Christopher Houlihan wins Prix de Perfectionnement at French National Conservatory

Joyce Johnson Robinson is associate editor of The Diapason.

Christopher Houlihan may very well be the youngest organist ever interviewed by The Diapason. A Connecticut native, Houlihan—sometimes known as “Houli”—made his debut album at 19 (a recording of the Vierne Second Symphony, made before he went to France in his junior year; see the review by David Wagner in The Diapaso, January 2009, pp. 19–20). His second recording (Joys, Mournings, and Battles, Towerhill Recordings) was recently released—a significant achievement for any artist, but all the more amazing given his youth. Houlihan, who placed first in the High School Division of the Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition (see David Spicer, “Albert Schweitzer Organ Competition 2003,” The Diapason, November 2003, p. 17), is a graduate of Trinity College, where he studied with John Rose; during his senior year he made his orchestral debut with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra, performing Barber’s Toccata Festiva. Rose had insisted that Houlihan pursue some study with a different teacher, so during his junior year Houlihan studied with Jean-Baptiste Robin at the conservatory in Versailles, where he earned the French equivalent of an artist’s diploma. He also served as assistant musician at the American Cathedral in Paris, under Edward Tipton, working as choral accompanist and directing two children’s choirs. One Sunday when Tipton was away and Houlihan was to serve as both organist and choir director, the cathedral received a few hours’ advance notice that the President and First Lady of the United States, Mr. and Mrs. George W. Bush, would attend.
Houlihan’s first teacher, John Rose, described meeting the youngster prior to playing a recital—the young man and other family members came an hour early to get a bird’s-eye-view seat, in order to see the console and player up close. This initial meeting led to lessons with Rose at Trinity College, and subsequently to Houlihan’s matriculating there. Rose notes that one of Houlihan’s qualities is the ability to generate excitement about the organ and its music, to be able to communicate the music and his passion for it to an audience, and credits some of this to Houlihan’s technical mastery of rhythm and accent in way that makes the music “electrifying.” Rose feels that Houlihan’s “thirst for knowledge and learning” lead him to be “well informed about various performance practices,” yet realizing “the importance of bringing his own ideas and a fresh outlook to his interpretations. He also understands (and enjoys) the need to adapt his ideas uniquely, as needed, from one organ to the next.”
Christopher Houlihan’s fans are of all ages and include an 85-year-old retired math teacher at Trinity, along with students at the college; they have formed a group known as the “Houli Fans,” and this has expanded into marketing: t-shirts, caps, and mugs are available. Most of these students had never experienced an organ recital before supporting their friend. When he performed with the symphony during his senior year, they chartered buses to take throngs of students to the orchestra hall, where they rained down loud cheers from the balcony. Christopher Houlihan currently studies with Paul Jacobs at the Juilliard School, and is represented by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists (www.concertartists.com). Houlihan can be found on Facebook and YouTube, and his website is www.christopherhoulihan.com.

Joyce Robinson: Do you come from a musical family?
Christopher Houlihan: My family isn’t musical, but my parents have always been incredibly supportive of my passion. I think my mother signed me up for piano lessons just so I would have something to do after school. At the beginning I liked it, I thought it was all right, but I kept practicing and eventually joined a church choir in my hometown of Somers, Connecticut when I was about 8, and discovered the organ. The organ in the church was an electronic organ, and the organist there always had the tremolos on, but she showed me everything she knew and encouraged me to explore. She let me practice on the instrument. I was immediately excited by it and drawn into it, and I started reading as much as I could about the organ and tried to talk to other organists, but at the same time, I had no idea how to take organ lessons. It was obvious you could take piano lessons or lessons on any other instrument, but the organ was kind of a mystery to both my parents and me. My mother loves telling the story of walking into my bedroom and seeing me at my digital keyboard, moving my feet around. She discovered I had put rows of masking tape on her hardwood floor, in the outline of the pedalboard, so that I could learn how to play the pedals. She was a bit horrified that I had put tape all over her floor, but at the same time, she thought it was pretty clever.
Then, in 1999, my mother read in the newspaper that there was an organ concert going on in Springfield, Massachusetts. We’d never been to an organ concert before, never really heard any classical organ music, but we went, and I got hooked. I still have the program from that recital, and, looking back on it, I can’t imagine having had a better introduction to concert organ music: I heard Franck’s Pièce Héroïque and Vierne’s Third Symphony for the first time that day. After the concert, we spoke with the organist, and I said, “I want to take organ lessons, what do I do?” And the man said, “Why don’t you come down to Hartford and play for me?” This was John Rose. We went to Trinity, and I played for him; I was twelve years old, and he took me on as a student. From there, it just took off—I kept studying with him throughout high school, and when it came time to look at colleges, Trinity turned out to be a very good fit for me. John never pushed for me to go to Trinity; he would have been supportive of any decision I made, but for a lot of reasons I chose Trinity, and I’m really glad I did.

JR: Is that where your interest in Vierne came from? John Rose is well known for his work on Vierne, and your first recording was mostly Vierne.
CH: Yes, it was. John has been a wonderful mentor, and he’s never forced any particular style of playing on me, and I’ve studied all sorts of repertoire with him. But I do suppose I’ve had more exposure to Vierne than many other people, certainly because of his love of Vierne. I remember working on the “Berceuse” from the 24 Pieces in Free Style; that was probably my first Vierne piece.

JR: How old were you then?
CH: I’m not sure! I was in middle school, probably 13. Then when I got to Trinity, he said “You should really learn the Vierne Second Symphony, I think it would be a good piece for you.” And I learned it, and I absolutely loved it. Vierne is very chromatic, it’s very different from most Widor . . . Some people say things like, “You should never play a complete French symphony, it’s too long, it’s trash, audiences don’t like it,” but I find it incredibly gratifying as a performer and as a listener to hear a complete symphony. You rarely go to an orchestral concert and hear the Finale from a Beethoven symphony—you hear the whole work. I think a Vierne symphony works much better as a complete piece . . . the individual movements speak much more profoundly when you hear them in the context of the whole symphony.

JR: You must have worked on quite a bit of French repertoire with John Rose before you went to France.
CH: I did.

JR: And when you got to France, did you find the approach to French music to be different?
CH: That’s a complicated question to answer, but yes, the approach was very different. I went to France because I had a strong affinity for French romantic music, but I also wanted to learn more about French classical music, as well as study modern French music. Certainly one of the most beneficial aspects of studying organ music in France is hearing and playing on French organs. But having grown up on American organs, playing primarily in drier American acoustics, and approaching music from an American perspective in general, I really had to learn a new style of playing, one that was more effective for those instruments and rooms. My teacher, Jean-Baptiste Robin, often talked to me about “taste,” which is, of course, completely subjective, but I became more aware of the fact that taste is also cultural, and people from two different backgrounds (musical and otherwise) will have very different opinions about what they consider to be “in good or bad taste.” For example, sometimes I would phrase something a certain way, or accent something a certain way, and Jean-Baptiste would remark that it sounded “American.” Well, I am American, after all!
What is true, though, is that French music sounds most “at home” on French organs. One of the most incredible experiences I had was going to Poitiers Cathedral, where Jean-Baptiste Robin is titulaire, and hearing the 1791 Clicquot organ there. When I heard French classical music on that instrument I was almost in tears, it was so beautiful. That music came alive and worked in a way I had never heard it before. The same can be said of romantic music, but to a less extreme degree, when hearing it on French romantic organs. But what I’ve come to believe through those experiences is that what is far more important than choosing the historically correct stops, or playing in a historically correct way, is the type of musical effect that comes across to a listener. If hearing Widor played at St. Sulpice brings you to your knees, then that music should have the same effect wherever you’re playing it, and, typically, in my opinion, to get that kind of effect on American organs, you have to play the music in a very different way than you might in France.

JR: So are you saying that one must register more with one’s ears than just looking at labels on the knobs?
CH: Yes, absolutely. And at the same time, you don’t have to travel all the way to France to register that way. I think you have to go with your gut—you have to look for what’s the most musical solution when you’re registering anything. It’s not what the book says is the correct registration, but what has an effect—what makes the music come alive.

JR: Was there any particular aspect of registration that you had to make adjustments for when you returned to the U.S.?
CH: There are all sorts of things one can do. One basic idea that is important to know about is the upward voicing that a lot of the French organs have, where things really sing in the treble in a way they don’t on most of our organs. There’s not an easy solution to this, but it’s something to keep in mind and listen for. The other thing is that our Swell boxes are, generally, much more expressive even on smaller organs, and you can use them in a different way for the kinds of musical effects that naturally occur without moving the box on a French organ. The reason Franck used the Hautbois with his 8′ foundations was to make the Swell more expressive . . . if the oboe isn’t needed, I leave it off. Many American organs have the only chorus reeds in the Swell, and they might be quite loud; therefore, you don’t always have to play with the full Swell on where Vierne or Widor says “full Swell.” If you’ve only got a full Swell and one more reed on the Great, you don’t get a crescendo effect; you go from loud to louder. You’ve got to allow more liberty for these things, because in the end you’re being truer to the composer’s intentions . . .

JR: Tell us a little more about your time in France. Life in Europe is usually different than it is here, so what was it like for you—your schedule, your study, your practicing? Did you spend time learning the language?
CH: I was there through the Trinity College Paris program. They have about 20 to 30 students there each semester, and through that program I took French language classes, a class on French culture, a course on art history and architecture—they offer all sorts of courses, ranging from history of the European Union, to independent studies on anything you want to learn about. I did part of my coursework through them, and Trinity gave me credit for my organ lessons at the conservatory in Versailles, and my private harmony lessons with Jean-Baptiste.
I was also lucky enough to have an incredible job at the American Cathedral in Paris, working with Ned Tipton. I was the assistant musician, which meant that I accompanied the choir on Sunday mornings, and I directed two children’s choirs—the children’s group, and a teenager group—and along with all this I had an apartment in the cathedral tower, which was really incredible! You could climb to the top of the tower, and you had one of the most spectacular views of Paris. You could see all of the major monuments, really stunning. The cathedral is on the Avenue Georges V, which is right off the Champs Elysees . . . the whole experience was very surreal and I feel so lucky to have had the opportunity. And the people at the cathedral are so wonderful. There are a lot of Americans, of course, and people from England, from Australia, and French people too!

JR: During your time in France, you performed for George and Laura Bush at the American Cathedral in Paris. Can you recall that day?
CH: I’ll certainly never forget it. It actually began on a Saturday afternoon when I got a knock at the door of my apartment. Now, my apartment was 83 steps up a cement spiral staircase, so I didn’t get very many knocks on the door . . . I was fairly surprised to discover the dean of the cathedral and two French police officers with enormous rifles standing in front of me. They explained who would be coming for a visit the following morning. To complicate things, Ned was away, the adult choir hadn’t had a rehearsal the previous Thursday, and we had the children’s choir scheduled to sing that morning too. Unfortunately, we had to keep the news completely secret for security reasons, so I couldn’t let the choirs know what would be happening. Sunday morning was a little hectic . . . security came and set up metal detectors, dogs sniffed through the whole building, and of course, they didn’t care that I had a choir to rehearse! We wound up with about 15 minutes to run through the anthems, but we pulled it off pretty well.

JR: What were your studies like with Jean-Baptiste Robin?
CH: Robin was an excellent teacher and I learned a great deal from him. At his recommendation, we spent the year working almost exclusively on French music, and nothing could have made me happier. Each week I would prepare a different piece, by de Grigny, Marchand, Couperin, or one of the other French Baroque composers. We worked a great deal on Franck, of course, on Alain’s Trois Danses, as well as one of Robin’s own pieces, Trois Éléments d’un Songe.

JR: What made you choose Juilliard for graduate study? For that matter, why even bother with graduate study, because you had already made a recording, you were signed to professional management before you even got a bachelor’s degree, if my calculations were correct?
CH: True. I chose Juilliard because I really wanted to work with Paul Jacobs and I have had a wonderful time studying with him. I’ve been lucky at this point to have studied both at Trinity and at Juilliard, and have had vastly different experiences at both schools. At Trinity, the focus was on studying music in a broader context—a liberal arts school; I took classes in all sorts of things: science, math, philosophy—it was wonderful, and I made friends with all sorts of people studying all different subjects, and I can’t say enough positive things about how that can affect one’s perspective on making music. But I really felt I was ready to study music in a much more intense environment, and Juilliard was a great choice for that. I love being in New York City, being at Juilliard, and working with Paul. It’s been very rewarding.

JR: Has it been an opportunity to learn a lot of new repertoire, or just refine what you already know?
CH: One of the unique things about the Juilliard program is that we’re required to perform a new piece each Thursday morning in our organ studio class, which is open to the public. And that was definitely a big draw to go there, to learn a lot of repertoire. It can sometimes be difficult to learn a piece very deeply when you’re going through so much music so quickly, but you can always bring things back to Paul and work on them more, and of course work on them more on your own, which is where the real music happens, spending time getting to know the music very intimately. To touch on the last question again, even though I’ve been lucky to have these opportunities to record a CD and study in France and work under management, which I’m incredibly grateful for and excited by, I believe one never really stops learning. Juilliard has been a wonderful place for me to grow more as a musician, and I hope to continue to do that for the rest of my life.

JR: You have a website, and a presence on Facebook—do you find that these media help build your audiences?
CH: I’m not sure, but I do think they’re incredibly important tools. How many people are on Facebook now? I have no idea, but there’s no reason not to take advantage of it and to be communicating in the world where most people are interacting today. I don’t know if my online presence necessarily helps build my audience, but it certainly doesn’t hurt it. It certainly helps attract younger people.

JR: Do you notice that your audience has a younger demographic than that of other organists?
CH: I don’t think so, not yet at least, but attracting younger people to classical music is something I feel very strongly about. And one of the greatest things I experienced at Trinity was bringing my friends who weren’t musicians to my organ concerts, and getting them excited about it. They responded very positively.

JR: Would that be the Houli Fans?
CH: The Houli Fans grew out of that, from friends of mine who weren’t musicians, but who came to my organ concerts and got excited by the music and discovered something far more fantastic than they ever expected to. I would have never guessed some of my college friends would greet me by humming the opening bars of Vierne’s Second Symphony—or talk to me about how fascinating a Bach fugue was. Houli Fans has caught on in a very organic way, and audiences everywhere I go are interested to hear more about it. At Trinity, students came to the concerts and saw that I loved performing, thought the music was exciting, and they responded by getting more people to come! This is such a good sign for organ music, to see people, of any age, who don’t know anything about organ music responding to it. I think in a way the organ may stand in a better place now than it ever has, I suppose you could say—it has been so dismissed and ignored for so many years, that now it stands to be rediscovered. We’ve all been in situations where people ask about being an organist. They really don’t know what that is, they don’t know what that means, what we actually do. When they hear exciting classical organ music, they’re so wowed by it—it’s true. I’ve played recitals this year and people come up to me and say, “This was my first organ concert and it was way better than I ever expected!” I tell them, “Now go tell somebody else. And come back again and bring them!” Once people discover what’s going on, they’re excited by it. And that’s a really good sign.

JR: Do you see any special role for technology such as iPods or YouTube to advance organ music, or are those just tools like a CD would be?
CH: I think what’s important is reaching as many people as you possibly can. And people are on Facebook, on YouTube—a lot of people are using these things, and if we ignore them (and I’m not suggesting we necessarily are), you’re ignoring a big part of your audience. So I think it can absolutely help. YouTube is a fantastic resource for hearing and seeing performances—it’s an incredible archive of music and musicians and organs and all kinds of music, not just organ music, and quite a tool for marketing and advertising. Everything links to something else, and people can see you and discover other organ music and other performances.

JR: Well, back to the Houli Fans. What are they up to these days?
CH: We have shirts and hats and coffee mugs, and people are really responding well to it. Everywhere I’ve been this year I hear “Oh, I’m going to join the Houli Fans” and “I’m your newest Houli Fan” and things like that. And I find that both musicians and non-musicians want a very fun way to connect with the performer and somehow be involved in the performance. It’s fun!
And there’s nothing wrong with having a little bit of fun, or with classical music being fun. It’s been fun for centuries!

JR: You also have an interest in musical theater. Do you have much time for that any more?
CH: No, not right now, in graduate school, and with a busy performance schedule. But I did a lot of it in high school—I was music director of several shows. That was a lot of fun, and actually a really great learning experience. And I did a lot of it in college, too—music directing, performing on stage, singing, dancing, and all of that. I really enjoy it. At the moment I don’t have plans to do it professionally, but it’s a small passion of mine. I particularly love the music of Stephen Sondheim, and, coincidentally, I’m going to be inaugurating the organ at the Sondheim Center for the Performing Arts in Fairfield, Iowa.
I think there’s a lot that musicians can learn from theater, both from straight drama and musical theater, about how to approach a musical score, similar to the way an actor takes a script and analyzes everything that’s going on to create a character, and perform that character night after night. I try to approach music the same way—take the score and truly consider how to create a musical experience—in a way . . . a whole play. Not necessarily a story, but create the kind of experience I’d like to have as a listener. I think there’s a lot we can learn from theater and the other arts.

JR: Of what you’ve worked on so far, is there any particular repertoire you found a difficult nut to crack—you mentioned finding the character and learning how to bring that out; is there any music that’s been, say, a little more opaque for you?
CH: One of the most incredible things about the organ literature, and one of the most daunting, is the centuries that it spans. All this repertoire and all these different styles—personally, I think it’s impossible to be fluent in and to perform all these styles in a convincing way. Maybe it’s possible; I’d like to be wrong. When I’m learning a piece in a different style that I haven’t studied before, I try to approach it with respect for the scholarship that’s been done on it and its performance practice, but also perform it in a way that feels honest to me, so that I can perform it and convince the audience of the music. I don’t think there is much value in performing something just because you think you should—that you should play so-and-so’s music. Well, what if you don’t like so-and-so’s music? A lot of people may like so-and-so’s music, and a lot of scholars may say it’s important . . . But I don’t have to perform everything under the sun.

JR: In one of Gavin Black’s regular columns in The Diapason, one of his points was that if you don’t really like something, why waste your time learning it? Life’s too short—unless you’re in a competition and it’s required.
CH: At the same time, I’ve learned some pieces—I’m not sure I can name a specific one—where I’m not sure about it at the beginning, or I think I’m not going to like the piece. But then after I learn it I think, “Wow, now that I’ve studied it, and learned more about what the composer was trying to do, and found ways to make it come alive for my own performance, it really is a good piece.” And sometimes I decide to learn a piece, starting off by thinking it’s a great piece, and then after becoming more familiar with it, decide “This isn’t right for me.” It works both ways.

JR: You’ve already recorded two CDs—are you preparing any other recordings? What are your other plans for the future?
CH: I hope to be able to keep recording, and I hope to be able to continue performing. I really enjoy traveling and meeting new people, but most importantly, I love performing and bringing music to an audience. I believe it’s more like making music with an audience. Sometimes I even tell that to the audience too—I thank them for making music with me, since I can’t do it by myself, and since I get so much joy from performing. Eventually, I’d love to be teaching and sharing my love of organ music with others in any way I can.

An international concert artist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster Fournier is titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité Church in Paris, France (cf. www.shusterfournier.com). Dr. Shuster Fournier was recently awarded the distinction of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. This is her fourth article to appear in The Diapason.

This article is dedicated to my friend Jacqueline Englert-Marchal, the daughter of André Marchal, and in memory of her husband Giuseppe.
Son royaume n’était pas de ce monde, car la musique touche à de vastes et mystérieux univers. Il vivait dans ce royaume féerique; il en était un des génies et son oeuvre variée, touffue, protectrice, ressemble à ces grands chênes séculaires qui, dans leurs frondaisons, abritent des peuples d’oiseaux.

[His realm was not of this world, because music touches vast and mysterious universes. He lived in this magical realm; he was one of those geniuses and his works, varied, complex, protective, resemble large age-old oak trees which, in their foliage, shelter birds of all kinds.]
Ermend Bonnal's tombstone inscription (by Pierre d'Arcangues)1

His musical formation in Bordeaux

Joseph Ermend Bonnal2 (Bordeaux, July 1, 1880-Bordeaux, August 14, 1944) was born into a musical family. His father, Jean-Emile Bonnal (born in 1851), was an amateur violinist who invited his friends to his home twice a week to play chamber music (Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, etc.). He began to give his son music lessons when he was five years old, starting him on piano at the age of seven (like his younger sister Marthe). At age 12, Ermend Bonnal entered Gaston Sarreau's piano class at the Bordeaux Conservatory and gave his first public recital the following year, performing one of the solos in J. S. Bach's Concerto for Two Pianos in C minor. "Irresistibly drawn towards the organ,"3 he began on his own to learn several of J. S. Bach's preludes and fugues.
While continuing his musical studies, Bonnal received a general education and excelled notably in the field of literature and classical humanities. In 1894, at age 14, Bonnal met Charles Tournemire (1870-1939) on vacation with his family in Bordeaux, his home town.4 Bonnal knew that he was in the presence of an exceptionally talented artist who was animated by high ideals. In appreciation of Bonnal's vast culture and musical talents, Tournemire offered him continuous encouragement and advice. He provided him with a solid organ technique, enabling him to become a substitute organist at Saint-Pierre Church in Bordeaux, where he himself had been organist at the age of 11.
In 1895, Tournemire dedicated to Bonnal one of his Six Piano Pieces, Op. 20: Le Ménétrier [The Strolling Fiddler].5 The title of this Allegretto in D major, a highly rhythmical musette, certainly referred to Bonnal's father. In 1895-96, Bonnal composed three organ verses for the liturgical services at Saint-Pierre Church: according to their manuscripts,6 the first one, a commentary on the third verse of the Magnificat in E-flat major, is based on a popular theme that he had notated during one of his trips to Tournemire's home on the Ouessant Island (in the Finist√®re, the western province of Brittany); the two others (respectively completed in May, 1895 and on November 2, 1896) were written for the Holy Thursday evening service, during which the organist responds in G minor or in B-flat major to the Pange Lingua hymn.

The Paris Conservatory

Destined for a musical career by age 17, Bonnal was admitted into Charles Wilfred de Bériot's (1833-1914) piano class at the Paris Conservatory on October 25, 1897. Tournemire had studied with him ten years earlier. Knowing Bonnal's desire to become an organist, Tournemire continued to give him organ lessons so that he could leave Bériot's piano class and enter Alexandre Guilmant's organ class in 1898. He also studied composition with Gabriel Fauré.
Guilmant (1837-1911) had developed an international career as an eminent concert organist, an excellent liturgist, and a strict, disciplined professor. His eclectic repertory, his knowledge of organ building, and his colorful registrations opened up endless avenues of lifelong discoveries for Bonnal and his fellow students: Louis Andlauer (1876-1915), Emile Aviné (born in 1879), Augustin Barié (1883-1915), Auguste Bernard (born in 1877), Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979), Joseph Boulnois (1884- 1918), Felix Fourdrain (1880-1923), René Vierne (1878- 1918).7 They all had studied with Louis Vierne (1870-1937), the assistant of the organ class since 1894. Vierne was quite aware of Tournemire's strong ties with Bonnal.
In October 1901, Joseph Bonnet (1884-1944), another of Tournemire's private students from Bordeaux,8 entered Guilmant's class. Bonnal was four years older than Bonnet, and they were undoubtedly friends since their youth. Bonnal had written the critique for the concert Bonnet had given on April 17, 1901, at Saint-Michel Church in Bordeaux, where he was organist. They remained close friends throughout their entire lives.
In July 1903, Ermend Bonnal and Nadia Boulanger were both awarded the Second Prize in Organ at the Paris Conservatory. During this period, Tournemire wrote to Bonnal's father to assure him that his son would successfully win a First Prize the following year: "[Il] travaille remarquablement . . . et il est doué admirablement." ["[He] does outstanding work . . . and he is wonderfully talented."]9 In 1904, Tournemire faithfully continued to give Bonnal daily lessons to prepare him for his First Prize in Organ (Interpretation and Improvisation) at the Paris Conservatory, which crowned his studies there in July. According to Bonnal:

Quel merveilleux professeur d'improvisation était cet être possédé par la joie de créer librement, spontanément.
. . . je recevais de lui une leçon quotidienne. Il me préparait des thèmes soigneusement élaborés et souvent remplis d’embûches. Quelle n’était pas sa joie quand je parvenais à en triompher, ou lorsque je réussissais un bon développement, une jolie rentrée, une modulation imprévue! C’était alors en guise de récompense, une promenade . . . sans préjudice d’un bon petit dîner.
Dans ces escapades, Tournemire n’était plus pour moi qu’un camarade aussi, gai, aussi primesautier que je l’étais moi-même, avec dix ans de moins que lui.10

[What a marvelous improvisation professor, possessed by the joy of creating with freedom and spontaneity.
. . . I received daily lessons from him. He carefully prepared elaborated themes for me to improvise on, which were filled with pitfalls. He was filled with joy when I successfully came up with a good development, a beautiful recapitulation of the theme, an unforeseen modulation! To reward me, we went for a walk . . . and then enjoyed a good, small dinner together.
During these jaunts, he was a gay companion, as impulsive as I was, ten years his junior.]

His early compositions

In addition to giving Bonnal organ lessons in interpretation and improvisation, Tournemire also taught him composition. In 1898, Tournemire encouraged him to become an active member of the Société des Compositeurs de Musique. Between 1900-1902, Tournemire dedicated an Offertoire in G major, Op. 21, no. 5, to Bonnal. It appeared in a collection of 40 Pieces for the harmonium entitled Variae Preces, which were edited by Janin in Lyon in 1904.
In 1902, Bonnal composed a Petite Rapsodie sur un theme Breton, Op. 6. Dedicated to Guilmant, Bonnal had nevertheless noted down “this popular theme at Conquet—in the Finistère, during a trip to the Ouessant Island.”11 The essentially impressionistic style of this work marks a stylistic break with his earlier three Verses. Again, Tournemire’s influence on Bonnal was quite strong: Tournemire’s own work, Le Sang de la Sirène [The Siren’s Blood], Op. 27, which won a prestigious music competition sponsored by the city of Paris in 1902, was based as well on a legend from Brittany that was set on the Ouessant Island. It also included modal themes.
Bonnal had been fond of the Landes since his childhood vacations in Arcachon and developed a lifelong passion for this picturesque region. Like Charles Bordes (1863–1909), Bonnal was one of the first musicians to incorporate popular Landes traditional songs into his compositions: three such popular themes appear in this work. In 1903, Bonnal composed his Rapsodie landaise for piano and orchestra. He dedicated it to a pianist from the Landes, Francis Planté (1839–1934), who performed it often. This important creation won the Second Prize of the Society of Music Composers, which awarded both Bonnal and Nadia Boulanger their Prix Tolède in 1905.
Bonnal's Paysages landais [Landscapes from the Landes] for organ had been published by A. Durand & Fils in 1904. On January 26, 1905, Bonnet premiered it on the E. & J. Abbey organ12 in the large Salle Pleyel concert hall in a concert organized by the Society of Music Composers. Dedicated to Tournemire, this piece in G minor begins with a Franck-like melody on the Swell Trumpet. After a brief interlude on the Voix Celeste, the theme appears in the tenor on the Positive Gambe coupled to the Great Harmonic Flute; it is then developed on the Great with the Swell foundation stops added, leading to a high D-sharp in the Pedal, which becomes an E-flat. (See Example 1.) The final section begins on the Voix Celeste, with a bell-like motive in the Pedal on soft 16' and 4' Flute stops, then ends peacefully on the Swell Bourdon 8'.
Bonnal's Reflets solaires [Solar Reflections], Op. 17 (completed in April, 1905), was composed in this same spirit. It was dedicated to and premiered by Bonnet on March 17, 1906, on the Mutin organ at the Schola Cantorum (in a concert organized by Société nationale de musique). The program of Bonnet's concert at Saint-Eustache Church on January 22, 1911, describes this piece:

En pleine justification de son titre, ce morceau nous dépeint les jeux et les rythmes du soleil dans les vitraux d’une rosace, sans toutefois que cet impressionnisme nuise en rien à une construction nettement musicale. Deux thèmes de caractères opposés, le second présenté avec insistance dans la forme canonique.

[In full justification of its title, this piece depicts the reflections and rhythms of the sun in stained glass rose windows, without allowing this impressionism to hinder the clearly constructed musical form. Two themes of opposing character, the second presented insistently in the canonic form.] Bonnet provided yet another dimension of this work, in the program notes of a concert he gave in Bayonne in 1930:

Cette pièce d’un grand lyrisme semble évoquer à nos yeux, le matin de Pâques: “Le premier jour qui suit le Sabbat, les Saintes Femmes vinrent au sépulcre alors que le Soleil était déjà levé,” dit l’Evangile du jour. Le deuxième thème est traité en variations canoniques fort savoureuses, écrites avec une grande souplesse de contrepoint.

[This highly lyrical piece seems to evoke a vision of Easter morning: "The first day following the Sabbath, the Holy Women came to the tomb when the Sun had already arisen," as is written in the Gospel for the day. The second theme is treated in some quite enjoyable canonic variations, written with much supple counterpoint.]

In September 1908, Bonnal composed in Switzerland his Four Pieces, Opus 26, for organ or harmonium:13 Allégresse (dedicated to Félix [Alexandre] Guilmant), Prière et Choral (in memory of Samuel Rousseau, with an additional version for organ and string quintet), Petit canon (to Placide Thomas), and Petit Pastorale (to his mother). To supplement his income, Bonnal, under the pseudonym of Guy Marylis, began composing dance music for piano—waltzes, ragtimes, tangos—which was quite popular in Paris at the turn of the century.

His early church positions

Thanks to Tournemire, Bonnal substituted for him in various Parisian parishes (notably for the Vesper services): at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet Church (beginning in Decembre 1897) and at Sainte-Clotilde Basilica (following Tournemire’s nomination as titular there, on Easter, 1898). Tournemire also arranged for Bonnal to become, in 1899, the official substitute organist at Saint-Séverin Church for Albert Périlhou (1846–1936), who played there until 1914 (along with Camille Saint-Saëns). In 1901, Bonnal was named titular at Saint-Médard Church, succeeding Maurice Blazy, who had been titular there from 1892 to 1901.14 In 1903, Bonnal was appointed choirmaster at Notre-Dame Church in Boulogne-sur-Seine (actually Boulogne-Billancourt).

His first concerts

Bonnal performed concerts on both piano and organ. As a pianist he often performed chamber music, notably his Sonata for violin and piano15; already in 1897 he performed an Allegro (certainly its first movement) in Tournemire’s home, 91, rue de Rome; Bonnal performed often with the violinist and musicologist Eugène Borrel (1876– 1962). He also gave a concert with the organist Henri Letocart (1866–1945) for the Saint-Jean Society (for the Encouragement of Christian Art) in the workshop of the sculptor Edmond de Laheuderie. In 1912, Bonnal created La Quinte, a string quartet with piano, which gave chamber music concerts for over ten years.
In his solo organ recitals, Bonnal performed an eclectic repertory: in addition to works by J. S. Bach and César Franck, he performed his own works as well as those by his contemporaries. Two of his concerts at Saint-Pierre Church in Bordeaux give us a good idea of his programs:

August 18, 1899: J. S. Bach, Toccata and Fugue in D minor
J. Ropartz, On a Theme from Brittany
S. Rousseau, Trio
C. Tournemire, Symphonic Piece
A. Guilmant, Invocation
C. Franck, Third Choral
L. Vierne, Final from the First Symphony

January 16, 1903:
Vivaldi/J. S. Bach, Concerto in A minor
A. Guilmant, Communion
C. Franck, Final
C. Tournemire, Capricietto and Ite Missa est (from his 40 Pieces for the Harmonium, Op. 21).

On March 1, 1910, Bonnal performed three of his own Four Pieces, Op. 26 (all but the second) in a concert organized by the Saint-Jean Society in Paris.
Ermend Bonnal performed on the 15-stop house organ, built by Charles Mutin in 1909 for the home of Count Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James (1878-1952). He lived on the Dumont-d'Urville Street in the sixteenth district in Paris. He invited young artists with a First Prize in organ from the Paris Conservatory to give concerts with the quartet Gaston Poulet and the violinist Joseph Calvet, both close friends of Bonnal. The Count imposed "a religious silence that was appropriate for such events."16
Bonnal's clear, distinct playing was due to the fact that underneath his absolutely legato melodic lines, he repeated certain notes in the accompaniment. This procedure is evident in many of his organ compositions, such as in his Reflets solaires, in the following passage when the left hand plays the melody on the Positive Clarinet while the right hand accompanies on the 8' and 4' foundation stops with 16' and 8' stops in the Pedal. (See Example 2.) Bonnal was renowned as a stunning improviser, even on small organs, such as the one-manual Gaston Maille five-stop organ at Saint-Léon Church in Anglet (near Biarritz).17 While Bonnal highly approved of improvisations in church services, even considering them to be obligatory for all organists, he did not believe that most people were talented enough to improvise during a recital and that the musical result was often quite poor.18

His departure for Bordeaux and Bayonne

On August 19, 1903, Bonnal married a second cousin, Suzanne Bonnal, a professor of voice. They had two children. What a coincidence that Tournemire also married in this same year, on November 5, to his student Alice Georgina Taylor (1870-1919). Although Bonnal seems to have earned an adequate living, he needed to solidly support his family. Impassioned by teaching, he began to apply for positions as a conservatory director. Louis Vierne, who had dedicated his Canzona to Bonnal in 1913, regretted that he had not pursued a concert career:

Avec Ermend BONNAL, nous regagnons des sphères élevées. Voilà un musicien des plus personnels, un poète ému par la nature, un être d’une sensibilité profonde et émouvante. Ce grand modeste, artiste dans l’âme, est Bordelais—comme TOURNEMIRE et BONNET—et il montre que Bordeaux enfante des êtres généreux. Son passage à la classe de GUILMANT fut celui d’un beau travailleur, doué également pour l’improvisation et l’exécution. Il sortit avec un premier prix sensationnel; jamais je n’ai compris pourquoi il ne fit pas une grande carrière d’instrumentiste; il avait tout ce qu’il fallait pour cela. Comme compositeur, il révéla un tempérament tout à fait original, exprimant sa pensée dans un style hardi mais nullement excentrique; en ce qui regarde spécialement l’orgue, il écrivit tout de suite des pièces significatives comme Reflets solaires, par exemple.19

[With Ermend Bonnal we return to higher realms. Here is a musician with very personal gifts, a poet deeply moved by nature, a man with deep and moving sensitivity. This grand and modest artist from Bordeaux—like Tournemire and Joseph Bonnet—proves that this city has given us people who are generous. While in Guilmant's class, he was a hard worker, equally talented in improvisation and in interpretation. He left with a sensational First Prize; I never understood why he did not pursue a brilliant career as an instrumentalist; he had all one needed for that. As a composer, he revealed a great deal of originality, expressing his thoughts with boldness, but by no means in an eccentric manner. Concerning the organ in particular, he wrote right away some significant pieces, such as the Solar Reflections.]

In spite of Bonnal's robust physical condition, his constant good nature, his appreciation of good wine and gourmet meals, the asthma attacks that he had endured since his childhood had become more violent. In 1914, this illness exonerated him from enlisting in the armed forces. In addition, he was becoming deaf. According to Norbert Dufourcq, Bonnal possessed

une intelligence supérieure, une culture des plus vastes, un coeur exquis et cette haute et noble silhouette . . . et ses yeux lumineux et bons, qui parfois reflétaient une naïveté d’enfant, parfois la douleur de celui qui n’entend pas.20

[a superior intelligence, a very vast culture, an exquisite heart and this noble silhouette . . . with enlightened and warm eyes, which sometimes reflected a childlike na√Øveté, sometimes the pain of those who do not hear.]
Fortunately, an effective hearing aid enabled him to continue his musical career.
Due to his chronic asthma, in 1914 Bonnal returned to settle in Bordeaux, where he was named titular organist at Saint-Michel Church. In 1915, he gave over 100 benefit concerts throughout France for the Red Cross. From 1916-1920, Bonnal presented a series of organ recitals each Sunday at his church, during the mass at 11:15 a.m., like those of Bonnet at Saint-Eustache in Paris. In spite of the war, over 100 concerts were announced in the papers and their programs were printed. Bonnal performed an immense repertory, from the Baroque and Classic periods (works by Frescobaldi, Zipoli, Bach, Buxtehude, Pachelbel, Walther, Clérambault, de Grigny, Roberday, Mozart) to the contemporary period, with numerous premiere performances (of pieces by A. Barié, E. Bernard, P. Dukas, H. Mulet, A. Périlhou, C. Quef, F. Schmitt, D. de Séverac, F. de la Tombelle, L. Vierne). His playing fascinated and inspired the young Henri Sauguet (1901-1989), who discovered Franck's organ works.

Son jeu me fascinait. Je lui dois d’avoir entendu, pour la première fois, l’oeuvre intégrale de César Franck qu’il interprétait d’une manière incomparable, inoubliable dans sa grandeur, sa conception, de virtuosité, et de richesse des registrations qui lui étaient personnelles. Il m’a révélé la savoureuse et exquise littérature des oeuvres des organistes français des XVIIe et XVIIIe et tant de pages immortelles de Bach. . . . Il fut l’un des premiers à donner à l’orgue contemporain une richesse harmonique, un éventail de nuances, une variété de registres saisissants et qui devait plus tard ouvrir la voie à un Olivier Messiaen, par exemple.21

[Thanks to Bonnal, I had the privilege of listening to the entire works of Franck for the first time, which he interpreted in an incomparable manner, unforgettable for their greatness, their conception, their virtuosity and their rich registrations. . . . His tasteful and exquisite interpretations of works by French organists from the 17th and 18th centuries and countless immortal pages of Bach were a revelation to me. . . . He was one of the first to give to the contemporary organ a harmonic richness, a wide range of nuances, a variety of fascinating stops, which later prepared the way for an Olivier Messiaen, for example.]

On December 28, 1919, Bonnal premiered his Noël landais in a concert at Saint-Michel Church. According to the program, Bonnal wanted to give its original theme a simple character and invoke the call of the shepherds during their march towards the star. This piece, composed in 1918 and published by Durand in 1938, was dedicated to Mademoiselle Jehanne Paris, organist of Sainte-Eugénie Church in Biarritz. During this period, Bonnal also composed numerous religious songs for voice and organ or harmonium (occasionally with violin and/or harp)‚Äîmany settings of Ave Maria, O Salutaris, etc.
The year 1920 was a crucial turning point in Bonnal's life. His first wife died of tuberculosis in May. Thankfully, Bonnal accepted the city of Bayonne's proposition to direct their School of Music, situated in the heart of the Basque region, which Bonnal loved dearly; he remained there for 21 years, until 1941. In addition to fulfilling his functions at the conservatory, he continued to compose, to teach and to play chamber music: in 1922, he founded the Société des Amis de la Musique; in 1931, he conducted the L'Association des Concerts Jean-Philippe Rameau as well as Les Chanteurs de la Renaissance, an orchestra of more than 70 professional and amateur musicians. Due to his demanding occupations, Bonnal no longer composed for the organ.
In 1921, Bonnal remarried, to Hélène Chevenot, an art historian, a pianist and singer who was very religious. They had nine children.22 Their home, the villa Amentcha (the "house of dreams"), was continuously open to visiting artists from all over the world.

His mature compositions, influenced by the Landes

Bonnal continued to compose works based on Basque folklore themes: in 1921, his Chansons dans le style landais; in 1929, his Chansons d’Agnoutine—a cycle based on texts by Loÿs Labèque, a poet from the Landes. Among his chamber works, his two string quartets (1925 and 1934) were performed often by the famous French Calvet, Loewength, Pascalet and Parenin quartets;23 his String Trio (1934) was dedicated to, premiered and recorded by the Trio Pasquier; it received the Grand Prix de Disque in 1935.
Among his piano pieces that were inspired by Basque folklore are Berceuse des pins (1926) and the Petite Suite basque (1934).24 In 1938, Bonnal produced Le Ballet basque. The Paris Opera had accepted this work due to the Count Miramon Fitz-James, who sent the scenario for this ballet to its director, Jacques Rouché,25 but the war prevented its presentation.
During this period, Bonnal remained in contact with Tournemire who had come to give a chamber music concert at the Théâtre Municipal in Bayonne on Saturday, April 12, 1924. Tournemire accompanied on the piano his future wife, Alice Espir (1901-1996), a violinist with a First Prize in the class of Lefort at the Paris Conservatory, as well as a singer and a violoncellist, Yvonne Simonot. Tournemire and Miss Espir performed works by Buxtehude and Bach. Tournemire also accompanied the premieres of his own Poème for violoncello and piano, his Mélodies based on poems by A. Le Braz, and his Trio for violin, violoncello and piano. Bonnal accompanied Miss Espir in the first performance of his own Légende for violin and piano, and also premiered his own Nocturne, Soir aux Abatilles for piano.26
In 1925–1926, Bonnal composed his most important and his favorite work: his Poèmes Franciscains (Ariettes pour les Anges) for soloists, choir and orchestra, set to 19 mystical poems by Francis Jammes (1868–1938), the poet from Béarn.27 These calm and noble meditations that last 65 minutes evoke the major mysteries and the most beautiful feasts of the liturgical year. On December 27, 1926, they were performed at the Théâtre Municipal in Bayonne. In 1929, Bonnal won a composition competition from the Society for the Advancement of Music in Synagogues in San Francisco, for his psalm Adon Olam, for soloists, choir and orchestra.
Tournemire was proud of Bonnal’s achievements. On January 2, 1929, he had written: “Et puis, comme disait Liszt, il n’y a pas d’élèves, il n’y a que des collaborateurs.” [“And my dear friend, as Liszt said, there are no students, there are only collaborators.”]28 On March 22, 1929, he wrote to express his admiration for his First String Quartet: “une oeuvre extrêmement intérieure, pleine de poésie, originale, raisonnable . . .” [“an extremely interiorized work, full of poetry, original, reasonable . . .”]. Tournemire had spent two hours presenting it to his chamber music class at the Paris Conservatory.
When Tournemire had sent Bonnal one of the cycles of his L’Orgue mystique,29 Bonnal responded, in a letter addressed to “mon bon Maître et Ami” on March 25, 1929,

J’ai reçu l’exemplaire de l’Orgue Mystique et j’ai été émerveillé. Vous parlez une langue nouvelle: l’orgue, ce qui semblait impossible après pape Franck! Bravissimo! Merci aussi.
[I received the score from l'Orgue Mystique and I was amazed. You speak with a new language: the organ, that which seemed impossible after pope Franck! Bravissimo! Thank you as well.]

According to a letter from Bonnal to Tournemire, written on February 27, 1930, Bonnal requested that the library of his conservatory order the complete collection of Tournemire's L'Orgue mystique.

His compositions for Les Amis de l'Orgue30

In 1930, Bonnal also composed a triptych for the first composition competition organized by the "Amis de l'Orgue."31 The candidates were to compose a work in three movements in the form of a fantasy or a programmatic work. This competition took place on June 20, 1930, at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris. The following members—Gabriel Pierné (president), Nadia Boulanger, Joseph Bonnet, Pierre de Bréville, Alexandre Cellier, Claude Delvincourt, Jacques Ibert, Adolphe Marty, Achille Philip, Albert Roussel, Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne—awarded their prize of 5,000 francs to Maurice Duruflé for his Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le Veni Creator; a very honorable mention was given to Bonnal for his Paysages euskariens [Euskerian Landscapes] (entitled Paysages Pyrénéens [Pyrenean Landscapes]), and congratulations were given to Henriette Roget for her Suite sur un thème de l'office de Noël.
Impregnated with Basque folklore, Bonnal's three Euskerian Landscapes depict the peaceful Basque countryside, with its green valleys and hills. The first, La Vallée du Béhorléguy au matin [The Béhorléguy Valley in the Morning], is Bonnal's most popular organ work. In the tonality of e (the transposed mode of b), its poetical impressionism evokes the serenity of the Béhorléguy peak, in the Basse Navarre, near Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port. The second movement, Le Berger d'Ahusquy, is a calm pastoral on the Flute stops with the Clarinet. The last movement, Cloches dans le ciel, is a virtuosic carillon in the vibrant tonality of E.
On June 12, 1930, Tournemire wrote to Bonnal, his student who had become a master:

Votre oeuvre est grandiose. Le début, sur un thème basque (peut-être de vous) est d'une fraicheur incomparable. . . . Votre Toccata en pleine de force, de puissance.32

[Your work is grandiose. The beginning, on a Basque theme (perhaps by you), has an incomparable freshness . . . Your Toccata is full of force, of power.]

On the other hand, Tournemire encouraged him to avoid composing in Franck's style, which leads to too many long passages. He continued:

Vous, vous êtes un maître. De plus, vous avez l’âge des grandes choses. Et votre oeuvre m’a donné grande joie. Vous avez écrit un chef d’oeuvre.

[You, you are a master. In addition, you are at an age of great achievements. And your work filled me with great joy. You have written a masterpiece.]

On August 19, 1930, he offered a Petite Elevation to his daughter Marylis. (See photo 2.) In January, 1931, Bonnal had also composed a charming Petit Noël in A major. On February 3, 1931, Louis Vierne, the godfather of Bonnal's daughter Mayette, wrote a letter to "his dear friend" Bonnal, congratulating him for his honorable mention. In spite of Vierne's recommendation, the Lemoine editors did not accept Bonnal's triptych for publication. Durand published its movements separately in 1931.33
It appears that after this competition, in preparation for their publication by Durand (January 1932), Bonnal rewrote certain passages of his Euskerian Landscapes and added the names of the dedicatees. The first movement was dedicated to his friend and organ student, Count Christian d'Elbée. Bonnal dedicated the second movement to his dear friend, Count Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James, the president-founder of Les Amis de l'Orgue, who had advised him to rewrite its conclusion:

. . . refaites un autre épisode médian—qui vous laisse dans le plein-air. . . . qui fasse une trentaine de mesures et nous ramène le carillon. Il n’y a pas—si je ne m’abuse—de thèmes spécifiquement euskariens dans ce final—n’est-ce pas le cas d’en introduire un et ne tombez pas à la renverse, si je vous dis que dans l’intérêt de l’exportation, si un pâtre venait se promener là dedans avec quelques chèvres bélantes—mais bêlant ‘à la mystique’, cela ne serait pas maladroit.34

[. . . write another intermediary episode—which leaves us in the open air. . . . which constitutes about thirty measures and which leads us to the carillon. There are not—if I am not mistaken—any specific Euskerian themes in this last movement—wouldn’t it be appropriate to introduce one? And don’t fall off your chair, if I tell you that, from a viewpoint of the export [of this work], if a shepherd began to walk around with several bleating goats—but bleating ‘mystically’, this would not be inappropriate.]

This second movement, in total keeping with this letter, ends mystically with 28 measures on the Voix Celeste, with a solo on the 8' Harmonic Flute. (See example 3.) The third movement was dedicated to André Fleury, titular organist at the Saint-Augustin Church in Paris.
On February 16, 1931, Bonnal wrote to Tournemire that he had taken out all of the accents that were too Franck-like, but that he left all that could recall Tournemire, Fauré or Debussy: “cela c’est encore permis, paraît-il!” [“that it is still allowed, supposedly!”].
On February 28, 1931, Tournemire finally finished composing the 33rd office of his L'Orgue mystique, Op. 57 (for the eighth Sunday after Pentecost), which he dedicated "to his dear student and friend, an eminent musician, Ermend Bonnal, Director of the Bayonne Conservatory."33 Bonnal only received his personal copy on April 21. He immediately wrote to Tournemire:

Il n’y a pas une heure que le Facteur m’a remis mon office et déjà je le connais à fond, parce que je me suis précipité au piano pour le lire. Quelle belle chose claire, pure, lumineuse comme le ciel de mon cher pays basque! Oui, c’est vraiment cet office qu’il fallait me dédier! Quelle poésie dans les morceaux courts et quelle joie dans l’Alleluia! Je suis très fier que mon humble nom soit inscrit en tête de tant de Beauté. Vous m’avez fait un grand honneur et une grande joie. Laissez moi vous en remercier de toute la sincerité de mon Coeur ému, et vous embrasser Filialement.

[It was not yet one hour ago that the mailman delivered my cycle and already I know it deeply, because I ran to the piano to play through it. What a beautiful piece, clear, pure, full of light like the sky of my dear Basque country! Yes, it was indeed this service that ought to have been dedicated to me! The short pieces are so poetic and what joy in the Alleluia! I am very proud that my humble name be printed at the beginning of so much beauty. You have rendered so much honor and great joy to me. Allow me to thank you most sincerely from my deeply moved heart, and I embrace you as a brother.]
 

An international concert artist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster Fournier is titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité Church in Paris, France (cf. www.shusterfournier.com). Dr. Shuster Fournier was recently awarded the distinction of Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters. This is her fourth article to appear in The Diapason.

On June 15, Tournemire played the final “Alleluia” movement in a concert at Sainte-Clotilde that was broadcast live on Paris Radio.
In 1931, the Institut de France had awarded Bonnal the Charles Berthault Prize with 500 francs. Bonnal, however, was looking for other financial awards for his compositions. On March 29, 1932, he admitted in a letter to Tournemire that the private music lessons he gave did not at all cover his expenses:

. . . et vous n’êtes pas là pour m’encourager . . . Je desespère parfois! . . . Alors, je m’endette terriblement . . . et je ne sais ce que je vais devenir.

[ . . . and you are not there to encourage me . . . I sometimes become desperate! . . . Then, I am deeply falling into debt . . . and I don’t know what will happen to me.]

He even began to apply for other posts as a conservatory director in Belfort and in Aix (where he was refused). On February 3, 1932, Bonnal wrote to Tournemire to express his gratitude and ongoing support:

sans doute ma destinée est-elle de mourir à Bayonne. Je m’en réjouirais au reste si ma situation y était en rapport avec mes charges familiales. Je vous remercie de tout Coeur de l’aide précieuse qu’une fois encore (après tant d’autres!) vous m’avez généreusement et cordialement consentie.

[without doubt my destiny is to die in Bayonne. I would really be thrilled if my position was in keeping with my family expenses. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for the precious aid (after so many others) which you have so generously and cordially granted.]

On April 25, Bonnal admitted to Tournemire that he was behind schedule and that he hoped to send something to the next competition of the Amis de l’Orgue. In May, 1932, Bonnal composed at Amentcha his most monumental work: his Symphonie d’après “Media vita,” Répons du temps de la Septuagésime in C-sharp minor. Maurice Duruflé played it during the second “Amis de l’Orgue” composition competition, which took place at Saint-François Xavier Church in Paris on June 20, 1932. This time, Bonnal won First Prize and received 4,000 francs. The members of the jury were Gabriel Pierné (president), Alexandre Cellier, Maurice Emmanuel, Arthur Honegger, Paul Le Flem, Henri Mulet, Henri Nibelle, Achille Philip, Gustave Samazeuilh, Florent Schmitt, and Canon François-Xavier Mathias. An honorable mention was granted to André Fleury for his Prélude, Andante et Toccata, and congratulations were given to Daniel-Lesur for his work La Vie intérieure.
Bonnal’s symphony is a free paraphrase in three movements that correspond to the following texts from Septuagesima Sunday, the first of three Sundays before the Lenten season:

1. In the midst of Life we deal with Death. To whom can we turn if not to You, Savior, who has suffered so much for our sins.
2. Holy and Merciful Savior, do not deliver us to a bitter death. Our fathers have hoped in You, and You have delivered them.
3. Our fathers have cried toward You; they cried, and they were not disappointed. Holy God, God full of strength, do not deliver us to a bitter death.
The first movement, rather slow and very calm, presents two themes: the first one is contrapuntal; the second is like a chorale. In the second movement, a luminous trio—a sort of colorful arabesque (with the Positive Nazard, Flute 4' and Tierce 13⁄5' in the right hand, the Swell 8' foundation stops in the left hand and the Pedal 8' and 4' stops)—seems to express the hope mentioned in the text; after a section on the Swell Voix Celeste with a Flute 4' in the Pedal, the piece ends on an A-flat major chord with a quiet 16' in the Pedal. The third movement, which uses themes from the other movements, becomes increasingly flamboyant, leading to a free, lyrical second melody on the Positive Clarinet 8', followed by an arabesque on the Great Harmonic Flute 8'. After a progressive crescendo with the theme announced tutti in the Pedal, two measures of silence and a brief return to the Clarinet solo, there is a final distressful cry. Bonnal dedicated this work to his friend Joseph Bonnet who greatly appreciated it:
Ta nouvelle œuvre est magnifique, d’une grande profondeur de sentiment d’une haute sérénité musicale et poétique. Tu as tiré un parti excellent de la mélodie si belle et traduit les sentiments exprimés par le texte littéraire sous l’âme d’un grand artiste chrétien. Ton œuvre, comme toutes les précédentes du reste, témoigne d’une haute sincérité humaine et artistique.35

[Your new work is magnificent, a very deep, peaceful expression of great musicality and poetry. You have brought out the best in the beautiful melody and translated the feelings contained in the literary text as expressed by a great Christian artist. Your work, like all of your previous ones, testifies to an utmost human and artistic sincerity.]

In this same letter, Bonnet advised Bonnal to contact the publisher Leduc, who, thanks to Bonnet’s intervention, published this work in 1933. Bonnet played this symphony on numerous occasions, notably for a mass at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris on January 28, 1934. He also recorded it for the BBC. Encouraged by these successes, which placed him in the upper ranks of the French organ scene, Bonnal participated in a series of eight recitals organized by the Amis de l’Orgue on the Mutin organ at Saint-Bernard College in Bayonne.

His adherence to the neo-classical organ
Around 1930, Bonnal had been appointed titular organist at Saint-André Church in Bayonne, a neo-Gothic church built 1856–1869. The 32-stop, three-manual organ was built in 1863 by the Wenner et Götty firm from Bordeaux (Georges Wenner and Jacques Götty founded their firm in Bordeaux in 1848). This organ was a gift to the city from Napoléon III. When a vault collapsed above the organ loft in December 1895, Gaston Maille, who had taken over the Wenner firm in 1882, restored this symphonic organ from 1898 to 1902; an electric blower was installed probably during the 1920s. (See photo 3.)
In 1933, Bonnal supervised the restoration of this instrument by Victor Gonzalez, in collaboration with André Marchal, who had a home in Hendaye, and Norbert Dufourcq, much of whose family lived in Labastide-Clairence, a village about 20 kilometers from Bayonne. Bonnal described its neo-classical aesthetic:
on the Swell, we added a Plein-Jeu II and a Clairon that came from the Positive; on the Positive, some new stops were installed: Nazard, Doublette and Tierce, replacing the Gambe, Trompette and Clairon; for early music, the Clarinet was transformed into a Cromorne . . . The deteriorated pneumatic elements were replaced with a modified tubular system which provided more rapid and perfect precision . . .36
Finally, this 35-stop instrument was entirely revoiced to give more fullness to the foundation stops and more distinction to the reed stops. (See photo 4.)

Saint-André Church, Bayonne
Wenner et Götty / Maille (1902) / Gonzalez (1933)

I. GRAND ORGUE (56 notes)
16' Montre
8' Montre
8' Bourdon
8' Flûte Harmonique
4' Prestant
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Doublette
Plein-Jeu IV
Cornet V (C3)
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette
4' Clairon

II. POSITIF (56 notes)
16' Bourdon
8' Principal
8' Bourdon
8' Salicional
4' Flûte
22⁄3' Nazard
2' Doublette
13⁄5' Tierce
8' Cromorne

III. RÉCIT (56 notes)
8' Cor de nuit
8' Violoncelle
8' Flûte Harmonique
8' Voix Céleste
4' Flûte Octaviante
2'/1' Plein-Jeu II
8' Voix Humaine
8' Basson-Hautbois
8' Trompette Harmonique
4' Clairon

PÉDALE (30 notes)
16' Flûte
8' Flûte
16' Bombarde
8' Trompette

Combination Pedals: Thunderstorm Pedal, G.O./Péd, Pos/Péd, Réc/Péd; Pos./G.O., Réc/G.O.; Réc./Pos; Réc/G.O. 4, Pos/G.O. 16. To activate the Reeds: on the Réc, Pos and G.O. To activate the G.O. keyboard. To activate the Pos Mixtures; Réc Tremulant.

Pistons under the G.O. keyboard: Soft Foundation stops, Foundations 8 and 4, Foundations 8, 4 and 2, Tutti Plein-Jeu, General Tutti.

Bonnal performed the inaugural recital on September 27, 1933:

I.
J. S. Bach’s Toccata and Fugue
A Sarabande grave by François Couperin
Father Martini’s Gavotte (for the new “carillon-like stop” [the Swell Plein-Jeu II])
N. de Grigny’s Trio en dialogue (utilizing the Cromorne stop)
D. Buxtehude’s Fugue in C major

II.
C. Franck’s Third Choral
Tournemire’s L’Orgue mystique, Op. 57 (nos. 1–4), which had been dedicated to him
Joseph Bonnet’s Epithalamé, Op. 5 (1909)
E. Bonnal’s Cloches dans le ciel (first public performance).
On November 8, 1933, Bonnal’s organ students gave another concert:

Irène Darricau performed two pieces by J. J. Lemmens
Jeanne Larre (Vierne)
Renée Gemain (Franck)
Marylis Bonnal [his daughter] (a piece by Périlhou)
Mady Galtier, the organist at the Saint-Charles Church in Biarritz (a Bach Fugue)
Christian d’Elbée (Franck’s First Choral)
Ermend Bonnal (his own Paysages euskariens).

This beautiful organ has remained unchanged to this day and was classified as a historical monument in 2001. According to the present titular organist, Etienne Rousseau-Plotto, in addition to the French symphonic repertory, French organ music from the 1930s sounds absolutely spectacular on this organ.37
In 1933, the same year as the restoration of the Saint-André organ in Bayonne, Tournemire had requested the Société Cavaillé-Coll firm to modify his own historic 1858 A. Cavaillé-Coll organ at Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris. According to an article by Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James,38 following the reinauguration of this organ on June 30, 1933, the following ten stops had been added to this instrument: a Cornet on the Grand-Orgue; a Tierce and a Piccolo on the Positif; a Quintaton 16', a Nazard, a Tierce, a Plein-Jeu IV and a Bombarde on the Récit; and a Bourdon 16' and a Quinte 51⁄3' in the Pedal. The wind pressure was lowered on the Positif, the Positif Unda Maris was transformed into a Salicional, and the Positif Clarinet was moved to the Récit. In addition, a new console was installed with three 61-note manuals and a 32-note pedalboard, along with numerous pedal combinations. Following this restoration, a series of seven benefit recitals was given to help cover the restoration expenses. On March 22, 1934. Bonnal ended the fourth concert, given with the following artists who performed their own works:

Daniel-Lesur – La Vie intérieure
Olivier Messiaen – Diptyque
André Fleury – Prélude, Andante, Toccata
Maurice Duruflé – Adagio and Choral varié on the “Veni Creator”
Ermend Bonnal – Symphonie sur le Répons “Media Vita”

In 1934, Bonnal was awarded the Prix Durand (with Guy Ropartz) as well as the Grand Prix of a wine competition in Bordeaux for his Hymn au Vin. Bonnal then gave a series of prestigious organ concerts. On March 28, 1936, he performed a recital on Emile Bourdon’s organ at the Monaco Cathedral. On September 1, 1936, he inaugurated, with André Marchal, the organ restored by Victor Gonzalez at the Bayonne Cathedral. On January 28, 1937, he performed his own La Vallée du Béhorléguy au matin in the eighth concert of La Spirale at the Schola Cantorum, with his fellow colleagues: Jehan Alain (Suite), Olivier Messiaen (Jules Le Febvre’s Prélude, Aria et Final and selections from his La Nativité du Seigneur [Les Bergers, La Vierge et l’Enfant, and Les Anges]); Daniel-Lesur premiered his own Cinq Hymnes; Jean Langlais, his own Hommage à Francesco Landino and Mors et resurrectio; and André Fleury, his own Deux mouvements (Très lent and Vif et agité). How exciting it must have been to attend this concert! On April 26, 1937, Bonnal inaugurated the Debierre organ in the Preparatory School at the Aire-sur-Adour Seminary.
In the mid 1930s, both Bonnal and Tournemire were drawn to St. Francis of Assisi. On July 19, 1933, Bonnal had thanked Tournemire for having sent him his Fioretti pieces:

J’admire qu’après le monument qu’est l’Orgue mystique vous puissiez écrire d’autres pièces en renouvelant encore votre style. Une telle abondance dans sa richesse est une chose magnifique et si rare qu’on ne l’avait pas vue depuis Bach! Quel haut exemple vous êtes pour nous: vos disciples! Donc merci mon bon maître et ami d’être la lumière qui nous aide à avancer dans la voie difficile, mais belle!

[I admire that after the monument which is the Orgue mystique that you can write other pieces while continually renewing your style. Such a rich abundance, so magnificent and rare, has not been seen since Bach! What a noble example you are for us, your disciples! Therefore, thank you my dear master and friend to be such a light which helps us to advance on the difficult but beautiful path.]

A year and a half later, on May 7, 1935, Bonnal’s Franciscan Poems39 were performed in a concert at the Grand Théâtre in Bordeaux, broadcast live on the radio. That same year, Tournemire and his second wife, Alice, became members of the third order of Saint Francis of Assisi. In 1937, Tournemire finished a theatrical work that crowned his career: Il Poverello di Assisi, Op. 73 (five lyrical episodes in seven scenes on a text by Joséphin Péladan).40 Both Bonnal’s and Tournemire’s two monumental works, centered around this great saint, certainly prepared the way for Olivier Messiaen’s future opera Saint François d’Assise (1983).

His positions in Paris
In 1938, the French Institut awarded Bonnal the coveted Prix Lassere for his compositions. On September 3, 1939, the Second World War broke out. On November 3, Tournemire died mysteriously, leaving the organist post vacant at Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris. However, since the government had closed the church (which was located just across from the Ministry of War) for fear of bombings, no successor was named. Bonnal did indeed write a text for L’Orgue in homage of Tournemire, entitled “L’Homme et L’Oeuvre,” which was published in March, 1940.41
In the summer of 1940, Sainte-Clotilde Basilica reopened. The organ was played during services by Bernard Schulé (1909–1996), an organ student of Joseph Bonnet who was the titular at the British Embassy Church since 1935 and who had substituted at Sainte-Clotilde for Tournemire since fall 1938. Schulé was a close friend of both Norbert Dufourcq and André Marchal.42
In 1941, Bonnal returned to live in Paris, where he was appointed to work with Henri Busser as Inspecteur Général de l’Enseignement Musical à la Direction des Beaux-Arts [General Inspector of Musical Education for the Direction of Fine Arts] throughout France. Dufourcq then organized a competition to determine Tournemire’s successor at Sainte-Clotilde. It was supposed to take place on December 20, 1941, precisely at 1:30 p.m. According to the announcement, the public was invited to attend with free admission; the church was to be heated. The candidates (Jean Langlais, Antoine Reboulot, and Daniel-Lesur) were to improvise a prelude and fugue and the verses of a hymn and to perform a work each by Bach, Franck, and Tournemire. Daniel-Lesur, who was supported by Olivier Messiaen, was hoping to compete. However, this competition was cancelled, due to the fact that many of the possible candidates were held as prisoners or were demobilized in the free zone during the war, thereby preventing them from coming to Paris to officially apply for this post. This was, in any case, Daniel-Lesur’s situation. On December 14, 1941, Norbert Dufourcq wrote a letter to Jean Langlais, informing him that the competition would occur at a later date.43
Then it was decided that an interim organist would be designated at Saint-Clotilde until a competition could be held after the war. When Sainte-Clotilde reopened in February, 1942, Canon Verdrie, the church priest, named Bonnal as titular without a competition, due to his fame as a well-known and respected musician who had been highly recommended by Count Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James. After his nomination to this prestigious post, Bonnal thus became the successor to his lifelong friend and professor, Charles Tournemire.44 According to Bonnal’s daughter Marylis, numerous prominent musicians encouraged him to accept this post (notably Norbert Dufourcq, Béranger de Miramon Fitz-James, André Marchal, Noëlie Pierront, Gaston Poulet, René Calvet). Bonnal rarely remained in Paris since he often traveled throughout France to inspect conservatories. Thankfully, Schulé was able to substitute for him. (See photo 5, page 28.)
Bonnal felt that making music in French conservatories during this tragic time represented a sign of hope for the future. He encouraged students to maintain the following objectives:

D’abord le travail et la discipline dans l’effort: c’est à dire les deux ferments qui forgent, grandissent et trempent les caractères, purifient et annoblissent les ambitions. Ensuite: la recherche constante de la qualité. Songez qu’il ne doit pas vous suffire d’être d’excellents virtuoses possédant de sérieuses qualités techniques, il vous faut devenir d’authentiques musiciens.
La musique vous la découvrirez dans la pratique quotidienne, dans la fréquentation permanente des grands musiciens, des Bach, Mozart et Beethoven, pour n’en citer que trois parmi les plus grands. Vous devez par la méditation fréquente, essayer d’entrer en communion avec l’âme de ces grands humains qui furent de très grands penseurs. N’en jouer, même parfaitement, que le texte musical, c’est n’en connaître que la lettre, mais cela ne suffit pas, il vous faut en rechercher l’Esprit.
Soyez donc très ambitieux spirituellement et vous aurez un jour la surprise de découvrir la musique là où elle se trouve, en son seul domaine qui est celui des mouvements de l’Ame, de la connaissance humaine . . . en un mot: de la poésie!
Je n’ai jamais oublié ce mot admirable que me dit un jour mon cher ami Paul Dukas: “il n’y a pas d’art sans poésie.”45

[First of all, one must work and discipline one’s efforts: this will forge, expand and solidify one’s character, purify and ennoble one’s ambition . . . Constantly search for quality; it’s not enough to be an excellent virtuoso with a serious technique, you must become authentic musicians.
You must daily discover the great musicians: Bach, Mozart and Beethoven, to mention only these three among the greatest. Through frequent meditations, you must try to enter in communion with the souls of these great people who were very great thinkers. It does not suffice to play the musical text perfectly, this only allows you to know the letter; you must look for the Spirit.
Dare therefore to be spiritually ambitious and you will one day be surprised to discover that music belongs to the exclusive field . . . of poetry!
I’ll never forget the admirable words of my dear friend Paul Dukas who told me one day: “There is no art without poetry.”]

During the war, Bonnal took his vacations each August at Saint-Sever (in the Landes). He stayed in the home of Father Binsoll, the priest in Arièle, a nearby village. Each day, Bonnal visited his dear friends Ambroise Dupouy (organist at the Abbatial Church in Saint-Sever since 1840—who was responsible for the installation of its beautiful A. Cavaillé-Coll organ there in 1898—who died at the end of World War II), and his son Jean Dupouy (1896–1965), who succeeded him. Ambroise Dupouy’s daughter Jeanine, born in 1922, took daily lessons with Bonnal and her father. She has testified to Bonnal’s rigorous and severe approach, emphasizing his noble ideas and his meticulous care concerning details of touch, phrasing and fingering.
At the beginning of his summer vacation in 1844, Bonnal gave an organ concert with Jean Etchepare’s Double Vocal Quartet at Saint-André Church in Bayonne on Monday, July 31, 1944 at 3:45 p.m. This may seem like an odd time to give a concert, but this was due to the fact that many of the organ concerts in churches at that time served as an introduction and a conclusion to the exposition and benediction of the Holy Sacrament. Bonnal’s eclectic programs combined classical music with the popular traditional Basque repertory:

J. S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue (in D minor)
C. Franck: First Choral
A Basque Cantique (sung by the Double Vocal Quartet)
C. Franck: Second Choral
E. Bonnal: Joie et Joie for a men’s choir, set to a text by Loÿs Labèque
C. Franck: Third Choral
Improvisation on a given theme (by E. Bonnal)

E. Bonnal: O Salutaris
Josquin des Près: Ave Vera Virginitas
E. Bonnal: Tantum Ergo (in the Basque style) (sung during the exposition and benediction of the Most Holy Sacrament)
To conclude, Bonnal played J. S. Bach’s Chorale on the Veni Creator (most certainly his Fantasia super “Komm heiliger Geist, Herre Gott,” BWV 651).

Following this concert on July 31, Bonnal went to Saint-Sever to rehearse for a “Grand Concert Spirituel” that he was planning to give on Friday, September 8, 1944, at the Abbatial Church there, in collaboration with the Calvet Quartet and the Parish Schola directed by the organist Jean Dupouy. The proposed program:

I.
J. S. Bach: Toccata and Fugue (in D minor)

II.
N. de Grigny: Trio en dialogue
F. Couperin: Sarabande grave
N. Clérambault: Dialogue du 1er Ton
Cl. Balbastre: Noël (“Joseph est bien marié”)

III.
Händel: Sonata (in D major) for organ and violin (with Joseph Calvet)

IV.
E. Bonnal: Paysage landais
Noël landais
Improvisation (on a given theme)

V.
Maurice Ravel: Quatuor (played by the Calvet Quartet during the exposition and benediction of the Holy Sacrament)
At the end, Bonnal had programmed C. Franck’s Final.

During his visits to rehearse in Saint-Sever, the following photo was taken (See photo 6).
Unfortunately, Bonnal’s deteriorating health, due to his many personal sacrifices and concerns during the war, provoked a stroke that led to his death in Bordeaux, on August 14, 1944. This occurred just two and a half years after his appointment to Sainte-Clotilde46 and only twelve days after Joseph Bonnet’s own death.47 In the midst of the liberation of Paris, Bonnal’s daughter Marylis learned about her father’s death while listening to the radio! During this difficult time, Bonnal was buried in Bordeaux.
In 1945, Bonnal’s wife Hélène moved with her young children to Anglet. She survived, thanks to the generosity of an American organist, Mr. MacEvans, who was an officer in the American Army. He also directed a choir at the American University in Biarritz. To this day, Bonnal’s family is still extremely grateful for Mr. MacEvans’ kindness. In addition, André Marchal gave several benefit concerts for Bonnal’s family. On September 18, 1949, at Saint-André Church in Bayonne, with the singer Madame Malnory-Marsillac, the program included works by Bach, Couperin, Franck, Tournemire, and Bonnal (the second movement of his “Media Vita” Symphony). On May 15, 1952, Marchal performed another concert on the Saint-André organ in Bayonne, in Bonnal’s memory, with commentaries by Norbert Dufourcq, for the Jeunesses Musicales de France. This group was highly promoted in the Basque region by Bonnal’s very close friend, Joseph Calvet. Marchal’s eclectic program displayed the various tonal colors of this organ:

Louis Couperin - Chaconne in G minor
François Couperin – “Kyrie,” 5 verses from the Mass for the Parishes
J. S. Bach – Chorale: Christ lag in Todesbanden
C. Franck – Prélude, Fugue et Variation
Louis Vierne – “Final” from the First Symphony.
In 1975, Ermend Bonnal’s body was transported from Bordeaux to the Arcangues cemetery, in the Pyrenees mountains, an area he loved dearly. For this occasion, Henri Sauguet rendered homage to Bonnal’s positive inspiration on his own personal career as well as his contribution to 20th-century French music. Sauguet evoked Francis Jammes’ poem written in homage to Ermend Bonnal:

Taillé dans le dur bois d’un chêne harmonieux,
Ton pur profil, Bonnal, se confond avec l’orgue;
Mais de nous déchiffrer le silence des cieux
Ne te remplis jamais de vile et sotte morgue.
Comme aux astres, le jour, voilés par leur pudeur,
L’ombre est ce qui convient à ta noble carrière.
Ah! que tombe la nuit, et toute ta splendeur
Saura la consteller de notes de lumières.

[Carved in the hard wood of a harmonious oak tree,
Your pure profile, Bonnal, is merged with the organ;
But we must fathom the silence of the heavens
Which never fills you with a vile and foolish arrogance.
Like the stars, during the day, veiled by their modesty,
Darkness is most suitable to your noble career.
Ah! May the night fall, and all of your splendor
Will spangle it with enlightened notes.]

Conclusion
Joseph Ermend Bonnal belonged to a generation of artists from Bordeaux who possessed a high degree of moral perfection in their art and in their personal lives. They all shared a common, spiritual artistic vision, devoid of material ambitions, only desiring to serve music with deep, devoted love and passion. Inspired by the renewal of both traditional and early music, Bonnal formed numerous musical societies to promote this repertory. He left us an important heritage of deeply poetical pieces inspired by the rich culture of the Basque region. The intact organ at Saint-André Church in Bayonne testifies to his adherence to the French Neo-Classical organ. A prominent composer, music educator and administrator, a first-rate improviser and performer, Bonnal was indeed a dignified successor to his master and friend, Charles Tournemire, as titular organist at the Sainte-Clotilde Basilica in Paris. Bonnal served his art with humility. In spite of the numerous obstacles he encountered during his lifetime, Bonnal’s noble aspirations, along with the faithful support of his friends, enabled him to pursue his ongoing quest for perfection.

Acknowledgements
Carolyn Shuster Fournier warmly expresses her gratitude to: Mayette Bonnal, François and Marylis Raoul-Duval (members of Bonnal’s family), Madame Catherine Massip and Madame Vallet-Collot of the Bibliothèque nationale de France, Cécile Auzolle, Madame Marie-Françoise Romaine Brown-Bonnet, Aurélie Decourt, Madame Janine Dupouy, Brigitte de Leersnyder, Jacqueline Englert-Marchal, Adolphine and François Marchal, Yannick Merlin, Etienne Rousseau-Plotto Marie-Christine Ugo-Lhôte, and to the Ruth and Clarence Mader Memorial Scholarship Fund for its grant in 2006.