Introducing Maurice Duruflé’s Organ Music Part 3

This is not the place to discuss the life and works of the French organist and composer Jehan Alain (1911-40), save to make a single comment. Alain was one of the greatest losses to French music sustained during the Second World War.  I remember many years ago visiting the spot at Saumur, near the Gratien and Meyer winery in the Loire Valley, where the 29-year-old soldier was killed. I found it an extremely poignant and moving moment. 

The Prélude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain is Maurice Duruflé’s best known work. It was composed immediately after Alain’s death in 1942; the score is prefaced with the following words (translated) – “To the memory of Jehan Alain, who died for France.”

The work is based on two major elements - a motif derived from the letters A.L.A.I.N related to the scale, and a second theme taken from Alain’s masterpiece Litanies for organ.  Duruflé uses a little creative licence here.  The crucial relationship is between the two ‘A’ notes. For the other letters Duruflé feels free to use other notes useful to his purpose. The actual note sequence is a - d - a – a –f.

The opening prelude is a perpetuum mobile – in many ways it is will o’ the wisp. Soon the second motif emerges. This is not really a direct quotation of Litanies – much more of a paraphrase. Yet to anyone knowing Alain’s music it is obvious. Strangely, there are no profundities in this music: the sadness is only apparent to those who know about the work’s genesis. Often there is a sense of pure delight in these difficult pages. At the end of the prelude the Litanies theme is quoted verbatim before leading into a double fugue. This is a formal construct based on two separate subjects. The first theme is a quiet and slightly introspective 6/8 theme based on the A.L.A.I.N motive This in turn gives way to a new melody written in semiquavers. It is complementary to what has gone before. Strict fugal procedures are used to combine both themes leading up to a fine peroration. I must say at once that although this fugue is academic – it is not as dry as dust. The music wears it structure well. It is a moving tribute to a great man. The mood is triumphant and reflects a tremendous hope, both for the memory of Jehan Alain and for the greater good of France, for which he had so bravely laid down his life.

Duruflé contributed a miniature to the ‘festschrift’ for the teacher of composition Jean Gallon upon his retirement. Gallon had taught several illustrious musicians between 1919 and 1948, including Olivier Messiaen, Henri Dutilleux and Paul Tortelier. The piece by Duruflé was composed in 1919 and entitled Chant Donné (1949).  It is difficult to decide if this was originally written with the organ in mind. The holograph is in short score on two staves, but the published version was in four staves using ‘antique’ notation. There is no indication of instrumentation. So perhaps it could be a short string quartet movement? It is very short, at under a minute and half. However, its attractive modal harmonies and rather lovely melody make this a delicious miniature. The last chord seems just a little too long for equilibrium.

The Prélude sur l’introit de l’Épiphanie op.13, was written for an anthology of music for use before mass. It was entitled ‘Preludes à l’introït.’  This was composed in response to a commission by the musicologist and organologist (a new word for me!) Norbert Dufourcq. It was competed in 1961 shortly after the composer had received the Vatican citation of Commander in the Order of St Gregory. This is appropriate. The composer uses a tune or cantus firmus which is firmly in the ‘Gregorian’ model. This is introduced on the ‘trompette.’ Around this theme Duruflé weaves a complex but always modal counterpoint. It is one of these pieces that although short in actual minutes seems to be almost timeless. Not the greatest example of Duruflé’s art, but certainly one that deserves our attention.

The Fugue sur le theme du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons is a short piece: barely three minutes long. Yet the musical content is intense. The work was written in 1962 for an anthology of music published to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of Louis Vierne’s death. The theme of this fugue is based on the melody played by the clock at Soissons Cathedral. It is a bit of an unusual fugue. The theme is presented at the beginning with counterpoint as opposed to the usual single voice. Duruflé uses all the academic devices that are available to “fugal” composers. However, there is nothing pedantic about this work. From its gigue-like opening to the final chords it is full of vigour and even fun.  It is interesting that Vierne himself had written a piece which he dedicated to his pupil, Duruflé. It was the first section of his Triptyque, op.58 (1929-31). He had called it Matines, basing it on a bell sequence heard at St Geneviève-du-Mont, Paris. So, it is pleasant to see the pupil similarly honouring the master.

The Meditation is a small but extremely attractive piece. It was written and dated in 1964. This was round about the time of Duruflé’s first concert tour of the United States. I am unaware if it was played there. The Meditation is cast in the form of a rondo; the main theme or as the programme notes refer to it as the ‘refrain’ was used by the composer in the Agnus Dei of a later choral work, the op.11 Messe cum Jubilo.  This is an introverted piece that muses on the theme, which is quite angular in its melodic construction, even if it has its roots in Gregorian chant. There is even a touch of exoticism here. The episodes exploit the string stops and give the work an air of improvisation. The work ends with a long closing chord. It is not a major work but one that adds a congenial number to the composer’s limited catalogue of organ pieces. Meditation was not published until 2002.

Essay Concluded.