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I would like to describe a certain orderliness found in music like Bach and elsewhere, that I find to resemble (in metaphorical terms) the architecture and construction of a cathedral. It would be for use in a sentence such as the following:
"The music he wrote had a cathedral-like orderliness."
Instead of "cathedral-like," however, I would like to use a word such as "cathedraline" or "cathedralesque." But I'm not sure a word like those actually exists. Any help welcome, many thanks.
Cathedralesque is indeed a word and it is listed in OED.
adj. like a cathedral.
I've even found an example similar to yours:
One of the many astonishing things about Die Meistersinger is how the little Greek and Roman plot blossoms, in Wagner's shaping imagination, into a dramatic and musical structure of cathedralesque proportions.
First Intermissions: Twenty-one Great Operas Explored, Explained and Brought to Life from the Met - M. Owen Lee
OED lists cathedralic and cathedralish also for the same meaning but they are less common (based on Google Ngram) and less suitable. Cathedral-like is the most common adjective among all and it is listed in OED also, however you didn't want to use it per your question; and it is possibly less suitable than cathedralesque for your example.
Cathedral actually means the housing of the seat of a bishop, although the term is often used for an imposing building. So, a term referring to a cathedral may not be what you want
I would suggest edificial as useful for your purpose.
The music he wrote had an edificial orderliness.
Dictionary.com comes close to providing a definition of edificial that meets your need.
