This was how, in November 1879, Claver and Samuel Casavant announced the opening of Casavant Frères in Saint-Hyacinthe, near Montréal. Though their interest in research and technological innovation, as well as a keen business sense, had led the brothers to launch this most prestigious organ factory, it was a blacksmith with a passion for music who first dreamed the dream years earlier.
Joseph Casavant no doubt surprised everyone when he decided to shut down his forge in order to pursue a classical education at age 27! He was a skilled craftsman, endowed with a fine artistic sense, and though he found success early in the work that his father had chosen for him, Joseph yearned for some new challenge. As a lover of music and an amateur musician, was a career in music too far-fetched an idea?
In 1834, Joseph enrolled at the Seminaire Sainte-Thérèse, where he would also work as a handyman to help pay for his studies. Because of his perseverance, the seminary director one day entrusted him with an organ that had been left only partially completed several years earlier. A whole new world suddenly opened up for Joseph. He came upon a scholarly work on organ building written by a French Benedictine monk, and proceeded to explore and examine every part and piece of the instrument. For the next several months, the ingenious Casavant disassembled and rebuilt the unfinished organ, fashioning and refining a number of delicate and precise mechanisms as he went along. The completed organ was such a success that a nearby parish put in an order for one.
The first Casavant organ left the little workshop in Saint-Hyacinthe in 1840. The builder saw his new career progress quickly, completing a total of sixteen instruments between 1840 and 1866. Some of them were considered masterpieces and found homes in cities and towns throughout Lower and Upper Canada.
The organ that he built for the cathedral in Bytown (now Ottawa) was, in 1850, the largest in all of North America. Consisting of 1,063 wooden and metal pipes, 18 five-octave stops and a three-keyboard console, its rich tones deeply moved those who attended its inaugural performance. Today, only accounts of its sound quality and workmanship remain.
By introducing his young sons to organ building, Casavant hoped to instill in them his own love of the instrument and its grand tradition. At a young age, the two brothers traveled around Europe, learning from master builders and broadening their knowledge. They collaborated with physician and organist Dr. Salluste Duval in inventing an adjustable combination pedal as part of a pneumatic sound transmitting system, which they would incorporate in a number of instruments, most notably in the magnificent organs in Montréal's Notre-Dame Church in 1885. As organs were becoming electrified in Europe, the Casavant brothers innovated further by perfecting and expanding the use of the electropneumatic traction system.
From the classic full complement of stops, the brothers went on to develop combinations that imitated an orchestra. Though these highly complex instruments eventually became enormous, devotees of the organ would still prefer the tonal purity of the first Casavants, which featured mechanical tracker action.
By the turn of the century, just about every city and town in Canada had a Casavant organ and, by the 1940s, the make's fine reputation had extended as far as Japan. Today, a full 90 percent of production is exported. Thanks to Joseph Casavant's passion for the instrument and the enterprising spirit of those who came after, the organ in Canada remains a living tradition.
Historica Minute Cast
| Casavant | Vincent de Tourdenet | |
| Priest | Thomas Gratton | |
| Additional Cast | John K. Gilbert | |
| Additional Cast | Jean-Paul Harvey | |
| Additional Cast | Heath Lamberts | |
| Additional Cast | Bill Torrie |
