Introducing Maurice Duruflé’s Organ Music Part 2

The Scherzo, op.2 is one of Duruflé’s great works. It was written in January 1926 as an examination exercise and was completed when Duruflé was a student at the Paris Conservatoire. He dedicated it to his organ teacher Charles Tournemire, who at that time was organist at Sainte-Clotilde, Paris. The score is inscribed, “To my dear master, Charles Tournemire in grateful homage.” This Scherzo displays the influence of Louis Vierne, Paul Dukas and the dedicatee, yet it is a completely new work that is not dependent on anything that has gone before. It not an academic exercise but displays all that is best in Duruflé’s compositional skill. There is an imaginative sense of colour; it has a hazy mystical feel that defies categorisation. This is a difficult work to perform and calls for considerable technical skill from the organist. Despite its nebulous mood, it is built on strong formal foundations. In fact, it is a small rondo. The Scherzo opens slowly and quietly with string stop sound. But soon, what the organist Friedhelm Flamme calls “motorically filigree playing figures” announces the main rondo refrain. The episodes are based on “chordal chorale like” motives which provide considerable contrast. Throughout the entire work, the listener is captivated by the many mood swings, changes of tempo and modulations. A revised version was used at the premiere performance in 1928. 

Another work which is full of the Duruflé “magic” is the Prelude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le thème du Veni Creator op. 4. This was submitted as an entry to a composition competition organized by the Friends of the Organ (Les Amis de l’orgue) in 1930.  It won first prize.

The form of op.4 is a “triptych”. The word is more commonly met in the art world where it means a painting or perhaps a carving, often as an altarpiece that has three panels side by side. The transferred meaning is something composed or presented in three parts or sections.  The work begins with a rather fast but very quiet passage in triplets. This is the basis of the whole of the first movement. Melodic phrases based on plainsong, rise out of this rippling effect one of the fragments nodding to the theme used in the final movement. One of the characteristics of this composition is the ‘interlude’ material between movements. At the end of the Prélude, the triplets give way to a Lento passage of long notes. There is a complimentary “recitative” passage before the second part of the triptych begins. The Adagio is the heart of the work. It is signed to be played ‘sweetly and sustained.’ There are additional directions instructing the performer to play with warmth and with much expression. This is seven minutes of pure organ-music heaven. Towards the end of this movement the texture becomes much more turbulent. It becomes louder and more insistent and even quite violent. However, it ends quietly. There is a short pause before the great theme of ‘Veni Creator’ is announced in all its glory. There follows four variations. The first with triplets harking back to the opening movement. The second is for manuals only. The third is an “academic” structure – a canon at the fifth. It is the final variation that sums up the work. This is a brilliant Toccata that seems to arrive from nowhere and goes on to dominate all that has gone before. The work closes with a very loud “Largamente.”

The Suite op.5 is Maurice Duruflé’s longest work composed for organ. There is no doubt that this is a masterpiece and a defining work in the history of organ literature. I recall being terribly impressed on my first hearing of the Finale performed in St Mary’s Episcopal Cathedral way back in 1976. Hearing the complete work reveals this exciting last movement in the context where it belongs. It is wrong to take the Toccata out of context. I concede that it may be acceptable to do this for a recessional voluntary after Mass or a wedding. But at a recital I feel it ought to be all or nothing. Like all Duruflé’s music there is a sense of unity created from the first to the last bar. Strangely, Duruflé did not like this Toccata and refused to record it. The Suite was dedicated to one of Duruflé’s composition teachers: Paul Dukas. Unfortunately, this composer is remembered for one work – The Sorcerer’s Apprentice. Out of 153 current (May 2021) recordings of this composer’s music some 79 are dedicated to this single piece. So much for Walt Disney!  I recommend a study of his great Symphony in C major or the wonderful Piano Sonata. Then there is his opera Ariane et Barbe-Bleu.

There are three movements in the present Suite. The opening Prélude is marked as Lento. It begins with long, slow notes that build up into more animated music. There is a funereal sense to this music that not even the massive climax can quite dispel. This pinnacle subsides into one of Duruflé favoured “recitative” sections. The music becomes reflective before the end of this movement is reached. The second movement is a Sicilienne in 6/8 time. It is a long, flowing piece based on the rondo form. Yet somehow the listener is not aware of this structure. The music evolves, always leading towards the conclusion where several of the elements are combined. The last statement of the theme with accompanying triplets is a stroke of genius. This is one of the truly lovely, intimate moments in Duruflé’s corpus. The Toccata is a splendid movement. It must be regarded as one of the great ‘war horses’ of organ literature. It ranks beside other Toccatas by Vierne, Widor, Gigout and J.S. Bach. It is written very much as would is expected of such a work. Full of intricate figurations that require a virtuoso’s technique: it never relaxes. Like all good examples of this form there is a strong pedal ‘refrain’ that underpins the semiquaver activity on the manuals. There are moments when the tempo eases off or the tension relaxes a bit. However, the feeling is given of great energy surging forward to “an ecstatic conclusion.” The Suite was published by Durand in 1934 and was revised and republished in 1978.

The final post will consider Duruflé’s organ best known work, the Prelude et fugue sur le nom d’Alain as well as several miniatures.