First bow drawn–and the building speaks!
“What are you going to do with the church?”
Yesterday we received a strong hint from the building herself.
Our friend, Lowrie Blake (who runs cello workshops around here in summer) came over and drew the bow of her beautiful cello across its strings– and a magical sound resulted!
It was a thrilling and significant moment in the restoration de l’église.
It pointed the way forward as the notes of Bach’s Minuets 1 and 2 and the Sarabande from the Suite in G major filled the space–and sent shivers down our backs and brought a tear to the eye.
As Lowri played Bach excerpts, one could almost feel the church
E X P A N D with pride.
Lowri said she was impressed; playing was no effort–she floated on an acoustic cloud.
In some places, she says, it is an effort to play–not in this church.
Woodwind and strings, she suggests, are ideal combos–quintets and quartets.
“How long, oh Lord, how long have I had to wait to be appreciated!”
The battered, old building has offered its services to the small parish since it was constructed 150 years ago–built to accommodate the growing population of believers.
There were benches inside to seat well over 60 “adepts” (followers)–more like a hundred–many of them now at rest in the cemetery.
On All Saints/Toussaint (November First) there is still a trickle who come to pay respects to their ancestors and some who remember the church from their childhood–but this congregation has dwindled.
When we arrived in July 1990, the church was still functioning for funerals and two masses a year.
A few years later it was closed on the order of the Mairie of Lautrec (who owned the building).
“Trop dangereux! Too dangerous a state to remain in operation.”
There has been movement in some walls but clearly our church had no intention of yielding to the storms and the tempests, high winds and torrential rains or the dire predictions of a temporal power.
I’m still here, she cries, and the doubters can go hang!
