ⁠https://youtu.be/rOF62U4Rl14]On January 9, 1839, after three weeks of negotiations and a 400 francs contribution, Frédéric Chopin finally received the pianino Camille Pleyel had sent him at the Carthusian monastery of Valldemossa. This small piano was essential for completing his Preludes, Op. 28 during the winter. In this monastic cell, shared with George Sand and her children, Chopin tamed the instrument that allowed him to sculpt sound according to his vision-a sound inseparable from the “silvery, slightly veiled” tone typical of Pleyel pianos.

This video invites you to relive that intimate moment through a historically grounded sound recreation, part of the Acoustic Heritage Preservation Program, developed through three key components:

1. Instrumental ResearchA Pleyel pianino from 1837 (serial no. 6161) was acquired-by chance but fortuitously-due to its technical closeness to Chopin’s Majorcan pianino (serial no. 6668). At Nohant, I recorded single notes from another Pleyel (serial no. 15025, dated 1849), once owned by George Sand. These were originally intended for comparative analysis with Chopin’s lost instrument, to model its acoustic character.

The model used here is a petit patron type (FF-f³, 6 octaves), close to Chopin’s C-f³ range (6½ octaves). However, it cannot play the final low E required in this Prelude. To resolve this, the pianino’s lowest F was tuned down to E, replicating the gravity of the original conclusion.

Remaining faithful to period conditions, some notes were intentionally left slightly detuned. In January 1839, weakened by illness and weighing about 43 kg (at 1.70 m), Chopin likely lacked the strength to use the small tuning key-still preserved in Cell No. 4. Moreover, Pleyel pianinos often detuned in cold, damp climates.

2. Acoustics of Cell No. 4Impulse responses were recorded in Cell No. 4 with its vaulted ceiling. These acoustic profiles were applied to the pianino’s sound-captured in a soundproof booth (The Chopin Echo Chamber)-to recreate the reverberation Chopin might have heard.

3. Soundscape ReconstructionBiophonic and geophonic recordings were made on site in April 2024, matching descriptions from George Sand’s A Winter in Majorca. The rain and thunder were recorded there by myself. These ambient layers place the listener within the setting in which the Prelude was born.

Written in E minor, entirely in four voices, Prelude No. 4 was composed under modest conditions, on the same sheet as the Mazurka Op. 41 No. 1-likely to save paper. It unfolds like a personal liturgy, built on a descending chromatic line echoing Baroque laments, such as Dido’s death in Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.

This 25-measure piece was chosen by Chopin to be played at his own funeral on October 30, 1849, on the organ, immediately after Mozart’s Requiem.

This project extends the 2023 recordings made at Nohant, capturing soundscapes once heard by George Sand, Chopin, Delacroix, Maurice Sand, and Pauline Viardot-the first sound heritage archive dedicated to a historic monument (submitted to the Centre des Monuments Nationaux, March 18, 2024, ref. 3AV SPAC NV).

This audio file is not merely a performance-it is a documented sonic encounter with a singular moment in 19th-century music history.

© « Recréation historique Chopin janvier 1839 - Prélude n°4 » SACEM, May 22, 2025,Nicolas Labatut.

Special thanks to:Gabriel Quetglas-Olin (Museo Chopin y George Sand, Valldemossa), Élisabeth Pezza-Braoun, Franck Blaser, Virginie Cherrier, the team at the George Sand House in Nohant (Centre des Monuments Nationaux - chaired by Marie Lavandier), Théo Bruneau (advanced pianist, Rouen Conservatory), Renée Clancy (voice recording), Bibliothèque Historique de la Ville de Paris, City of Rouen, Frédéric Auger (SACEM), Narodowy Instytut Fryderyka Chopina, Pleyel International (technical and logistical support) Estimated carbon footprint: approx. 1,699 kg CO₂ (mainly due to the Paris-Palma flight)

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Une journée au fil de la Seine

Laissez-vous embarquer dans une expérience unique et immersive !

Partez pour une balade sonore le long de la Seine, entre Giverny et Le Havre, avec une escale incontournable à Rouen. Cette aventure sensorielle vous invite à écouter les murmures du fleuve et à découvrir les histoires, la culture et la vie locale qui s’épanouissent sur ses rives.

Au fil de ce voyage, ouvrez vos oreilles aux paysages sonores :

Le battement des cloches normandes résonnant dans le lointain,

Les harmonies inspirées des peintres impressionnistes,

Les chants des oiseaux mêlés aux échos du passé historique d’un fleuve légendaire.

Un événement marquant de l’Armada 2023

Commandée puis présentée sur le stand de la Ville de Rouen durant l’Armada, du 8 au 18 juin 2023 (1.5 millions de visiteurs sur 10 jours), cette balade sonore a enchanté les visiteurs. Pavoisé aux couleurs de Rouen Seine Normande 2028, le site de 800 m², salué par la presse et le public, proposait une plongée sensorielle unique. Des cabanes en bois, confectionnées par les menuisiers et ornées par les jardiniers municipaux, accueillaient le public dans une scénographie signée Étienne David.

Un voyage à travers les sens

Cette expérience faisait appel à tous vos sens : l’odorat, le toucher, l’ouïe, le goût et la vue, pour révéler l’âme de la Seine et de ses alentours.

Une création signée Nicolas Labatut

Imaginée par la Ville de Rouen et réalisée par la Sauvegarde du Patrimoine Acoustique, sous la direction de Nicolas Labatut, cette balade sonore proposait une riche palette d’extraits musicaux. La composition pour piano "Meander ", créée spécialement pour l’occasion, clôturait l’épisode en beauté.

Rejoignez-nous et embarquons pour cette aventure sonore exceptionnelle !

⁠#Rouen⁠ ⁠⁠ ⁠#BaladeSonore⁠ ⁠ ⁠#FieldRecording⁠ #LaSeine #Normandy #DiscoverNormandy #NormandyNow #ExploreFrance #NicolasLabatut #SauvegardeDuPatrimoineAcoustique

contact : patrimoineacoustique [@] gmail.com