Appendix 10 - Chronique [Widor’s appeal for an organ hall at the Paris Conservatory, 1895]

Summary

The other day, after lunch, I was strolling through the studio of my friend X__, the eminent sculptor. While I was admiring a bust completed from the day before, there was a knock on the door. A small, simple-minded fellow entered with a confident look, long hair, pale complexion, in a classic Abruzzo peasant outfit, and with a suburban accent:

• —Excuse me, m’sieu, don't you need a model?

• —No, not today!

• —What about tomorrow?

• —Not tomorrow, nor the day after, nor the following days.

• —Bad luck!

And he left. Five minutes later, knock, knock on the door.

• —Excuse me, m’sieu, I forgot to ask you if you could lend me a hundred sous?

• —You’re bothering me, leave me alone.

• —That's not very polite! Well, look, can't you give me just fifty cents to smoke a good cigar?

• —Get out of here, I have nothing to give you.

• —Oh well then, if you don't have anything to give me, of course I’ll get out of here, no need to insist. So tell me, anyway, your statues must not bring you much money, if you don't have anything to give me!

• —Scoundrel!!!

• —Okay! Okay! Don't get agitated like that, it could harm you. I’m leaving.

And we went back to talking quietly. Then, the third entry of the street urchin:

• —Excuse me, m’sieu, would you happen to know a rich Kroumir1 who has some cake?

And without further ado, the urchin ran out, the door slamming behind him.

You’re wondering why I’m coming here to talk about a sculptor, a model, a Kroumir, a cigar, or a cake?

Well, here is the “why”: we, too, are looking for the rich Kroumir; we’re longing for the generous Maecenas who will grant us the freedom to work and the means to live.2 Do you know that we can no longer fit in the Conservatory? The place is too cramped—and I’m not talking about its dilapidated state—it's not only made up of rooms too small for the number of pupils in each class, but it doesn't even have the number of rooms necessary for the classes instituted by the new regulations. I asked one of my colleagues:

• —How do you manage to escape suffocation in this limited space, with your twenty-five pupils or auditors?