Minor Masterpieces of Organ Music No.3: Louis Vierne’s Berceuse

Most readers of this journal will have played on a harmonium at some stage in their career. If, like me, you have not been overimpressed by one of these instruments, it will hardly be surprising. Regularly found in a remote kirk, they will often suffer from damp, sticking notes and out of tune reeds. They are not ideal for leading a congregation in rousing hymns or giving a powerful recessional at the close of the service.

It will surely come as a surprise to certain listeners that Louis Vierne’s (1870-1930) Berceuse was written for this Cinderella of keyboard instruments. And what is more, so were all the other numbers in the “24 Pièces en style libre,” op.31. This includes the dynamic warhorse Carillon – sur la sonnerie du Carillon de la chapelle du Château de Longpont (Aisne) and the nippy, incisive Divertissement.

To be sure, the instrument that Vierne had in mind was unlike the ubiquitous American reed organ which sucks air over the reeds. The Victor and Auguste Mustel harmonium blew air across the reeds, resulting in something a little more akin to a pipe organ. For the record, the composer is known to have disliked the harmonium. He is said to have described it as a “big nasal accordion” and a “pitiful caricature of the pipe organ.”

Berceuse (sur les paroles classiques) is Vierne’s most played work, if not his most significant. For every organist who can play the Final of the Symphony No.6 or Les cloches de Hinckley from the Vingt-quatre pièces de Fantasie, there are dozens who can make a reasonable fist of this beautiful cradle song.

The “24 Pieces en style libre” were completed in the year preceding the outbreak of the First World War. The two volumes, each with twelve pieces, were published by Durand & Co. in 1914. It was at a time when the composer was exploring other genres. From this period dates his song cycle Stances d'amour et de rêve, op. 29, and the Sonate for cello and piano, op.27. Personally, in the early Autum of 1913, his young son, Andre died whilst the family were holidaying at Juziers, Île-de-France.

Vierne was inspired by an old French tune - “Dodo, l’enfant do” which was based on an ancient carillon rung at the midday Angelus. The text of the Lullaby was ‘Sleep, Child/The Child will sleep soon.’ The Berceuse carries the dedication ‘a ma fille COLETTE’ – his seven-year-old daughter.

Structurally, Berceuse is an interesting development of a basic musical form. The traditional ternary form (A B A) is used in more than a third of the Pieces en style libre. Often in works using this formula, the B section contrasts with the A with the introduction of new melodic, rhythmic, or harmonic material. Not so the Berceuse. Vierne has used a modification of this form: Statement – Development – Restatement, with an added coda. Thus, it becomes a monothematic composition.

One version of the original melody was as below:

Using this as inspiration, Vierne opened his Berceuse thus:

 

Of interest is the “call and response” motif on the second page:

Berceuse is written in A major, however it has a slightly unstable tonality. Many bars are diatonic, nevertheless some of the phrase endings step out of key. Harmonically, Vierne makes ample use of open fifth chords, often in both hands, but sounding as Major or Minor 7^th chords.The ‘restatement’ towards the conclusion is coloured with chromatic notes in the ‘alto’ part. The piece concludes with a long coda (19 bars) ending on an A major chord with an added sixth.

It is doubtful that the registration suggested by the composer would have been as effective on the harmonium. The Great organ calls for a flute and the Swell requires two string stops - a Gambe and the Voix Celeste. These latter give the Berceuse a dreamy, sleepy quality. The pedal requires 16’ and 8’ Bourdons. 

In its simple form and comforting melody, this is a Cradle “Song without Words.” Its harmonic treatment is free, relatively modern, and unique, reflecting the incomparable style of Louis Vierne. This is original and noteworthy music with a distinct and individual beauty.

With thanks to the Glasgow Society of Organists Journal where this essay was first published. 

Organ Masterworks I: Louis Vierne's Les Cloches de Hinckley

Louis Vierne (1870-1937) wrote three major pieces of organ music based on bells, the most famous of which must be the Carillon de Westminster, the finale of Suite No.3 of Vingt-quatre pièces de Fantaisie, op.54. Slightly less demanding is Carillon sur la sonnerie du Carillon de la chapelle du Chateau de Longpont (Aisne) which is the ninth number in Book 2 of the Vingt-quatre pièces en style libre. Les cloches de Hinckley (The Bells of Hinckley) is the last movement of the Suite No.4, op.55, of the Vingt-quatre pièces de Fantasie.

The Leicester Evening Mail (25 April 1925) reported that “M. Louis Vierne, the renowned organist of Notre Dame Cathedral…is shortly to give a recital on the magnificent organ at Hinckley Parish Church.” The organ that he played was installed by Norman & Beard in 1908, replacing an earlier instrument by George Pike England dating from 1808. The new instrument had three manuals, thirty-seven speaking stops and more than 2000 pipes. The action was pneumatic, connected to the detached console - on the south side of the chancel - by many miles of lead tubing.

The recital, on Sunday 3 May 1925, was well attended, with more than 1200 in the church and many more listening from the churchyard.  Vierne gave a varied performance, which lasted for an hour and a half. The programme included J. S. Bach’s Fantasia and Fugue in G minor (BWV 542), two Bach chorale preludes and the Prelude, Fugue et Variation, op.18 by César Franck. The now largely forgotten Carillon de Saint-Paul d’Orléans and the Angelus du Soir (Méditation) by Adolphe Marty were heard as well as the Allegro cantabile, Adagio and Toccata movements from Widor’s Symphony No.5. Vierne did play some of his own music, including the Légende, the Berceuse and the Marche funèbre all from Book 2 of Vingt-quatre pièces en style libre. In conclusion he gave an improvisation on the tune Veni Emmanuel, from the hymn O come, O come Emmanuel.  The vicar, the Rev. C.L. Mathews, presided over the recital and a retiring collection of more the £40 was taken. This, at 2023 rates, would be more than £1800!

The genesis of Les cloches de Hinckley is a mix of fact, fiction and legend. One version of the story suggests that Vierne and his “assistant” the soprano Madeleine Richepin were staying in a hotel opposite St Mary’s Church, probably The George (now The Bounty). The composer protested that the chime, which he imagined sounded every fifteen minutes, disturbed his rest. Another testimony suggested that he was staying, along with his “muse” at the home of the one-time organist at Hinckley, Paul Rochard, a distant relative. This doesn’t quite ring true as, at the time of his visit, Rochard was organist and choirmaster at Kendal Parish Church and music master at Kendal Grammar School, some 200 miles north of the Leicestershire village. On the other hand, it is quite probable that Vierne visited Hinckley at Rochard’s invitation. The village would not have been an obvious choice for the maestro to visit on a “grand tour.” And maybe Rochard was there for a visit.

A webpage (now archived) dedicated to the bells of St Mary’s Hinckley explains that the original five bells installed in 1662 were replaced by a peal of eight bells in 1908. The chiming system was installed in 1792/3 and operates like a musical box. It is set up to play eight tunes, one for each day - plus an extra one for Sunday - automatically changing over at midnight. If Vierne arrived on the Saturday, he would have heard St Thomas, ‘Now my Tongue the Mystery Telling’ if he were in bed early, and Aurelia (The Church's One Foundation) by S. S. Wesley in the wee small hours. If it was a Sunday night stopover, he would have caught ‘My God, I love thee’ from Handel’s Solomon as the programme also changed at midday on the Sabbath. The website insists that despite Vierne’s protestations, the chime was a little less regular, sounding every three hours. It is unlikely that any of these three tunes have been used in the first presentation of the theme in the pedals at bar eleven of the score. Equally improbably to have been derived from the Hinckley carillon is the descending scale of E major heard twenty-eight times before the work’s ffff conclusion.

However, the tale continues. The following day, Mlle. Richepin asked her “companion” to consider using the carillon theme as the basis of the piece. This story suggests that he set to work immediately and committed the music to manuscript paper whilst travelling by train to Tenbury Wells, where he was due to give another recital. Conversely, the facts are more prosaic: according to Vierne’s biographer Rollin Smith (Louis Vierne Organist of Notre Dame Cathedral, Pendragon Press, Hillsdale, N.Y.1999) the entire Suite No.4 was composed much later in Bagnères-de-Luchon, Haute-Garonne in Southwest France during July and August 1927.

The Quatrième Suite, op. 55 has six movements, the best known of which are Naïades and the present piece. Les cloches de Hinckley was dedicated “à mon ami J.W. Iberson” an amateur organist who had studied with Widor and was then residing in Sheffield.

Postscript: As I was putting this article to bed, I found a reference on an internet forum. The contributor suggested that Vierne’s theme was taken from the tune played on the carillon on Friday (until midnight) which was the Sicilian Mariners Hymn (also used for the German carol ‘O du fröhliche’).” Certainly, there are a couple of three note phrases which are vaguely suggestive. But this posits a longer stay at Hinckley for Vierne and his “amoreuse” than first imagined. But perhaps he needed a day or so to practice…

With thanks to the Glasgow Society of Organists Journal where this essay was first published. 

Louis Vierne’s Glasgow Recital, 1924

It is sad to think that when one passes the former British Home Stores building on the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Renfield Street that giants once walked there. On 12 January 1924, the legendary French organist and composer, Louis Vierne gave a major recital at the long- demolished United Reformed Church there. This was the final event during a whistle-stop tour of the United Kingdom. Just before leaving France, Vierne had played at the Basilica of Saint-Michel, Le Havre. Crossing to England, he played at Trinity College, Cambridge and Westminster Cathedral (3 January), York Minster (5 January), Leeds Parish Church (7 January), Manchester Town Hall (8 January) and St Anne’s R.C. Church, Edgehill Liverpool (10 January). Two days later he travelled up to Glasgow. 

At that time, the United Reformed Church had a Willis and Sons organ originally installed in 1878. After a major overhaul by the builder in 1905, it was rebuilt by Willis and Lewis in 1923, and then Hill, Norman and Beard in 1960. The three-manual instrument latterly had 35 speaking stops. (Stewart, David A., rev. Buchan, Alan, Organs in Scotland: A Revised List, The Edinburgh Society of Organists, 2018, p.230).

Fortunately, for music historians, the Glasgow Herald (14 January 1924 p.5) provided a detailed account of the event. The proceedings were begun by the Rev. W. Erskine Blackburn who stated that the venue had been chosen because of the “strategic position of the church…for the welfare of the citizens, and it was felt that many would be touched by music who were not so easily to be reached by preaching.” There was a further intention to “stimulate a liking for organ music.” The event was successful: the recital attracted considerable interest in Glasgow and the church was full, with some members of the audience failing to find seats. Somehow, I feel the gathering would have been the usual suspects, organ music cognoscenti, and that few Glesca Keelies would have attended on “spec.”

The programme began with J.S. Bach’s Buxtehude-ian inspired Fantasia and Fugue in G minor, BWV 542, which would appear to have been written around c.1720 during his Köthen Period. This was followed by two chorale preludes: the highly ornamented O Mensch, bewein dein Sünde groß BWV 622 from the Orgelbüchlein and the powerful and jubilant Wir glauben all an einen Gott, BWV 680. Both were given their French titles in the programme. The next offering was César Franck’s highly-romantic Prelude, Fugue and Variation, op.18 which is the third number from Six pièces pour Grand Orgue. It was composed around 1860. The Herald reported that this was “a masterly interpretation by the accomplished French musician.” 

For many in the audience, the highlight of the recital must have been the generous selection from Vierne’s own compositions. First up was the Andante and Final from his Organ Symphony No. 1 in D minor, op.14 which was “a brilliantly scored composition” penned in 1898-99. Certainly, the balance between the slow movement with its dreamy voix céleste and the dazzling finale, complete with a powerful pedal part and carillon-like cascades on the manuals, must have impressed the audience. Vierne has been quoted as saying that this Symphony displays “a lack of taste, but a lack of taste that pleases the public…so I always play it!”

The end of the formal recital presented three contrasting movements from the Organ Symphony No.3 in F sharp minor, op.28 completed in 1911 and premiered the following year. Here the spellbinding and lyrical Cantilene once again effectively uses the string stops. The Adagio is meditative, bewitching and agonising at the same time. It reflects the troubled times that Vierne was experiencing currently. The optimistic Final is full of light and shade, dizzying in its toccata like exposition of the initial figuration. The work was dedicated to Marcel Dupré in whose home Vierne completed the score.

The Herald critic notes that these pieces were “followed with close attention, and…rewarded with enthusiastic applause.”

After this ecstatic Finale, there was a bit of fun. The members of the audience were asked to select a melody for Vierne to improvise on. He selected the “homely Scottish tune Kate Dalrymple.” The critic reported that its “treatment…was heard with lively interest. The vim and snap inherent in the tune were, perhaps not strongly marked, but the familiar air was handled in arresting fashion.”  A vote of thanks was given to the recitalist, and it was hoped that that he would return to Glasgow soon. To my knowledge he never did.

As Glasgow was Vierne’s final concert in the series, we can surmise that he boarded a train at Central or St Enoch Station to head towards London and then the Channel Ports. His next recital was at medieval Église Saint Bonaventure in Lyon on 11 February. This church remains in use, however a new organ by Merklin and Kuhn was installed 12 years later in 1936.

Renfield Street U.F. closed in 1964 and was dismantled a few years later to make way for the BHS store completed in 1969. The organ was relocated to Renfield St Stephen’s Church, now St Andrew’s West. The chain store itself closed in 2016. Covered in graffiti, the building awaits redevelopment.

With thanks to the Glasgow Society of Organists where this essay was first published.