In honor of this 30th anniversary of the passing of famed blind organists Jean Langlais and Gaston Litaize, Marie-Louise Langlais traces the intriguing history of the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, the institution that educated several leaders of France's organ world throughout the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Timeless symbols of mendicancy and poverty, the blind have long suffered disdain and been considered the poorest of the poor. Indeed, what could an individual deprived of sight do in life? Rigged out in gowns with long pointed caps and big opaque cardboard glasses, eight or ten poor blind people from the Hospice des Quinze-Vingts stood behind lecterns bearing sheet music, executing a discordant symphony that seemed to stimulate joy in the helpers at table.
To round off the farce, someone had placed two lit candles before them. I will put vision at the tips of their fingers. I will ultimately help them to perform harmonious concerts. By this time in France, at the end of the eighteenth century, the poorest of the jeunes aveugles young blind were confined to the Hospice des Quinze-Vingts in Paris, a kind of charity asylum with hospital resources.
Reduced to begging, they tried to pull sound from musical instruments without knowing the music. His work gained recognition when he presented his 24 students to Louis XVI in Versailles on December 26, , when they gave a rather impressive musical performance with choir and small orchestra.
These performances were widely advertised and had a strong impression on audiences of the day. Alas, the French Revolution in would soon halt all private charitable sources. Following the whims of the new political powers, this school unfortunately grew slowly due to meager financial means and constantly changing locations. Nevertheless, musical education always held a prominent place alongside general learning and specialized training for the blind, such as manual work reseating of chairs, wool spinning.
