Paris - St. Sulpician Organ view from the main nave by Wikimedia Commons
St. Sulpician Sunday Church services are widely sought out not for the sermon, but for the music. Organ enthusiasts travel from all over Europe and the rest of the world to bask in the melodies of the 6,600 pipe organ that fills the chapel with good vibrations. This musical show alone beckons hundreds of Sunday visitors to the service, and has become known as one of the best free concerts in Europe.
Renowned as the finest organ in the world, the massive musical instrument is not the only reason visitors flock to the church on Sundays. The church’s organist, Daniel Roth, continues a long tradition of masters who have sat where he now sits. Once the 10:30 Sunday service ends, nearly 200 young musicians ascend the stairs behind the organ to congregate around the master, who entertains the group in four languages while discussing the great organists who came before him. And the lineage of masters who played for the church is kept next to the organ, along with busts of many others, including Johann Sebastian Bach. It can seem all too quick before the meet and greet is ended and Daniel Roth takes up the keys for the next service, full of more young enthusiasts waiting for a chance to clamber up the steps to meet with the master.