Maurice Duruflé

The programme includes two works by Maurice Duruflé: the organ piece Choral varié sur le thème du «Veni Creator», played during the first half. The Requiem for choir and organ forms the whole of the second half.

Maurice Duruflé was born on 11 January 1902 in Louviers. From the age of ten, he attended the choir school attached to Rouen cathedral, where he both sang in the choir and learned the organ. His daily routine whilst in Rouen included studying Gregorian chant, which became the primary structural element in his compositions. In 1920, noted organist and composer Charles Tournemire arranged for his admission to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied organ with Tournemire, Louis Vierne and Eugène Gigout, harmony with Jean Gallon, fugue with Georges Caussade, accompaniment with Cesar Abel Estyle and composition with Paul Dukas. Olivier Messiaen was one of his classmates.

Duruflé went on to become an outstanding student, winning several prizes in composition, accompaniment, fugue and harmony. He was strongly influenced by many other French composers of the older generation, such as Franck and Saint-Saëns. He also became a renowned organist and harmony teacher. In 1920 he was appointed assistant to Tournemire at St. Clothilde, a temporary position. In 1927 he became assistant to Vierne at Notre-Dame, also a temporary position. In 1930 he was appointed organist at St. Etienne-du-Mont, where he remained for the rest of his life. From 1943 to 1970, he was Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire.

Duruflé toured Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union as a concert organist and was in great demand as an orchestral organist. In 1939 he gave the world premiere of Poulenc’s organ concerto and worked closely with Poulenc on the registrations. Duruflé married his student, Marie-Madeleine Chevalier, 20 years his junior in 1953. They embarked upon international recital tours together that made them both the toast of the organ world until 1975, when they were seriously injured in a car accident in the south of France. Madame Duruflé eventually recovered sufficiently to perform again, but Maurice could no longer perform and rarely left his home after that time. He died in 1986.

Duruflé published only thirteen works, among them his beautiful Requiem, the Messe cum Jubilo and the Quatre motets sur des thèmes Grégoriens. Musicologists suggest that a notorious amount of self-criticism as well as excessive revisions may have reduced the number of works he completed and published.

Choral varié sur le thème du «Veni Creator» Op. 4. (1930)

Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du « Veni Creator » Op. 4 is the second major organ work by Maurice Duruflé, written in 1930. It is a vast encomium to the Holy Spirit, being completely based upon phrases of the Gregorian plainchant hymn Veni Creator appointed for the second vespers on Pentecost.

It has been suggested that the Prélude and Adagio were composed later than the Choral varié – Duruflé performed a piece entitled Variations sur l’hymne Veni Creator at two recitals in 1926, four years before the composer entered the work now known as Op. 4 in the Concours de composition des amis de l’orgue on 20 June 1930.

The full Gregorian plainchant does not appear in the first two movements. The Prélude opens with the beginning of the third section of the melody and a further short segment of the plainchant appears later in bars 48-51. The Adagio begins with the opening line of the melody and there are indirect references to other parts of the plainchant, but no direct quotations.

The final movement Choral varié presents the Gregorian melody in its entirety. Duruflé begins the initial section by setting Veni Creator (Come Holy Spirit) as a five-voice chorale with the chant in the top voice. Four variations follow the chorale, each employing all four phrases of the melody.

The first variation is a trio where the theme appears in the pedals on a reed stop Cromorne, whilst the right hand plays the third phrase of the chant supported by the flute accompaniment in the left hand.

The second variation is for manuals only and set for two keyboards. Both flowing parts have different rhythms (three against two) and contrasting organ registrations. The melody of the chant appears in the triplets of the right hand.

A canon appears in the third variation between the top voice and the pedals. The registration specified uses a flute 4' in the pedals (the highest pitch) and voix celeste (a celestial voice) for manuals.

The final variation is a brilliant toccata, introducing the theme in canon between right hand and pedals. The music winds up to a glorious climax concluded by the plainsong Amen in the pedals on full organ.

 

Requiem
SATB choir, mezzo-soprano, baritone, violoncello soloists and organ (1947)

The Requiem began life as a set of organ pieces based on the Gregorian chants used in the Mass for the Dead. Duruflé had already sketched out this suite of pieces when he received a commission from his publisher, Durand, to write a Requiem. Initially, Duruflé had intended to go in a different direction with the work but encouraged by his publisher and the eminent organist Marcel Dupré, Duruflé used those sketches as the basis for the work we know today. This work, dedicated to his father, is thought to be influenced by his study of the music of Ravel, Debussy, Dukas and especially the Requiem of Fauré, to which it pays homage. Duruflé emphasizes the serenity, tranquillity and peace of the Fauré, rather than the apocalyptic carnage of the dramatic settings of Verdi and Berlioz. Originally performed in 1947, the Requiem was first scored for orchestra and organ, then orchestra alone, then organ alone, which is the version we are performing today. Duruflé wrote:

“This Requiem is entirely composed on the Gregorian themes of the Mass for the Dead… (It) is not an ethereal work which sings detached from worldly anxiety. It reflects, in the unchangeable form of the Christian prayer, the anguish of man facing the mystery of his last ending…”

Introit

The Requiem begins with gentle, running semiquavers in the organ that seem as if they have been flowing for centuries before we finally hear them. On top of this, one bar later, Duruflé first uses the ancient Gregorian melody on which the entire work is based.

The Gregorian melody unfolds, one phrase at a time, punctuated by the “ahs” of the women’s voices. A brief second section provides contrast. Here the chant is intoned first by sopranos, then altos, to a very simple organ accompaniment.

The opening organ semiquavers return for the third section and the full choir sings in harmony for the first time. The movement concludes quietly as the repeating semiquavers slow down, little by little, and lead straight to the next movement.

Kyrie

The first section begins with the simple exposition of the theme. The Gregorian melody is heard in the bass and alto voice parts first, with counter melodies sung by the sopranos and tenors. After all four parts enter, Duruflé superimposes the chant melody in the organ although in a much slower tempo.

The middle section is more flexible and expressive with the sopranos and altos both pleading for mercy. Then, with great emotion, the sopranos and altos build up to the stunning, rich and resonant re-entry of the basses and tenors.

Domine Jesu Christe

Intended for the Offertory of the Mass, this is by far the longest movement of the piece. The movement begins in a dark, mystical world conjured up by the organ. The altos enter with a rich chant-like melody before suddenly the whole ensemble bursts into action.

What follows is one of the most dramatic sections of the whole work. As the chorus cries out that the souls of the departed be saved from the horrors of Hell, the organ is heard playing a virtuosic and spiky accompaniment. After a ferocious climax, the music subsides and eventually arrives at an ethereal, other worldly section. A variety of delicate instrumental colours accent this section concluding with the comforting Quam olim Abrahae sung by the sopranos and altos.

The next section is also highly colourful and imaginative. After a brief instrumental interlude the men enter, mysteriously, in unison. This section, too, subsides in a most mysterious manner. The section and the whole movement concludes with the returning, comforting refrain of the sopranos and altos, Quam olim Abrahae.

Sanctus

After the dark third movement, the rich transparency of this famous Sanctus is most appealing. Against the rippling organ ostinato the chant melody is heard in three part chords in the women’s voices.

The Sanctus is sung three times: piano, mezzo forte, then forte. The music calms down considerably before the build-up begins. The first hushed Hosanna is sung by the altos. The sopranos enter, a bit higher but still pianissimo. The tenors charge in, mezzo-forte, in another key with a whole new accompaniment. Then the basses join the ensemble before the final cataclysmic crescendo ushers in the calm and serene opening material.

Pie Jesu

The Pie Jesu, coming in the center of this Requiem, is the only solo movement of the work scored for two soloists, a mezzo-soprano and a cellist. Many consider this movement to be the commentary of a mature person who has experienced the joys and sorrows of life. It is intense and very personal with a sense of deep sorrow and loss, but also consolation.

Agnus Dei

Amidst this instrumental accompaniment, Duruflé presents the haunting Agnus Dei chant in various voices, in various keys, and sometimes accompanied by newly composed melodies of the most beautiful nature. Rather than a plea for mercy as is more common in the Agnus Dei, this one is imbued with an inner serenity that is both hopeful and longing.

Lux Aeterna

The Lux Aeterna is a personal and intimate movement. It begins with a beautiful, simple organ solo followed by an unaccompanied choral section. The sopranos’ melody rests on top of chords sung on “oo” by the rest of the choir. Another organ solo follows, this time a fifth higher. Then the choir, again a fifth higher than the previous melody.

Following this initial chant-like section the sopranos and tenors intone, on a single note, the words Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine et lux aeterna luceat eis” (Lord, give them eternal rest and let perpetual light shine on them). The organ music appears again, more extended this time, followed by a short abbreviation of the unaccompanied choral material before the single note theme reappears, now in a lower, richer key for the altos and basses.

Libera Me

The Libera Me (Deliver me from eternal death) provides the last great dramatic moments of the Requiem. The basses sing a plaintive melody, with an underpinning of urgency and uncertainty in the accompaniment. The tenors enter, next the altos and then the sopranos. The music becomes still more frantic and chaotic until it reaches a brief fortissimo.

The Dies Irae follows, at first sung only by the men, then by the whole chorus with huge organ sounds rumbling underneath.

This music eventually calms down and we find ourselves in a very different sound world. Sopranos intone the chant, Requiem aeternam. After a brief organ interlude, the full chorus sings the main Libera Me melody, in unison. The movement comes to a serious and content close.

In Paradisum

The first organ chord of the final movement transports us to another world. We have left the turmoil of the previous movements and have journeyed somewhere altogether different. Single voices enter singing the chant before the full choir bring the work to a satisfying but questioning conclusion.

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