Filippo Sorcinelli with bottle of Notre Dame 15.4.2019 via Instagram

It is today that “moment of smoke” that affects history.
It is also water that overflows from the stones, which flows down the sides of the organ.
It is today the gash of the vaults that brings light from the naked sky. It is the smell of uninterrupted life, of the soul not affected,
it is a golden cross that spurts.
It is the Truth that advances. — Filippo Sorcinelli

Notre Dame on Fire, photo EDM News

It is said to have started with a forgotten half-smoked cigarette on a bit of scaffolding. Day’s end, a brilliant spring evening. Below, it was rush hour, commuters with serious faces heading to the Metro despite the temptations of the spill of wine and beer from tiny outdoor tables. Girlfriends arm in arm laughing about their bosses, old men with a half a dozen shopping bags sitting on the iron benches in the nearby Jardin des Plantes. Dogs. Tourists with craned necks and crumpled maps. The devout heading for vespers. Then, a gradual smell of old wood burning, of scorch and soot, burns through the evening aromas of coffee and wine. A purple-grey billow of smoke suddenly rose like a malevolent genii exploding from the roof. Eaten by flames, the spire cracked and fell to ash. Notre Dame is swallowed by fire.

One year to the date of the terrible fire that consumed France’s most famous church, Filippo Sorcinelli launched Notre Dame 15.4.2019, the second in his Delire de Voyage collection, to raise funds for the musicians and singers of the great cathedral. Sorcinelli, a trained classical organist, has a special affinity for Notre Dame. He was granted special access to parts of the cathedral not open to tourists, and the images and smells he noted as he walked these unseen corners lie at the heart of the composition.

Aftermath of the fire, image Reuters

In contrast to Sorcinelli’s first cathedral organ-inspired collection, Extrait de Musique (formerly Sauf), Notre-Dame 15.4.2019 is emphatically not based on incense (although it plays a role). It is, rather, in Sorcinelli’s imagistic description: “that moment of smoke that affects history. It is also the water that flows from the stones, which flows down the sides of the organ. It is today the gash of the vaults that brings light from the naked sky. It is the smell of uninterrupted life, of the soul not affected. It is a golden cross that spurts. It is the Truth that advances.” Notre-Dame 15.4.2019 is a journey from charred ruin and deep sadness through calm, restoration, and, eventually reawakening and the exuberance of new life emergent.

Sorcinelli has given more thought to the permutations of smoke and cloud than perhaps anyone else working in perfumery today. From the enigmatic Nebbia perfumes, with their hazy damp enchantment, to the stunning glory of the initial trio of Extraits de Musique, Sorcinelli’s fragrances often tell their tales through veils of fume. Notre-Dame’s story begins at an ending: the charred skeleton of the roof, the bright sky – bergamot slicing through the gloom – blinking at the ruin. Vetiver and burnished woods combine in the top to give the impression of the bitter smells of soot and burnt wood, which Sorcinelli cleverly recreates without resorting to the usual birch tar or cade, which could be overwhelming in the opening notes. Eventually, the woods warm up and become more present and less like ash, and I can smell the time-polished pews. Patchouli, which is very strong out of the bottle – like dried tobacco leaves and mulch – subsides into the oily green of the vetiver.

Wet Wall, Cathedral of the Desert by Eliot Porter

The woods continue to smooth but then Notre Dame 15.4.2019 changes abruptly. Within the space of a few minutes, I am no longer smelling singe but damp stone. There is a distinct minerality now, the cooling, shaded feeling of water dripping on masonry. There are hints of plants, almost lichen-like: the anisic savour of basil, a soapy sweetness from lily-of-the-valley. But they are slight, almost unrecognizeable. The warm, dry grass smell of ambrette is there, too, and the bite of dried ginger.

Photo by Martessa

I am waiting for the incense. But it doesn’t come. Instead, tiny dots of lemon and peppery geranium fill out the canvas as the patchouli and vetiver of the opening returns, much more quietly now. I leave it for now. Some time later, I raise my wrist to my nose and breathe in.  Incense. And the citrus notes are brighter still, like shatters of sunlight through the jumble of waterlogged, charred wood in the nave.  The linger of smoke, of wood dust remains. But as vivacious notes of flowers and fruit begin to sing quietly in the dry-down, and incense hovers just above my skin, I feel a kindling of hope.

Notes: Patchouli, Vetiver, Precious Woods, Tonka Beans, Amber, Sandalwood, Lily of the Valley, Geranium, Ambrette, Neroli, Basil, Coriander, Ginger, Iris, Lemon, Orange, Bergamot, Incense, Galbanum.

Disclaimer: Sample of Notre-Dame 15.4.2019 kindly provided by Filippo Sorcinelli. My opinions are my own.

Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor

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