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Intercultural Elements in the Organ Works of Fela Sowande

Godwin Sadoh

Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian organist, composer, pianist, choral conductor, ethnomusicologist, and author of 12 books.  His compositions have been performed around the world. Sadoh has taught at the University of Pittsburgh, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and the Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria. He is presently professor of music and LEADS Scholar at the National Universities Commission in Abuja, Nigeria.

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Experts in the field of intercultural musicology have propounded various definitions of interculturalism. Akin Euba describes music in which elements from two or more cultures interact as intercultural music,1 as when materials from diverse cultures are combined into a single contemporary composition. J. H. Kwabena Nketia defines interculturalism as the “process of identifying with or sharing in the heritage of other cultures with a view to broadening one’s cultural horizon or one’s capacity to understand and appreciate differences in modes of expression.”2 Nketia’s explanation examines the possibilities and challenges associated with modern African compositions. Afolabi Alaja-Browne expounds on the concept from a Nigerian point of view. He stresses that “art” and “intercultural” are synonymous. Modern Nigerian composers look to written and orally transmitted music for creative ideas, sources of sounds, and themes, as well as procedures to expand their modes of artistic expression. Alaja-Browne upholds the view that assimilation of foreign idioms constitutes a good source of inspiration.3 Joy Nwosu Lo-Bamijoko, a Nigerian operatic singer and ethnomusicologist, approaches the intercultural phenomenon in terms of social change in the Igbo community, one of the six geo-political groups in Nigeria. She addresses the dilemma of Nigerian societies torn between new cultural expressions of cosmopolitan cities and traditional values of the villages.4 This writer defines intercultural music as the interplay of diverse cultural idioms in a creative work.

Fela Sowande, as a composer and a performer, is rooted in three major continents: Africa (Nigeria), Europe (London), and North America (African-American). Sowande lived, studied, and worked in this tripartite cultural milieu. He was raised in a bicultural topography in Nigeria where the Yoruba traditional culture and English cultural values co-existed. This was a true reflection of post-colonial Nigeria—the fusion of two diverse worlds. The British colonization and Christian missions introduced Western cultural systems, including the English language, to Nigeria from the mid-nineteenth century. Consequently, Nigerians are raised bicultural from childhood to adulthood. Today, multiculturalism permeates every aspect of Nigerian society: dress, food, education, language, architecture, religion, art, music, sports, broadcasting, business, politics, and socio-cultural life. 

Through several years of musical studies and concert performances in Great Britain, Sowande was thoroughly grounded in European classical music. He arrived in the United States in the 1960s, at the peak of civil rights activities, black consciousness, Afro-centric idealism, and black renaissance. Sowande’s contribution to the prevailing ideologies at the time was two-fold: (1) he borrowed several African-American spirituals and incorporated them into his music compositions, as a sign of alignment with the black race in America; (2) he was very instrumental in pioneering the establishment of African Studies programs at various institutions in the United States. Sowande wrote and presented several scholarly papers on the Africanization of Black Studies in the United States. Such papers were read at Howard University, Oberlin College, and Kent State University. Therefore, Sowande could not refrain from the influence of these three major cultures in his organ compositions. This essay is specifically written to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the death of Fela Sowande, March 13, 1987, at a nursing home in Ravenna, Ohio.

 

Short biography

Fela Sowande was born in Abeokuta, Ogun State, in southwest Nigeria, on May 29, 1905. He represents the second generation of Nigerian composers. He grew up in a musical home; his father, Emmanuel Sowande, was both an Anglican priest and church musician. Sowande received his early musical training from his father and Thomas Ekundayo Phillips (1884–1969). He served as a choirboy and assistant organist under Ekundayo Phillips for several years at the renowned Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos. At age 27, Sowande decided to become a civil engineer and travelled to England in 1935 to pursue his dream. Six months into the program, he changed his mind and decided to study music because he could not afford to pay the tuition for civil engineering.5 At this point, his only means of livelihood was playing jazz at London nightclubs. Sowande later enrolled as an external candidate at the University of London and received private lessons in organ playing from George Oldroyd and George Cunningham. On January 3, 1943, he received the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), the highest British diploma awarded for organ playing. This feat distinguished him as the first African to earn the coveted lofty diploma.6 Sowande briefly returned to Nigeria in the 1950s to work at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria), the University of Ibadan, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.7 Sowande was appointed professor of musicology at the Institute of African Studies, University of Ibadan, serving from 1965 to 1968.8

Sowande immigrated to the United States in the 1960s, where he spent the last two decades of his life as an African musicologist teaching at such institutions as Northwestern University, Howard University, the University of Pittsburgh, and Kent State University, Ohio, his last place of work as tenured professor. Sowande composed for almost the entire spectrum of musical genres—vocal solo, choral, piano, organ, and orchestra. His most well-known works include African Suite for String Orchestra, Folk Symphony for Orchestra, Roll De Ol’ Chariot for SATBB choir, and Wheel, Oh Wheel for SATB choir. Sowande is best known for his well-written organ compositions—Jesu Olugbala, Go Down Moses, Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, Oyigiyigi, Gloria, Kyrie, Obangiji, Prayer, Yoruba Lament, K’a Mura, and Sacred Idioms of the Negro. It was during Sowande’s era that concert music was introduced to the Nigerian classical music circle. His chamber, orchestra, piano, and vocal songs are mostly secular, intended for performance at concert halls and auditoriums in Nigerian colleges and universities. Prior to his time, his music compositions were sacred, and their performance was restricted to the church. 

 

Multicultural themes

The organ works of Fela Sowande are based on thematic materials from the Yoruba ethnic group of Nigeria and the African-American musical repertory, particularly spirituals. Most of his compositions for organ use indigenous Yoruba church hymn tunes and Yoruba folk songs. This creative procedure enhances the Nigerian flavor in the music and compartmentalizes the pieces within the framework of modern Nigerian art music. 

In three organ pieces, Sowande employed African-American spirituals as principal themes. Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho is based on a spiritual. The work is a lively piece characterized by syncopated rhythms as found in many African-American spirituals. The melody bounces between the right and left hands and the pedal. Go Down Moses is another piece built on an African-American spiritual. The sustained moderate tempo of this piece lends it to the depiction of the commanding voice of God to Moses in Egypt. The piece fluctuates among diverse tempo markings showcasing the various stages of Moses’ mission before Pharaoh the king and the children of Israel. The brilliant fortissimo closure of the piece and the final introduction of the Picardy third in the last five measures signify the victorious exodus of the Israelites from Egypt into the Promised Land.

Bury Me Eas’ or Wes’ (from Sacred Idioms of the Negro) is the third and last organ work derived from a black spiritual. It is a short piece characterized by homophonic texture and chromatic passages. It opens very quietly and gradually adds stops and more notes to build intensity. It finally climaxes to fff in the last three measures. The title of the entire collection, Sacred Idioms of the Negro, even has an affinity with the African-American culture and the acceptable lingual parlance of the era. The title reflects the spirituality of the Black race in America where the church became a place of worship, refuge, solace, hope, and socialization for people of color. Bury Me Eas’ or Wes’ can be regarded as an “organ requiem.” The character, mood, tempo, and overall framework of the piece make it suitable for a funeral ambiance. This author strongly believes that Sowande specifically wrote the piece for his own burial, since he particularly requested for it to be played at his funeral service. The title connotes a global dogma that rightly sums up Sowande as a multicultural, multilingual, and multimusical man. He was making a universal statement with this music. In other words, whether you bury him in the East (Africa) or in the West (Europe and America), he is comfortably at home, having spent most of his treacherous life on the three continents. Therefore, Bury Me Eas’ or Wes’ symbolizes musical and cultural unanimity.

 

Bilingualism

Some of the titles of Sowande’s organ compositions are bilingual. The titles are in English and Yoruba language. Prayer (Oba A Ba Ke), Oyigiyigi: Introduction, Theme, and Variations on a Yoruba Folk Theme, and Yoruba Lament are representative of works in this category. Sowande often provides the translation of the Yoruba titles on the cover page of the music or in the composer’s notes. In the case of Prayer, the subtitle in parentheses is actually the title of the Yoruba melody used in the composition. Oyigi-yigi is also the title of the Yoruba Christian hymn tune employed in the work. The title of Yoruba Lament is symbolic in two ways: (1) the first part consists of Yoruba, the Nigerian language, while the second half, the Lament, is in English; (2) the texture, tempo, mood, as well as nuances of the piece are influenced and dictated by the title “lament.” 

Yoruba Lament was composed in the 1950s at the very peak of the nationalist movement in Nigeria; this movement advocated for the country’s emancipation from colonial hegemony. The struggle for the nation’s autonomy as well as its cultural renaissance began in the mid 1940s and lasted until the independence of Nigeria in 1960. It was the period in which Nigerian elite united to revive the traditional values and culture of the nation from the European imperialism that was prevalent at the time. Nigerian playwrights, poets, sculptors, fine artists, dramatists, theater artists, and musicians all embarked on a massive campaign for the revival and incorporation of materials from their indigenous culture into their works. It was during this period that Hubert Ogunde, popularly known as “the father of Nigerian contemporary Yoruba theater,” wrote several folk operas and plays based on Nigerian legends, myths, politics, socio-cultural life, traditional dances, rituals, festivals, and traditional musical styles. Ogunde captioned one of his Yoruba operas at this crucial time, Yoruba Ronu (Yoruba, Think). In this play, he urged the Nigerian populace to think about their sorry state of external domination by the British and urged them to fight for the revival of their cultural heritage.9

One of Sowande’s contributions to the independence of Nigeria in the 1950s was his organ composition Yoruba Lament. It is indeed imperative to note how Ogunde uses his theatrical talent to speak to Nigerians and how Sowande uses his musical compositions to address the same issue. Furthermore, it is of interest to observe titles given to Sowande’s organ works created on Nigerian themes in Yoruba and English languages, while titles given to works derived from African-American melodies are simply in English. The combination of Yoruba and English in the Nigerian-themed pieces reflects the bilingual nature of Nigerian society, while the use of only English in the works based on African-American spirituals could be thought of as an extension of the monolithic language prevalent in America. Therefore, the idea of bilingualism in Sowande’s organ works is a vivid reflection of post-colonial Nigeria.

 

European traits

Other forms of interculturalism in the music of Fela Sowande are the use of Western harmonic systems and the pipe organ, a European instrument. The organ works of Sowande are strictly based on Western functional harmony, tonal centers with specific keys, and nineteenth-century chromatic harmony. There is evidence of tonal shifting from one key to another in most of his pieces. Modulation is not found in Nigerian traditional music, so it is a Western imprint on his music. However, Sowande did not employ any of the early twentieth-century pitch collections, such as twelve-tone method, octatonic scale, and atonality in his organ compositions. Such contemporary techniques are to be found in the organ works of Ayo Bankole (1935–1976), a generation after Sowande’s era. Although Sowande uses mainly a European style of tonality in his works, he borrowed specific Yoruba rhythms and incorporated them into his music.

At this point, we may then ask, why did Sowande write solo pieces for organ? He was brought up in a Christian home and sang in the best Protestant church choir in Nigeria, which of course had the best pipe organ in the entire country. Sowande received organ lessons from a very tender age at the Cathedral Church of Christ in Lagos. In addition, Sowande observed Thomas Ekundayo Phillips accompanying the cathedral choir and congregation, and saw him playing organ recitals at various churches in Lagos. Apparently, all these exposures to the organ enthralled Sowande and served as a source of inspiration and creative imagination for him. The organ became his most beloved instrument and the best medium for him to express himself as a creative artist.

 

Performances in many nations

Fela Sowande was the most celebrated composer from the continent of Africa in the 20th century. Most of his compositions—ranging from vocal solos, duets, choral songs, arrangements of spirituals, piano pieces, organ pieces, chamber music, and symphonic works—have been performed and recorded all over the world. Recordings of his music are neatly stacked on the shelves of university libraries and archival centers globally. The organ, being his first musical instrument, compelled him to compose a substantial number of works for that instrument. Those masterworks have attracted the attention of organists around the world, who play them during services and at concerts. Hence, we can affirm that his organ compositions are the most popular of all his creative output.

Ronald Mackay played Sowande’s Pastourelle a number of times in the United States in the 1960s. The New Zealand and Australian Broadcasting Corporation used to play Sowande’s Pastourelle for morning devotion on a daily basis. John Craven, a British citizen currently residing in Nice, France, is an organist at the Reformed Church Cathedral, Saint Pierre d’Arène. He played Obangiji, Go Down Moses, and Yoruba Lament from 1964 onwards. He played all three pieces again in June 2010 and Go Down Moses in November 2010, as well as in April 2015. He also played Obangiji and Kyrie in June 2015. Craven has been playing Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho in the past five years. Ronald George Baltimore has been playing Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho since the 1970s from his student days in a recital, at Westminster Choir College, Princeton, New Jersey. Marvin Hills, a native of Philadelphia, played Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, first in 1976, at Tindley Temple United Methodist Church, Philadelphia. He has also played Obangiji and Yoruba Lament at various places from the 1990s to present time. H. L. Smith, from New York, with roots in Manchester, United Kingdom, has often played Obangiji. He teaches organ and piano at Community College of Philadelphia. 

Nigerian organist Akin-Ajayi Oluwaseun Collins played Jesu Olugbala Mo F’Ori Fun, Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, and Prayer at Bishop Odutola Memorial Anglican Church, Olubadan Housing Estate, Ibadan, southwest, Nigeria. On May 3, 1987, at the memorial service of Fela Sowande that took place at St. James Episcopal Church, New York, his personal friend Eugene Hancock played Bury Me Eas’ or Wes’ as Sowande had requested. Godwin Sadoh played Jubilate from the Sacred Idioms of the Negro at his second master’s organ recital at Kimball Recital Hall, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, on April 27, 2000. Monty Bennett played Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho in a special concert tagged “Around the World in 80 Minutes,” at Friendship Missionary Baptist Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, on October 17, 2010. He replayed the piece at an organ dedication concert of White Rock Baptist Church, Fayetteville, North Carolina, on October 22, 2015. To round up his recital series in 2016, Bennett played Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho again at Resurrection Parish Church, Santa Rosa, California, on October 30, 2016. 

Monty Bennett performed the Middle Eastern premiere of Fela Sowande’s Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho on February 24, 2017, during the Israel International Organ Festival at the Hecht Museum Auditorium, Haifa University, Israel.

Perhaps the most ambitious and elaborate performance project of Fela Sowande’s organ compositions took place between April 3 and September 18, 2016, programmed by Italian concert organist Luca Massaglia. He performed Sowande’s Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho in 12 European concerts. Sowande’s music sounded across Russia, from Western Russia to Eastern Siberia, passing from Tatarstan Republic. The concerts took place in three European nations, Russia, Sweden, and France, as shown in the schedule below:

1. April 3: Kursk (Russia) Roman Catholic Church of the Assumption of the Mother of God. 

2. April 10: Moscow (Russia) Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception of the Holy Virgin Mary. 

3. April 12: Saratov (Russia) Concert Hall of the “Leonid Sobinov” State Conservatory. 

4. April 13: Penza (Russia) Organ Hall of the Philharmonic Society. 

5. April 14: Dubna (Russia) Concert Hall of the Choir School. 

6. April 18: Naberezhnye Chelny (Russia) Organ Hall. 

7. April 19: Kazan (Russia) Concert Hall of the “Nazib Zhiganov” State Conservatory. 

8. April 22: Tomsk (Russia) Concert Hall of the Philharmonic Society. 

9. April 23: Krasnoyarsk (Russia) Organ Hall of the Philharmonic Society, 1st concert. 

10. April 24: Krasnoyarsk (Russia) Organ Hall of the Philharmonic Society, 2nd concert. 

11. July 4: Cathedral Lund (Sweden). 

12. September 18: Eglise Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet Paris (France). Lund Cathedral hosts the largest organ of Sweden. 

 

Conclusion

Intercultural elements in the organ compositions of Fela Sowande elucidate the impact of colonization, the Christian church and education, as well as the composer’s experiences in three major cultures where he lived, studied, worked, composed, and performed. Suffice it to say that composers tend to be influenced and informed creatively by their socio-musical milieu.10 The selected works of Sowande in this essay are derivations of indigenous source materials from Nigeria and African-American spirituals. The themes of the former are taken from Nigerian folksongs and indigenous hymn tunes composed by local organists and choirmasters. Works such as Oyigiyigi, Obangiji, K’a Mura, Jesu Olugbala, and Prayer are all infused with Nigerian melodies. Sowande’s concept of derivative materials is much broader than some of the younger generations of Nigerian composers, in that his themes reflect both African and African-American idiomatic expressions as demonstrated in his arrangements of black spirituals in Bury Me Eas’ or Wes,’ Go Down Moses, and Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho

Fela Sowande, like most modern Nigerian composers such as Thomas Ekundayo Phillips, Ayo Bankole, Samuel Akpabot, Adam Fiberesima, Antony Mereni, Meki Nzewi, Joshua Uzoigwe, Godwin Sadoh, Seun Owoaje, Alaba Ilesanmi, Kayode Morohunfola, Vincent Obi, Abel Adeleke, Tunji Dada, Taiye Adeola, Wole Aro, Christian Onyenji, Chijioke Ngobili, Jude Osy Nwankwo, Babatunde Sosan, and Ebenezer Omole, is a modern interculturalist. Sowande’s commingling of Nigerian musical elements, African-American themes, and Western classical theories justifies his organ compositions as intercultural. In this regard, intercultural phenomena could be conceptualized from two perspectives: (1) the composer, a Nigerian, writing in Western classical style, and (2) the intermixture of three cultural expressions—Nigerian, African-American, and European. ν

 

Fela Sowande’s compositions for organ

K’a Mura. London: Chappell, 1945.

Pastourelle. London: Chappell, 1952.

Obangiji. London: Chappell, 1955.

Kyrie. London: Chappell, 1955.

Yoruba Lament. London: Chappell, 1955.

Jesu Olugbala. London: Novello, 1955.

Choral Preludes on Yoruba Sacred Melodies. London: Novello, n.d..

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho. London: Chappell, 1955.

Go Down Moses. London: Chappell, 1955.

Plainsong. London: Chappell, n.d.

Fantasia in D. London: Chappell, n.d.

Festival March. London: Chappell, n.d.

Oyigiyigi: Introduction, Theme and Variations. New York: Ricordi, 1958.

Gloria. New York: Ricordi, 1958.

Prayer (Oba a Ba Ke). New York: Ricordi, 1958.

K’a Mo Rokoso (unpublished manuscript).

Sacred Idioms of the Negro (unpublished manuscript).

 

Discography of organ works

Jubilate, Eugene W. Hancock. American Guild of Organists 0-51, audio cassette (1992).

Prayer, James Kibbie. Organ Historical Society OHS-95 CD. Collection title: Historic Organs of Michigan (1995).

Obangiji, David Hurd. Minnesota Public Radio MPR CD-1003 (2000). Collection title: Pipedreams Premieres: A Collection of Music for the King of Instruments, vol. 2 (2000).

Fantasy in D Major, Festival March, Gloria, Go Down Moses, Nancy Cooper. Richard L. Bond Op. 27, Holy Spirit Episcopal Church, Missoula, Montana. Pro Organo CD 7139 (2000).

Yoruba Lament, Lucius Weathersby. Albany TROY440, CD. Collection title: Spiritual Fantasy (2001).

Go Down Moses, Nancy Cooper. Pro Organo CD 7139 (2001), CD. Collection title: The Road Less Traveled (2002).

Obangiji, Brent Weaver. Pipedreams Premiere, Volume 2. Minnesota Public Radio, 2003.

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, Lucius Weathersby. Great Torrington Parish Church, Father Willis organ; CD IX/27. International Society—African to American Music (2003). 

Oyígìyigi: Introduction, Theme and Variations on a Yorùbá Folk Theme, Pastourelle, Lucius Weathersby. Great Torrington Parish Church, Father Willis organ; CD IX/27. International Society—African to American Music (2003).

Jubilate, Laudamus Te, K’a mó Rókósó, Kyrie, Òbángíjì, Eugene Hancock. n.p. CD.

K’a Mura, Michael Stewart. New Zealand, n.p., CD.

Plainsong, Prayer: Oba a ba ke, Two Preludes on Yorùbá Sacred Melodies (1. K’a múra. 2. Jésù Olugbàlà), Sacred Idioms of the Negro (1. Bury me eas’ or wes’; 2. Laudamus te; 3. Vesper; 4. Supplication; 5. Via dolorosa; Jubilate), Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, Kyrie, Yorùbá lament, Obángíji, Hans Uwe Hielscher. 1863–1982 Walker/Sauer/Oberlinger 4-116, Wiesbaden, Merktkirche; EL CD-016.

 

Notes

1. Akin Euba, Essays on Music in Africa 2: Intercultural Perspectives (Bayreuth: Bayreuth African Studies Series, 1989), 116.

2. Cynthia Tse Kimberlin and Akin Euba (eds.), Intercultural Music Volume 1 (Bayreuth: Eckhard Breitinger, 1995), 6.

3. Afolabi Alaja-Browne, quoted in Kimberlin and Euba, 6.

4. Kimberlin and Euba, 9.

5. A little over two decades after Fela Sowande changed his mind from civil engineering to study music, another fellow Nigerian, bearing similar first name, Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, repeated history. Fela Kuti, born on October 15, 1938, was sent to England in 1958 by his middle-class Christian family to study medicine. Upon arrival, Fela changed his mind and went on to enroll at Trinity College of Music, London. Coincidentally, the two Felas were born in the same town, Abeokuta, Ogun State, and their fathers were both Anglican priests.

  6. Godwin Sadoh, The Organ Works of Fela Sowande: Cultural Perspectives (Bloomington, Indiana: iUniverse Publishing, 2007), 25–26.

  7. The Department of Music at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, was named after Fela Sowande for his extraordinary contributions to Nigerian music.

8. Sadoh, 47.

9. Ebun Clark, Hubert Ogunde: The Making of a Nigerian Theater (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1979), 61-62.

10. For further reading on Fela Sowande’s life and music, see Sadoh.

Related Content

Fela Sowande: The Legacy of a Nigerian Music Legend

Godwin Sadoh

<p>Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian church musician, composer,
pianist, organist/choral conductor and ethnomusicologist. He received his
Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance and composition from
Louisiana State University in May 2004, making him the first African to earn
the DMA degree in organ performance from any institution. His extensive
research on Nigerian church music, organ building, composers, African art
music, and intercultural musicology is published in The Diapason, The Hymn, The
Organ, Composer-USA, Living Music, Africa, Organ Encyclopedia, and Contemporary
Africa Database. His organ and choral works, as well as hymn book, E Korin
S'Oluwa: Fifty Indigenous Church Hymns from Nigeria, are published by Wayne
Leupold Editions. Sadoh's book, The Organ Works of Fela Sowande: Cultural
Perspectives (New York: Zimbel Press, 2005), will be in print in spring 2006.</p>

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Fela Sowande's (1905-1987) centenary is being celebrated all around the
world with various types of music festivals in 2005. He was born one hundred
years ago into a musical family in Lagos, Nigeria. Although Sowande belongs to
the second generation of Nigerian composers, he can be regarded as the father
of modern African art music. The first generation of Nigerian composers comprised
mainly church musicians who wrote mostly hymns and choral pieces for worship.
It was Sowande who expanded Nigerian art music from the church arena to public
concert auditorium. He introduced art songs for voice and piano, sacred and
secular choral pieces as well as orchestra works to the repertoire of Nigerian
modern art music.

Sowande is also the father of the 'Nigerian organ school' because he
propelled the musical genre to an unprecedented height through his extensive
compositions and publications for the organ. There has never been any Nigerian
composer who has written such a significant body of organ works as Sowande. His
compositions for organ outnumbered his works for other genres. Today, Sowande
is the most celebrated Nigerian musician of international repute with his
career covering areas of music education, composition, performance, research,
broadcasting, as well as traditional religious practices.

Compositions

Fela Sowande composed for almost all the music media: voices and piano/organ
accompaniment, organ, and orchestra. He wrote three major works for orchestra:
Four Sketches
for full orchestra (1953), African
Suite
for string orchestra (1955), and the Folk
Symphony
for full orchestra (1960). The
three works utilize Western conventional harmony, tonality, form, and
instrumentation. Elements of African traditional music in these pieces are
limited to the use of indigenous folksongs, ostinati, and selected Yoruba
rhythmic patterns. The
Folk Symphony
is based on Yoruba melodies from Nigeria, while the African Suite is based on
melodies from both Nigeria and Ghana.

Sowande wrote several choral pieces of which the most popular in Nigeria are
Oh Render Thanks
for SATB and organ,
Roll De Ol’ Chariot
for SATBB and piano, Wheel,
Oh Wheel 

style='font-style:normal'>for SATB, and
The Wedding Song
style='font-style:normal'> for SSA and piano.
Oh Render Thanks
style='font-style:normal'>is a hymn anthem whose texts are derived from hymns
552 and 554 of the British Hymnal Companion. Sowande composed an original
melody for the combined five verses, which are clearly separated with organ
interludes. The first and the last verses are in full unison, while the second
and fourth verses are in four-part harmony. Verse three is a duet for double
tenor and double bass voices.
Roll De Ol’ Chariot
style='font-style:normal'>and
Wheel, Oh Wheel
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 
are
both based on African-American spirituals.
Wheel, Oh Wheel
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 
is
a cappella and characterized by highly syncopated rhythms. The Wedding Song is
written for two sopranos, alto and piano accompaniment. The melody is borrowed
from a popular Yoruba wedding song with syncopated rhythms. The piano part
supplies a dance rhythm accompaniment to the vocal line. Structurally, the song
is divided into two parts. The opening section is a solo by the bride bragging
about the good qualities of the man of her dream. The second section is a
chorus for three vocal parts (SSA) in which the friends of the bride sing a
song of joy, adoration, and encouragement on her wedding day. Sowande's choral
works are generally characterized by vibrant lively tempos.

Sowande composed seventeen major works for organ. These pieces may be
broadly divided into three main categories for functional purposes in the
church: liturgical pieces, preludes and postludes, and concert pieces. Some of
these works could be placed in more than one group due to their stylistic
characteristics. Fantasia in D, Festival March, Plainsong
style='font-style:normal'>, and
Choral Preludes on Yoruba Sacred
Melodies
are not included in this
classification because the scores were not available to me at the time of
writing this essay.

Liturgical Pieces

There are nine organ works that are suitable for divine services, either for
the offertory, communion or any meditative aspect of worship. The contemplative
elements in these pieces include slow tempo, short duration, and simplicity.
The thematic materials of these works are mainly borrowed indigenous hymn tunes
from Nigeria and African-American spirituals; this aspect makes them more
appropriate for playing within worship.

The pieces are:

1. K'a Mura. London: Chappell, 1945.

2. Pastourelle. London: Chappell, 1952.

3. Yoruba Lament. London: Chappell, 1955.

4. Kyrie. London: Chappell, 1955.

5. K'a Mo Rokoso (unpublished score).

6. Supplication (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

7. Via Dolorosa (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

8. Bury Me Eas' or Wes' (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the
Negro
).

9. Vesper (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

Preludes and Postludes

Six pieces fall within this category and are generally characterized by
moderate or lively tempos, and are of moderate difficulty. These pieces are
loud, moderate in length, sectional, and are mostly based on sacred themes from
the Yoruba church hymns and folksongs, as well as African-American spirituals.
They include:

1. Yoruba Lament. London: Chappell, 1955.

2. Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho. London: Chappell, 1955.

3. Obangiji. London: Chappell, 1955.

4. Prayer (Oba A Ba Ke). New York: Ricordi, 1958.

5. Supplication (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

6. Jubilate (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

Concert Pieces

Sowande wrote most of his organ works for concert performances. Ten pieces
are in this category. These pieces are vividly distinct from others because of
the high level of difficulty, and they are virtuosic, showing the technical
ability of the performer. These are large multi-sectional works, loud and
lively. The thematic materials are derived from Nigerian folksongs,
African-American spirituals and also hymn tunes composed by local organists and
choirmasters. Some compositional forms include fugue, three-part form, and
theme and variations. The titles are listed below:

1. Jesu Olugbala. London: Novello, 1955.

2. Kyrie. London: Chappell, 1955.

3. Joshua Fit De Battle of Jericho. London: Chappell, 1955.

4. Obangiji. London: Chappell, 1955.

5. Go Down Moses. London: Chappell, 1955.

6. Oyigiyigi: Introduction, Theme and Variations. New York: Ricordi, 1958.

7. Gloria. New York: Ricordi, 1958.

8. Prayer (Oba A Ba Ke). New York: Ricordi, 1958.

9. Laudamus Te (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>).

10. Jubilate (unpublished score from Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'>). 

Yoruba Culture

Fela Sowande belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group of southwest Nigeria;
therefore, it should not be surprising to see elements of Yoruba music permeate
his compositions. Most of Sowande's works are based on melodies borrowed either
from Yoruba indigenous Christian songs or Yoruba folksongs. Some of the songs
are quoted verbatim, while others are slightly modified or varied. In any case,
his Yoruba audience in Nigeria has always been able to identify and relate to
the borrowed songs during concert performances. Indigenous rhythms featured in
Sowande's music are either ostinati or selected Yoruba rhythmic patterns such
as the popular konkonkolo rhythm (also
known as the West African time line) as exemplified in
Laudamus Te
style='font-style:normal'> (from
Sacred Idioms of the Negro
style='font-style:normal'> for organ). Most of the melodies employed in
Sowande's music are based on the five-note pentatonic scale commonly found in
Yoruba traditional songs.

The titles given to Sowande's compositions express symbolic and imaginary
ideas. The titles of his music have been influenced by the titles of the Yoruba
folksongs and indigenous hymn tunes employed in creating the music. His
experience in Yoruba folklore and mythology enhanced the shaping of the form
and character of the pieces. For instance, Obangiji, the title of one of his
organ works, is festive music meant to praise God the Almighty. Both the title
of the organ work and the original melody convey the same message--singing the
praise of God. Hence, the title informed the nature and character of the music.
In Via Dolorosa, from Sacred Idioms of the Negro, the composer paints the picture of the suffering and death of Christ
on Good Friday. The piece is based on a Yoruba Christian hymn normally sung on
Good Friday services at Yoruba churches in Nigeria. Sowande captures the
painful death of Christ with the expression mark at the beginning of the piece,
Lento con dolore, and the use of excessive chromatic passages on the manuals
and pedals.

Interculturalism

Three cultural groups played a major role in the life and music of Fela
Sowande: [1] the African/Yoruba cultural heritage from Nigeria, [2] European,
and [3] African-American cultures. Sowande was nurtured and brought up in these
cultures. He began his musical training in Nigeria as a choir boy and organist
apprentice at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, under the tutelage of
Thomas Ekundayo Phillips, and later went on to Great Britain to study music. He
was more of a university professor, performer and researcher in the United
States of America, where he spent the last thirty years of his life. Moreover,
Sowande was raised in a bicultural environment in Nigeria, where the Yoruba
traditional culture and English cultural values coexisted. Therefore, it should
not be surprising to witness the influence of indigenous African and foreign
cultures on Sowande's music.

It is interesting to observe that Sowande gives bilingual titles to some of
his compositions in English and Yoruba languages. For instance, Prayer (Oba
A Ba Ke)
and Oyigiyigi:
Introduction, Theme and Variations on a Yoruba Folk Theme

style='font-style:normal'> for organ are representative of works in this
category. For those pieces based on Yoruba songs, Sowande often writes out the
Yoruba text of the song with its English translation in the composer's notes to
the music. In these compositions, we see the interactions of two major
languages. Another source of interculturalism in Sowande's music is the idea of
borrowing preexisting melodies from Yoruba culture in Nigeria, from Ghanaian
music, and from African-American spirituals. Melodies from Nigeria are present
in all his compositional genres, while a Ghanaian song is incorporated into his
African Suite. African-American
spirituals are employed mainly in his solo art songs, choral pieces and organ
works. Elements of Western classical music are vividly manifest in his choice
of tonality, 19th-century chromaticism, form, and instrumentation.

Nationalism

The wave of nationalism or cultural renaissance in Nigeria began in the mid
1940s and lasted until the independence of the nation from colonial governance
in 1960. This was a period in which the Nigerian elite united to revive the
traditional values and culture of Nigeria over the European imperialism that
was prevalent at the time. Indigenous playwrights, poets, dramatists, theater
artists, sculptors, fine artists, as well as musicians all embarked on a
massive campaign and incorporation of materials from their indigenous culture
into their works.

Hubert Ogunde, popularly known as the father of Nigerian 'Contemporary
Yoruba Theatre' wrote several operas and plays based on Nigerian legends,
myths, politics, socio/cultural life, dances, rituals, festivals, and
traditional musical styles. It is of interest to note that Fela Sowande started
composing major musical works around this period even though he did not return
to Nigeria until the early 1950s. Sowande's contribution to the Nationalist
Movement could be observed in his use of Yoruba traditional songs (either
sacred or secular), rhythms, and the titles given to his music. He was
commissioned by the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation to compose the Folk
Symphony
for the 1960 Independence Day
Anniversary, although it was not accepted for performance. The work was later
premiered by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra at Carnegie Hall in 1962. This
was also the period in which Sowande embarked on intensive research on Nigerian
traditional music as well as Yoruba folklore for the purpose of dissemination
through the radio system, documentation in books and archives for further use,
and as source materials for his compositions. He used the resulting materials
from his field research to enlighten the Nigerian populace about their own
culture that was being aggressively eroded by Western traditions and values.

Music Scholarship

Fela Sowande contributed immensely to the field of music scholarship through
several documented presentations at international conferences and academic
institutions about Yoruba folklore, Odu Ifa (Ifa divination), the theory and
practice of African music in general, music education in Nigeria, modern
African art music and its composers, as well as the Africanization of Black
Studies in the United States of America. For instance, Sowande presented a
paper, "Nigerian Traditional Music," at the University of Ibadan in
1962. In 1963, he presented a lecture titled, "The Teaching of Music in
Nigerian Schools," at the meeting of the Association of Church Musicians
at Methodist Boys' High School, Lagos. On May 5, 1965, Sowande delivered
another lecture, "The Development of a National Tradition of Music,"
at a seminar under the auspices of the Department of Music, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka. Five years after his erudite presentation at Nsukka, Sowande
read a paper titled, "The Role of Music in Traditional African
Society," at an international conference sponsored by UNESCO in Yaounde,
Cameroon, in February 1970. Sowande wrote and published short essays in
Composer, Africa, World of Music, and African American Affairs. Some of his
unpublished manuscripts include Oruko A Mu T'Orun Wa, The Yoruba Talking
Drum, Children of the Gods among the Yorubas, The Mind of a Nation: The Yoruba
Child, Aspects of Nigerian Music, The African Child in Nigeria,

style='font-style:normal'>and
Black Folklore
style='font-style:normal'>.

Fela Sowande is highly respected by the entire caucus of art musicians in
Nigeria. Hardly any professionally trained musician from Nigeria can write or
talk about art music from that part of the world without giving due credit and
respect to Sowande, either by quoting from his literary writings or his
compositions. He laid a solid foundation for modern African art music upon
which subsequent generations are now building. Although in the third
generation, Ayo Bankole (1935-1976) deviated from the traditional conventions
and nationalistic campaign of Sowande, he certainly relied on Sowande's works
as a guide to set him on the right track. Bankole uses mostly 20th-century compositional
devices and tonalities such as 12-tone method and atonality in his organ
works. 

In the fourth generation, I came onto the scene of the 'Nigerian organ
school' to turn the clock back to Sowande's model. Before I started composing
for solo organ, I invested a considerable amount of time studying Fela
Sowande's organ works in order to develop my own personal style. All my
published compositions for organ (Wayne Leupold Editions unless noted
otherwise)--Nigerian Suite No. 1 for Organ Solo, Nigerian Suite No. 2 for
Organ Solo, Impressions from an African Moonlight, Twenty-Five Preludes on
Yoruba Church Hymns--
as well as
The Misfortune of a Wise Tortoise for Organ and Narrator

style='font-style:normal'>and
Jesu Oba for Trumpet and Organ
style='font-style:normal'> (Florida: Wehr's Music House, 2005), were all
influenced by Sowande's organ works.

Sowande's centenary is widely celebrated all around the world, in the United
States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Nigeria. The Grand
Festival took place in June 2005, in Lagos, Nigeria, where Fela Sowande was
born one hundred years ago. The festival featured presentations of scholarly
papers on the life, contributions, and music of the foremost Nigerian composer
as well as performances of his compositions.

A Profile of Nigerian Organist-Composers

Godwin Sadoh

Godwin Sadoh is currently writing his doctoral dissertation on the organ works of Fela Sowande at Louisiana State University.
An earlier version of this article was originally published in the February issue of "The Organ."

Default

Nigeria has been blessed with very few, but seasoned organist-composers
since the arrival of Christianity around 1842. The schools and churches built
by the missionaries had a great impact on the emergence of the Nigerian
"organ school." The incentive to become professional organists and
composers was further propelled and inspired through the private lessons given
to talented Nigerian church musicians at an early age. All the musicians in
question had their formative periods at the mission schools, in church choirs,
and under organ playing apprenticeships.

The genealogy of Nigerian organist-composers is confined to
four generations from around the 1880s to the present. These are professional
organists trained at various schools of music in Great Britain and America.
Interestingly, each generation has produced only one musician: Thomas Ekundayo
Phillips (1884-1969), Fela Sowande (1905-1987), Ayo Bankole (1935-1976), and
Godwin Sadoh (1965-).

First Generation

Thomas Ekundayo Phillips is the pioneer and grandfather of the Nigerian school of
organist-composers, and he paved the way for the younger generations that were
to come after him. Born in 1884, he attended the Church Missionary Society
(CMS) Grammar School in Lagos. He received his first organ lessons from his
uncle, the Reverend Johnson, and at the age of eighteen he was appointed
organist of St. Paul's Anglican Church, Breadfruit, Lagos. Phillips served at
St. Paul's for nine years. In 1911, he proceeded to the Trinity College of
Music, London, to study piano, organ and violin. Thus, he became the second Nigerian
(after Rev. Robert Coker who studied in Germany in 1871) to study music at a
professional level. After returning from England in 1914, he was appointed
Organist and Master of the Music at Christ Church, now Cathedral Church of
Christ, Lagos (the headquarters of the Nigerian Anglican Communion). Phillips
held this position until his retirement in 1962--a total time span of
forty-eight years of outstanding accomplishments.

In 1964, Phillips was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Music
degree by the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, for his contribution to the
development of church music in Nigeria. One of Phillips' most important
achievements was his training of many prominent modern Nigerian composers such
as Fela Sowande and Ayo Bankole. These were some of the leading and prolific
composers in Africa, and they constitute the next generation of professionally
trained organists.1

Ekundayo Phillips wrote only two major works for organ solo:
Passacaglia on an African Folksong, and Variations on an African Folksong.
These pieces are based on his postulations in his book, Yoruba Music, a
treatise on the compositional style of early Nigerian church music. In the
book, Phillips demonstrated various techniques in traditional Nigerian musical
processes that could be utilized to create new forms of church music which
indigenes could easily assimilate.2 His compositional style is simple and
conservative.

Second Generation

Fela Sowande
represents the second generation of Nigerian organist-composers. He can be
regarded as the father of the Nigerian "organ school." It was he who
propelled the musical genre to an unprecedented height through his extensive
compositions and publications for the King of Instruments. Up to the time of
writing this essay, no one else has written such a great number of works for
organ in Nigeria. Interestingly, Sowande composed for other media such as
orchestra and voice, but his works for organ outnumbered the rest.
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

Sowande was born at Lagos, in 1905, into a musical family.
His father, Emmanuel Sowande, was a minister of the Gospel and one of the
pioneers of church music in Nigeria. Sowande received his first lessons in
music from his father. Another influence on his early musical training was
Thomas Ekundayo Phillips. Under the tutelage of Phillips, as a chorister at the
Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, Sowande was exposed to European sacred music
and indigenous church music. He received private lessons in organ from Phillips
while singing in the Cathedral Choir. Sowande asserts that Phillips' organ
playing, the choir training, and the organ lessons he received had a major
impact on his aspiration of becoming an organist-composer.

At age 27, Sowande decided to become a civil engineer and
went to London to study in 1935. After six months, he changed his mind and
decided to study music. He played jazz in London nightclubs to support himself.
Sowande enrolled as an external candidate at the University of London and
received private lessons in organ from George Oldroyd and George Cunningham. He
became a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists with credit in 1943--the
highest British qualification for organ playing. He happens to be the first
Nigerian and perhaps the first African to receive the prestigious British FRCO
diploma. Sowande was awarded the Harding Prize for organ playing, the Limpus
Prize for theoretical work and the Read Prize for the highest aggregate marks
in the fellowship examination. Sowande also obtained the Bachelor of Music
degree from the University of London and became a Fellow of the Trinity College
of Music.

Sowande had a rounded musical experience in England. He was
a solo pianist in a performance of Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue in 1936, and was
appointed organist and choir director at the West London Mission of the
Methodist Church (1945 to 1952). It was during this period that he began
composing for organ. The influence of his participation in and exposure to
church music during his formative years could be seen in the abundance of works
written for organ. His organ compositions at this time included Kyrie,
Obangiji, K'a Mura, Jesu Olugbala, Go Down Moses, Joshua Fit the Battle of
Jericho, and Yoruba Lament.3 

These pieces are based on borrowed themes from Nigeria's
Yoruba culture and African-American spirituals. Indig-enous songs are employed
in Sowande's music for three reasons: 1) as a symbol and mark of national
identity; 2) to classify the works under the umbrella of modern Nigerian art
music; and 3) to arouse the interest of Nigerian/African audiences in
performing, studying and analyzing the music. Apart from rhythm, the indigenous
songs are the elements of Nigerian culture most audible to the audiences and
performers. Hearing those songs enabled them to categorize the works as
Nigerian musical heritage.

During the war, Sowande enlisted with the Royal Air Force,
but was released at the request of the Ministry of Information to go to the
Colonial Film Unit as a Musical Adviser of the British Ministry of Information
in London. He was designated to provide background music for a series of
educational films geared towards Africa. Sowande also presented several
lectures titled West African Music and the Possibilities of its Development for
the BBC's Africa Service. He collected a substantial amount of indigenous
folksongs during this period. The songs were later to be employed in creating
large works such as African Suite and the Folk Symphony. The Folk Symphony was
commissioned by the Nigerian government in 1960 to mark the nation's
independence. Although the work was not accepted, the New York Philharmonic
Orchestra in Carnegie Hall eventually premiered it in 1962.

In 1944, Sowande was invited to conduct the BBC Symphony
Orchestra in the performance of his tone poem Africana, a work for orchestra
based on a Nigerian melody. In 1952, his African Suite for strings and a
selection of his original compositions for organ were recorded by the Decca
Records Company (London Records, U.S.) under the title "The Negro in
Sacred Idiom." Sowande received two outstanding positions on his return to
Nigeria in 1953. He was appointed as the Musical Director to the Nigerian
Broadcasting Corporation in Lagos and as honorary organist at the Cathedral
Church of Christ, Lagos.

Among his numerous awards are Member of the British Empire
(MBE) from Queen Elizabeth II for distinguished services in the cause of music
(1956); the Member of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (MFN) in 1956; the
Traditional Chieftaincy award, the "Bagbile of Lagos" in recognition
of his research in Yoruba folklore (1968); and an honorary doctorate from the
University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) in 1972. Sowande also
received partial grants from the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations.4

Sowande first came to the United States in 1957, playing
organ recitals sponsored by the U. S. Department of State. He also toured as a
guest conductor of symphony orchestras and as a guest lecturer. He later came
back to take up permanent residency in 1968. His teaching career included
tenures at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, Howard University in
Washington, D.C., the University of Pittsburgh, and Kent State University,
Ohio. Sowande died on Friday, March 13, 1987, at a nursing home in Ravenna,
Ohio.

Sowande composed sixteen major works for organ:

K'a Mura, 1945 (Chappell, London)

Obangiji, 1955 (Chappell, London)

Kyrie, 1955 (Chappell, London)

Yoruba Lament, 1955 (Chappell,

London)

Jesu Olugbala, 1955 (Chappell,

London)

Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho, 1955 (Chappell, London)

Go Down Moses, 1955 (Chappell,

London)

Oyigiyigi, 1958 (Ricordi, New York)

Gloria, 1958 (Ricordi, New York)

Prayer (Oba A Ba Ke), 1958 (Ricordi, New York)

Sacred Idioms of the Negro

Pastourelle

K'a mo Rokoso

Plainsong

Fantasia in D

Festival March

Sowande's sixteen pieces for organ are all based on Yoruba
Christian or folksongs from Nigeria, with the exception of Joshua Fit de Battle
of Jericho, Go Down Moses and Bury Me Eas' or Wis' (from the Sacred Idioms of
the Negro) which are based on African-American spirituals. The structures of
these pieces range from simple three-part forms to continuous development
types, fugues, and theme and variations. To create contrast in the music he
uses bicinium, tricinium, homophony, and contrapuntal textures between the
pedal and manuals. Sowande has a predilection for a continuous tonal shifting
within a work. He sometimes begins a piece in one key and ends in another, such
as Go Down Moses which begins in F and closes in D major. He uses a wide
variety of tonal resources ranging from diatonicism, pentatonality and
chromaticism. The pedal part is generally simple and sparse, but explores
extremes of range. Pedalpoints are used to tonicize specific tonal centers and
to create climax.

Third Generation

Ayo Bankole alone
represents the third generation of Nigerian organist-composers. A prolific
composer, Bankole had the makings of a genius. He had a special skill for
composition and a talent for presenting his material in an eclectic and
personal way that made him stand as a master composer and performer in his own
right. Bankole continued from where Fela Sowande left off, a generation before
him.

Ayo Bankole was born on May 17, 1935, at Jos, in the plateau
State of Nigeria. He belongs to the Yoruba ethnic group. Bankole spent the
first five years of his life with his father, the late Mr. Theophilus Abiodun
Bankole (M.B.E.), who was then organist and choirmaster at St. Luke's Church,
Jos. During those early years in Jos, Bankole began to show great promise for
music, since he was from a musical family. The composer's biography was
exclusively obtained from Afolabi Alaja-Browne's M.A. thesis.5

In 1941, Bankole came down to Lagos with his father and
began living with his grandfather, the late Mr. Akinje George, who exposed him
to various types of musical styles. In 1945, at the age of 10, Bankole went to
school at the Baptist Academy, Lagos. He played piano and through his activity
in organizing small groups to perform, he began one aspect of his life-long
contributions to music--choral conducting. Bankole was appointed as a clerical
officer at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 1954. During this period,
he came in contact with notable Nigerian musicians such as Dr. Thomas Ekundayo
Phillips and Professor Fela Sowande. Bankole had great admiration for Fela
Sowande, and a few years later he was to come under his influence both as
organist and composer.

Between 1954 and 1957, Bankole was already very active as
organist in Lagos churches. For instance, he was assistant organist at the
Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, under the leadership of late Ekundayo
Phillips. It was about 1956 when he began composing his first major work,
Sonata No. 2 (The Passion), for piano.

In August 1957, Bankole left Lagos on a Federal Government
Scholarship to study music at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in
London. He was enrolled in the graduate program (GGSM), a three-year teacher's
diploma, and studied piano, composition, organ, harmony, and counterpoint. Some
of his teachers included Alan Brown (organ), Harold Dexter (organ), and Guy
Eldridge (composition). During his time at the Guildhall School of Music,
Bankole was exposed to a variety of musical styles. His works from this period
show the influence of these various styles. He experimented, progressing from
works that were tonally simple, to works in which he explored diverse
twentieth-century compositional devices as exemplified in the Three Yoruba
Songs for voice and piano (1959) and the Toccata and Fugue for organ (1960). In
spite of the intensity of the program at Guildhall, Bankole found time to sit
for and obtain a series of professional diplomas: Associate of the Royal
College of Music (piano), Licentiate of the Trinity College (piano), Licentiate
of the Royal Academy of Music (Teacher's Diploma), Associate of the Royal College
of Organists, and the Graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama
(GGSM).

In addition to his activities as organist-composer, Bankole
was able to organize and train a special mixed choir, comprising fellow
students, which gave performances of his compositions, many of them in the
Yoruba language and musical idiom. Members of his choir and the audiences were
captivated by the Nigerian melodies and rhythms. This type of creative
procedure led to the synthesis of Yoruba and Western musical elements in his
works. Some of the works in this category are Sonata No. 1, Christmas (1958),
Cantata No. 1 in Yoruba, Baba Se wa l'Omo Rere (Father, make us good children)
(1959), Sonata No. 2, Passion (1959), and the variations Op. 10, No. 1 (1959),
based on a Yoruba folktune, Ise Oluwa. 

After spending four years at the Guildhall School of Music,
Bankole moved to Claire College, Cambridge University, London, where he
obtained his first degree, the Bachelor of Arts in Music, at the end of 1964.
While at Cambridge as an organ scholar (1961-64), Bankole obtained the
prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), thus becoming
the second and the last Nigerian to receive this British highest diploma in
organ playing.

During Bankole's stay in England, he wrote music that he
himself could perform. A tremendous amount of music was composed for piano and
organ. He also wrote some choral and orchestral works that are technically
oriented towards European performers. The works of this period include Sonata
No. 4, English Winter Birds for piano, Variations Liturgical (theme and nine
variations for piano), Three Toccatas for organ, Fugal Dance for piano, Second
Organ Symphonia (with drums, trumpets and trombones), and a number of choral
works such as Art Thou Come (1964), Little Jesus, Gentle Jesus (1964), Canon
for Christmas (1964), and Four Yoruba Songs (1964). 

After completing his bachelor's degree at Cambridge
University in 1964, Bankole received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to
study ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. Works
produced at UCLA include Ethnophony and Jona. Jona is a cantata in Yoruba for
mixed media comprising a narrator, singers, a dancer and an unusual combination
of musical instruments, including the Indian tambura.

In 1966, Ayo Bankole returned to Nigeria, and was appointed
to the post of Senior Producer in Music at the Nigerian Broadcasting
Corporation (N.B.C.). He remained in this position until 1969, when he was appointed
Lecturer in Music, School of African and Asian Studies, University of Lagos.
His job as a senior producer at the N.B.C. brought him into contact with
various Nigerian musical genres. This contact was to become useful to him both
creatively as well as in his development as a scholar. Two works were written
as a result of his experiences at this time--Fun mi Ni'beji (Give me twins),
parts 1 and 2 for unaccompanied chorus (1967), and the opera Night of Miracles
for chorus, soloists, and Nigerian instruments (1969).

While at the radio station, Bankole had a series of
programs, which he designed to educate the Nigerian public and to present
indigenous African music to the world at large. Some of his works were
performed and recorded under a project initiated by Fela Sowande and jointly
sponsored by the Federal Ministry of Information, Lagos, and the Nigerian
Broadcasting Corporation. Some of the works from this period are Ore Ofe (The
Grace) for unaccompanied chorus (1967) and Adura fun Alafia (Prayer for Peace)
for voice and piano (1969).

In 1969, he was appointed  Lecturer in Music at the University of Lagos, where he
continued his research into Nigerian indigenous music and presented scholarly
papers. From 1970 onwards, as a result of his research efforts, Bankole began
to employ more traditional materials in his compositions. A work which marks
the beginning of this phase is the Cantata No. 4, Festac, completed in 1974 and
scored for soloists, chorus, organ and orchestral accompaniment consisting of woodwinds,
brass, and some Nigerian traditional instruments. Ona Ara is scored for
soloists, chorus, organ, and Yoruba musical instruments.

Between 1971 and 1974, Bankole spent a lot of time on
special assignments, both within and outside Nigeria. For instance, he was
External Examiner to the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, in 1971. Between 1971
and 1972, he was Visiting Lecturer at Ohio State University. In 1973, he
received a Federal Government Commission to compose the anthem for the Second
All-African Games. Between July and August 1974, he was director of a music
seminar, organized by the Rivers State Center for Arts and Culture, and in
April 1974, he was Nigerian Composer-Elect to the Fifth Congress of Soviet
Composers, held in Moscow.

From 1974, Bankole began studying diverse musical practices
of the various ethnic groups in Nigeria. The result of these studies gave birth
to three major projects: 1) Dictionary of Musical Instruments of Nigeria; 2)
The Music of the Rivers' People of Nigeria; and 3) a special study of the Edo
musical instruments.

At the University of Lagos, Bankole combined the roles of
music educator, composer, performer and musicologist. As a music educator, he
was especially concerned with promoting the cause of music at the grassroots. He
achieved this by training young talents, teaching them to read music and also
giving voice and piano lessons. Furthermore, he organized and trained several
choral groups. He composed regularly for these groups and exposed them to
various indigenous and foreign musical works. Among the groups he founded and
trained were The Choir of Angels, comprising students from three secondary
schools in the Lagos area; The Lagos University Musical Society; The Nigerian
National Musico-Cultural Society; and The Choir of the Healing Cross.

Although Bankole contributed immensely to the development of
modern art music in Nigeria, he did not live long to witness the fruits of his
efforts. For on November 6, 1976, at the age of forty-one, Ayo Bankole and his
wife, Toro Bankole, were killed in very tragic circumstances. Today he is still
greatly admired by Nigerian musicians for his magnificent contributions to
Nigerian music as a composer, music teacher, musicologist, organist, pianist,
conductor, and choral director--an extremely gifted man who was not able to
develop his God-given gifts to full potential. Bankole composed five major
works for organ solo:

Toccata and Fugue (1960), published by the University of Ife
Press, Ile-Ife, 1978

Three Toccatas, published under Operation Music One, 1967

Fugue, published under Operation Music One, 1967

Organ Symphonia Nos. 1 & 2, for organ, drums, trumpet
and trombone, unpublished, 1961-64

Fantasia (1961-64), unpublished.

Fourth Generation

Godwin Sadoh
represents the fourth and present generation of Nigerian organist-composers.
Interestingly, like his predecessors, he is the only one in this category, and
his musical training, contribution, experience and expertise are eclectic and
extremely diverse. He is a Nigerian ethnomusicologist, African musicologist,
teacher, composer, pianist, scholar, organist/choir director and an ordained
minister of the Gospel.

Sadoh was born on March 28, 1965, at Lagos, Nigeria, to a
middle-class family. Unlike his predecessors, he was not fortunate to have musicians
in his family. The only musical exposure he had during childhood was the
rendition of folksongs by his late mother and older sisters. His mother
enrolled him in one of the local church choirs, St. Paul's Anglican Church,
Idi-Oro, Lagos, in 1979. It was at this choir that Sadoh was first introduced
to European church music. 

Sadoh attended Eko Boys' High School, Lagos, from 1977 to
1982, where he received private lessons in music theory and piano from Mr.
Ebenezer Omole, the school's music teacher. Omole quickly noticed Sadoh's
talents and interests in music and got him appointed as one of his assistants
in conducting and accompanying the school's choir at the piano. It was Omole
who prepared him for the theory examinations of the Associated Board of the
Royal Schools of Music, London. When Omole was transferred to another
institution, the school's principal and the teaching staff unanimously
appointed Sadoh to the position of organist and choir director of Eko Boys'
High School in 1981 at the age of sixteen. During his tenure, he coordinated
musical activities for the school and directed a Festival of Nine Lessons and
Carols in December, 1981.

In 1980, Sadoh joined the renowned Cathedral Church of
Christ Choir, Lagos, to sing tenor under the leadership of Mr. Obayomi Phillips
(son and successor of Thomas Ekundayo Phillips), who was then the organist and
master of the music. Worthy of mention is the fact that all the Nigerian
organist-composers passed through the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, and
were directly or indirectly trained by Ekundayo Phillips. Obayomi Phillips, who
gave Sadoh private organ lessons, was trained by his father, Ekundayo Phillips.
Obayomi Phillips took keen interest in Sadoh's talents and dedication to
advance his skills and aptitudes in music. Phillips soon appointed Sadoh as the
assisting organist to accompany the choir practices on Tuesdays and Thursdays
and to play for the 7:15 am communion services on Sundays. Phillips also gave
Sadoh private lessons in piano, organ and general musicianship (aural skills),
and he prepared Sadoh for all the piano examinations of the Associated Board of
the Royal Schools of Music, London, from grade 3 through grade 7.
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During his fourteen years at the Cathedral Church, Sadoh was
privileged to meet prominent Nigerian trained musicians such as Yinka Sowande,
substitute organist at Cathedral Church and brother of Fela Sowande; Mrs. Tolu
Obajimi, a graduate of the Guildhall School of Music, London, and music
teacher; Kehinde Okusanya, a concert pianist and Director of the Music
Department of Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation, Lagos; Professor Lazarus
Ekwueme, a Nigerian musicologist, singer, choral conductor, and Professor of
Music at the Department of Music, University of Lagos; Kayode Oni, a graduate
of Trinity College of Music, London, and one of the notable concert organists
in Lagos; and Christopher Oyesiku, a bass singer and choral conductor. Obayomi
Phillips gave Sadoh a personal scholarship from his own purse to study music at
the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University) from 1984 to 1988.
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Between 1982 and 1984, Sadoh founded and directed several
choral groups in Lagos. He accompanied and directed most of the groups by
himself at rehearsals and concerts. It was during this period that Sadoh
discovered his gifts in composition. Among his creative works at this early
stage are Oluwa Gbo Adura Mi (Lord Hear My Prayer) for tenor and piano, Oluwa
mi (My Lord) for two voices and piano, Ale ti le (Night has Fallen) for
baritone and piano, Gbo Ohun Awon Angeli (Hear the Voices of Angels) for SATB
and piano, and several other works. He wrote mainly vocal music during this
period.

In 1984, Sadoh was accepted to the Obafemi Awolowo
University, Ile-Ife, to study piano performance and composition. Between 1985
and 1986, he was appointed as the director of the Unife Joint Christian Mission
Choir (over 250 voices). He was formally introduced to traditional African
music at the Obafemi Awolowo University. It was there that he became more
conscious of his existence as an African musician and the component elements of
the music. Sadoh's interest in African music was invigorated through his
exposure to diverse musical cultures of the world. He took courses such as
music in African culture, survey of world music, black music in the Americas,
music in the Middle East and India. As time went on he acquired deeper
theoretical knowledge of African music. Sadoh's musical studies at Ile-Ife
paved the way for his growing interest in incorporating indigenous Nigerian
elements and the creative procedures in his musical compositions. Hence, he
began to employ distinct Nigerian rhythmic patterns, harmony, tonal
organization, and scale systems in his works. Sadoh's creative output during
this period includes Memoirs of Childhood for piano, Moonlight Dances for
piano, Akoi Wata Geri for SATB and piano, and Akoi Wata Geri for tenor and
piano. Sadoh completed his Bachelor of Arts degree with a Second Class
Upper-Division in 1988. He was retained to teach in the same Department of
Music from 1988 to 1994 as a result of his diligence and academic excellence.
While teaching at the Obafemi Awolowo University, he founded and directed two
major choral groups, the Ile-Ife Choral Society and the Ile-Ife Junior Choral
Society. With these two groups, he directed several public concerts of choral,
vocal solos, and instrumental music within and outside Ile-Ife. Sadoh also
played piano solo recitals on the university campus and other regions in
Nigeria.

In 1994, Sadoh was accepted to the graduate program in
ethnomusicology and African music at the University of Pittsburgh where he
obtained an M.A. degree in 1998. As a teaching assistant at the institution, he
taught several courses including world music, class voice, and class piano. During
this period, he was apointed as a guest/visiting lecturer at GoldenWest
College, California, in 1995, and at Thiel College from 1995 to 1998. Sadoh
studied organ with Dr. Robert Sutherland Lord at the University of Pittsburgh
for three years. While in Pittsburgh, he also served as organist and choir
director at St.  Stephen's
Episcopal Church, Wilkinsburg, from 1996 to 1998.

Sadoh continued his musical training in organ performance
and church music at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1998 to 2000. His
teachers were Dr. George Ritchie and Dr. Quentin Faulkner. Sadoh was often
called upon to present several guest lectures on African and world music at the
School of Music, University of Nebraska. In fact, he created the curriculum of
the African music program and taught the course from 1998 to 2000. During his
two-year sojourn in Nebraska, he served as organist at Christ Lutheran Church,
Grace Lutheran Church, and as associate director of music ministries at the
First United Methodist Church. Sadoh obtained the M.Mus. degree in May of 2000
after playing two Master's organ recitals in one academic year--November 1999
and April 2000. He published his first scholarly article "Music at the
Anglican Youth Fellowship: An Intercultural Experience" in the HYMN
journal, in January 2001. This was a paper he wrote for twentieth-century
church music class, and it was Dr. Faulkner, the instructor, who encouraged him
to get the paper published.

In 2000, Sadoh was accepted to the Doctor of Musical Arts
degree program in organ performance and composition at the Louisiana State
University, Baton Rouge. With this admission, he became the first African to
study organ at doctoral level. He has been studying with Dr. Herndon Spillman
(organ) and Dr. Dinos Constantinides (composition). At LSU, he wrote mostly
instrumental and chamber works at the instigation of his composition teacher.
His major works at this time include Three Dances for piano, Three Pieces for
flute solo, Illusion for violin and piano, Potpourri for trombone, flute, oboe,
clarinet in B-flat, and string quartet, A Folk Dance for percussion ensemble of
four players, Yoruba Wedding Dance for brass quintet, Badagry for woodwind
quartet, A Suite of Nigerian Folksongs for string quartet, Tribute to Homeland
for chamber orchestra, Harmattan Overture for symphony orchestra and Nigerian
instruments, Summer Evening at Ile-Ife for wind quintet, and Three Wedding
Songs for soprano and piano. Sadoh wrote his first major works for organ in the
summer of 2002: 1) Folk Dance, 2) Ore Ofe Jesu, and 3) Nigerian Toccata.
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The Folk Dance was composed on August 13, 2002. The thematic
material was derived from a Nigerian folksong "Owo o, Omo o, ma m'omo se
ire" (money and children are both desired and I will embrace both and revere
them). It is divided into three sections. The first introduces the main theme
on the Great with an ostinato in the Pedal. The second section is the
development of the theme in D-flat, while the third section returns back to the
home key (F) and ushers in the principal theme triumphantly in the Pedal with
full organ. Nigerian Toccata was influenced by nineteenth and twentieth-century
French toccatas. Composed on August 14, 2002, it is a virtuoso piece that calls
for all the resources of the organ from the smallest pianissimo to the loudest
fortissimo. The four thematic materials are original. Structurally, it is in a
quasi-sonata allegro form without a development. The harmonic framework and
sonority are purely modern. The work is characterized by diatonicism,
chromaticism, pentatonicism and sequences. Ore Ofe Jesu (The grace of Jesus)
was composed on August 15, 2002. It is a quiet and meditative piece most
suitable for offertory, communion or any other contemplative aspect of a divine
service, and is in three sections. It opens with a prelude in duple meter and
moves into the second section in triple meter. This section is based on a
Yoruba church hymn "Idahun re l'a nreti" (We are waiting to receive
your answer). It closes quietly with the first four measures of the prelude.
These three pieces were published by Wayne Leupold Editions in April 2003 as
one major work titled Nigerian Suite No. 1 for organ solo.

In 2002, Sadoh wrote and published two articles: "A
Centennial Epitome of the Organs at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos,
Nigeria," published in The Organ (London), and "The Creative Process
in Nigerian Hymn-Based Compositions," published in The Diapason (August,
pp. 15-17). Several scholarly articles by him are to be published in 2003.
"Creativity and Dance in Joshua Uzoigwe's Music," will be published
in ComposerUSA, "Organ Building in Nigeria" and "A History of
South Africa's Organ Builders" will be published in the Organ
Encyclopedia. In May 2003, Sadoh was nominated by members of the faculty at LSU
for membership in the Beta Lambda Chapter of Pi Kappa Lambda, for his academic
and musical accomplishments.

It is interesting to note that an organist-composer is born
in Nigeria every thirty years. Sowande was born in 1905, Bankole in 1935 and
Sadoh in 1965. Hypothetically, the composer-organist for the fifth generation
must have been born in 1995 somewhere in Nigeria.

Others

The following are organists only.

Kayode Oni studied
organ at the Trinity College of Music in London. He came back to Nigeria in the
1970s and was subsequently appointed Honorary Organist at the Cathedral Church
of Christ, Lagos. He was also organist and choir director in several Anglican
churches in Ogun and Lagos States. He taught several budding organists in
Lagos, including Deji Osun.

Deji Osun studied
organ privately with Kayode Oni for several years in Lagos. He sat for the
theory, piano, and organ examinations of the Associated Board of the Royal
Schools of Music, London, while studying with Kayode Oni. He served as organist
in various churches in Lagos and Ogun States before leaving for the Trinity
College of Music, London, to continue his studies in organ in early 1980s. He
has completed his training and currently resides in England.

Merriman Johnson was
the organist at the Tinubu Methodist Church, Lagos, for several years. He went
to study organ in one of the British schools of music in the early 1980s. He
has finished his training and is currently residing in England.

A tribute to Ayo Bankole (1935–1976) on his 80th birthday

Godwin Sadoh

Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian organist-composer, pianist, choral conductor, African ethnomusicologist, and scholar. He is presently professor of music and LEADS Scholar at the National Universities Commission, Abuja, Nigeria.

 
Ayo Bankole

The arrival of the Christian faith in Nigeria in the mid-nineteenth century dramatically changed the musical landscape in the West African nation through the exploits of the missionaries from Europe and southern United States, as well as the imperial colonial administration from England. The church teachings, curriculum of the mission schools, and the colonial policies exposed the new Nigerian converts to Western classical music repertoire and musical instruments such as the harmonium, piano, and organ. In this thriving musical culture and environment, Nigerian composers began writing compositions of their own from around 1910. Many of their compositions at this time were fashioned after the European baroque and classical styles. However, from the 1960s, Nigerian composers began experimenting with new techniques in their works, such as atonality and twelve-tone rows. The then young composers, fired up by the new twentieth-century compositional devices they had acquired at schools of music in London and the United States, partially abandoned the tonal system of the preceding era. This essay is specially written to commemorate the eightieth birthday of one of Nigeria’s most prolific organist-composers, Ayo Bankole. 

 

A short biography

Ayo Bankole was born on May 17, 1935, at Jos, in Plateau State of Nigeria. Bankole spent the first five years of his life with his father, the late Theophilus Abiodun Bankole, who was the organist and choirmaster at St. Luke’s Anglican Church, Jos, at the time. His mother was also an active musician. She was a music instructor for several years at Queen’s School, Ede, Osun State, a Federal Government high school. Bankole’s father noticed the gift of music in his son at an early age; hence, in 1941 he moved the young Bankole to live with his grandfather, Akinje George, in Lagos; George was then organist and choirmaster at the First Baptist Church, Lagos. Bankole received his first lessons in piano and harmonium from his grandfather, who introduced him to various types of musical styles, and, from the time the boy was seven, would often ask Bankole to play for his friends, thereby showing off the innate genius of his grandson.

While in Lagos, Bankole’s father encouraged his son to join the renowned Cathedral Church of Christ Choir, Lagos, as a boy soprano and private organ pupil of Thomas Ekundayo Phillips (1884–1969), who was then organist and master of the music at the cathedral. At this time, Ayo Bankole’s father had moved from Jos to Lagos, and was now organist and choirmaster at St. Peter’s Anglican Church, Faji, Lagos, a walking distance from the cathedral church. It is not surprising that his father enrolled the young Bankole at the Cathedral Choir and not at the church where he worked. The Cathedral Church of Christ Choir was a model for all churches in Nigeria, and it was the most prestigious church choir at the time. The Cathedral Choir boys were highly talented children who came from musical, upper-middle-class homes and affluent families that were the cream of the Nigerian high-class society. Ekundayo Phillips was the most advanced and the only professionally trained organist and church musician at the time in Nigeria. The Cathedral Choir was the best environment for a talent such as Ayo Bankole to have the right exposure to nurture and develop his musical gifts.

At the age of ten in 1945, Bankole enrolled at the Baptist Academy, Lagos, which was one of the leading high schools in the state. He became more active as a musician at his high school by becoming the pianist and organist of the school. It was at this school that Bankole began to show interest in choral conducting by organizing small groups to perform at special events. Within the span of five years at the Baptist Academy, Bankole participated in several music competitions and concerts organized by the Nigerian Festival of the Arts. This festival was unique because it was one of the few avenues for budding talents in music to earn national recognition. Most of the professionally trained Nigerian musicians participated in this festival at some point during their formative years.

After graduating from the Baptist Academy, Bankole was appointed as a clerical officer at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation in 1954. During this period, he came in contact with notable musicians such as Christopher Oyesiku, who became a colleague and close friend to whom Bankole dedicated several solo songs; Thomas Ekundayo Phillips; Tom Chalmers, the first Director General of the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation; Arthur Langford; Leslie Perron, Controller of Music at N. B. C.; and Fela Sowande. Bankole had great admiration for Sowande and was able to receive advanced lessons in organ playing from him. Between 1954 and 1957, Bankole was already very active as organist in Lagos churches. For instance, he was assistant organist at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, under the leadership of Ekundayo Phillips. It was about 1957 that Bankole began composing his first major works, Ya Orule and Nigerian Suite, both for piano solo.

In August 1957, Bankole left Lagos on a Federal Government scholarship to study music at Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. On his arrival at Guildhall, he was appointed to the position of organist and choirmaster at St. James-the-Less. Bankole remained in this position until his graduation in 1961. At Guildhall, he studied piano, composition, organ, harmony, and counterpoint. Some of his teachers included Alan Brown (organ), Harold Dexter (organ), and Guy Eldridge (composition). During his time at Guildhall School of Music, Bankole was exposed to a variety of musical styles from diverse European epochs. His works from this period show the influence of the various contemporary European composers he was studying at the time. He experimented with twentieth-century compositional devices as exemplified in his Three Yoruba Songs for voice and piano (1959) and the Toccata and Fugue for organ (1960). This period marked the genesis of Bankole’s creative career that was to lead to a very personal style of intercultural composition—the synthesis of Nigerian and Western idioms. The works in this period include Sonata No. 1 (Christmas) for piano; Cantata No. 1 (Baba Se Wa Lomo Rere [Father, Make Us Good Children]) (1959); several part songs for female chorus; Sonata No. 2—The Passion, for piano (1959); and Variations, op. 10, no. 1 (1959), based on a Yoruba Christian tune, Ohun a f’Owo Se (also known as Ise Oluwa).

In spite of the hectic program at Guildhall, Bankole found time to sit for external examinations and obtained a series of professional diplomas and certifications such as Associate of the Royal College of Music (piano), Licentiate of the Trinity College of Music (piano), Licentiate of the Royal Academy of Music (Teacher’s Diploma), Associate of the Royal College of Organists, and Graduate of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GGSM). After four years of study at Guildhall School of Music, Bankole proceeded to Clare College, University of Cambridge, London, where he obtained his first degree, the Bachelor of Arts in Music, in 1964. As was the practice at Cambridge, a Bachelor of Arts degree (Cantab) automatically becomes a Master of Arts (Cantab) three years after graduation. On July 15, 1964, while at Cambridge as an organ scholar, Bankole sat for the external examination and obtained the prestigious Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), thus becoming the second and the last Nigerian to receive the British highest diploma in organ playing. Fela Sowande was the first Nigerian and indeed, the first African to earn the FRCO diploma in 1943. During Bankole’s stay in England, he wrote music that he himself could perform. A tremendous amount of music was composed for piano and organ since he was a pianist and organist himself. He also wrote some choral and orchestral works that are technically oriented towards European audiences and performers. The works from this period include Sonata No. 4 (English Winter Birds) for piano, Variations Liturgical (Theme and Nine Variations) for piano, Three Toccatas for organ, Fugal Dance for piano, Organ Symphonia No. 2 for organ, drums, trumpet, and trombone, and a number of choral works such as Art Thou Come (1964), Little Jesus (1964), Canon for Christmas (1964), and Four Yoruba Songs (1964).

After the completion of his bachelor’s degree at Cambridge in 1964, Bankole received a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship to study ethnomusicology at the University of California, Los Angeles. At UCLA, Bankole’s composition teacher was Roy Travis, who was then America’s foremost composer experimenting with African music resources in his creative works. Bankole developed a keen interest in the music from other cultures. His training at UCLA enabled him to evolve a personal style that was founded on African traditional music principles. He went further by composing intercultural works that use non-African resources, such as his Ethnophony. This work is a summation of Bankole’s experience in ethnomusicology and an archetype of the conjoining of creative principles with ethnomusicological procedures.

Ayo Bankole returned to Nigeria in 1966 and was appointed to the position of Senior Producer in Music at the Nigerian Broadcasting Corporation (now Federal Radio Corporation of Nigeria), Lagos. He remained in this position until 1969, when he accepted the position of lecturer in music at the Department of Music, University of Lagos, where he continued his research into Nigerian indigenous music. While at the University of Lagos (UNILAG), Bankole pioneered what would later become a common trend among Nigerian professional musicians, that is, the art of embracing all arms of music discipline. Consequently, at UNILAG, Bankole was a music educator, composer, performer, and ethnomusicologist. He was constantly involved in training and encouraged budding serious musicians by giving them private lessons in singing and piano playing. It was also during this time that Bankole intensified his interest in organizing and training independent choral groups. He wrote extensively for these groups and also exposed them to European classical music. Prominent among the choral groups he founded were the Choir of Angels, comprising students from three major high schools in Lagos (Reagan Memorial, Lagos Anglican Girls Grammar School, and the Methodist Girls High School); the Lagos University Musical Society; the Nigerian National Musico-Cultural Society; and the Chapel of the Healing Cross Choir, all situated in Lagos. 

Although Bankole contributed immensely to the development of modern music in Nigeria, he was not able to live long enough to witness and reap the fruit of his labor. In the early hours of November 6, 1976, at the tender age of forty-one, Ayo Bankole and his wife, Toro Bankole, were both brutally murdered by his half brother while sleeping in their own home. Although Bankole is no longer alive, he is still greatly admired by Nigerian musicians for his outstanding contributions to the study of modern Nigerian music as a composer, music educator, ethnomusicologist, organist, pianist, and choral conductor. Bankole was an extremely gifted man who was not able to develop his gifts to full potential.

Wherever modern Nigerian art music is mentioned, verbally or in writing, the name of Ayo Bankole always stands out prominently. Scholarly articles, theses, and books have been written and published about him. His compositions are neatly catalogued in several archival centers around the world, including Iwalewa-Haus, University of Bayreuth, Germany; Center for Intercultural Music Arts (CIMA), London; and the Center for Black Music Research, Chicago, Illinois. To immortalize his name at home in Nigeria, his son, Ayo Bankole, Jr., built a world-class arena in his honor, the Ayo Bankole Music Center for Arts and Cultural Expression (ABC), in Lagos. The center was established primarily as an arts center with the aim of promoting music in particular and the arts in general and to be a vehicle for influencing youths and society positively. The ABC accordingly aims to promote the various aspects of musical endeavor that the late Ayo Bankole excelled in during his lifetime. It is a multi-purpose hall with the necessary infrastructure to make it suitable for a range of performances, workshops, and exhibitions. The ABC runs a mid-week jazz event on Wednesdays. Every Friday the ABC stages a cabaret gig that involves singing different genres of music. Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays are karaoke days. The last Sunday of each month, the ABC hosts a concert termed “Jazz and Old School with Ayo Bankole and Friends,” where several bands and solo acts (singers, comedians, etc.) are featured. The ABC intends in the near future to introduce a highlife night and also a monthly dramatic production.

 

Three Toccatas

We cannot close an essay about this organist-composer without discussing one of his most mature works for the King of all Western instruments. The Three Toccatas for organ were composed between 1962 and 1964 while Bankole was at the University of Cambridge—a period that marked the second phase of his experimental stage, with works influenced by early twentieth-century compositional procedures as exemplified in these toccatas. These three pieces are infused with various twentieth-century devices that the composer was exposed to while studying in England. It is quite apparent that he was writing these pieces particularly for European virtuoso organists and audiences, but definitely not for African performers. In the 1960s, the only Nigerian organist who would have been able to tackle Bankole’s toccatas was Fela Sowande. Incidentally, Sowande had already immigrated to the United States by the late 1960s, and he was more focused on research, teaching, and musicology at this stage of his career. To date, the author is aware of only two American organists—the late Eugene Wilson Hancock (1929–1994) and Mickey Thomas Terry—who have played through or performed Toccata III in the United States. In fact, Hancock recorded Toccata III on a special audio cassette, captioned A Sampling of Organ Music by Black Composers, produced by the Committee on Educational Resources of the American Guild of Organists in 1992. 

Toccata I is a tonal work in G major and is in three-part form. The first section (measures 1–26) is characterized by fast-moving eighth notes in the right hand, while the left hand and pedal supply the harmonic framework. (See Example 1.) The piece is based on a theme by Bankole’s father and it is in the right hand of the first section (measures 15–18). The homophonic middle section (measures 27–39) comprises a continuous tremolo highlighting open thirds and fourths in the right hand with chordal accompaniment in the left hand. The final section (measures 39–72) is a restatement of the first section with rapid eighth notes, the theme harmonized in the right hand, and pedal ostinato. The piece is generally characterized by chromatic passages, ostinato on the manual and pedal, repetition, and bitonality. 

The second toccata is not as exciting as the first. It is more pianistic and may work better on piano than on organ. (See Example 2.) The most prominent pianistic features in the piece are the excessive use of Alberti bass and arpeggios that pervade the entire piece on the manuals. The second toccata is also based on an original theme by Bankole’s father. It is a sectional work in which the first two phrases of the principal theme are in the pedal (measures 2–17). The concluding two phrases of the theme are placed in the left hand on the manual (measures 32–35). Following this is a brief section in which the composer plays with the third phrase of the theme in both the right hand and the left hand (measures 40–53). A fairly long homophonic section (measures 54–86) on the manuals precedes the final section (measures 87–105), where the pedal returns triumphantly playing a tuneful, mostly pentatonic melody. The piece closes with this melody in the pedal and polytonal chords on the manuals. 

Toccata III is slightly longer than the second. It is interesting to note the increase in length among these three pieces: Toccata I is 72 measures long, Toccata II is 105 measures, and Toccata III is 135 measures. Bankole elongates each toccata by about thirty measures as he writes them. Toccata III is the only one conceived in pure atonality even though it closes with a B chord in the last two measures. Structurally, it is in three-part form with a short fanfare and Adagio as introduction (measures 1–18). The first A section is atonal but closes with a fairly long chromatic chord passage (measures 19–48). The middle B section (measures 49–112) is characterized by frequent meter changes that eventually culminate in rapidly moving arpeggios and scale passages (measures 99–110). The piece finally finds repose with the return of the opening A section from measures 116 to 135. It closes with a bravura section of massive chromatic chords in the manuals (see Example 3). Other interesting features in Toccata I–III are the pedal points and the ostinato patterns.

 

Conclusion

Ayo Bankole’s musical odyssey exemplifies typical experiences of modern Nigerian-trained musicians defined by three cultural phenomena: Nigerian/African, European, and American. His musical language and style are vividly influenced by the incorporation of resources from the triune cultures, a co-existence of the old and the new in one pot. Bankole’s religious background and convictions in the Christian faith significantly influenced his creative output. Many of his instrumental and vocal compositions are sacred. 

As a prolific composer, Ayo Bankole contributed extensively to modern art music in Nigeria through his vocal and instrumental works. He represents the forerunners of avant-garde composition in the country through the use of diverse twentieth-century tonal schemes and creative techniques. Bankole is also well respected among Nigerian musicologists as a scholar for his research and documentation of Nigerian music. Even though he departed this world almost four decades ago, his music lives on after his death as a doyen of modern Nigerian art music.

 

Ayo Bankole’s compositions

Most of Bankole’s works are unpublished, since in his day, there was not a single publishing firm in Nigeria to put his works into print, and black composers had serious problems at that time publishing their compositions in Europe and the United States. (Most of the works of other composers of Bankole’s generation—such as Akin Euba, Samuel Akpabot, Lazarus Ekwueme, Meki Nzewi, and Joshua Uzoigwe—are also unpublished.)

All works listed here are unpublished except as noted.

 

Organ Works

Organ Symphonia Nos. 1 and 2, for organ, drums, trumpet, and trombone (1961–64)

Fantasia for organ (1961–64) 

Three Toccatas for organ (1962–64) 

Fugue for organ (1967) 

Toccata and Fugue for Organ (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, 1978)

 

Solo Art Songs

The Lord is My Shepherd, for female voice and organ (1959) 

Ten Yoruba Songs, for voice and piano (1959–66) 

Adura fun Alafia (Prayer for Peace), for voice and piano (1969) 

Three Songs for Diana, for voice and piano (1971–72) 

Three Yoruba Songs for Baritone and Piano (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, 1977).

 

Christmas Works

Kristi, Ma Wole (Christ, We Greet You), for voice and piano (1958) 

Christmas Comes But Once a Year (1959)

Ni Owuro Ojo Keresimesi (Christmas Day) for voice and piano (1959) 

Keresimesi Odun De (Christmas is Here), for voice and piano (1960)

And Art Thou Come, for voice and piano (1964) 

Little Jesus, Gentle Jesus, for voice and piano (1964) 

Canon for Christmas, Eyo, Eyo, Odun De O (Rejoice, Rejoice, Christmas is Here), for chorus and piano (1964) 

Salzburg Carol, for eight-part chorus and piano (1964) 

 

Choral Works

Cantata No. 1 in Yoruba, Baba Se Wa l’Omo Rere (Father Make Us Good Children), for female chorus and chamber orchestra (1958) 

Requiem, for chorus and organ (1961) 

The Children of the Sun (1961) 

Choral Fugue (1962) 

Cantata No. 3 in Yoruba, Jona, for soprano solo, speaker in English, drum, piano, tambura, and orchestra
(1964) 

Eru O B’Omo Aje (A Child of a Witch is Fearless) 1964 

Be Prepared, for female chorus (Girl Guide’s Jubilee Song), 1966 

Ore-Ofe Jesu Kristi (The Grace of Jesus Christ), for unaccompanied chorus (1967)

Salve Christe (1968)

Opera: Night of Miracles, for chorus, soloists, and orchestra, including Nigerian traditional instruments (1969)

Cantata: Ona Ara, for full chorus, soloists, organ, and Yoruba musical instruments (1970) 

Fun Mi N’Ibeji Part I and II, for unaccompanied chorus (1970) 

Death Be No More: A Dramatic Cantata on a Poem by Cosmo Pieterse, for soprano soloist, chorus, and ethnophonic instruments (1972) 

Love Everlasting (1972) 

Mighty Africa Games (1973) 

Cantata No. 4: FESTAC, for soloists, chorus and orchestra of Western and traditional Nigerian instruments (1974) 

Lullaby (1966)

God Rest You Merry (1966) 

Angels from the Realms (1966) 

Keresimesi Tun Ma De O (Christmas Is Here Again), for chorus and piano (1968) 

Christus Natus, for chorus and piano (1968) 

Grand Little One (Words by Meki Nzewi) 

Three-Part Songs for Female Choir (Ile-Ife: University of Ife Press, 1975)

Gbogbo Aiye, Eyo, E Ho (Let All the World, Rejoice and Shout) 

 

References

Alaja-Browne, Afolabi. “Ayo Bankole: His Life and Work.” M.A. thesis, University of Pittsburgh, 1981, pp. 15–28.

__________. “A History of Intercultural Music in Nigeria.” In Intercultural Music vol. 1, eds. Cynthia Tse Kimberlin and Akin Euba. Bayreuth African Studies Series, No. 29, 1995.

Floyd, Jr., Samuel. International Dictionary of Black Composers. Chicago, Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers, 1999.

Nketia, Kwabena. “Developing Contemporary Idioms Out of Traditional Music.” Studia Musicologica Hungaricae 24 (1982): 81–96.

Omibiyi-Obidike, Mosunmola. “The Process of Education and the Search for Identity in Contemporary African Music.” In African Musicology: Current Trends, vol. 2, eds. Jacqueline Codgell DjeDje and William Carter. Atlanta, GA: Crossroads Press, 1989.

Sadoh, Godwin. “A Profile of Nigerian Organist-Composers.” The Diapason Vol. 94, No. 8 (August 2003): 20–23.

__________. “Hybrid Composition: An Introduction to the Age of Atonality in Nigeria.” The Diapason Vol. 97, No. 11 (November 2006): 22–25.

__________. “Twentieth Century Nigerian Composers.” Choral Journal 47, No. 10 (April 2007): 33–39.

__________. Intercultural Dimensions in Ayo Bankole’s Music. New York: iUniverse, 2007.

__________. “Ayo Bankole’s FESTAC Cantata: A Paradigm for Intercultural Composition.” The Diapason, Vol. 102, No. 7 (July 2011): 25–27.

Southern, Eileen. Biographical Dictionary of Afro-American and African Musicians. London: Greenwood Press, 1982.

Uzoigwe, Joshua. “Nigerian Composers and Their Works.” Daily Times, August 25 and September 1, 1990.

 

Other articles of interest:

 

A history of organs of the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, Nigeria

 

The centennial of the Cathedral Church of Christ Choir, Lagos, Nigeria

 

Ayo Bankole

 

The Creative Process in Nigerian Hymn-Based Compositions

by Godwin Sadoh

Godwin Sadoh is a Nigerian composer, ethnomusicologist, organist and choir director with degrees in piano performance, organ performance, and ethnomusicology. He is currently a doctoral student in organ performance and composition at the Louisiana State University. His recent publications include "Music at the Anglican Youth Fellowship, Ile-Ife, Nigeria: An Intercultural Experience" published in The Hymn, in January 2001, and "A Centennial Epitome of the Organs at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, Nigeria" published in The Organ, in May 2002.

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Historical Background

The history of Nigerian hymn-based compositions consists of several related experiences in which European and American missionary efforts played a major role. The establishment of the Christian church in the 19th century by the missionaries is a turning point of Western musical influence in Nigeria. However, other institutions such as the Christian mission schools, institutions of higher learning, and the modern Nigerian elite also contributed to the development of hymn-based works in the country.1

Through the church, the missionaries introduced hymns to Nigerians, and before long Nigerian congregations became familiar not only with European hymns, chants, and canticles, but with anthems, cantatas, oratorios, and organ works by European composers. Prominent among these works are variations on the Blue Bells of Scotland, George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Joseph Haydn's Creation, John Stainer's Daughter of Jairus, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Hiawatha, Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, and the organ works of Dietrich Buxtehude, Johann Sebastian Bach, John Stanley, Felix Mendelssohn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Max Reger.

In the mission schools, Nigerians were taught to use European notation as well as play harmonium and piano. In fact, it is the introduction of Western musical exegesis that led to the rise of modern Nigerian composers. As Bode Omojola notes, from the advent of the missionaries around 1850 until the end of the 19th century, musical activities among elitist groups and churches in the Western and Eastern parts of Nigeria were mostly European.2

Rev. Robert A. Coker (the first Nigerian to study music abroad to a professional level) is reported to have trained a large number of Nigerian women in the performance of Western classical music between 1880 and 1890. In addition, he organized a number of public concerts known as the Coker concerts, which became the center of social life in Lagos.3 Rev. Coker was the first organist and choirmaster at the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos (the present headquarters of the Anglican communion in Nigeria and the seat of the Archbishop). Dr. Thomas Ekundayo Phillips (the second Nigerian musician trained in Europe), who later became the organist and Master of the Music at the Cathedral Church, concentrated on oratorios and organ music for the churches in the southwestern region of Nigeria. A Passacaglia on an African Folksong for organ, Variations on an African Folksong for organ, and Samuel, a cantata for SATB, voice solos and organ accompaniment, are some of the compositions by Ekundayo Phillips.

After the nation gained its independence from Great Britain in 1960, the quest for a national identity was the paramount objective of art and church music composers in Nigeria. Experimental works by pioneering church organists and choirmasters produced compositions neither entirely Nigerian nor entirely Western. These works could be best described as a synthesis of Nigerian and Western musical idioms. The synthesis of the two musical idioms actually began in the church. Fela Sowande, an organist and composer and the foremost representative of the second generation of modern Nigerian composers, employed several folktunes as the basis of his work. Examples of such works are African Suite for string orchestra, and Folk Symphony for orchestra. Among his famous organ works are Oyigiyigi, Obangiji, Joshua Fit the Battle of Jericho, Prayer, K'a Mura, Yoruba Lament, and Sacred Idioms of the Negro.

Hymn-Based Compositions

Sacred Idioms of the Negro is a six-movement work out of which five are based on Yoruba Christian hymns and one on the African-American spiritual "Bury Me Eas' or Wes'." Laudamus Te is based on a Yoruba hymn and it bubbles with rhythmic energy. The composer did not specify the title of the hymn. The thematic material of Supplication is derived from a Yoruba hymn of prayer in which the Yoruba Christian beseeches God to accept the gifts of their hands, so that when it is time to die, the Christian may wake up in Heaven. It is built on a local hymn tune composed by a Yoruba Methodist minister, The Rev. A.T. Ola Olude. The text of the hymn tune may be translated as "The day is gone, darkness draws near, soon every creature will sleep, May God watch us through the dark night, and may we not find ourselves out of the hands of Sleep into the hands of Death while we sleep." Via Dolorosa supplies a classic example of Yoruba melodies in speech rhythm. Here the Yoruba Christian ponders on the first Good Friday, and reminds us of the tragic event of that terrible day, when Christ was crucified on the cross. Bury Me Eas' or Wes' is based on an African-American spiritual, which has the same words for its title according to the composer. See Example 1 for the themes of each movement of Sacred Idioms of the Negro.4

The last movement of the work Jubilate is based on the tune of a Yoruba Christian hymn "Oyigiyigi, ota omi" (The sea pebble is immortal). Jubilate is a song of joy on the organ, the title deriving from Psalm 100, Jubilate Deo omnis terra (O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands). The rhythmic disposition of the work consists of syncopations, constant and variable rhythmic patterns, and an ostinato in the pedal. The texture is homophonic following 19th-century convention, while the harmony is triadic and functional. Its form is expanded ternary with a fanfare as introduction, a contrasting middle section with the principal theme over a pedal ostinato and a recapitulation of the principal section. See Example 2 for the middle section of Jubilate.

Another work based on a preexisting hymn is Sowande's Oh Render Thanks, a hymn anthem for SATB and organ accompaniment. The texts are derived from hymns 552 and 554 of the British Hymnal Companion. Sowande composed an original tune for the combined five verses, which are clearly separated with organ interludes. The first and last verses are in full unison, while the second and fourth verses are in four parts (SATB). Verse three is a duet for double tenor and double bass voices. It is very practicable to engage the congregation in singing this anthem with the choir. I do recall the congregation at my home church, the Cathedral Church of Christ, Lagos, singing verses one and five with the choir since they are in unison. The choir sang verses two, three, and four. This creates an interesting alternatim. The anthem closes with a long Amen in imitative style. Example 3 shows the arrangement of the first verse of the anthem.

Ayo Bankole's Sonata No. 2 in C for piano (The Passion) is another example of hymn-based work. Bankole provided  an excellent structural analysis of the music in the composer's notes to the work. The three-movement composition is a programmatic piece depicting the passion and crucifixion of Christ. The first movement subtitled "And They Sought About for to Kill Him" is in conventional sonata form. The ticking of the seconds, the throbbing of the heart, the stillness of the night, the mischievous searchers and similar sinister concepts are realized by a subtle mixture of polytonality, wholetonality, and pentatonality. The exposition, which begins without an introduction, has two contrasting themes. The first, which is realized over a pedal C, is a rhythmic, pentatonic motive on the notes G-flat, A-flat, and B-flat. The second theme is a melodic setting of the hymn "Jesu, Jesu mo ki o o" (Jesus, Jesus I greet thee) over an implied ostinato. Note that this hymn is based on a pentatonic scale as shown in Example 4.

The development section pursues the searching motive and begins and ends with the passion song "Jesu Kristi, Igi Oro" (Jesus Christ, O painful Cross), by the late Rev. Canon J. J. Ransome-Kuti, one of the pioneering organists and choirmasters in Nigeria. The song vividly describes the agony and suffering of Christ.

The second movement, titled "And He Was Crucified," is in ternary form and begins with a slow, somber, chord progression in the minor key which blossoms into a broad, pentatonic melody suggesting the esoteric and mystical joy of the crucifixion. It depicts the hammering and nailing by the executioners, the sympathizers and the abandonment of Christ's body by his spirit.  The major chord at the end of this movement affirms that Christ's death was a triumphant achievement for the whole world as it guarantees salvation for all believers.

The final movement of this well crafted masterpiece is a rondo, subtitled "The Song of Mary." The few Africanisms in the work as a whole are found in the borrowed themes composed by local choirmasters and the use of pentatonic scale. Western musical elements predominate: 19th-century programmatic features, dynamic markings, polytonality and wholetone scale, form, instrument (piano), and several pianistic devices not found in indigenous Nigerian music.

Joshua Uzoigwe's Nigerian Dances is a collection of four pieces for piano. Dance No. 2 is a derivation of a popular Yoruba Christian hymn called "Ise Oluwa" (The Work of God). The piece is structured in three parts: an introduction, principal theme section with a development portion, and a conclusion. The principal section figures the hymn tune Ise Oluwa in the right hand with a chromatic accompaniment in the left hand. The coda is derived from the first two and last measures of the main tune. See Example 5 for an excerpt of the principal section of Nigerian Dances No. 2.

The last work for discussion is my own O Trinity Most Blessed Light, a hymn anthem for SATB and organ accompaniment. The text is taken from hymn 15 of the British Hymns Ancient and Modern. I arranged the three verses for choir only, however, the congregation may sing along with the choir in verse two which is in unison. The first verse is in strict homophonic four-part texture with accompaniment ad libitum. The first two measures of verse two are arranged for male voices (tenor and bass), while the last two are for female voices in unison with the sopranos singing the descant. The last verse marked Maestoso con mosso is a triumphant and brilliant ending in contrapuntal imitation of all the voices accompanied with full organ. The piece closes with a final Amen. See Example 6 for the arrangement of the second verse of O Trinity Most Blessed Light.

Summary

In conclusion, one may ask why the use of hymn tunes or texts as the basis of new compositions? The answers are not far-fetched. In the first place, 99.9% of the composers and audiences of these works are predominantly Christians. All the aforementioned composers received their early musical training from various churches. Most of them began their musical careers as choristers and later became organists in several denominations in Nigeria. Second, the borrowed hymn tunes and words are familiar to the audiences since they must have sung them during worship. The hymns then become an instrument of attraction to draw interested persons to the concert hall. Third, using hymns in classical music helps to distillate the social stigma of secularization attached to concert music. The sacred texts and tunes enhance the creation of a serene environment similar to worship. Fourth, all the works are suitable for divine services in churches. For instance, church choirs could sing Fela Sowande's Oh Render Thanks and my own O Trinity Most Blessed Light. Ayo Bankole's Passion Sonata is appropriate for prelude or offertory music on Good Friday, while Sowande's Sacred Idioms of the Negro is very suitable for preludes and postludes at divine services. Finally, creating new works from preexisting melodies is a good exercise for artistic stimulus and creativity. It enhances the development of the intuitive and creative imagination of the composers.

Michel Chapuis (1930–2017): A great organist, pioneer, and professor

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

A French-American organist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster was organist at the American Cathedral in Paris. In 1989, she was appointed titular of the Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at the Trinité Church and founded their weekly concert series. She has performed over 500 concerts in Europe and in the United States. She has also contributed articles to Revue de musicologieLa Flûte HarmoniqueL’OrgueOrgues NouvellesThe American Organist, and The Diapason. Her recordings have been published by EMA, Ligia Digital, Schott, and Fugue State Films. In 2007, the French Cultural Minister awarded her the distinction of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters.

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On November 12, 2017, the liturgical and international concert organist Michel Chapuis died. Also an eminent professor, historian, and organ reformer impassioned by architecture, acoustics, and organbuilding, he immensely contributed to the renaissance, conservation, and restoration of early French organs. He delighted in supporting artistic beauty: his noble, graceful, and poetic interpretations vibrated with rhythmic pulsation, a natural flowing expression, and a spiritual elevation that was filled with mystery and joy.

 

His inspiration to become an
organist and initial training

Michel Chapuis was born January 15, 1930, in Dole, situated in the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region in eastern France. His father was a primary school teacher, and his mother worked as a telephone operator at the post office. In 1938, when his grandmother brought him to a Mass celebrating First Communion in Notre-Dame Collegiate Church,1 he was overwhelmed by its historic organ by Karl Joseph Riepp (1754)/François Callinet (1788)/Joseph Stiehr (1830, 1855, 1858).2 Its grandiose sonorities, which resonate beautifully in such marvelous acoustics, inspired him to become an organist. The organ possesses one of the finest examples of the French Grand Plein-Jeu. This characteristic combination of the Fourniture and Cymbale mixtures with the foundation stops is a full, brilliant, and noble sound that contains all its various inherent harmonics—with up to fifteen pipes that sound on a single note. For Michel Chapuis, this sonority symbolized God, eternity, and the entire color spectrum.

Noting their son was extremely talented, his parents purchased a piano for him at the music shop of Jacques Gardien, an ardent defender of the Dole organ.3 Michel Chapuis acquired a firm and supple piano technique with Miss Palluy, a disciple of Alfred Cortot. For six months, he took lessons with Father Barreau on the harmonium in the Collegiate Church and helped him accompany Masses there. He then began to study organ with Odette Vinard,4 who played at the Protestant Church in Dole, and continued with her professor, Émile Poillot,5 organist at the Dijon Cathedral.

In 1940, his family left Dole during the German occupation and went to Brive-Charensac, a village in the Haute-Loire, where he accompanied church services on the harmonium.6 When he returned to Dole in 1943, he accompanied vespers in the Dole Collegiate Church, even improvising verses between psalms. Delighted to discover a collection of Alexandre Guilmant’s Archives of Organ Masters in the personal library of the Marquis Bernard de Froissard7 in Azans, near Dole, he began to play the early French organ repertory, using registrations mentioned in these scores. His grandfather and the church janitor pumped the organ bellows for him! In 1945, he began to study organ with Jeanne Marguillard, organist at Saint-Louis Church in Monrapont, Besançon, where he accompanied two church services each Sunday for two years on a Jacquot-Lavergne organ.8

 

Musical training in Paris

After the Second World War, in 1946, Jeanne Marguillard came to Paris with Michel Chapuis, to introduce him to Édouard Souberbielle.9 At the age of sixteen, Chapuis began to study organ and improvisation with him at the César Franck School. This “true aristocrat of the organ” possessed a vast culture and an eminent spirituality that deeply influenced all his students. He encouraged them to expand their musical knowledge by listening to great classical works, and Chapuis appreciated his methodical spirit. This master enabled him to maintain a solid yet supple hand position and taught how to “touch” the organ by varying articulations, how to improvise fugues and trio sonatas, and used Marcel Dupré’s improvisation method books to prepare him to study at the Paris Conservatory. Michel Chapuis completed his solid musical formation there by taking piano lessons with Paule Piédelièvre,10 courses in harmony and counterpoint with Yves Margat,11 and fugue with René Malherbe.12 His fellow students there included Simone Michaud13 and her future husband, Jean-Albert Villard,14 Father Joseph Gelineau,15 and Denise Rouquette, who married Michel Chapuis in 1951.16 They lived on Clotaire Street, near the Panthéon.

To launch a career as an organist in France, it was indispensable to obtain a first prize organ in Marcel Dupré’s class at the Paris Conservatory. After auditioning with Dupré in 1950, playing J. S. Bach’s Sixth Trio Sonata and Louis Vierne’s Impromptu, thanks to his solid technique, Michel Chapuis enrolled in the Paris Conservatory the next October. Nine months later, in June 1951, he obtained his first prizes in organ and improvisation, as well as the Albert
Périlhou and Alexandre Guilmant prizes, awarded to the best student in the class.17 Gifted with mechanical ingenuity, he followed Gaston Litaize’s advice and apprenticed with the organbuilder Erwin Muller from 1952 to 1953, in Croisy, just west of Paris.18

 

First three church positions in Paris

From his youth, Michel Chapuis loved the ritual aspects of liturgical music. During his studies in Paris, he substituted for many organists. Highly respected for his fine accompaniments of congregational singing, his vast liturgical knowledge, and his repertory, he was appointed titular organist in several Parisian churches. From 1951 to 1953, he accompanied the liturgy on the Gutschenritter choir organ at Saint-Germain-des-Prés. From 1953 to 1954, he played the 1771 Clicquot/1864 Merklin organ at Saint-Germain l’Auxerrois Church, following in the footsteps of Alexandre Boëly.

In 1954, he succeeded Line Zilgien19  as titular of the 1777 Clicquot/1839 Daublaine & Callinet/1842 Ducroquet/1927 Gonzalez organ at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs and kept his title there until 1970. Nicolas Gigault played there from 1652 to 1707 and Louis Braille, the inventor of the language for the blind, served at the church from 1834 to 1839. This church, located near Arts and Métiers, was reconstructed in a flamboyant Gothic style in the twelfth century and attained its present form in the seventeenth century. Its historic Clicquot organ was the key that opened the doors to Michel Chapuis’ comprehension of the early French organ. He also learned a great deal there from two organbuilders, Claude Hermelin20 and Gabriel d’Alençon.21

In 1954, Michel Chapuis succeeded Jean Dattas as titular of the two-manual, seventeen-stop Merklin choir organ in Notre-Dame Cathedral, in the heart of Paris. There, he accompanied the
Maîtrise choir, directed by the quick-tempered Canon Louis Merret until 1959; then by a marvelous musician, Abbot Jean Revert, who allowed the congregation to sing during alternated verses at vespers. Michel Chapuis accompanied all the daily Masses and nearly all the canonical offices in Gregorian chant: prime (on feast days), tierce, the grand Mass, sext, none, vespers, and compline. One day, a priest sang too high and reproached Michel Chapuis for playing a pitch that was too high, when, in fact, he had mistaken a tourist boat whistle on the Seine for an organ note! In spite of the hordes of tourists that invaded this church, this position brought great joy to Chapuis for nine years: it enabled him to unite his capacities to resonate universal beauty in such a breath-taking setting, with its traditional liturgy and its fantastic acoustics that enhance any musical note. Michel Chapuis strongly believed that music ought to pacify, console, and comfort humanity. Above all, he hoped that his musical offerings would illuminate other people’s lives.22

Michel Chapuis collaborated closely with the two titulars of the grand organ: Pierre Cochereau23 and Pierre Moreau.24 Each Sunday the two organs dialogued, continuing a tradition established in 1402, when Frédéric Schaubantz installed the grand organ in its present location. This dialogue, issued from the Gallican ritual, had remained intact, except during the Revolution, from 1790 to 1798. A 1963 Philips record documented Pierre Cochereau playing his own Paraphrase de la Dédicace and Louis Vierne’s Triumphant March, with Michel Chapuis accompanying Jean Revert’s choir singing works by André Campra and Pierre Desvignes. In September 1984, when Pierre Cochereau decorated Michel Chapuis with the Chevalier of the Legion of Honor, he recalled his improvisations at Notre-Dame and had wondered if J. S. Bach had composed a seventh trio sonata!

 

A pioneer in early French music
interpretation

Impassioned by early French Classical music, Michel Chapuis realized that most of the Parisian organs by such builders as Cavaillé-Coll, Merklin, and Gutschenritter were symphonic or neo-Classical in style, thus unsuitable for the early French repertory. While organists did regularly play the repertoire, however, they did not use notes inégales in their playing. For example, in 1956, when Michel Chapuis went to Marmoutier to meet the American Melville Smith, during his rehearsals for the first complete recording of Nicolas de Grigny’s Livre d’Orgue by Valois, he was surprised that he did not dare to use notes inégales there, even though he had been playing them for over thirty years, simply because he did not want to appear to be original (“Je ne veux pas paraître original”).25 Chapuis concluded that he was a bit timid, probably since the great master organists in Paris at that time had not used them. Nonetheless, Melville Smith’s landmark recording highlighted Muhleisen and Alfred Kern’s 1955 restoration of this historic 1710 Silbermann and received the Grand Prix du Disque.

Curious by nature, Michel Chapuis carried out extensive research to understand the performance practice of notes inégales. His departure point was Eugène Borrel’s book on the interpretation of French music from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries [The Interpretation of French Music (from Lully to the Revolution)].26 This book, well in advance of its time, remained the continual reference point that guided Chapuis’ interpretations. It emphasizes that to enchant auditors, one must play like a singer, with clear pronunciation, an appropriate emotion, expression, and character: serious, sad, happy, or
pleasant.

An organist in the seventeenth century knew how to bring out the main themes, such as plainchants, and could boldly improvise counterpoint on them. Like harpsichordists, they “touched” keyboards by holding their fingers as close to the keys as possible. They played vividly on the Positive Plein Jeu, interpreted Récits tenderly, and played Tierces en tailles with emotional melancholy. Their fingerings enabled them to play notes inégales naturally.

During his nine years at Notre-Dame, Michel Chapuis did not need much time to prepare his work there: this gave him lots of time to consult hundreds of early French organ and singing treatises and prefaces from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, beginning with Loys Bourgeois (1530), who had indicated that eighth notes should be sung in groups of two to render them more graceful. Thanks to his musical intuition, his solid supple technique, and his courageous spirit, he then incorporated notes inégales, appropriate ornaments, and registrations into his interpretations of early French music. Michel Chapuis acknowledged Jules Écorcheville’s research.27 In 1958, Chapuis gave a conference with Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume28 at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs Church, presenting musical illustrations of the application of notes inégales and dotted rhythms. The interpretation of the French national hymn, La Marseillaise, is an excellent example of the natural application of notes inégales: although notated with eighth notes, it is sung with dotted notes. Of course, when one uses early fingerings, one plays naturally with notes inégales. This landmark conference inspired organists such as Marie-Claire Alain29 and marked the beginning of a new era in early French music interpretation.

Michel Chapuis brought early French repertory to life, expressing past rhetoric naturally, with nobleness, simplicity, and good taste. Guided continually by Eugène Borrel, his playing was “elegant, distinguished, and animated without excessiveness” [“élégant, distingué, chaleureux sans outrances”].30 In fact, when he gave a concert on the Gonzalez organ at Saint-Merry Church in May 1963, interpreting works by Titelouze, D’Aquin, and Dandrieu Noëls, no one even noticed that he had played with notes inégales.31 Nicole Gravet’s book on registrations in French music from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries was a guide to him.32 His numerous recordings of early French music in the 1960s testify to his natural assimilation of notes inégales: Dandrieu, Guilain, and Raison on the Clicquot in Poitiers (by Lumen) and others by Harmonia Mundi: François Roberday at Manosque and Isle-sur-Sorgue, François Couperin’s two organ Masses on the Isnard at Saint-Maximin, François Couperin at Le Petit-Andely, Louis Marchand and Gaspard Corette on the Clicquot in Souvigny (Grand Prix), Nicolas Clérambault on the 1765 Bénigne Boillot at Saint-Jean de Losne, Gaspard Corette and D’Aquin in Marmoutier (the only restored organ),33 and his improvisations on the 1746 J. A. Silbermann at Saint-Quirin Lettenbach.

 

Installation near Dole

During his military service at Mont-Valérien (near Paris) from 1954 to 1955, Michel Chapuis met many of his lifelong acquaintances, notably Jacques Béraza (the future organist at Dole, 1955–1998), Jean Saint-Arroman34 (with whom he collaborated in future organ academies and publications of early French music), and the orchestra conductor Jean-Claude Malgloire. Shortly thereafter, he also met the ingenious organ visionary and voicer, Philippe Hartmann.35 From 1955 to 1958, Hartmann lived with Pierre Cochereau’s family, on Boulevard Berthier in Paris. He babysat for his children, Jean-Marc and Marie-Pierre, and enlarged his house organ to seventy stops.36 A few years later, when Michel Chapuis and Francis Chapelet came to visit Pierre Cochereau, they joyfully improvised a trio sonata on his organ, his Steinway piano, and his harpsichord, before savoring some champagne!37

During this period, Chapuis visited Dole regularly. His appointment as organ professor at the Strasburg Conservatory in 1956 assured him a solid income. At Jacques Béraza’s advice, in 1958, he purchased a historic seventeenth-century home in Jouhe, a village near Dole, where he installed his pianos, harmoniums, and his personal library. During this same period, Philippe Hartmann moved to Rainans, a nearby village. Together, their overflowing energy, encyclopedic knowledge, and extraordinary imagination influenced an entire generation of organbuilders who apprenticed there from 1958 to 1969, notably Alain Anselm, Bernard Aubertin, Louis Benoist, Jean Bougarel, Didier Chanon, Jean Deloye, Barthélémy Formentelli, Gérald Guillemin, Claude Jaccard, Dominique Lalmand, Denis Londe, Marie Londe-Réveillac, Jean-François Muno, Pascal Quoirin, Alain Sals, and Pierre Sarelot.38

 

From Saint-SОverin to the Royal Chapel in Versailles

In 1963, at the suggestion of Father Lucien Aumont,39 Michel Chapuis crossed the Seine River to the Latin Quarter to succeed Michel Lambert-Mouchague as titular of the grand organ at Saint-Séverin Church.40 Among some of the past organists who maintained a great classical tradition there were: Michel Forqueray (1681–1757), Nicolas Séjan (1783–1791), Albert Périlhou, composer and director of the Niedermeyer School (1889–1914), Camille Saint-Saëns, honorary organist (1897–1921), and Marcel-Samuel Rousseau (1919–1921).41 After his arrival, Michel Chapuis reinstated the classical system of rotating organists that existed before the Revolution in Parisian churches. Over the years, he shared this post with Jacques Marichal (1963–c. 1972)42 and Francis Chapelet (1964–1984),43 then with André Isoir (1967–1973), Jean Boyer (1975–1988), Michel Bouvard (1984–1994), François Espinasse (1988), Michel Alabau (1986–2016), Christophe Mantoux (1994); and two substitute organists: Jean-Louis Vieille-Girardet (1973–1994), and François-Henri Houbart (1974–1979). In 2002, Chapuis was named honorary organist and Nicolas Bucher succeeded him as titular until 2013, when he in turn was succeded by Véronique Le Guen.44

In 1963, the 1748 Claude Ferrard/1825 Pierre-François Dallery/1889 John Abbey45 organ was in poor shape. In 1963 and 1964, the Alsatian builder Alfred Kern reconstructed the organ according to the plans of Michel Chapuis and Philippe Hartmann,46 who decided upon the use of mechanical action. This exemplary reconstruction as a four-manual neo-Classical German-French organ with fifty-nine stops marked a turning point in French organ construction. It used all of the Abbey windchests and existing pipes, including Claude Ferrard’s Positif Cromorne, the Récit Hautbois, and several mutation stops, along with twenty-two new stops. The disposition of its newly constructed Plein-Jeu stops, with its Cymbale-Tierce stop, allowed the interpretation of both early French and German literature for the first time in Paris and enabled Michel Chapuis to accompany the congregational singing with vitality and variety. The third keyboard, Récit-Resonance, enabled him to couple the other two keyboards to it. The natural keys were made of ebony, and the sharps of white cow bone. The Positif de dos was placed mid-height in the church, enabling the organ to resonate fully. Chapuis inaugurated the instrument on March 8, 1964, with two different programs: the first consisting of works by Couperin, Buxtehude, and Bach; and the second, works by de Grigny, Marchand, Sweelinck, Böhm, and Bach.47 After initial work by Daniel Kern in 1982 and Dominique Lalmand in 1988, the organ was restored again in 2011 by Dominique Thomas, Quentin Blumenroeder, and Jean-Michel Tricoteaux, respecting Alfred Kern’s work.

Michel Chapuis had arrived at Saint-Séverin during the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965). This parish’s ecumenical approach mirrored that of the Community in Taizé. With that in mind, Michel Chapuis adapted Bach chorales to the Catholic liturgy with French texts. The organists collaborated with priests to prepare the liturgy in accordance with the texts and the different colors of the liturgical year. Instead of beginning the Mass with Asperges me and an appropriate Gregorian Introit, the chorale “Nun komm der Heiden Heiland” served as the opening hymn during the four Sundays in Advent. Before each Mass, Michel Chapuis softly accompanied a rehearsal of the liturgy. After improvising a prelude to the opening hymn on the Positif Plein-Jeu, he accompanied the congregation on the Grand Orgue Plein-Jeu. Father Alain Ponsard requested Michel Chapuis to compose a Sanctus, known as the Saint-Séverin Sanctus, sung throughout France. Later, his former student and substitute organist, François-Henri Houbart, composed a partita based on this Sanctus.48

Two recordings by Cantoral49 attest to Michel Chapuis’ fine accompaniments. Harmonia Mundi recorded his interpretations of Jehan Titelouze’s hymns and Magnificat at Saint-Séverin. His other recordings in the 1960s and 1970s echoed the repertory he played there: works by Louis Couperin (Deutsche Grammophon), Nicolas de Grigny (Astrée), French Noëls by Balbastre, Dandrieu, and D’Aquin, and the complete works of Nicolas Bruhns, Vincent Lübeck, J. S. Bach, and Dieterich Buxtehude (Valois).50 Recording the complete organ works of Bach was extremely difficult: after learning all the scores, he recorded alone at night, set up the magnetic tapes, pushed the “record” button, and went up to the organ loft to play; if there was a noise or the slightest error, he started all over, until it was perfect.

In 1966, Édouard Souberbielle gave a concert at Saint-Séverin. In 1968 and 1969, Chapuis organized a concert series entitled “Renaissance of the Organ,” for the Association for the Protection of Early Organs, on the first Wednesday of each month at 9:00 p.m.: on October 9, Michel Chapuis opened this series with a Bach concert; on November 6, Marie-Claire Alain played Bach and early German masters; on December 4, Pierre Cochereau performed Bach, Mozart, Liszt, and improvised; on January 8, 1969, André Isoir gave an eclectic concert for the Christmas season; on February 5, Francis Chapelet played selections of Art of the Fugue and the Toccata in C Major by Bach; on March 5, Helmuth Walcha was scheduled to play Bach’s Clavierübung III, but, unable to perform, was replaced by Marie-Claire Alain; on May 7, Xavier Darasse performed Messiaen, Bach, and Ligeti; and on June 6, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini performed Frescobaldi, Muffat, and Bach. In the fall of 1969, concerts were given by Michel Chapuis, Heinz Wunderlich, Anton Heiller, and Helmut Walcha. From October 1970 to June 1971, Michel Chapuis performed the complete works of J. S. Bach there.

In 1995, Michel Chapuis was appointed titular of the prestigious historic Robert Clicquot organ,51 rebuilt by Jean-Loup Boisseau and Bertrand Cattiaux, at the Royal Chapel in Versailles. On November 18 and 19, 1995, he inaugurated this organ and was named honorary organist there in 2010. This position was the crowning summit of his concert career.52 At this exquisite historic royal palace, he was truly an ambassador for French culture, receiving artists from the entire world.

 

A. F. S. O. A.: The Association for the Protection of Early Organs

On December 21, 1967, a group of organists, organ historians, and builders, as well as amateur organ admirers, joined forces to protest against abusive transformations of historic French organs and founded the Association for the Protection of Early Organs
[A. F. S. O. A., Association pour la sauvegarde de l’orgue ancien]. Their first general meeting took place on March 1, 1968. Jean Fonteneau, a substitute organist at Saint-Séverin, was president for the first year; the organ historian Pierre Hardouin, its primary editor; Michel Bernstein, editorial secretary; and Michel Chapuis, artistic advisor. Among its honorary members were Jean-Albert Villard and Helmut Winter. Other members included Father Lucien Aumont, Michel Bernstein, Bernard Baërd, Dominique Chailley, Jacques Chailley, Francis Chapelet, Pierre Chéron, Pierre Cochereau, René Delosme, Christian Dutheuil, Robert Gronier (a future president), André Isoir, Henri Legros, Émile Leipp, the architect Alain Lequeux, the astronomer James Lequeux, Charles-Walter Lindow, Pierre-Paul Lacas, Dominique Proust, Jean Saint-Arroman, Gino Sandri, Marc Schaefer, Jean-Christophe Tosi (a future president), and Jean Ver Hasselt. They struggled to renew interest in the unforgotten historic early French organ and its music. In 1969,
A. F. S. O. A. organized an international François Couperin competition for organ and harpsichord at Saint-Séverin and on the François-Henri Clicquot organ (1772), restored by Alfred Kern, at the Royal Chapel in Fontainebleau. It also organized visits to organs, such as the Clicquot at the Poitiers Cathedral, and organs in Alsace.

A. F. S. O. A. ardently defended a respectable restoration of the 1748 Dom Bédos organ in Bordeaux and protested against Gonzalez’s restoration of the historic Couperin organ at Saint-Gervais Church in Paris.54 In 1954, this firm, under Norbert Dufourcq’s direction, had already considerably transformed Jean de Joyeuse’s 1694 Baroque 16 organ in Auch Cathedral: out of the 3,060 pipes there, 620 were considerably altered and 2,240 had disappeared, notably the Grand Plein-Jeu.55 Michel Chapuis felt that Victor Gonzalez’s neo-classical Plein-Jeu, although pitched too high, was remarkably well-voiced and suitable for a small instrument installed in a studio or a home, but not for a large organ in a church. When Norbert Dufourcq went to visit the historic eighteenth century Jean-Baptiste Micot organ in Saint-Pons-des-Thomières (in the Hérault), the organist, Jean Ribot, hid the keys so that he could not enter the organ loft to look at the organ.56

Michel Chapuis strongly supported research on the French Classical organ Plein-Jeu, notably by his friends Jean Fellot57 and Léon Souberbielle.58 Thankfully, in 1954, Pierre Chéron and Rochas saved the splendid Grand Plein-Jeu in the 1774 Isnard organ at Sainte Marie-Madeleine Basilica in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume.59 In 1957, Robert Boisseau voiced a Roethinger organ in the French Classic style that included a Plein-Jeu as described by Dom Bédos, in Saint Louis du Temple Benedictine Abbey in Limon-Vauhallan (in the Essonne south of Paris). It was designed by Édouard and Léon Souberbielle. On November 7, 1959, Claude Philbée made a private recording of Michel Chapuis improvising to demonstrate the organ’s stops.60

In 1967, Michel Chapuis pleaded with André Malraux, the minister for cultural affairs since 1959, for new policies concerning the restoration of early organs. He explained that past massacres of historic organs had given a bad name to organbuilding in France. He estimated that around seventy historic organs remained intact in France: thirty large instruments and forty smaller instruments. He suggested that, as in Austria or the Netherlands, a group of experts be appointed to form a new national commission of historic organs in addition to regional commissions. Before dismantling each organ for restoration, it should be completely evaluated and inventoried, with precise measurements, photos, and recordings. However, advocating for drastic changes in the French administration was not an easy task!

As A. F. S. O. A. encouraged, restorations were carried out that respected the past. As a member of the Commission for Historical Monuments, Michel Chapuis travelled in his Citroën van to visit organs and photographed them with his Rolleflex box camera. Here are some of the organs beautifully restored between 1968 and 1998: Perthuis, Malaucène, Saint-Guilhem-le-Désert, Saint-Lizier, Forcalquier, and Sète by Alain Sals; Houdan by Robert and Jean-Loup Boisseau; three cuneiform bellows to activate the wind in the Clicquot in Souvigny by Philippe Hartmann;
Ebersmunster by Alfred Kern; Albi and Carcassonne by Barthélemy Formentelli;
Villiers-le-Bel, Juvigny, and the Dom Bédos in Bordeaux by Pascal Quoirin; Semur-en-Auxois by Jean Deloye with Philippe Hartmann; Seurre in Bourgogne, Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville in Normandy, and Saint-Antoine-L’Abbaye by Bernard Aubertin; the 1790
Clicquot in Poitiers by Boisseau-Cattiaux Society;61 Bolbec by Bertrand Cattiaux; and the reconstruction of the Jean de Joyeuse in Auch by Jean-François Muno. Between 1994 and 1997, the builders Claude Jaccard and Reinalt Klein built a replica of the Houdan organ (except the case) in the Kreuzekirche Church in Stapelmoor, Germany (in the North of Ostfriesland): Organeum Records recorded Michel Chapuis playing works by Böhm, Boyvin, Dandrieu, and Jullien on this organ on September 17, 1998.62

In the 1980s, Michel Chapuis supported the Cavaillé-Coll Association, which advocated for quality restorations of Romantic organs. He kindly advised this author’s research on Aristide Cavaillé-Coll’s secular organs. Among the Cavaillé-Coll organs restored between 1985 and 1997: the grand organs in Sacré-Coeur Basilica and in Saint-Sulpice in Paris, by Jean Renaud; Charles-Marie Widor’s 1893 house organ in Selongey, Côte d’Or (1986), and Édouard André’s 1874 house organ in Decize, by Claude Jaccard; the grand organ in Poligny, by Dominique Lalmand and Claude Jaccard, the grand organ in Saint-Sernin Basilica in Toulouse, by Boisseau-Cattiaux.

 

Organ professor

An eminent professor, Michel Chapuis acknowledged that the best way to learn music is to teach it. He loved to transmit his musical heritage and his practical knowledge. His intuition and his astute sense of observation and analysis enabled him to transmit elements of interpretation that cannot always be explained. He taught organ at the Strasburg Conservatory from 1956 to 1979, at the Schola Cantorum in Paris from 1977 to 1979, at the Besançon Conservatory from 1979 to 1986, and then succeeded Rolande Falcinelli at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris, from 1986 to 1995. He also gave masterclasses in numerous academies in France: early French music on the historic Isnard organ at Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume Academy, founded in 1962; German and French early music on the 1752 Riepp/1833 Callinet organ in Semur-en-Auxois (in the Côte-d’Or) in the mid-1970s;63 in the Pierrefonds Academy (in the Oise) with Jean Saint-Arroman in the 1980s; and in Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges64 (in the Haute-Garonne) from 1976 to 2008, notably with André Stricker and Jean Saint-Arroman. He also gave masterclasses in Stapelmoor, Germany (with André Stricker and Pierre Vidal), as well as in the United States and Japan.

At the Strasbourg Conservatory, Michel Chapuis taught in the Catholic organ class, alongside André Stricker,65 who was in charge of the Protestant organ class. As the organ department grew, two more professors were added to balance the department: in 1962, Marc Schaefer,66 a Protestant, and, in 1963, Pierre Vidal,67  a Catholic. In June 1964, Helmut Walcha inaugurated the Kurt Schwenkedel organ (III/64) in the conservatory concert hall. Michel Chapuis helped to determine its stoplist, which he described as being both “classical and personal.”68 Of note, the organ case included horizontal Montre pipes.

In 1986, when Michel Chapuis began to teach at the Paris Conservatory, it was still located on Madrid Street, before its transfer to la Villette in 1991. Instead of giving lessons on the dusty 1951 Jacquot-Lavergne organ there, he preferred to teach on beautiful church organs: at Saint-Séverin, in Dole, and in Poligny. Open-minded, he never imposed any particular interpretation on his students69 but used his immense knowledge, his fantastic imagination, his humanistic approach, and his witty humor to guide them from the visible text to the invisible spirit of the music. He emphasized the importance of a calm, supple body, notably in hands and wrists, to give great lightness and liberty to fingers, which remain in contact with the keys. With his soft, sweet voice, he calmly encouraged students to go beyond the notes, to recreate the composer’s musical conception in a harmonious and sober manner. He abhorred inadequate and superficial ornaments and inappropriate expression. He enabled his students to understand the inherent marvels in each score, its underlying harmonies, rhythmic structures, and melodic expression, and helped them to incorporate these elements into their interpretations with an appropriate style, with spontaneity, good taste, and excellent registrations.

How fortunate I was to study with Michel Chapuis and Jean Saint-Arroman at the Academy in Pierrefonds in 1983 and 1984. Eugène Borrel’s book on the interpretation of early French music was truly indispensable to interpreting early French music expression in a well-balanced harmonious manner, with natural fluidity and ease. We accompanied singers to understand the underlying nature of a musical text, its pronunciation, its appropriate expression and style, its inherent harmonies. We studied the early French organ and its music: figured basses, dance rhythms, registrations, tempi, temperaments, ornamentations, and learned how to appropriately express and embellish the musical line. Its sweet, gentle expression70 finds its summit in the Tierce taille and numerous Récits.

We presented recitals at Saint-Séverin and Saint-Gervais churches. While studying on early historic instruments does not guarantee a beautiful performance, it enables an interpreter to play ornaments, registrations, phrasing, etc., with greater ease. As Jean Saint-Arroman pointed out, it is impossible for early music to be heard as in former centuries because “life and sensibility have changed too much, and, at least for the listeners, the music which was ‘modern’ has become ‘ancient’” [“la vie et la sensibilité ont trop chargé, et, au moins pour les auditeurs, la musique qui était ‘moderne’ est devenue ‘ancienne’”].71

Michel Chapuis inspired an entire generation of organists, among them: Scott Ross (at Saint-Maximin); Robert Pfrimmer, Étienne Baillot, Antoine Bender, Lucien Braun, Henri Delorme, Alain Langré, François-Henri Houbart, Jean-Louis Vieille-Girardet, Hélène Hébrard, Chieko Mayazaki and Henri Paget (at Strasbourg Conservatory); Régis Allard, Michel Bouvard,72 Yasuko Uyama-Bouvard, Makiko Hayashima, Hisaé Hosokawa (at the Schola Cantorum); Marc Baumann, Sylvain Ciaravolo, Pierre Gerthoffer, Luc Bocquet, Éric Brottier, Bernard Coudurier, Roland Servais, Véronique Rougier, Vinciane Rouvroy, Marie-Christine Vermorel (at the Besançon Conservatory); Valéry Aubertin, Valérie Aujard-Catot, Franck Barbut, Philippe Brandeis, Yves
Castagnet, Slava Chevliakov, Denis Comtet, Françoise Dornier, Thierry Escaich, Pierre Farago, Jean-François Frémont, Mathieu Freyburger, Christophe Henry, Emmanuel Hocdé, Jean-Marc Leblanc, Marie-Ange Laurent-Lebrun, Éric Lebrun, Véronique Le Guen, Erwan Le Prado, Gabriel Marghieri, Pierre Mea, Nicolas Reboul-Salze, Marina Tchébourkina,73 Vincent Warnier (at the National Superior Conservatory of Music), and Frédéric Munoz (in numerous academies).

 

International concert artist

Michel Chapuis was a great artist who consecrated his entire life to enriching other people’s lives with beautiful music. Although he often said that he never took vacations, in all truth, he worked too much, giving generously to others: as a teacher, as a member of the national organ commission for cultural affairs, as a church musician, and as a concert artist. He delighted in sharing his passions with others: photography, tramways, historic books, and architecture, among others. Fascinated with movement, he often invited visitors to his home to take a ride in his old train wagons, which he pushed on the train tracks he had installed in his yard: an unexpected experience! His listeners sensed such sparkling joy when listening to his captivating interpretations, from its kindling intense, fiery warmth to its gentle gracious sweetness. Conscious of the acoustical resonance of each room, he knew how to let silences speak fully, thus clarifying the musical narration and providing it with spiritual depth and elevation.

When I met Michel Chapuis in Saint-Séverin in 1984, I admired his noble yet gentle manner of playing. Although his hands were robust and gnarled, as if he had labored as an eighteenth-century tanner along the canals in Dole, once he began to play, they floated just above the keyboards, but his fingers were deeply enrooted in the keys,74 like those of J. S. Bach! His vivid imagination and fantasy excelled in the interpretation of
Dieterich Buxtehude’s works. I remember the numerous interesting discussions in the church reception hall after Mass with artists from all over the world.

Michel Chapuis considered himself to be Catholic in the universal sense of the term.75 On May 7–8, 1979, during the inauguration of Alfred Kern’s restoration of the 1741 Jean-André Silbermann organ at Saint-Thomas Lutheran Church in Strasburg, he illustrated the mission of the organ in the church by improvising in the French Classical style on themes from the old Parisian Ritual. Like the great humanist Albert Schweitzer, who had preached in this church, he believed that when music is felt deeply, either sacred or secular, it resonates in spiritual spheres where art and religion may meet.

Michel Chapuis played concerts in Europe, the United States, Russia, and Japan. He came to the United States at least on three occasions. On November 26 and 27, 1968, he gave a recital and masterclass at Northwestern University School of Music, Evanston, Illinois, and returned to play at Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, University of Chicago, in 1978. During this same year, he inaugurated the Yves Koenig organ at Saint-Sulpice Church in Pierrefonds, performing Nicolas de Grigny’s entire Organ Mass. In Japan, he gave his first organ recital in the NKH Hall in Tokyo in 1976. He inaugurated three Aubertin organs there: his opus 48 (III/48), in the French Classical style at Shirane-Cho/Minami-Alps in 1993, where he returned at least ten times to give academies, concerts, and masterclasses, recorded by Plenum Vox in 1999; opus 13 (II/13) in the Lutheran Church in Tokyo in 1999; and opus 22 (II/22) in a home in Karuizawa in 2003. He gave concerts and masterclasses many times in Russia, notably on the Charles Mutin organ at the Tchaikovky Conservatory in Moscow beginning in 1993.

Throughout his entire career, Michel Chapuis collaborated with singers, choirs, and orchestras, as illustrated in several recordings: the 1967 Harmonia Mundi record of François Couperin’s Leçons de Ténèbres with Alfred
Deller, countertenor; Philip Todd, tenor; and Raphael Perulli, viola da gamba, at Augustins Chapel in Brignolles
(Var); in 1997: Quantin CD of four Handel concertos, opus 4, with the Marais Chamber Orchestra directed by Pascal Vigneron; and an Astrée CD of Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Port Royal Mass in Houdan, directed by Emmanuel Mandrin; a 1998 CD of his inauguration of Laurent Plet’s restoration of the 1847 Callinet organ at Saint-Pierre Church in Liverdun captured his accompaniments of three local choirs, with works by Scheidt, Rinck, Boëly, Mendelssohn, Ritter, Herbeck, and Berthier.76 In 1999, Glossa Records recorded his improvised verses in Marc-Antoine Charpentier’s Messe de Monsieur de Mauroy at Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache with Hervé Niquet’s Le Concert spirituel. In 2000, Plenum Vox recorded his inauguration of Bernard Hurvy’s twenty-six-stop early nineteenth century transitional-style organ in Charbonnières-les-Bains (near Lyon), with the Saint-Roch Choir directed by J. M. Blanchon, with works by Bach, Buxtehude, Mendelssohn, Guilmant, Bruckner, and improvisations on Salve Regina. Ekaterina Fedorova, soprano, the founder of Plenum Vox Records, gave many concerts and recorded with him: Magnificats by Guilain, Dandrieu, Beauvarlet-Charpentier, and improvisations on the Dom Bédos organ at Saint-Croix Abbey Church in Bordeaux in 2002, and Burgundian Christmas carols, vocal works by Clérambault, and improvisations on the 1768 Bénigne Boillot organ in Saint-Jean-de-Losne in 2003.

At the end of each concert, Michel Chapuis improvised in a style that valorized the organ with a wide variety of registrations. In 2004, when he improvised at the end of his concert on Jean-François Muno’s exemplary reconstruction (1992–1998) of the 1694 Jean de Joyeuse organ at Auch Cathedral, he received a standing ovation that lasted for over ten minutes! During the last ten years of his life, even as his vision deteriorated, his luminous and graceful improvisations continued to enlighten his audiences. Many of them were recorded live by Plenum Vox: a 2003 DVD in the Royal Chapel in Versailles and in Souvigny, a 2004 CD in the Romantic style on the Cavaillé-Coll organs at Saint-Ouen and Poligny, and a 2005 DVD in the German Baroque style on Bernard Aubertin’s organ at Saint-Louis-en-l’Île Church in Paris. He had assimilated the early French repertory so well that he was capable of improvising in the style of each composer and each period. He knew how to discern the tonalities that resonated well on each organ: for example, C Major and D Major in Dole, and G Major at Saint-Séverin.

Michel Chapuis’ 2001 Plenum Vox recordings in Dole remind us that this organ remained the star that inspired him throughout his entire career. These three CDs illustrate his eclectic repertory on this versatile instrument with three faces: the German face (Buxtehude, Kellner, Rinck, with improvisations), the French face (Boyvin, Tapray, d’Aquin, Balbastre and improvisations on Ave Maris Stella), and the Romantic face (Mendelssohn, Czerny, Guilmant, Brosig, Boëllmann, and Franck).

In addition to being a pioneer who revolutionized the French organ world in the second half of the twentieth century, this great concert and liturgical organist and professor generously shared his time, knowledge, and documents with his colleagues, students, and friends. His conception of French good taste goes beyond time and space: it encourages us to memorialize the past, far beyond an idea of comfort and superficial rapidity, by embracing beauty with simplicity, constant research, meditation, and spiritual depth. In addition to his beautiful music, his humanistic and fraternal approach to life, his conviviality, his humble simplicity, as well as his liberty of spirit, will continue to inspire us.

 

A French-American organist and musicologist, Carolyn Shuster was organist at the American Cathedral in Paris. In 1989, she was appointed titular of the Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at the Trinité Church and founded their weekly concert series. She has performed over 500 concerts in Europe and in the United States. She has also contributed articles to Revue de musicologie, La Flûte Harmonique, L’Orgue, Orgues Nouvelles, The American Organist, and The Diapason. Her recordings have been published by EMA, Ligia Digital, Schott, and Fugue State Films. In 2007, the French Cultural Minister awarded her the distinction of Knight in the Order of Arts and Letters. 

 

Notes

1. Cf. Marc Baumann, “Interview with Michel Chapuis in Marienthal,” transcribed by Hubert Heller, February, 2003, and in www.union-sainte-cecile.org.

2. Cf. Pierre M. Guéritey, Karl Joseph
Riepp et l’Orgue de Dole
, 2 vol. (Lyon, FERREOL, 1985).

3. Cf. Jacques Gardien, “Les Grandes Orgues de la Collégiale de Dole,” L’Orgue, no. 25, March 1936, pp. 6–14.

4. Odette Goulon, her married name, was appointed organist at Temple du Luxembourg in Paris in 1991. The dates of organists in this article are mostly those found in Pierre Guillot, Dictionnaire des organistes français des XIXe et XXe siècles, Sprimont, Belgium, 2003.

5. Émile Poillot (1886–1948) was organist of Saint-Bénigne Cathedral, Dijon, 1912–1948.

6. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, Plein Jeu, Interviews with Michel Chapuis (Vendôme: Le Centurion, 1979), p. 34. The Germans occupied Dole from June 17, 1940, to September 9, 1944.

7. Marquis Bernard de Froissard (1884–1962) was an administrator of Société Cavaillé-Coll, Mutin, Convers, & Cie. 

8. Jeanne Marguillard was organist at Sainte-Madeleine Church, Besançon, 1947–1993.

9. Édouard Souberbielle (1899–1989) also taught at Schola Cantorum and at Institut Grégorien.

10. Paule Piédelièvre (1902–1964) studied piano with Blanche Selva and was organist at Étrangers Church.

11. Yves Margat contributed articles to Guide du Concert

12. René Malherbe (1898–1969) was organist and choir director at Saint-Pierre-du-Gros-Caillou Church.

13. Simone Villard (b. 1927) was appointed organist at Sainte-Radegonde Church in Poitiers in 1952.

14. Jean-Albert Villard (1920–2000) was organist at Poitiers Cathedral, 1949–2000.

15. Joseph Gélineau, SJ (1920–2000), was a Jesuit priest, composer, and French liturgist. 

16. Denise Chapuis (b. 1928). They had seven children: Jean-Marie (†), Claude (†), Bruno, Laurent (who worked with the harpsichord builder Anselm and the organbuilder Alain Sals), François, Claire (†) Christophe, ten grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

17. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 58.

18. Jean-Marc Cicchero, Hommage à une Passion, Éd. O. V., 2018, p. 126. Erwin Muller had apprenticed with Schwenkedel, then as a voicer with Gonzalez. His shop was active in Croissy from 1950–1986.

19. Line Zilgien (1906–1954), organist there from 1940–1954, was close to Claire Delbos, Olivier Messiaen’s wife.

20. Claude Hermelin (1901–1986), began to study voicing in 1923 with Charles Mutin (cf. J.-M. Cicchero, op. cit., p. 64) and wrote articles under the alias Jean Mas.

21. Gabriel d’Alençon (1881–1956) restored the 17th-century organ in Rozay-en-Brie and was interested in temperaments. From 1936 to 1939, Claude Hermelin collaborated with him in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, and they gave courses in organbuilding at Schola Cantorum, Paris.

22. Cf. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., pp. 212–213.

23. Pierre Cochereau (1924–1984) was titular of the grand organ at Notre-Dame Cathedral, 1955–1984.

24. Pierre Moreau (1907–1991) played there, 1946–1986. Michel Chapuis wrote the preface to his Livre d’Orgue (Europart Music, 1990).

25. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 96.

26. Eugène Borrel (1876–1962), violinist and musicologist, L’Interprétation de la musique française (de Lully à la Révolution), Paris, Librairie Félix Alcan, 1934, p. 150.

27. Jules Écorcheville (1872–1915), musicologist, wrote De Lulli à Rameau—L’esthétique musicale (Paris, 1906). 

28. Antoine Geoffroy-Dechaume (1905–2000), Les secrets de la musique ancienne, recherches sur l’interprétation (Fasquelle, 1964).

29. Cf. Jesse Eschbach, “Marie-Claire Alain, pédagogue internationale,” Marie-Claire Alain, L’Orgue, Cahiers et Mémoires, no. 56, 1996—II, p. 59. She mentions that this concert took place in 1958, but this date needs to be verified.

30. Eugène Borrel, op cit., p. 150. 

31. Claude Duchesneau, op. cit., p. 98.

32. Nicole Gravet, L’orgue et l’art de la registration en France du XVIe siècle au début du XIXe siècle, originally published in 1960, it was reedited with a preface by Michel Chapuis, Chatenay Malabry, Ars Musicae, 1996.

33. In 1996, the European Organ Center in Marmoutier reedited Michel Chapuis’ interpretations of Böhm, Buxtehude, J. S. Bach, de Grigny, and Dandrieu on this organ.

34. Cf. his publications on French Classical music, 1661–1789: Dictionnaire d’interprétation (Initiation), (Honoré Champion, 1983) and L’Interprétation de la musique pour orgue (Honoré Champion, 1988); his early music facsimiles are edited by Anne Fuzeau. He teaches in the early music department at the National Superior Conservatory of Music in Paris.

35. Philippe Hartmann (1928–2014) had apprenticed with Gutschenritter, worked three months for Gonzalez, for Émile Bourdon in Dijon, eight years for Pierre Chéron, collaborated with Georges Lhôte, with Jean Deloye from 1969–1975, worked independently at Le Havre in 1982, and as a voicer for Haerpfer.

36. In 1993, Daniel Birouste incorporated it into the organ at the Saint-Vincent Church in Roquevaire (Bouches-du-Rhône).

37. Cf. Yvette Carbou, Pierre Cochereau Témoignages (Zurfluh, 1999), p. 38.

38. Cf. Jean-Marc Cicchero, op. cit., pp. 104–105.

39. Father Lucien Aumont (1920–2014) lived in a tower of Saint-Séverin Church. From 1947 until 1987, he recorded concerts there and broadcast them in programs at Radio-France-INA.

40. He had been organist there from 1921 until 1960.

41. Cf. Félix Raugel, Les Grandes Orgues des Églises de Paris et du Département de la Seine, Paris, Fischbacher, pp. 100–102.

42. Jacques Marichal (1934–1987) was also choir organist at Notre-Dame Cathedral from 1964 to 1987.

43. Francis Chapelet (1934), a well-known specialist in Spanish organ music, is honorary organist at Saint-Séverin. 

44. The three actual titulars at Saint-Séverin are François Espinasse, Christophe Mantoux, and Véronique Le Guen.

45. John Abbey II (1843–1930).

46. In 1966, Philippe Hartmann built a choir organ (I/7) for Saint-Séverin. Roger Chapelet, Francis Chapelet’s father, painted its organ case.

47. L’Orgue, no. 112, Oct.–Dec.1964, p. 110.

48. François-Henri Houbart, Partita sur un choral dit Sanctus de Saint-Séverin (Delatour France, 2010).

49. Cantoral: UD 30 1299 and 5, UD 30 1385.

50. For a complete list of Michel Chapuis’ recordings, cf. Alain Cartayrade, www.france-orgue.fr/disque.

51. Cf. M. Tchebourkina. L’orgue de la Chapelle royale de Versailles: À la recherche d’une composition perdue // L’Orgue. Lyon, 2007. 2007–IV no. 280. She was organist at the Royal Chapel in Versailles 1996–2010.

52. Plenum Vox (PV 004) recorded a CD of Nivers, Lebègue, Couperin, Dandrieu, Marchand, and Lully there in 1999 and a DVD in 2003.

53. Bärenreiter published the first eight issues of their periodical, Renaissance de L’Orgue, from 1968 to 1970, followed by Connoissance de l’orgue, until 2000. At the end of the 1960s, Jean Fonteneau taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While in the Boston area, he promoted A. F. S. O. A. by organizing concerts and lectures at Saint Thomas in New York City and at Harvard University.

54. In May and June 1967, several articles appeared in the French newspaper Le Monde and L’Art Sacré. This restoration by Gonzalez was highly supervised by the A. F. S. O. A.
55. Cf. Michel Chapuis, notes in the Plenum Vox CD of the complete works of Jacques Boyvin in Auch, PV 011, 2004.

56. XCP Montpellier, recorded Michel Chapuis’ concert there on September 5, 1993: cf. www.france-orgue.fr/disque.

57. Jean Fellot (1905–1967) wrote À la recherche de l’orgue classique (reedited by Édisud in 1993).

58. This book was written by hand and printed by the author at Montoire-sur-le-Loir in 1977.

59. Cf. Pierre Chéron’s inventory in L’Orgue de Jean-Esprit et Joseph Isnard à la Basilique de la Madeleine à Saint-Maximin, 1774, prefaced by Michel Chapuis (Réalisation Art et Culture des Alpes-Maritimes, Nice, 1991).

60. According to Sister Marie-Emmanuelle, this organ had 31 manual stops and its pedal stops were borrowed. Curiously, its action was electro-pneumatic. One can hear Michel Chapuis’ improvisations on https://youtu.be/5u-0eR3BYko. This organ was integrated into a new 42-stop neo-classical organ by Olivier Chevron, inaugurated in the Abbey at Celles-sur-Belle (Charente-Maritime) on May 5, 2018.

61. Cf. Cathédral de Poitiers, 1787 à 1790, L’Orgue de François-Henri Clicquot (Direction of Cultural Affaires in Poitou-Charentes, 1994).

62. This CD also includes Harald Vogel in the Georgskirche.

63. He taught in Semur-en-Auxois with Odile Bayeux (organ), Blandine Verlet (harpsichord), Alain Anselm (harpsichord building), Philippe Hartmann (organbuilding) and Jean Saint-Arroman (French performance practice).

64. This festival was founded by Pierre Lacroix in 1974 under the musical direction of Jean-Patrice Brosse.

65. André Stricker (1931–2003) taught there, 1954–1996. He had studied with Helmut Walcha.

66. Marc Schaefer (b. 1934), a former André Stricker student, taught there until 2000.

67. Pierre Vidal (1927–2010), composer and musicographer, remained there until 1991.

68. Cf. Jean-Louis Coignet, “L’Orgue du Conservatoire de Strasbourg,” L’Orgue, no. 117, January–March 1966, p. 39.

69. Cf. Éric Lebrun article blog SNAPE: www.snape.fr/index.php/2017/11/13.

70. Cf. Eugène Borrel, op. cit., p. 148. 

71. Jean Saint-Arroman, “Authenticity,” in Dictionnaire d’interprétation (Initiation), Paris, Honoré Champion, 1983, p. 13.

72. Michel Bouvard was an auditor and studied with Chapuis at Saint-Séverin.

73. In 1999, Natives recorded the organ works of Claude Balbastre interpreted by Michel Chapuis and his student Marina Tchebourkina on the historic grand organ at Saint-Roch Church, Paris.

74. Cf. Roland Servais, “Ses mains étaient comme des racines,” Chronique des Moniales, Abbaye Notre-Dame du Pesquié, March 2018, pp. 25–27.

75. Cf. Pastor Claude Rémy Muess, “L’église luthérienne Saint-Thomas de Strasbourg retrouve son orgue Silbermann,” L’Orgue, no. 173, January–March 1980, pp. 5–11. 

76. Available at: Association Amis de l’orgue de Liverdun, 1, place des Armes, 54460 Liverdun, France.

Fernand de La Tombelle (1854–1928): Monsieur le Baron

Jean-Emmanuel Filet

Jean-Emmanuel Filet, born in Périgueux, France, in 1986, studied harmony, counterpoint, composition, piano, organ, and chamber music at the Conservatoire de Bordeaux. He earned a doctorate in composition at the University of Montreal, Canada, and studied conducting of contemporary repertoire at the Conservatorio della Svizzera Italiana da Lugano in Switzerland. The winner of several competitions in improvisation and composition, he has composed solo, chamber, and orchestral works, including an opera, H. P. L. Outsider, based on the life and work of American writer Howard Phillips Lovecraft. 

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The name of French composer Fernand de La Tombelle is nowadays somewhat forgotten, but this man was renowned during his lifetime, even outside of France. To give but one example, he composed a Fantaisie de concert for organ especially for the inauguration of Chicago’s Auditorium Theater instrument.1 Moreover, many of his organ compositions were dedicated to American organists, and some of these musicians were the first to perform La Tombelle’s music.2

Baron Fernand de La Tombelle was a composer, pianist, and organist, a pedagogue and lecturer, a poet and writer. He was well versed in folklore and photography and was a talented amateur painter. An excellent cyclist, he was also keen on astronomy and archaeology. 

As a composer, his great concern for form and the clarity of his musical ideas make him a fine example of French Romantic Classicism following his teachers and friends Alexandre Guilmant, Théodore Dubois, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Except for opera, La Tombelle tried his hand at almost every genre, and in abundance (one can estimate his works to nearly 500 opus numbers). Obviously, everything has not the same interest but many compositions have musical value. Among his masterpieces, chamber music has a special place (he was awarded the Grand Prix Chartier de l’Institut for his chamber music in 1896) and also his choral music. In France, during the Belle Epoque, La Tombelle was one of the most important composers of vocal works for male choirs (chœurs d’Orphéon). In the latter part of his life, he turned increasingly towards religious music, writing majestic oratorios and cantatas.3 Furthermore, as a way to democratize classical music and decentralize it from the almighty Parisian Milieu, he composed many hymns, motets, and Masses for a wide range of performers, both professionals and amateurs.4 Musical life in France had always been more or less ruled by people in Paris, but fortunately some regional masters tried to make music a vivid reality in other parts of the country.

Moreover, La Tombelle was a fine instrumentalist, first taught by his mother (a pupil of Thalberg and Liszt) and then by Guilmant. He was the official piano accompanist of the Trocadéro concerts, initiated by Alexandre Guilmant at the Paris World’s Fair in 1878. La Tombelle discovered the organ around 1870 at the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Toulouse through the local organist, Jules Leybach. His later studies with Guilmant confirmed his affinity for the instrument. He often substituted for Guilmant and Dubois, at La Trinité and at La Madeleine, where he was assistant organist from 1885 to 1898. He played inaugural concerts on several instruments5 and was a talented performer.

La Tombelle contributed to the foundation of the Schola Cantorum in 1896 along with Charles Bordes, Vincent d’Indy, and Alexandre Guilmant. There, he taught harmony for about ten years. He was sought after as a lecturer, as he could speak knowledgeably on a wide range of musical topics.

Fernand de La Tombelle composed texts as well as music, with poetry one of his favorite means of expression. Quite often he set his own texts to music. He wrote articles and books on music, theatrical fantaisies, and well-developed travelogues (as a member of the Automobile Club du Périgord he wrote about their excursions around France). More surprisingly, he wrote a small culinary work: Les pâtés de Périgueux!

Although born in Paris (on August 3, 1854), La Tombelle had family roots in the Périgord region through his mother. Périgord remained the region closest to his heart, which is why he spent the greater part of his life in his château of Fayrac (see photo above). A staunch supporter of local customs, he set many popular regional themes to music, as did Julien Tiersot, Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray, Vincent D’Indy, Joseph Canteloube, and Maurice Emmanuel in other parts of France. 

 

Works for organ

For much of his life La Tombelle composed for his favorite instrument, the organ. (See list of his organ works, below.) Two previously unpublished works are now available in print. Epithalame for violin and piano (or organ) was composed around 1897 (Editions Delatour France DLT2479). (Epithalame refers to a nuptial lyrical poem sung for newlyweds in ancient Greece.) The opening measures of the manuscript are shown in Example 1. Jeanne d’Arc is a suite of symphonic episodes for organ (Editions Delatour France DLT2478). 

 

Jeanne d’Arc

Jeanne d’Arc occupies a very special place in La Tombelle’s œuvre. His largest work for organ, it is forty-five minutes in length. La Tombelle was offered the commission to compose this work in 1905 thanks to the bishop of Périgueux and Sarlat. This suite of nine movements narrating the life of Joan of Arc was first performed by the composer on the Merklin organ of Notre-Dame de Bergerac (in Périgord) on June 4, 1905. In France, the law establishing the separation of church and state was enacted in 1905, ending the Concordat, which established the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France. Thus, the subject of the composition was not trivial at all in such a period of turmoil. During this time of fracture between Catholics and exacerbated anticlericalists, Joan, a daughter of God and also a child of France, was considered a unifying and comforting figure for a country stricken with doubt over the Concordat. This “hagiographic symphony” is made up of five parts divided into nine movements. It gives a chronological account of the main events in Joan of Arc’s life: from her birthplace in Domrémy, to her death at the stake in Rouen and her subsequent glory. La Tombelle utilizes musical forms in vogue at that time (march, pastorale, cantilena, symphonic poem, and so on), cleverly working them into the narrative. 

We know very little about the genesis of the composition; nevertheless, a letter to Abbé Cyprien Boyer (composer and a professor at the seminary of Bergerac, pupil of Guilmant and close friend of La Tombelle) of March 1905 gives us some information:

 

My Dear Monsieur l’Abbé

Thank you for your kind letter. As it tarried a little to come, I wrote yesterday to Mr Bernachot, but my letter is now useless since you are telling me that everything will be done as I wish. So please let him know that he need not bother himself.

I have almost completed my work on the composition. I just have to write a Triumphal March for Reims. It is quite difficult because I want to avoid a march with big military effects, which would be of the worst taste (though pleasant for many people) and on the other hand, to compose a Triumphal March without bombard, it is a delicate problem to solve.

I recommend to you the beginning Pastorale, n°2, Apparition of St Michael, and n°8 (the voices in the jail). I think you will be pleased. This will be archaism inserted in the most exalted modernism! Palestrina and Debussy!!

With much friendship and see you on June the 4th!6

From an aesthetic point of view, the score is closer to Guilmant (the two last movements call to mind his famous Marche funèbre et Chant séraphique) and Saint-Saëns (La Tombelle’s Entrée triomphale reminds one of the Marche du synode from the opera Henri VIII) than to Palestrina and Debussy. The style, however, also reveals occasional colors of the Franckist movement. Besides, there are hints of the early works of Fauré in some mysterious melodic and harmonic progressions. Plainchant is used twice (the Te Deum and the introit Gaudeamus omnes in domino), for the two movements of the coronation of Charles VII. 

The unity of the piece is further ensured through the use of two main themes: one for Joan (Example 2) and one for the Archangel (Example 3). Running through the composition, they are linked together and superimposed using numerous rhythmic and melodic variations as the events unfold. Other recurring motifs also appear at significant times, all of them with a specific meaning.

The first part of the composition, divided into two movements, evokes the life of young Joan in her native countryside of Domrémy and is a true introduction to the whole work by presenting the two main musical ideas. The first piece is a Pastorale, mostly based on a modal theme using the characteristic triplet rhythm and played on the also typical sound of the oboe stop (Example 4). This first movement is also an excuse to introduce wo cyclical elements: the rhythmical pattern symbolizing Domrémy and the melodic theme of Joan (Example 5). 

The short second piece is Apparition de Saint Michel (Vision of St. Michael). The melodic theme of the Archangel is presented in the left hand, accompanied very softly in the high register of the instrument by an ostinato of triplets. This mélodie accompagnée evokes the voices that pushed Joan to leave her birthplace and go to help her country against the English invasion and to help her king to be officially crowned before God at Reims Cathedral (a city held by the Burgundians, allied to the king of England). (See Example 6.)

The second part of the composition, in one developed movement, is a very descriptive symphonic poem using all the cyclical themes or motives of the work. The title is Vers Chinon—Vers Orléans (Toward Chinon—toward Orléans). 

The music illustrates first, on the cyclical pattern representing the Ride, Joan’s journey from Domrémy to Château Chinon where she met the king. La Tombelle uses some bars of an old dance, the pavane, to depict the nonchalant and frivolous court of Charles VII. Then a dialogue is made between this dance and Joan’s theme, the latter each time more persuasive. At last, she convinced the king to action.

The second half of the symphonic poem is a well-prepared crescendo, increasingly stirring and heroic, on the Ride pattern and Joan’s theme. This is the battle to free the city of Orléans! Victory is expressed, at the end, with a fortissimo and by using the Archangel theme (Example 6) and Domrémy’s pattern. Now, the young country girl became the standard bearer of an army.

With the third part of La Tombelle’s work, we find ourselves at the king’s coronation in Reims Cathedral. Two movements describe this episode.

The first movement is a Triumphal March in ABA form, with its two specific musical themes (one for A, another for the “trio” part B). During part A, Domrémy’s pattern is inserted in the solemn procession and superimposed on the other melodic element. A short coda uses the Gregorian chant Te Deum. Everything is ready to start the royal ceremony.

The second piece, Action de Grâce (Blessing), is again a mélodie accompagnée. The right hand plays a cantilena on the trumpet stop. This musical phrase is inspired by the Gregorian chant Gaudeamus omnes in Domino and includes references to Joan’s and the Archangel’s themes. A neutral rhythm of triplets gives a soft background to this time of prayer.

Rouen, Normandy! In the short but expressive fourth part of the composition, Joan has been captured, abandoned by her king, and waits for her trial. The first piece evokes La Prison (the Jail). Thick and tortured sonorities, chromatic lines and harmonies give no comfort to her (Example 7). The dungeon is no place even for thought. Therefore, this movement is the only one where we cannot find any typical pattern or theme.

But after that, in an extreme sweetness, whisper Les Voix (the Voices) on the Vox Coelestis stop. This second movement is based on some fragments of the Archangel’s theme. Very cloudy harmonies gradually disappear in the sky.

The fifth and last part of La Tombelle’s musical epic is Le Bûcher—Le Ciel (the Stake—Heaven). In the first movement, Joan is condemned to death by fire for her heresy. For that reason, the composer employs a merciless Marche funèbre (funeral march) to describe the scene. The Ride pattern is the main element here, but modified, no longer for a run toward victory. Also present is Joan’s theme, diminished and tormented, but fighting to the end. Unfortunately, the scaffold and the flames are stronger than anything. After a great climax and a long diminuendo, one can hear the Archangel melody, amplified and broad. 

Apothéose (Apotheosis) concludes the whole work in the tenderness and peace of Heaven. Arpeggios on the Vox Humana stop surround the two main themes of the composition (Example 8). Afterwards, La Tombelle closes his cyclical masterpiece by quoting all the important elements (the Ride, Domrémy, the Voices, the Archangel, etc.). Of course, Joan’s theme, pure and ethereal, ends the musical tale, very slowly in the high register (Example 9). As a ray of hope, Jeanne d’Arc starts in A minor, seeks its way through nine musical episodes, each time with a different principal key signature, and, at the very end, finds its conclusion in a beautiful A-major sonority.

This short overview of Fernand de La Tombelle as organ music composer aimed to increase knowledge of his French romantic repertoire. Although La Tombelle was not a revolutionary genius, he was a talented and sincere musician, which is more than sufficient to pay him a tribute.

For information, excerpts, and scores for purchase, visit www.editions-delatour.com/fr/744_de-la-tombelle-fernand. ν

 

Notes

1. Organist Clarence Eddy (1851–1937) premiered this piece. For the same occasion, French composer Théodore Dubois (1837–1924) wrote Fantaisie triomphale for organ and orchestra.

2. For example, the Finale from the third organ sonata was dedicated to William C. Carl (1865–1936) who premiered it in 1896. In the same year, Clarence Eddy premiered the paraphrase Et vox angelorum respondet domino at the Trocadéro. Other pieces were also dedicated to American musicians such as Dudley Buck, Samuel P. Warren, Gerrit Smith, and Roland Diggle.

3. Among them, Crux (1904), Les Sept Paroles du Christ (1906), L’Abbaye (1913), or Cantate à Saint Joseph (1923) are to be mentioned for their qualities.

4. To be more comprehensive, we can add to this catalog many songs worthy of interest; piano, harmonium, organ pieces; and also music for band, orchestral suites, incidental music, and ballet music.

5. Mostly inaugurations of instruments in France and Spain: Schola Cantorum (1898), Azcoitia (Spain 1898), Laon Cathedral (1899, with Charles Tournemire), Albi Cathedral (1904, with Adolphe Marty), Saint Etienne de la Cité at Périgueux (1905, with Alexandre Guilmant), Tulle Cathedral (1912), Montauban Cathedral (1917, with Georges Debat-Ponsan), Sacré-Cœur de Toulouse (1924).

6. Fernand de La Tombelle, autographed signed letter to Cyprien Boyer, March 1905, Archives of Diocese de Périgueux and Sarlat.

 

Fernand de La Tombelle: 

Solo organ works 

1883—Offertoire pour le jour de Pâques (Lissarague) 

1883—Pastorale-Offertoire pour orgue (Lissarague)

1884—Six versets (Lissarague)

1885—Marche nuptiale (Lissarague) 

1888—Pièces d’orgue en six livraisons, op. 23 (Richault & Cie)

1ère : Prélude / Echo / Méditation

2e : Magnificat / Marche de procession 

3e : Allegretto cantando / Carillon  

4e : Première sonate en Mi mineur

5e : Prélude et fugue sur la prose de l’Ascension / Canzonetta

6e : 2 fantaisies sur des Noëls anciens/ Marche pontificale

1890—Aubade pour harmonium (Richault & Cie)

1890/91—Deuxième série de pièces d’orgue en six livraisons, op. 33 (Richault & Cie) 

1ère : Fantaisie de concert

2e: Deuxième sonate en Fa # mineur

3e: Variations sur un choral / Andantino

4e: Pastorale / Marche nuptiale

5e: 2 poèmes symphoniques : La Nativité, le Vendredi Saint / Épithalame

6e : Élégie / Marche solennelle

1894—Ad te domine, Abbé Hazé, Album d’auteurs modernes: pièces inédites pour orgue ou harmonium, volume 1 (Gounin-Ghidone)

1895—Sortie, “sur le thème Ite missa est du premier ton,” Abbé Hazé, Album d’auteurs modernes: pièces inédites pour orgue ou harmonium, volume 2 (Gounin-Ghidone)

1895—“Et vox angelorum respondet Domino, paraphrase pour grand orgue” (unpublished)

1896—“Finale d’une troisième sonate en Sol” (unpublished)

1899—Les Vespres du commun des saints (Schola Cantorum)

1900—Rapsodie béarnaise (Costallat & Cie)

1905—Jeanne d’Arc. Episodes symphoniques pour grand-orgue (Editions Delatour France DLT2478) 

1907—Fantaisie sur Deux Thèmes (Profane et Grégorien), “Chanson de Nougolhayro/Hymne de l’Avent,” (Schola Cantorum)

1910—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Fête du Saint Sacrement) (L.-J. Biton) 

1910—Cantilène pour grand orgue (L.-J. Biton)

1910—Vox angelorum pour grand orgue (ou harmonium) (L-.J. Biton)

1911—Méditation, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 1 (M. Senart)

1911—Toccata, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 1 (M. Senart)

1911—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de Noël) (L.-J. Biton)

1911—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de Pâques) (L.-J. Biton) 

1911—In Pace, “A la mémoire vénérée de mon cher maître et ami de 40 années Alexandre Guilmant” (Schola Cantorum)

1912—Dix pièces pour orgue sur thèmes grégoriens, populaires ou originaux, en deux cahiers (Janin Frères)

1913—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de la Pentecôte) (L.-J. Biton)

1913—Préludes, fugues, chorals et toccatas, extraits de la Méthode d’harmonium (Librairie de l’art catholique)

1914—Andantino, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 7 (M. Senart) 

1914—Pièce pour harmonium (Schola Cantorum)

1917—50 pièces pour harmonium (L.-J. Biton)

1918—Adagio (A. Ledent-Malay) 

1919—“Symphonie Dominicale” (Introibo, Orate fratres, Pater noster, Agnus Dei, Ite missa est) (unpublished)

1920—Meum ac vestrum sacrificium, offertoire pour orgue (Hérelle) 

1921—Dix pièces dans le style grégorien (L.-J. Biton)

1921—Symphonie Voces belli (Pro Patria, Pro Defunctis, Pro Vulneratis, Pro Lacrymantibus, Pro Deo), Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les Voix de la Douleur Chrétienne, volume 1, Aux Héros de la Grande Guerre (A. Ledent-Melay) 

1922—Offertoire (Schott Frères)

1923—Cinq versets de Magnificat en sol (ou antiennes) (Procure générale des missionnaires et du clergé)

1924—[Trois petites pièces] (Offertoire, Mélodie élévation, Pastorale communion), in Méthode d’harmonium par le chanoine Vincent Bado (Bureau de la Musique Sacrée)

1924—Symphonie Pascale (Entrée épiscopale, Offertoire et Sortie) sur O filii mélodie populaire du XVIIIe siècle et sur la séquence Victimae paschali, in Échos des cathédrales (Procure générale des missionnaires et du clergé)

1927—Requiescant (L.-J. Biton)

1927—Tre pezzi per organo (Introduzione, Offertorio, Finale) (Casa editrice “Musica Sacra”)

1928—Trois pièces (Petite entrée, Communion, Sortie), in Cantantibus organis, “recueil de 25 pièces pour harmonium ou orgue sans pédales” (Société anonyme d’éditions & de musique)

 

Undated, unpublished works:

—“Paraphrase [sur des motifs du chœur Le poème des heures]” 

—“Prélude, variations et finale sur un thème du Frère Albert des Anges”

“Suite Nuptiale” (Cortège–Entrée, Epithalame–Offertoire, Défilé–Sortie)

(Epithalame published separately: Editions Delatour France DLT2479.)

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