François-Lamathe Dom Bédos de Celles de Salelles (24 January 1709 – 25 November 1779) was a
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, found ...
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
best known for being a master
pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''rank ...
builder.
Life and work
He was born in
Caux, Hérault, near
Béziers
Béziers (; oc, Besièrs) is a subprefecture of the Hérault department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Every August Béziers hosts the famous ''Feria de Béziers'', which is centred on bullfighting. A million visitors are attra ...
, France. He was elected to the
French Academy of Sciences
The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French scientific research. It was at th ...
at
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...
and correspondent of the academy at Paris in 1758.
As a recognized organ-builder, he was called upon to carry out repairs and appraise and advise other organ-builders in many locations across France.
In 1760 he published ''La Gnomonique pratique ou l’Art de tracer les cadrans solaires'' under the patronage of the
Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy
Jean-Paul Grandjean de Fouchy (10 March 1707 – 15 April 1788) was a French astronomer from a noble family. He introduced the analemma curve (a figure of 8) which allowed the calculation of the local solar noon according to the time of year in 17 ...
, Secretary of the Academy of Sciences and an authority in
gnomon
A gnomon (; ) is the part of a sundial that casts a shadow. The term is used for a variety of purposes in mathematics and other fields.
History
A painted stick dating from 2300 BC that was excavated at the astronomical site of Taosi is the o ...
ics and
sundials
A sundial is a horological device that tells the time of day (referred to as civil time in modern usage) when direct sunlight shines by the apparent position of the Sun in the sky. In the narrowest sense of the word, it consists of a fl ...
.
In 1766–78 he published his treatise L'art du facteur d'orgues (The Art of the Organ-Builder), a part of the series
Descriptions des Arts et Métiers. Dom Bédos's work, in four folio volumes, contains great historical detail about eighteenth-century organ building, and is still referred to by modern organ-builders.
He is buried in the former Abbey (now Basilica) of
Saint-Denis.
Organ building in the mid 18th century
The 26 images below are taken from this work, kept in the St.Bernard's abbey library in
Bornem
Bornem (, old spelling: ''Bornhem'') is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises the village of Bornem proper, Hingene, and Weert, and . There are also the hamlets of Branst, Buitenland, Eikevl ...
.
File:L'art du facteur d'orgues 01.jpg, Title page
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Horizontal Sundial layout
The Dom Francois Bedos de Celles method (1790) otherwise known as the Waugh method (1973), enables a dial to be constructed on a narrower piece of paper or velum, than using Dürers (1525) method- though it is essentially the same for the hourlines 9 to 3. It relies on a theorem proved on 1682 by P. de la Hire.
*Starting at the bottom of the paper, a line is drawn across, and a vertical one up the centre. Where they cross is the point O.
*Choose the size of the dial, and draw a line across. Where it crosses the centre line is F
*Using the selected latitude. a line is drawn from O at this angle, this is a construction line.
*Using a square, a line is dropped from F through the construction line so they cross at right angles. That point E is important. To be precise it is the line FE that is important as it is length
.
*Using compasses, or dividers the length FE is copied upwards in the centre line from F. The new point is called G and yes it is important- the construction lines and FE may now be erased.
*From G a series of lines, 15° apart are drawn, long enough so they cross the line through F. These mark the hour points 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3 and represent the points
.
*The centre of the dial is at the bottom, point O. The line drawn from each of these hour point to O will be the hour line on the finished dial.
* However, Dom Bédos de Celles had a unique way of marking up 7 and 8, and 4 and 5. Call the point where 3 crosses the line R, and a drop a line at right-angles to the base line. Call that point W. Use a construction line to join W and F. Waugh, in his book, calls the crossing points with the hours lines K, L, M.
*Using compasses or dividers, add two more points to this line N and P, so that the distances MN = ML, and MP = MK. The missing hour lines are drawn from O through N and through P. The construction lines are erased. The P. de la Hire theorem established that if a line is parallel to the 9 hourline, that is line WF then all the hourlines will be symmetrical around the hourline 6 hours later (i.e. 3).
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(1).svg, Setting out a dial for 52°N. The three initial lines.
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(2).svg, Marking the latitude, laying out length , and copying to G on the vertical.
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(3).svg, From G casting on the horizontal.
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(4).svg, The actual hour lines 9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3.
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(5).svg, Construction lines removed.
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(6).svg, Constructing the 7, 8, 4, 5 lines
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(7).svg, Marking the 7, 8, 4, 5 lines
File:Bedos de Celles method (1790)-(8).svg, The completed dial plate for 52°N. Bedos de Celles (1790)
The method became well known when it was adopted by Waugh, as the construction method to be used for horizontal dials by Albert Waugh, in his 1973 book Sundials: their theory and construction.
References
Bibliography
*
*
*
* Dom François Bédos de Celles, ''L'art du facteur d'orgues'' (facsimile edition). Kassel / New York, Bärenreiter, 1963–65
*Ferguson, Charles, ''The Organ-Builder''. Translation of Dom François Bédos de Celles' ''L'art du facteur d'orgues''. Raleigh, NC: Sunbury Press, 1977
External links
Extraits de ''L'Art du Facteur d'Orgues''
*
L'Art du Facteur d'Orgues' on "''L'Hydraule''"
IMSLP''L'Art du Facteur d'Orgues''.
*
Jean-Luc Perrot
Jean-Luc Perrot (born 23 May 1959 in Moulins, Allier, in Central France) is a French organist, carillonneur, composer and musicologist.
Biography
Jean-Luc Perrot is agrégé of musicology, Doctor of literature and arts (musicology), lecture ...
plays the ''Romance'' from ''l’Art du Facteur d’Orgues'' on the organ
François-Henri Clicquot
François-Henri (also Henry) Clicquot (1732 – 24 May 1790) was a French organ builder and was the grandson of Robert Clicquot and son of Louis-Alexandre Cliquot, who were also noted organ builders.
Clicquot was born in Paris, where he later ...
,
Souvigny
Souvigny () is a commune in the Allier department in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in central France.
Today the main town of a canton of the Allier department, Souvigny has long been one of the major towns in the Bourbonnais (of which it was once the ...
.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bedos de Celles, Dom
1709 births
1779 deaths
French Benedictines
French pipe organ builders
French classical organists
French male organists
Members of the French Academy of Sciences
18th-century keyboardists
Male classical organists