Nunc dimittis

Jennifer Lucy Bate, 75, born in London, UK, November 11, 1944, died March 25. She was the daughter of H. A. Bate, organist of St James’s Muswell Hill from 1924 to 1978. An international concert organist, she was considered an authority on the organ music of Olivier Messiaen, having befriended him within the last twenty years of his life as his organist of choice. In 1986, she gave the first British performance of his Livre du Saint-Sacrement at Westminster Cathedral and later made the world premiere recording of the work under the personal supervision of the composer, winning the Grand Prix du Disque. He also endorsed her earlier recordings of all of his other organ works. Bate owned scores that contain many personal markings and references made by Messiaen. In 1995, Bate opened the Messiaen Festival at l’Église de la Sainte Trinité, Paris, France, where his complete organ works were performed and recorded. Among numerous awards for her CD were the Diapason d’Or (France) and Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (Germany).

Bate performed and recorded a broad repertoire spanning several centuries, including English organ music, the complete organ works of César Franck, and the complete organ music of Felix Mendelssohn. A frequent performer at organ festivals, she often played works written for her. She also presented numerous masterclasses and lectures. She was instrumental in the formation of the annual Jennifer Bate Organ Academy, a course for young female organists, and she was the lead patron of the Society of Women Organists.

Bate was briefly married (as his second wife) to George Thalben-Ball. She received an honorary doctorate from the University of Bristol in 2007. In 1990, Bate was recognized with the Personnalité de l’Année award by the French-based jury, only the third British artist to achieve this distinction, after Georg Solti and Yehudi Menuhin. In 1996, Bate was granted honorary citizenship of the Italian province of Alessandria for her services to music in Northern Italy over 20 years. In 2002, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and in 2008 was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire.

In 2011, M. Frédéric Mitterand, minister of culture and communication, awarded Jennifer Bate the rank of Officier de l’ordre des Arts et des Lettres, stating that this honor is awarded to renowned artists and writers who have promoted French culture throughout the world. Subsequently, President Sarkozy appointed Jennifer Bate to the rank of Chevalier in the Ordre National de la Légion d’Honneur, stating that this honor was awarded in recognition of her skill as an organist and her contribution to making Olivier Messiaen’s organ works more widely known throughout the world. She received both awards in 2012.

 

Marillyn Ila Freeman, 85, musician and teacher, died March 24. Born in Marion, Wisconsin, February 23, 1935, she grew up in New London and Appleton, where she began playing the organ for local church services at the age of twelve. She graduated from Appleton High School in 1953 and the Lawrence College Conservatory of Music, Appleton, earning a degree in music performance in 1957. While at Lawrence, she met her future husband Ralph Freeman, and they were married in 1958. Following graduation Freeman taught music at Lawrence and worked in the president’s office at Princeton University, eventually returning to Wisconsin and settling in Green Bay, where she taught piano and played organ in the Moravian church.

In 1965 the Freemans moved to Neenah where a year later she began a 54-year career as organist for St. Paul Lutheran Church. In addition to playing organ and piano, as director of music ministries she planned worship services, directed youth choirs, accompanied the adult Sanctuary Choir, presented church musicals, and guided the church in purchasing a new Dobson organ in 1986. She earned an associate certificate of the American Guild of Organists in 1995 and an associate in music ministry certificate in 2000.

Throughout her career Freeman continued to teach piano and organ, organizing piano recitals, judging piano competitions, and mentoring young musicians in the Fox Valley. She was a member of the Fox Valley Music Teachers, a member of the Sigma Alpha Iota International Music Fraternity, served as treasurer of the North Eastern Wisconsin chapter of the American Guild of Organists, and was active in the Hymn Society of the United States and Canada. For many years she and her husband Ralph, a pianist, violinist, and published author of hymn texts, performed organ and piano duets each August as part of the Lunchtime Organ Recital Series in the Fox Valley region.

Marillyn Ila Freeman is survived by her husband Ralph Freeman, five children: Rebecca Freeman (Stephen Fusfeld) of Neenah; Jennifer Timm (Terry) of Neenah; Robert Freeman (Robin) of Darien, Illinois; Jon Freeman of Whitefish Bay; and Paul Freeman (Nicole Berman) of Stow, Massachusetts; twelve grandchildren, and several great grandchildren.

Memorial gifts may be made to the music ministry program at St. Paul Lutheran Church, 200 N. Commercial Street, Neenah, WI 54956, or to either the Melanoma Research Fund or the Surgical Oncology Outcomes Research and Awareness Fund at the University of Wisconsin (supportuw.org/give).

 

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund, 90, died February 8 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. A lifelong musician, she was a professional organist for almost 70 years and taught piano and organ. She performed organ recitals and directed choirs throughout the United States, as well as in Swaziland and Papua New Guinea.

Josephine Bailey was born April 8, 1929, in Indianapolis, Indiana. She began piano lessons at age six and started studying organ at age thirteen. Among her first professional jobs were playing the organ to accompany silent movies and substituting as an accompanist and organist in local churches.

Following graduation from high school in 1946, Bailey attended Wittenberg College, Springfield Ohio, later transferring to Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland. There she earned a teaching certificate in organ and bachelor’s and master’s degrees. In 1952, she was the first female graduate of Peabody to earn a master’s degree in organ performance.

During the 1950s Bailey played at various churches in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, including serving as music director for First Baptist, Washington, D.C., which President Truman attended; and St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, Annapolis, Maryland, where she was honored to play for a royal visit by Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. From 1956 until 1961, she was associate professor of music at Longwood College, Farmville, Virginia. She was also organist of First Presbyterian Church, Farmville, and taught music in local public high schools.

In 1963, Bailey became the first full-time director of music at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. She later returned to Indianapolis to teach in public schools and was the organist and assistant choir director at First Presbyterian Church. In the early 1970s, she moved to East Lansing, Michigan, to work on her doctorate in music theory at Michigan State University. She also was associate professor of music and organist and choir director of Martin Luther Chapel at Michigan State. It was there that she met her future husband Roland Freund who was an Australian agricultural missionary working on his master’s degree. They married in July 1971 and moved to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea.

In 1976, the family moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where Josephine taught piano and was organist at Grace United Methodist Church. The family spent 1982–1984 working on a U.S. AID and Penn State University project in Swaziland, Africa. There she taught music in several schools and directed the largest choir in the country for a performance of Brahms’s Requiem.

Upon returning to Carlisle, Josephine Freund served as organist and choir director at St. John’s Episcopal Church and Gettysburg College Chapel. She was adjunct professor of organ for Dickinson College and an active member and officer of the Harrisburg Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Freund played her final organ recital in 2010, but continued to teach piano and organ and to substitute and support church services, weddings, and funerals for a few more years. She was a lifetime member of the national honors fraternity for women in music, Sigma Alpha Iota.

Josephine Lenola Bailey Freund is survived by her husband, Roland Paul Freund of Carlisle; her nephew, Matthew Freund of South Australia; and her son, Colonel Ernie Freund, daughter-in-law Megan Sayler Freund, and granddaughters, Amelia Rose and Adelaide Pearl, all from Burke, Virginia.

Funeral services were held February 15 at Trinity Lutheran Church, Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. Memorial contributions may be made to Residential Hospice, 100 Sterling Pkwy #110, Mechanicsburg, PA 17050 or the Traditional Music Fund at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2000 Market Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011.

 

Eleanor Marie Fulton, organist and music educator, died February 23 in New Haven, Connecticut. Born August 9, 1939, in Morristown, Tennessee, she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Bennett College, Greensboro, North Carolina, in 1961, and continued her education at the Manhattan School of Music, New York City; the Haydn Conservatory, Eisenstadt, Austria; and the University of Ghana’s International Center for African Music and Dance.

She served as the longtime organist and director of music for Center Church on the Green, New Haven, and was a music teacher for New Haven Public Schools, director of the New Haven Children’s Chorus, assistant organist and director of Christian education for Battell Chapel, Yale University, New Haven, consultant to the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, and a private piano and music instructor. She was the featured performer on a CD released by Raven, performing on the 1971 Beckerath organ of Dwight Chapel, Yale University, with works of Bach, de Grigny, and Mendelssohn (Eleanor Fulton, Organist: Dwight Chapel, Yale University, OAR-810).

 

Odile Pierre, French liturgical and international concert organist, professor, and composer, died in Paris, France, on February 29, shortly before her 87th birthday. Born in Pont-Audemer (in Normandy) on March 12, 1932, she decided to become an organist at age seven, inspired by a recital by Marcel Dupré on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at St. Ouen Abbey in Rouen. After taking lessons with Madeleine Lecoeur, organist at St. Nicaise Church in Rouen at age fifteen, she served as organist and choir director at the St. Martin Church in Barentin (in the Seine-Maritime region of Normandy). From 1950 to 1952, she studied harmony with Albert Beaucamp and organ with Marcel Lanquetuit at the Rouen Conservatory. She then entered the Paris Conservatory, where she was awarded first prizes in the classes of Maurice Duruflé (harmony), Noël Gallon (fugue), Norbert Dufourcq (music history), as well as organ and improvisation with Marcel Dupré and Rolande Falcinelli. At the age of 23, Odile Pierre became the youngest Marcel Dupré student to win a first prize in organ and improvisation at the Paris Conservatory. She won this prestigious prize the same year as Éliane Lejeune-Bonnier (1921–2015), with the unanimous approval of the jury, which included Jeanne Demessieux.

From 1955 to 1957, Odile Pierre officially substituted for Jean-Jacques Grunenwald, then organist at Saint-Pierre de Montrouge Church in Paris. She then studied organ performance with Fernando Germani at Saint-Cecilia Academy in Rome and at Chigiana Music Academy in Sienne, and with Franz Sauer at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. In 1969, she succeeded Jeanne Demessieux as titular organist of the gallery organ of the Madeleine Church and remained in this post until 1979. By coincidence, on the day after she died, Olivier Périn began his functions as the official assistant to François-Henri Houbart, her successor at the Madeleine.

Well known for her mastery of organ repertoire from early to contemporary masters, Odile Pierre performed at least 2,000 concerts throughout the world, including appearances in Japan, Korea, the Philippines, Canada, Iceland, Russia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain, Austria, and the former Czechoslovakia, including twelve tours in the United States and six in Asia. In 1977, she represented France at the Third International Organ Congress in Washington and Philadelphia. She performed organ concertos under the direction of conductors such as Lorin Maazel, Pierre Dervaux, Antoine de Bavier, and Georges Prêtre.

Odile Pierre recorded for RCA, Mitra, Motette, Festivo, Editions Lade, and IFO. At least two of the recordings were made at the Madeleine Church in Paris: Camille Saint-Saëns’ Preludes and Fugues (1972, RCA LSB 4088) and The Great Romantic Toccatas (1978, RCA/RC 8108). In 1991, she recorded (for SCD 814) Jean-François Muno’s reconstitution of Jean de Joyeuse’s 1694 organ at the Auch Cathedral, which she had inaugurated in 1988 with André Isoir. Her Poetic Symphonic Organ Music (Vierne, Debussy, Duruflé, and Odile Pierre) on the Cavaillé-Coll of the Trinity Church in Fécamp and at St. Godard in Rouen (1988, MP/FR 51190 C) calls upon her Normand origins; her record of Widor, Vierne, and Guilmant at the Orléans Cathedral (1993, Motette 11251), reminds us that she lived nearby, in Tigy, in the Loiret department, at the end of her life.

As professor, Odile Pierre taught organ and music history at the Rouen Conservatoire from 1959 until 1969 and then organ and improvisation at the Paris Regional Conservatoire from 1981 until 1992. Among her students were Michael Matthes, Léon Kerremans, D’Arcy Trinkwon, Kristiyan Seynhave, David Di Fiore, and Lionel Coulon (titular organist at the Rouen Cathedral since 1992, he substituted for her at the Madeleine for four years). In 1991, she gave organ classes at the Scuola Internationale d’Alto Perfezionmento Musicale in Perugia, Italy, and gave masterclasses in numerous colleges and universities. She also served on the juries of international organ competitions. In 1977, she was appointed as a member of the Commission on Organs in Paris.

Her organ works were published as early as 1955: Chorale and Fugue on the first antiphon of the Second Vespers for Christmas (1955, Procure du Clergé), and Chorale and Four-Voiced Fugue (1955, republished by Europart-Music in 1988), Four Pilgrimages at the Virgin Mary for four hands, opus 1 (Leduc, 1988), Variations and Fugue on three Christmas Carols (Leduc, 1990), The Martyr of St. Thomas Becket, op. 4 (Bergamo, Carrara 1994), Chorale and Fugue on the Name of Charles-Marie Widor, op. 5 (Mayence, Schott, 1994), and Canonic Variations and Fugue on Two Christmas Carols from Naples, op. 6 (1955). Her edition of some of Alexandre Guilmant’s organ works was printed by Bornemann in 1983 and 1984. In addition, she wrote about Marcel Dupré’s improvisation exams in 1953 and 1954 (Leduc, undated). Odile Pierre received three awards for her contributions to French culture: Officer in the French Legion of Honor, Commander in the French Order of Merit, and the Silver Medal of the City of Paris.

Odile Pierre is survived by her husband, the historian Pierre Aubé.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier

 

Philip Astor Prince, 89, of New Haven, Connecticut, died February 5. Born January 5, 1931, in Evanston, Illinois, Prince attended the Taft School before entering Yale University with the Class of 1952. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin, subsequently studied musicology in the Yale Graduate School, but completed a Master of Music degree from the Yale School of Music in organ performance under H. Frank Bozyan in 1959. Prince was drawn to the Anglo-Catholic liturgy celebrated at Christ Church, New Haven, and became associated with the music program there, succeeding Richard Donovan as organist and choirmaster in 1966. He became respected among colleagues for his English-language arrangements of Gregorian chants and psalmody and for his hymn accompaniments.

Prince published scholarly articles on Max Reger’s organ music (see “Reger and the Organ,” The Diapason, March 1973) and a performing edition of a sonata da chiesa of Johann Gottfried Walther. He also taught organ students at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut, where he served as university organist for nearly 30 years and played annual recitals. In 1988, he joined the choirs of St. Mary Church, New Haven, and the St. Gregory Society and continued singing with them well into his 80s. Prince became an associate fellow of Ezra Stiles College in 1974. He was a longtime member of both Mory’s and the Elizabethan Club in New Haven, and the American Guild of Organists and Association of Anglican Musicians. Prince was a supporter of the Yale swimming team, and for many years he refereed at swimming matches and tournaments.

Masako Gaskin and David Erwin

Submitted by Masako Gaskin, BFOMS co-director, and David Erwin, director of music at Ladue Chapel Presbyterian Church, St. Louis, Missouri.

The British and French Organ Music Seminar (FOMS) took place in London, Paris, and Alsace, July 4–18, 2019. Founded by Christina Harmon in 1986, FOMS has taken place biennially since.

London

Thirty-seven organists and friends began the seminar with a Fourth of July celebration at Saint Paul’s Cathedral, London. The group was treated to Evensong and a concert by Ken Cowan on the Henry Willis organ (1872), originally built by Bernard Smith (1697). Afterwards, our host Simon Johnson demonstrated the instrument and invited participants to play.

The following morning the group traveled to All Saints Church, Tooting, to visit the 1904 Harrison & Harrison organ, hosted by Mark Pybus. Then on to Notre Dame de France for a masterclass in improvisation with Duncan Middleton on the organ tonally reconstructed and enlarged by B. C. Shepherd & Son of Edgware (1986). The afternoon was spent at St. George’s Hanover Square, hosted by Simon Williams. The organ, built by Richards, Fowkes & Co. (2012) inside the old case used for the first organ of 1725 by Gerald Smith, nephew of the builder of Saint Paul’s Cathedral organ, is the first American-built organ in London. That evening some members of the group attended vespers at Westminster Cathedral before the demonstration of its Henry Willis III organ (1922) and free playing time hosted by Peter Stevens.

Saturday, July 5, started at Chelmsford Cathedral, with James Davy as host for the group as they visited the Mander organs (nave and chancel). The second stop was at Saint Edmundsbury Cathedral hosted by James Thomas, playing the Harrison & Harrison organ (2010). Next was Cambridge, with Evensong conducted by Stephen Cleobury, who performed his final organ recital.

The final day in England was Sunday, July 6, and group members went to worship at churches of their choice. In the afternoon, one could attend a recital at Westminster Abbey or Westminster Cathedral. The final playing session on a two-manual George Pike England organ took place at Saint Margaret Lothbury, a church designed by Christopher Wren, with host organist Richard Townend.

Paris

On Tuesday, July 8, forty-four organists and friends converged in Paris at St-Augustin. Titulaire Didier Matry demonstrated the organ and allowed participants to try it out. The first full day of the seminar began with an emphasis on French classical music with visits to St-Sevérin and St-Gervais. François Espinasse led a masterclass at St-Sevérin, and he talked about the importance of singing and dancing in one’s playing. At St-Gervais, the Couperin family church, Elise Friot demonstrated one of the ancient instruments in Paris, with reportedly the oldest keyboards still in use in the city. That evening featured a concert by the Duo Merlin at Notre-Dame-des-Champs, parish church of organbuilder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll. The Duo Merlin consists of Yannick Merlin and his wife Béatrice Piertot, who specialize in organ music for four hands. They did much of the work in organizing FOMS from the French side, securing venues and recruiting faculty.

On Wednesday, July 9, Susan Landale lectured and led a masterclass on the works of Louis Vierne at Église St-Louis des Invalides. Then, several in the group walked to Ste-Clotilde to hear and play the organ, hosted by Olivier Penin. The next day saw a return to Notre-Dame-des-Champs for playing time, followed by a masterclass on works of Jean Langlais by Béatrice Piertot. This was followed by a class led by Jean-Baptiste Robin. That evening we visited the auditorium at Radio France, with its 2016 Gerhard Grenzing organ (IV/87). We were welcomed by M. Grenzing, and then each person in the group was able to play from the main stage console.

A trip to Auvers-sur-Oise (the village where painter Vincent Van Gogh spent his final days) was scheduled for the next day. A short train ride from Paris, Auvers is home to Église Notre-Dame d’Auvers-sur-Oise, which Van Gogh immortalized in a painting. The church has a newer organ built in the neo-Baroque style by Bernard Hurvy, demonstrated by M. Hurvy and the titulaire Jean-Charles Gandrille. Playing time for the group followed, while some explored the village.  In the evening we visited St-Étienne-du-Mont, Duruflé’s church known for its elegant ornate rood screen. Titulaire Vincent Warnier welcomed us.

On Saturday, July 13, we had an early morning visit to Sacré-Coeur, where we had permission to play the organ. Titulaire Gabriel Marghieri explained to the group how plans for work on the organ have been drawn, funding has been secured, yet approval is tied up in the French bureaucracy. So in the meantime M. Marghieri must deal with severe winding issues, which does not permit him to use the Récit division at all. That afternoon featured a masterclass on works of César Franck led by Béatrice Piertot at the Church of St-Laurent where she is titulaire. Mme. Piertot shared some of her recent research into Franck’s organ works, including observations about tempi. That evening finished with a session at St-Eustache, with co-titulaire Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard playing the Van den Heuvel (V/101) organ.

On Sunday morning, July 14, participants had the choice of visiting several organ lofts in order to watch the work of the titulaires up close. The group then met up that afternoon at La Trinité where titulaire Loïc Mallie demonstrated the organ of Guilmant, Messiaen, and Hakim, and then gave very helpful comments as group members played for him. Many in the group rushed back to St-Eustache to hear Baptiste-Florian give a Bastille Day recital prior to evening Mass. This day concluded at St-Sulpice. Following a pontifical Mass (St-Sulpice is currently being used for large episcopal services that would have normally taken place at the cathedral) with a brilliant sortie improvised by Sophie Choplin, the church was ours for the next few hours as the building was locked and nighttime fell.

The final day in Paris, Fréderic Blanc hosted us at La Madeleine, talking about the history of this early Cavaillé-Coll instrument and then demonstrating it. Group members spent the remainder of the morning trying out this organ. The group moved to the chic Champs-Elysées neighborhood for a visit to St Pierre-de-Chaillot, where titulaire Samuel Liégeon presented an improvisation. On the way back to the métro we stopped at the American Cathedral to meet organist Andrew Dewar. The next event was a visit to the Duruflé apartment, where host Fréderic Blanc demonstrated the organ and spoke of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé. The final event was a session with Blanc at his church, Notre-Dame-d’Auteuil, where the organ was recently renovated.

Alsace

Tuesday, July 16, began with an express train from the Gare de l’Est to Strasbourg. Daniel Roth joined us and shared insights of the heritage of his native Alsace. The afternoon was spent visiting two churches in the old part of this city. St-Pierre-le-Jeune Protestant (the church has been Lutheran since 1524) is home to an instrument built in 1780 by Johann Andreas Silbermann. This was followed by a visit to St-Pierre-le-Jeune Catholic Church, a massive nineteenth-century domed edifice built in the neo-Romanesque style. The present organ in this church is the work of Manufacture d’orgues Koenig from Sarre-Union, which incorporates some pipework of the earlier organ. After dinner, the group met at the church of St-Paul that was originally built for members of the military, but since 1919 has been part of the Protestant Reformed Church of Alsace and Lorraine. The church contains a notable Walcker organ (III/87) from 1897 in the gallery (the largest instrument in Alsace) and an eighteen-rank instrument (1976) built by Garnier Facteurs d’Orgues of Niiza in the chancel.

The next day we traveled to the village of Erstein, where we were welcomed by the mayor and tried out the 1914 instrument by Edmond-Alexandre Roethinger. This organ is a synthesis of French and German styles, which is typical for Alsatian organs. The city then hosted a reception for us and some members were interviewed for the local newspaper, which ran a story about FOMS the following day. The day continued with a visit to the abbey at Ebersmunster, a magnificent building in the high-Baroque style with an organ by André Silbermann (1730).

The final day for FOMS 2019 began at the Protestant Church of St-Martin in Barr. This Lutheran church boasts a Stiehr-Mockers organ from 1852. We then headed up in the mountains above Pfaffenheim for a luncheon of traditional Alsatian foods at the religious community of Schauenberg. The afternoon consisted of a visit to our final church, St-Martin, with its 1839 Callinet Brothers organ. After the demonstration of the organ, some members of the group remained to prepare for the evening’s recital, while others enjoyed a visit to a family-run chocolatier and a tasting of local Alsatian wines. FOMS concluded with a recital played by several members.

The following day, a smaller group that had originally registered for an extension to play at Notre-Dame de Paris, sadly devastated by the tragic fire of April 15, was hosted by Notre-Dame titulaire Johann Vexo in his charming hometown of Nancy. Eighteen organists and friends enjoyed the Dupont organ (modified later by Cavaillé-Coll) at Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Nancy and the Dalstein & Haepfer organ at Église St-Sébastien.

In addition to Yannick Merlin, Béatrice Piertot, and Daniel Roth, Christina Harmon was assisted by co-directors David Erwin, Masako Gaskin, and Cliff Varnon. Plans are already underway for the next FOMS, which will take place in July 2021. Look for announcements at www.bfoms.com for updates.

Photo: Jean-Baptiste Robin with seminar participants at Notre Dame-des-Champs, Paris, France (photo credit: Masako Gaskin)

Jean Guillou

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

Nunc Dimittis

Jean Victor Arthur Guillou, 88, died January 26 in Paris, France. Titular organist at Saint-Eustache Church in Paris from 1963 until 2015, he was an international concert organist and pianist, prodigious improviser, teacher, composer, poet, and writer.

Born in Angers on April 18, 1930, Guillou taught himself to play piano at home. Fascinated by improvisation, he began organ studies with Raphaël Fumet. At age twelve, he was named organist at the local Saint-Serge Church. In 1947, he took private organ lessons in Paris with Rolande Falcinelli, becoming one of her first disciples. In 1953, he entered the Paris Conservatory and studied harmony with Maurice Duruflé, music analysis with Olivier Messiaen, and organ with Marcel Dupré. In 1954, he was awarded first prizes in organ, harmony, counterpoint, and fugue.

Guillou was well known for his interpretations of the music of Liszt, Mozart, Schumann, Mussorgsky, Franck, and Bach (recorded by Philips). On June 1, 1982, the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists presented him its “International Performer of the Year” award during a recital he gave at The Riverside Church. In 1985, during the third centenary of J. S. Bach’s birth, Guillou performed the complete organ works of Bach in ten concerts, in France and other countries.

From 1955 to 1957, Jean Guillou taught at the Escola Diocesana de Musica Sacra in Lisbon, Portugal. He then lived in western Berlin until 1963. From 1970 to 2005, he gave masterclasses in Zurich, teaching interpretation and improvisation to over 300 organists from all over the world.

At Saint-Eustache Church in Paris, the organ had two consoles, one in the organ loft and another on the ground floor, where the organist was visible. Jean Guillou was assisted by a co-titular organist, André Fleury, and by Jean-Paul Imbert and his students. From 1977 to 1989, this organ underwent a series of renovations, until the Dutch firm Van den Heuvel entirely reconstructed it, retaining Victor Baltard’s organ case. This new organ, with its 101 stops, was inaugurated on September 21, 1989.

With the German organ builder Detlef Kleuker, Jean Guillou designed the organs at Notre-Dame des Neiges Church in Alpe d’Huez, France; Chant d’Oiseau Church in Brussels, Belgium; the Tonhalle in Zurich, Switzerland; Naples Conservatory; and Tenerife Auditorium in Santa Cruz. In his book, L’Orgue, souvenir et avenir [The Organ, Past and Future] (Buchet-Chastel, 1978/Symétrie, 2010), Jean Guillou expressed his strong belief that organs should be found elsewhere than in churches. He conceived a portable organ with a variable structure that could be performed anywhere, even in the middle of a forest. In La Musique et le Geste [Music and Gesture] (Beauchesne, 2012), Guillou explained his conception of music as a sonorous gesture. He even wrote a collection of poems entitled Le Visiteur [The Visitor] (Christophe Chomart, 2009).

In addition to his composition of organ works, Guillou also made numerous transcriptions for organ and composed works for organ with piano, flute, trumpet, mixed choir, soprano, narrator, as well as seven concertos for organ and orchestra, chamber music, and symphonies for large orchestra, etc., mostly published by Schott. Over 100 recordings were released by Philips, Dorien, Festivo, Decca, and other labels.

Jean Guillou remained an active performing artist until the end of his life. In 2015, when he was forced to retire from Saint-Eustache, he wanted to designate his successor, but the church held a competition to name his two successors. In 2016, at the age of 86, he continued to give concerts (by memory). On June 26, he performed on the historic Cavaillé-Coll at the Saint-Ouen Abbey Church in Rouen, where his former student, Jean-Baptiste Monnot, had just been appointed co-titular. After giving concerts in Korea, on September 23, he played Liszt’s Ad nos at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Thanks to Jean-Michel Franchet, president of the Organ Association in Melun (in the Seine-et-Marne, south of Paris), I was privileged to know Jean Guillou personally. He had invited both of us to celebrate the 25th anniversary of this association on October 15, 2016. We gave a daylong series of presentations on Pauline Viardot’s former house organ, built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in 1851 and installed in Notre-Dame Collegiate Church in Melun in 1885. Since this was Cavaillé-Coll’s first organ to include a German pedalboard with thirty notes and two independent pedal stops, we performed together Charles-Valentin Alkan’s Bombardo-Carillon for four feet on this occasion. Jean Guillou then gave an eclectic concert of works by Vivaldi/Bach, Franck, Guillou, and Liszt. I remember his warm, friendly personality and his vigorous interpretations.

Jean Guillou is survived by his wife, Suzanne Varga, and a daughter. A memorial Mass for was celebrated February 5 at Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris.

Photo credit: Jean-Michel Franchet

John Collins

In 2019 there are several composers whose anniversaries can be commemorated, albeit some of the precise birth and death dates are not known for certain. Several names below need no introduction, but there are also quite a few lesser-known names listed here whose compositions are well worth exploring. No claim is made for completeness, and there is no guarantee that every edition is readily available and in print­—there may well also be editions by other publishers. Publishers’ websites have been given where known. Details of a few composers whose preserved output consists of only one or two pieces have been omitted.

An increasing number of pieces, ranging from complete, original publications or manuscripts (which present the usual problems of multiple clefs as well as original printer’s errors) to modern versions of complete or individual works, are to be found on various free download sites, most noticeably IMSLP/Petrucci Music Library (http://imslp.org); however, the accuracy of some modern typesetting is highly questionable, and all should be treated with caution before use.

Aurelio Bonelli (1569–ca.1620) was born in Bologna. He succeeded Adriano Banchieri as organist of Boscom and was listed as organist in Bologna in 1620. His collection Il primo Libro di Ricercari, et canzoni a quattro voci con die Toccate e doi dialoghi a otto was published in Venice in 1602. The ricercars have been edited by Candida Felice for Armelin, Padua, as Fiori Musicali (FM 002). This edition also includes the intabulated versions found in the Torino Fiori Musicalimanuscripts. The canzoni, toccate, and dialoghi have been edited by Federico del Sordo, also for Armelin (AMM 299). Eight canzonas, the final two of which are also set at a fifth and a fourth lower respectively, are for solo keyboard instrument. A toccata in eight parts is arranged for two keyboards, as is a Dialoghi. A further piece in eight parts is for two choirs.

Jakob Hassler (1569–1622), a brother of Hans Leo Hassler, was organist to the Fuggers in Augsburg, and later organist to the imperial court of Rudolf II in Prague. In addition to some madrigals and choral music, seven pieces for keyboard including three ricercars, a canzona, a fantasia, a fuga, and a toccata have survived in the Torino manuscripts. These have been edited by Hartmut Krones for Verlag Doblinger as DM570 in the Diletto Musicale series.

Anthoni van Noordt (ca. 1619–1675) lived in Amsterdam where he became organist of Nieuwezijdskapel in 1652 and of the Nieuwe Kerk in 1664. His Tablatuur-Boeck van Psalmen en Fantasyen of 1659 contains ten psalm settings with from one to eight verses and six fugal fantasias. The notation shows the pedal part in German organ tablature. The complete book has been edited by Jan van Biezen for Vereniging voor Nederlandse Muziekgeschiedenis, Amsterdam as MMN11.

André Raison (ca. 1648–1719) became organist of the abbey of Sainte-Genevieve, Paris, in 1665. His Livre d’Orgue of 1688 contains five Masses in the first, second, third, sixth, and eighth Tones with five versets for Kyrie, nine for Gloria, three for Sanctus, one Elevation, two Agnus Dei versets, and a Deo Gratias, along with an Offertoire in the 5th Tone. Edited by Alexandre Guilmant and André Pirro in Archives des Maîtres de l’Orgue des XVIe, XVIIe et XVIIIe siècles, volume II for B. Schotts Söhne and by Norbert Dufourq for Éditions Musicales de la Schola Cantorum et de la Procure Générale de musique (SCOL105). It has also been edited by Nicolas Gorenstein in three volumes for Editions Chanvrelin. A facsimile from Fuzeau is out of print but may be available from second hand sites.

The second Livre d’orgue sur les Acclamations de la Paix tant désirée (1714) commemorates the Treaty of Utrecht and contains preludes and fugues, an offertoire, ouverture, allemande grave, and some eighteen noëls. It has been edited by Jean Bonfils for Éditions Musicales de la Schola Cantorum et de la Procure Générale de musique (SCOLQ109). It has also been edited by Nicolas Gorenstein in one volume for Editions Chanvrelin. Further pieces are in the Livre d’Orgue de Limoges, which also contains pieces by G. Julien and G. Corrette; this has been edited by Jolando Scarpa for Musica Restituta, Music Reprints, and also by Nicolas Gorenstein in two volumes for Editions Chanvrelin. A facsimile is available from Fuzeau (Ref 2632).

Giovanni Maria Casini (1652–1719), organist of the cathedral in Florence and to Grand Duke Cosimo III in Tuscany, published a set of twelve Pensieri per l’organo in Partitura in two volumes in 1714. Most of these elaborately contrapuntal pieces are in two or three movements, these being variations in a different rhythm, frequently dance based, of the opening movement. The complete set has been edited in one volume by Milton Sutter for Ricordi (133218) and in two volumes by Jörg Jacobi for Edition Baroque, Bremen (eba 4013 and 4014).

Miguel López (1669–1723), a Benedictine friar who studied theology, was also maestro de capella and organist in Marid, Valladolid, and Montserrat. He composed sacred and secular vocal music, orchestral music, and organ music, of which three Llenos, an Exercici d’ecos i contraecos, a Partit de mà dreta (i.e., a piece for divided keyboard with the solo in right hand), three sets of Versos on the eight Tones, and a set of eight Versos on the first Tone have been edited by David Pujol in Mestres de L’Escolania de Monserrat, Vol. IV, which also contains sixteen Pasos for keyboard by Narciso Casanoves. A further six settings of Pange Lingua and two settings of Sacris Solemnis have been edited by Gregorio Estrada in pages 181–198 in volume VI of the same series, the great majority of the volume containing vocal settings of the Mass.

Louis Marchand (1669–1732) was organist of several churches in Paris and also to the French King. Twelve of his organ works were published posthumously, and some forty-two survive in manuscript, which have been edited by Alexandre Guilmant in Archives des Maîtres de l’Orgue des XVIe, XVIIe, et XVIIIe siècles, volumes III (the print) and V (manuscript pieces) for B. Schotts Söhne. Jean Bonfils has edited the organ works in three volumes for Alphonse Leduc (ALHE32989-91); volume 1 contains the twelve pieces, volumes 2 and 3 contain manuscript works. A facsimile of Pièces choisies pour l’orgue 1740 has been published by Fuzeau (Ref 2665). Also available in facsimile from Fuzeau is Pièces d’orgues manuscrites (Ref 3172), which includes autograph manuscripts with the composer’s corrections, now in the Municipal Library of Versailles.

Marianus Königsperger (1708–1769) was organist and choirmaster of Prüfening Abbey. He published a large amount of church music in Latin as well as chamber music and keyboard pieces. Modern editions of the latter include Praeambulum cum fuga primi toni facili methodi elaboratum (prelude and fugue on each of the eight Tones) originally published in three volumes between 1752 and 1756, edited by Laura Cerutti for Armelin (AMM151)—the fugue on the eighth Tone is missing—Der wohl-unterwiesene Clavier-schüler . . . VIII Praeambula, XXIV Versette, und VIII Arien (i.e., eight sets of preludes, 24 versets, and 8 arias on each of the eight Tones) of 1755 edited by Laura Cerutti for Armelin (AMM030). A Praeambulum in C minor and a Fuga in C major from Fingerstreit oder Klavierübung of 1760, together with three of the preludes and fugues and two arias, has been edited by Eberhard Kraus for Otto Heinrich Noetzel Verlag, Wilhemshaven, in Cantantibus Organis, volume 5 (ref 3465). This volume also contains three preludes and fugues by Placidus Metsch along with three fugues and two sets of Versetten by Georg Pasterwitz.

William Felton (1715–1769) was vicar choral at the cathedral of Hereford and an amateur composer. He left thirty-two concerti for organ or harpsichord based on Handel’s, in five sets of six, opp. 1, 2, 4, 5, and 7 (the latter set was reissued with eight concerti), and two sets of Eight Lessons for the harpsichord, opp. 3 and 6. The keyboard part for the six concerti in opus 1 has been edited by Greg Lewin and is self-published (OM131).

William Walond (1719–1768), assistant organist of Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, left two sets of works. Organ Voluntaries, opus 1, is a set of six two-movement voluntaries (ca. 1752)—three are for Cornet, one is for Cornet and Flute, one is without registration indication, but clearly for Cornet or Flute, and the final one is a prelude and fugue—and has been edited by Greg Lewin and self-published (OM102; a facsimile is available as OM102A). Also there is Ten Voluntaries, opus 2, printed in 1758, with a much wider range of pieces comprising three single-movement fugues, a single-movement piece alternating between Sesquialtera in the left hand and the Swell, and six two-movement pieces including one prelude and fugue, one Voluntary for Cornet and Flute, one for Trumpet, its Echo and Flute, one Voluntary for the two Diapasons, Principal, and Fifteenth, one for the full swell and Vox Humana or Bassoon, and one for Flute, edited by Greg Lewin (OM110).

Friedrich Christian Mohrheim (1719–1780) attended the Thomasschule in Leipzig from 1733 to 1736 and acted as J. S. Bach’s copyist, later becoming Kapellmeister in Danzig. He left seven trios for organ, three of which are on chorale melodies, and six chorale preludes. The complete pieces have been edited by Maciej Babnis for Organon in three volumes (ORG0007–9), and the trios have been edited by Maurizio Machella for Armelin (AMM 223).

Joaquín de Ojinaga (1719–1789), born in Bilbao, became organist of the Chapel Royal, Madrid, and then of the cathedral of Toledo. Eleven pieces comprising five Fugas, a Paso, an Intento, two sonatas, and two minuetos have been edited José López-Calo for Eusko Ikaskuntza Sociedad de Estudios Vascos as Cuadernos de música 2. It can be downloaded free of charge from http://hedatuz.euskomedia.org/8679/1/obras_musicales.pdf.

Nicolas Séjan (1745–1819), an organist in Paris, left a set of six sonatas for harpsichord with violin accompaniment as his opus 1, and a Recueil de pièces (13) for the harpsichord as his opus 2, as well as a posthumously published print, Trois Fugues et plusieurs Noëls pour l’Orgue, which has been edited by Nicolas Gorenstein for Editions Chanvrelin.

Pierre Nicolas Verheyen (ca. 1750–1819) was an organist in Gent. Seven pieces in a manuscript (two andantes, four one-movement sonatas, and a Nouvelle Marche) have been edited by Armando Carideo for Ut Orpheus (ES14).

Carlo Gervasoni (1762–1819), born in Milan, became maestro di cappella at Borotaro in 1789. His three-part treatise La Scuola della Musica of 1800 contains much useful information about organs and performance practice as well as some Lezioni d’organo, which have been edited by Maurizio Machella for Armelin (OIO 109).

Giulio Maria Delfrate-Alvazzi (1772–1819), organist in Varzo and Cattagna, left a handful of pieces in manuscripts, of which three single-movement sonatas, an Elevazione Bellissima, a Presto, an Andante, and seven versetti have been edited by Luca Lovisolo as volume II of the Flores Organi Cisalpini series, Edizione Carrara (4158).

Following her graduation from the University of Michigan in 1971, Franco-American organist Lynne Davis moved to France to study with Marie-Claire Alain, and then Jean Langlais and Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé. While there, she met her future husband, Pierre Firmin-Didot, and ended up staying thirty-five years. After receiving the Certificat d’Aptitude de Professeur d’Orgue from the French Republic, she served as organ professor at the Conservatory of Music in Clamart and at the National Regional Conservatory in Caen.

In 2006, she was appointed the Robert L. Town Distinguished Professor of Organ at Wichita State University, where she produces and performs in the Rie Bloomfield Organ Series: Distinguished Guest Artists and Wednesdays in Wiedemann. In 2012, she was awarded as a French citizen the distinction of Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres from the French Ministry of Culture and Communication. After receiving the Excellence in Creativity Award from Wichita State University in 2011, she was honored with the medal of the city of Wichita from Mayor Carl Brewer in 2013. In 2016, she received the Burton Pell award from the Wichita Arts Council and in April 2021 was promoted to full professor at the university. Her unique living and vast working experience and her lineage of study in France makes her an authority in all French organ repertoire, culture, and aesthetics to which she has added work as a translator from French to English. She is represented in North America by Phillip Truckenbrod Concert Artists, LLC.

Lynne Davis Firmin-Didot

This past summer 2022, we witnessed the last musical moments of the great organ at Chartres Cathedral. At the end of August, scaffolding was built to take down the entire instrument—the pipes, the console, all the mechanical elements, and the Renaissance organ case—to leave space for a new instrument that will be built in three to four years. It will be an exceptional time for the organ case, which has never been taken down or restored in its long life. This is all great and wonderful news that will certainly enchant the organ world, both nationally and internationally. This new instrument, to be built by Bertrand Cattiaux and Olivier Chevron of Atelier Cattiaux as well as Manufacture d’orgues Mulheisen, will naturally prolong the life and great renown of the Chartres International Organ Competition, Grand Prix de Chartres, and its International Summer Organ Festival.

Centenary of his birth

We celebrated last year the centenary of the birth of Pierre Firmin-Didot. This tribute we address to his memory is doubly moving since the organ concerts of the summer of 2022 that make up the summer festival, founded by him in 1975, were the last to be heard on this instrument.

Pierre Firmin-Didot was born August 23, 1921, in Mesnil-sur-l’Estrée, Eure, France. On August 24, 1981, he married American organist Lynne Davis. Caroline Firmin-Didot was born April 25, 1983, to Pierre and Lynne. Pierre died January 5, 2001, and is buried in Escorpain, Eure, France.

Didot family dynasty

Pierre Firmin-Didot was a descendant of the famed Didot dynasty of printers and publishers founded by François Didot (1689–1757). The firm gained renown for illustrated editions of the classics as well as inexpensive editions of scholarly texts.

One of the family’s lasting legacies is the Didot family of fonts, designed by Firmin Didot (1764–1836), grandson of the printing house founder. He was the inventor of stereotypography, which refers to the metal printing plate created for the printing of pages, an invention that influences typography to this day. He was appointed by Napoleon as the director of the Imprimerie Impériale type foundry. The family were printers to the kings of France, printers of the Institut de France, and engraved the assignats, paper money used during the French Revolution. Firmin’s statue is found on the upper frieze of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris.

The most famous Didot typefaces were developed between 1784 and 1811. Firmin Didot cut the letters and cast them as type in Paris. His brother Pierre Didot (1760–1853) used the types in printing. The Didot types are characterized by extreme contrast in thick strokes and thin strokes, using hairline serifs, and by the vertical stress of the letters. Firmin was inspired by Baskerville’s typeface, and thirty years later Giambattista Bodoni started creating his own modern typeface. Viewing Baskerville, Didot, and then Bodoni alongside each other shows an important transition into modern typography.

Didot is described as neoclassical and evocative of the Age of Enlightenment. The Didot family was among the first to set up a printing press in newly independent Greece, and typefaces in the style of Didot have remained popular there ever since.

Visit of General de Gaulle

The present organ in Chartres Cathedral was built fifty years ago by Danion-Gonzalez, thanks to the initiative of Pierre Firmin-Didot. The ambition took root in his heart, his spirit, and through his determination. Affected at a very young age by the beauty of the cathedral and the harmony of the liturgy, he told the story of General Charles de Gaulle, then President of the Republic, who was to attend a big ceremony at the cathedral. But the organ was not playable, and an orchestra had to be called upon. The famous minister of culture at the time, André Malraux, told Pierre, “Dear friend, do something! It is a shame that the great organ is silent when there is the President of France who is visiting the cathedral.”

Initial effort to save the organ

For Pierre Firmin-Didot, something indeed had to be done; so in 1964 he started a campaign to save the great organ, raising a bit more than half of the funds necessary for its reconstruction, the other half being provided by the State. This was accomplished through the organization founded by Firmin-Didot, Association pour la Rénovation des Grandes Orgues de Chartres. June 5 and 6, 1971, witnessed the inauguration of the reconstructed great organ of the cathedral, in the presence of and presided over by the President of the Republic, Georges Pompidou, and Mrs. Pompidou. The same year saw the creation of the international organ competition, Grand Prix de Chartres. The association for the rebuilding of the organ was eventually renamed Association des Grandes Orgues de Chartres (AGOC).

Pierre Firmin-Didot surrounded himself always with the great masters of the organ world at that time including Pierre Cochereau, Gaston Litaize, and Norbert Dufourcq. Thus, with the encouragement of these luminaries, the Grand Prix de Chartres would lead to founding the summer festival with organ recitals every Sunday afternoon in 1975.

Chartres—symbol of excellence

Since then, throughout the world, Chartres has become a symbol of excellence in the organ profession. Having regained its voice, it was important for Pierre Firmin-Didot that outside of the liturgy, the great organ of the cathedral should be heard during cultural events destined to promote the international outreach of the cathedral. Chartres from then onwards attracted worldwide attention, alluring the greatest international talents and performers.

Endeavors and dedication

These projects entailed an enormous amount of work, and Pierre Firmin-Didot dedicated all his time to this cause. All this precise organization was aimed at making those unique moments of the competition or a concert in the cathedral truly memorable and of the highest quality. Every Sunday during each summer between 1975 and 2000, Pierre Firmin-Didot welcomed the public to the concerts and presented the artists. One can still see his tall silhouette at the crossing of the transepts or in the central aisle where he sold programs and took the collection, as the admission was always free.

One remembers the Sundays of the final rounds of the competitions: the excitement of the audience when the finalists played, the distinguished international jury members busily taking notes, the presence of a great part of the diplomatic corps in function in France (often the embassies of the countries from which the candidates came, sometimes even sponsoring them), the long rug running the whole length of the central aisle, the tingling excitement of the listeners when the Grand Prix was announced, the place reserved in the choir stalls for the press as they transmitted the fresh news of the competition results directly from the cathedral. The scheduling of this day was always done with the utmost precision, so that everything took place like clockwork.

Dedication and devotion

Pierre Firmin-Didot afforded us many precious moments of shared listening. There were countless times where beauty touched us profoundly, because it was present on all levels: the purity of the architectural lines in the cathedral that uplift and soothe us, the very stones resounding and reflecting the harmonics of the sounds of the pipes, and then the combination of the alliance of light and music in this monument that generates such a holy atmosphere.

Thus during his whole life, he never stopped devoting himself to the distinguished cathedral basilica of Chartres. Driven by this global vision of the universe of Chartres, he also created the Centre International du Vitrail (International Center for Stained Glass) in 1980. This center was inaugurated during a concert in the cathedral of Hector Berlioz’s Requiem, with Colin Davis, director, the orchestra and choir of Radio France, the choir of the Paris Opera, and the brass of the Garde Républicaine, in the presence of and presided over by the President of the Republic, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and his wife. Firmin-Didot also created the association Chartres, Sanctuaire du Monde in 1992. Both associations are large-scale and ongoing, in complete service to Chartres and its cathedral.

Pierre Firmin-Didot and Lynne Davis’s charitable work was not limited to Chartres. In 1990, the two worked to form an exhibition administered by the Ville de Paris at the Mairie du 6^e, in addition to recordings produced by the Erato label of twenty of Paris’s organs (Prix du Président de la République). Erato would release Les Orgues de Paris de Couperin à Messiaen, a three-CD set, in 1992. Performers included Lynne Davis Firmin-Didot, Marie-Claire Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Olivier Messiaen, Daniel Roth, André Isoir, Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, and others.

A pioneer

Pierre Firmin-Didot was a pioneer; he brought a modern focus and a new vision to cultural patrimony. Whereas in his day the word patrimony was still considered to be a term reserved for use by notary publics and lawyers regarding one’s estate, he knew that it would become the crusade of our time, that it would embody the question of cultural identity and be transformed into a national cause today, which would embrace the safeguarding and conservation of historical buildings and works of art.

Trust in those around him

Pierre Firmin-Didot always put his trust in the persons engaged in working on and serving this cause. He had a particular talent and pleasure in bringing together such loyal volunteers and esteemed experts in a manifestation of the great French tradition of distinction and friendly spirit. He was constantly striving to promote this cause, touching many lives along the way, so that the universe of Chartres would illuminate those of goodwill on the road to a true and pure light.

Final tribute

Pierre Firmin-Didot died in 2001, the twentieth year of our marriage, and all along the road traveled together, he gave me the opportunity—for an American arriving in France from Michigan just over fifty years ago in September 1971—to see so closely into the marvelous world of the French organ and society and to perceive that special and glorious light that comes so particularly from Chartres.

It is thus that I have wanted to pay tribute to my husband, Pierre Firmin-Didot, a man of duty and honor, with a great heart, to whom the organ world owes a special debt of gratitude for the prestige and perseverance he showed and for the legacy he left to future generations. Noblesse et générosité.

One can still hear him saying, “Chartres, c’est vous!”

The Great Organ at Chartres Cathedral

As early as 1353, the Cathedral of Our Lady in Chartres housed an organ, and Jehan de Châteaudun served as one of the cathedral’s organists. The instrument was installed on a wooden balcony in the second bay along the south wall that is still there today. In 1475, Gombault Rogerie, a novice in the order of Dominicans, was engaged to build an instrument that played up to fifty pipes per note in the treble register in an enlarged case that featured two tall flat side towers separate from the central façade.

Robert Le Filleul rebuilt the organ on its existing chassis in 1542. He caused the case to be richly decorated with numerous scrolls, masks, foliage, and corbels on the large towers, and crowned this filigree with lamps, the work of local craftspeople.

Though the pipework experienced significant reworking over centuries, the size of the organ case remained the same, with the exception of the addition of the Positif division, which was moved further forward in the mid-nineteenth century. In the early part of that century, there was discussion about moving the organ to the rear of the nave. A fire in the cathedral in 1836 rendered the instrument unplayable. In 1846 it was rebuilt and modified from a four-manual to a three-manual organ, and the casework was repainted a dark color. Further projects occurred in 1846, 1850, 1868, and 1881.

The organ was yet again altered in 1911, and by the 1960s it was in very poor condition. In 1964, Pierre Firmin-Didot commenced his work that culminated with the inauguration of a new instrument in 1971, built in the neoclassical style by the firm Danion-Gonzalez. The instrument was modified from three manuals, thirty-six stops to four manuals, sixty-seven stops, and an electro-pneumatic action was fitted.

GRAND-ORGUE (Manual I)

16′ Montre

16′ Bourdon

8′ Montre

8′ Flûte

8′ Bourdon

4′ Prestant

4′ Flûte

2′ Doublette

Grosse Fourniture II

Fourniture III

Cymbale IV

Cornet V (fr tenor G)

16′ Bombarde

8′ Trompette

4′ Clairon

POSITIF (Manual II)

8′ Montre

8′ Flûte

8′ Bourdon

4′ Prestant

4′ Flûte

2-2⁄3′ Nasard

2′ Doublette

1-3⁄5′ Tierce

1-1⁄3′ Larigot

Plein-jeu IV

Cymbale III

Cornet V (fr middle C)

8′ Trompette

8′ Cromorne

4′ Clairon

RÉCIT (Manual III)

8′ Principal

8′ Cor de nuit

8′ Gambe

8′ Voix céleste

4′ Flûte

4′ Viole

2′ Doublette

Sesquialtera II

Plein-jeu IV

Cymbale III

16′ Bombarde

8′ Trompette

8′ Basson-Hautbois

8′ Voix humaine

4′ Clairon

Tremblant

ECHO (Manual IV)

8′ Principal

8′ Bourdon

4′ Flûte

2-2⁄3′ Nasard

2′ Doublette

1-3⁄5′ Tierce

1′ Piccolo

Cymbal III

8′ Trompette

4′ Clairon

PÉDALE

32′ Principal

16′ Montre (Grand-Orgue)

16′ Soubasse

8′ Montre

8′ Bourdon

4′ Principal

4′ Flûte

2′ Flûte

Plein-jeu V

16′ Bombarde

8′ Trompette

8′ Basson

4′ Clairon

Personal remembrances of Pierre Firmin-Didot by Lynne Davis Firmin-Didot

I arrived in France in September 1971 to study with famed organist Marie-Claire Alain. As she had fallen ill, I took lessons with Jean Langlais at the Schola Cantorum in Paris. He was a master visionary and suggested three things that changed the course of my life, one of which was to encourage me during the spring of 1972 to make inquiries about the new international organ competition Grand Prix de Chartres, which had just been founded by Pierre Firmin-Didot. When I called, Pierre himself answered, and I met him before I competed. I didn’t get the prize, but I won the heart of the president!

He was passionate about the pomp and grandeur of the ceremonies at the cathedral and above all by the profound sounds of the organ. He had served as an altar boy under the archbishop, Monseigneur
Harscouët, and always felt a very special connection to the cathedral.

He played the organ in a rather natural kind of improvisatory style. One day, Pierre Cochereau, organist at Notre-Dame, told him, “You even know how to modulate!” Then having met me and throughout my own concerts, he familiarized himself with the subtleties of the organ repertoire. He only liked to listen to the organ, no other instrument.

Although he was very proud of the three centuries of his family’s printing and publishing dynasty, the printing business was not that of his soul; he needed a vision that was between heaven and earth. That is precisely where the organist is placed in the cathedral, and that is what certainly reinforced our own relationship. The cathedral was his great passion, which transcended everything his ancestors did. He became the light of Chartres.

His principal qualities embraced a profound courtesy and a welcoming attitude to all, regardless of their origins. He was kind and the epitome of a gentleman. He had a great sense of organization and managed all events from A to Z. It was he and our daughter Caroline who created the prototype of the great book of donors for the association Chartres, Sanctuaire du Monde, which is kept in the treasury of the cathedral.

Noblesse et générosité (noblesse and generosity) is how his nephew, Charles Firmin-Didot, described him during the ceremony where he was decorated with the Officer of Merit award in June 2000. It was a fitting epitaph.

Remembrances of Pierre Firmin-Didot by friends

Daniel Roth

April 8, 2021

Dear Lynne,

We owe a great debt of gratitude to Pierre Firmin-Didot for all he did for the magnificent Chartres Cathedral and for the creation of the international organ competition at Chartres. All his great work will be passed on to future generations.

He was a man of great kindness with a natural kind of authority, which always greatly impressed me. I preserve a great memory of him.

—Daniel Roth

Grand Prix de Chartres, 1971

Organist at l’Église Saint-Sulpice, Paris, France

George Baker

December 2, 2021

In this centennial year of the birth of Pierre Firmin-Didot, I have the pleasure and honor of writing a few recollections and words of gratitude.

Our first encounter occurred a few weeks after I arrived in Paris in August 1973, at Saint-Severin Church in Paris at an all-Messiaen concert played by organist Charles Benbow, 1972 Grand Prix de Chartres winner. Messiaen and Yvonne Loriod were there, and I was invited to the reception where I met Pierre Firmin-Didot, introduced by my friend, Lynne Davis. He was elegant, kind, charming, and very encouraging when I told him I intended to compete in the competition in 1974.

I’ll always be grateful to Pierre Firmin-Didot. For me, the Grand Prix de Chartres was a defining moment in my life and career. I made my first recording on the Chartres Cathedral organ for which we were awarded not one but two Grand Prix du Disque in 1975. A young, skinny, long-haired dude from Texas sure got lucky in France! All the endless hard work had finally paid off!

At the 2000 post-competition dinner, we were sad to learn of Pierre’s illness. He was not able to attend the competitions, and we were all very sad. I recall that many people at the dinner shared their souvenirs and love of Pierre.

Many years have passed since 1973 and my first meeting with Pierre Firmin-Didot, and twenty years have already passed since he left us in 2001. The time has not diminished my gratitude to and admiration for this unique and great man. Mon cher ami Pierre, we miss you and love you.

—George Baker, DMA, MD, MBA

Grand Prix de Chartres, 1974

Organist and composer

Adjunct associate professor of organ Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas

Retired dermatologist

James Kibbie

April 29, 2021

When I won the Grand Prix d’Interprétation at the 1980 Chartres competition, a member of the jury told me, “This will open doors for you; it’s up to you to walk through them.” It was great advice, and I now regard the Chartres competition as the single most important event in my professional development. I had the pleasure of visiting with M. Pierre Firmin-Didot in his magnificent home several times, including when I later served on the competition jury. I also had the honor of playing the sortie for his wedding to my fellow University of Michigan alumna Lynne Davis. Together they extended the Chartres competition with further initiatives to advance French organ music. M. Firmin-Didot’s legacy still shapes the future of the organ in France and beyond. I’m enormously grateful to him for the doors he opened for me and so many others.

—James Kibbie

Grand Prix de Chartres, 1980

Professor and chair, organ department University of Michigan, Ann Arbor

Christophe Mantoux

April 26, 2021

Twenty years ago, already, the premature death of Pierre Firmin-Didot was of great sadness in the organ world. There are many of us all over the world who owe much to him, even though he never promoted himself as such. Simplicity, modesty, selflessness, but also generosity, dynamism, imagination, perseverance: so many qualities brought together in one man to carry out a magnificent enterprise in service to art, the organ, and organists!

Presiding over the competition, Pierre Firmin-Didot was affable, courteous, caring, having conserved his capacity of wonderment, showing a tender and dreamer nature.

Dear Pierre, in this year of the centenary of your birth, we express to you our most profound recognition. You had the rare joy of seeing come to fruition the worldwide reputation of the competition (Grand Prix de Chartres) you created; your work, alive and well today, continues its magnificent vocation of emulation, in the service to excellence in art!

—Christophe Mantoux

Grand prix de Chartres, interprétation, 1984

Professeur d’orgue au Conservatoire régional et au Pôle supérieur de Paris

Organiste titulaire de l’Église Saint-Séverin à Paris

Membre de la Commission nationale des monuments historiques (section des orgues)

Martin Jean

September 1, 2021

Few of us can probably say we met someone who truly changed the world. I feel privileged to claim that I did so by making the acquaintance of Monsieur Pierre Firmin-Didot.

M. Firmin-Didot was a visionary, a leader, and a pioneer. He saw possibilities where others saw defeat, and he built bridges where once there were walls. Firmin-Didot in France is a name of renown that is known today such that a statue of the family patriarch stands in the façade of the Hôtel de Ville in Paris. Only a person of such a reputation and legacy could lead a campaign to build a magnificent organ in one of the great cathedrals of the world, to set out an annual festival around it, and to launch one of the most prestigious organ competitions we have.

In a few days, when it came time for us to meet him, we expected formality, distance, reserve. While we were clearly in the presence of someone truly special, dressed in a gorgeous suit of clothes, with perfect manners and comportment, we were all disarmed by how personable he was. Shaking each of us by the hand, sharing a personal greeting, looking us in the eye with warmth and welcome, I was immediately put at ease. I am convinced this helped me play better.

I stayed in touch casually with M. Firmin-Didot over the years and shared meals with Lynne Davis, his wife, and him on return visits. I can still hear his lyric tenor voice shout, “Cher Martin!,” when he saw me coming up the path. There was no reason that I could think of for him to be so kind and welcoming to me. No reason, except that this was his nature.

Leaders, true visionaries, give to the world, and they give equally to individuals. They set out a view of something really glorious—in the case of Chartres and Pierre, music in a setting of utter holiness. But the ones who really “get it,” whose legacy long outlasts their lives, ensure that their grand picture of the world impacts the individual, the human being. This was certainly true for me.

This is my memory of the great Pierre Firmin-Didot. A man of honor, of courage, and of dreams who did what he did not to set up a legacy for himself, but to ensure that all our lives are changed forever.

Merci pour tout, Pierre Firmin-Didot!

—Martin Jean

Grand Prix de Chartres, 1986

Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

Eric Lebrun

April 7, 2021

Dear Lynne,

As a young organist, still studying at the Conservatory, I crossed his path during the Grand Prix de Chartres in 1990. I was touched immediately by the very grand elegance, the profound kindness of this sensitive and generous man. It is to him we owe the setting in motion of all the work of restoration, of the enhancement of this magnificent patrimony, which explodes today in front of our eyes.

Men who initiate, who are bold, who book a “ticket with no return” for a beautiful adventure, permit our world to breathe and to hope. With enormous gratitude . . . .

—Eric Lebrun

Organiste de l’Église Saint-Antoine-des-Quinze-Vingts, Paris

Professeur d’orgue au Conservatoire de Saint-Maur-des-Fossés

Professeur honoraire au Conservatoire Royal de Aarhus, Denmark

Susan Landale

April 2021

Pierre was a very special person. I remember his kindness, his sense of humor, and his devotion to Chartres. I also remember the beautiful dresses you wore, Lynne, for your recitals! We still miss him as the captain of the ship!

—Susan Landale

Organist of Cathédrale Saint-Louis-des-Invalides, Paris

E. Power Biggs Professor of Organ, Royal Academy of Music, London

Colette Morillon

April 2021

Pierre Firmin-Didot, an exceptional president!

Thanks to Pierre Firmin-Didot, the grand-orgue of the cathedral regained its voice in 1970, and it was important subsequently for him that it be honored by creating an organ competition of international magnitude to reflect the stature of the cathedral itself. It was important also that outside of the liturgy, the grand-orgue should be heard during cultural manifestations destined to further the universal outreach of the cathedral.

His goals were achieved:

—Reveal and promote young organ talents in France and elsewhere in the world. We always promoted the artist’s career, and to win the Grand Prix de Chartres became a dream of every organist. Past winners acknowledge that it helped them to begin an international career. Likewise, most of the recitalists of the summer festival attest to the privilege of being able to “make the stones of the cathedral sing.”

—Organize events of prestige in Chartres Cathedral, contributing thus to its universal cultural outreach. What was thrilling was the organization of quality events, the global dimension of the activities, the contacts with all the greatest organists, the discovery of young talents, and the partnerships with associations and festivals worldwide.

With Pierre Firmin-Didot, thanks to his numerous connections, which he mobilized for the benefit of Chartres, everything was always at the highest level. The Association des Grandes Orgues de Chartres also was present in Paris through other prestigious events they held to raise funds: two Soirées de bienfaisance (charity balls) at the residence of the U.S. ambassadeur to France in the presence of important personalities and with the support of the president of the United States, Ronald Reagan, who had also made a personal gift.

Pierre Firmin-Didot was really a president of exception!

—Colette Morillon

General secretary of the Association des Grandes Orgues de Chartres

Jean-François Lagier

April 2021

Firmin-Didot is the name of a French family who lived during three centuries in service to books and publishing. Pierre Firmin-Didot (1921–2001) belongs to the ninth generation of “Didot, printer and publisher.” Altar boy at Chartres Cathedral, he was impressed by the pomp of the great Roman liturgy. Through his faith and his fondness for splendid religious ceremonies was born his veneration for the universe of Chartres.

From a very young age, I experienced a sort of rapture when, as a young altar boy, guided by the luminous figure of Monseigneur Harscouët (archbishop), I served the Grand-Messe at Notre Dame of Chartres. The love of God certainly carried me, but it was magnified for the little one I was. Everything around me radiated beauty: the harmony of the liturgy, the chants, the ornaments, the perfume of the flowers and the incense, the magic light from the stained glass windows, which brought forth so many apparitions of familiar personages from Biblical history, and finally as if embracing and inflaming all of this, the powerful majesty of the organ, capable of bringing us the trembling of a Dies Irae summoning the blessed vision of the Lamb of God.

Pierre Firmin-Didot was a pioneer: he wore the modern “vision” of cultural heritage. When during his time “patrimony” was only a notary public term, he knew that it would become the crusade of our times, that it would incarnate the question of cultural identity, and that it would be transformed into a national cause, today, which embraces the preservation and conservation of art and historical structures, like the safeguarding of the natural environment and buildings.

He anticipated this movement in Chartres through all his actions, born of a mindset that wasn’t simply nostalgic of things past, a “folklorization” of cultural heritage, with a content that one would have stripped of all meaning: it is the living cathedral, which he saw as a beacon of Western Christianity, that which incarnates a worth of continuous value, the cathedral that Proust upheld, which affirmed that the religious vocation of the monument was the guarantee of its artistic beauty.

—Jean-François Lagier

President de Chartres, Sanctuaire du Monde

Directeur du Centre international du Vitrail

Trésorier de l’Association des Grandes Orgues de Chartres

Chartres cathedral website: chartrescathedral.net

Chartres competition website: orgues-chartres.org

Jesse Eschbach

Jesse Eschbach is a graduate of Indiana University, Bloomington, and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, where he was a student of Robert Glasgow. He completed his formal education during a five-year residency in Paris as a student of Marie-Claire Alain, specializing in early French music in her conservatory class at Rueil-Malmaison where he was awarded both a Prix d’Excellence and a Prix de Virtuosité. As one of the last students of Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier, he studied the complete organ works of her husband, Maurice Duruflé, as well as much of the French symphonic repertoire.

Since 1986, Eschbach has served on the faculty at the University of North Texas, Denton, as professor of organ, instructing performance majors at all levels. Eschbach has several CDs to his credit, including a disc recorded at the Cathédrale de Perpignan entitled Music of the Second Empire and Beyond, released in 2003. Also released in 2003 was his 800+ page book, Stoplists of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, detailing the original stoplists of the majority of organs constructed by this French organbuilder, based extensively on the Lapresté collection. This research is still in progress, and an expanded second edition will be released in the next few years.

Due to focal dystonia in the right hand, his career was sidetracked for more than ten years, but due to the efforts of Dorothy Taubman and Sheila Paige, he has begun resuming his performance career. He has been a juror for several competitions, including the American Guild of Organists national competition, the Canadian International Organ Competition, and the Fort Wayne national competition.

On July 27, 2018, my dear colleagues and friends, Yannick Merlin and Béatrice Piertot, introduced me to Pierre Labric at his residence southwest of Paris in Dreux. Labric is perhaps best remembered in this country for recording the complete organ symphonies of both Widor and Vierne on the legendary Cavaillé-Coll instruments of St-Ouen, Rouen (Widor), and St-Sernin, Toulouse (Vierne). These recordings were marketed in the United States by The Musical Heritage Society after 1971 and introduced my generation to not only the symphonic style of Widor and Vierne, but also the sound universe of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.

After spending a delightful two and a half hours with Mr. Labric and speaking at great length about his mentor Jeanne Demessieux and his brilliant friend and colleague at the Paris Conservatory, Jean-Claude Touche, I asked Yannick and Béatrice on our return trip to Paris if Mr. Labric might consent to a written interview on the life and achievements of Jeanne Demessieux. Yannick Merlin received an enthusiastic response, and I drafted twenty questions, intending to explore Demessieux’s short but highly eventful life.

Mr. Labric, as the reader will soon observe, was most generous with his responses. He was never limited with any constraints suggested by a particular question, but “improvised” freely in his responses.

Only one question failed to elicit a direct response: I asked if Pierre Labric could confirm what Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier recounted years earlier. An incisive attack and release was the core of her legendary virtuosity,¹ and she attributed this to her study with Jeanne Demessieux, most especially what Mme Duruflé called the “deuxième mouvement,” or release of a note, which must have at least as much energy and clarity as the attack. This concept goes to the core of brilliant, virtuosic playing, sometimes forgotten today in France and the United States. Both Demessieux and Duruflé were capable of extremely brilliant tempos, yet every note was clearly heard and energetic, regardless of the acoustic. Regrettably, Mr. Labric seems not to have discussed this topic with Jeanne Demessieux, but confirmed, “M-M Duruflé was formed exclusively by Jeanne Demesssieux. In class, Dupré told us with the greatest admiration, ‘My children, see how Jeanne Demessieux is getting results from Marie-Madeleine.’ Yes, it was true.”²

The inevitable question did arise during our meeting in 2018 concerning the traumatic rupture between Dupré and Demessieux. I knew better than to launch “head-on” into this sad story with a French gentleman of Mr. Labric’s generation, always highly discreet. I did repeat what Marie-Madeleine Duruflé confided years earlier, and this elicited a broad smile and unmistakable twinkle of the eye. Given that direct descendants of the principal parties are still with us, and since the cause of the saga can never be proved, I can only repeat what others have said: Jeanne Demessieux was utterly blameless, and Dupré was foolishly victimized and manipulated by individuals in his entourage who intended to overthrow Demessieux to suit their own agenda. It was a veritable plot originating from near unparalleled, despicable jealousy that nauseated everyone in the French organ world and well beyond. Seventy-five years later, condemnation of the injustice perpetrated on the young Jeanne Demessieux continues to resonate. Marcel Dupré enjoyed almost complete authoritarian control of the French organ world and was more than capable of destroying, or otherwise compromising, a promising career.³

Mr. Labric, born in 1921, grew up in the Rouen area and received his early training from Marcel Lanquetuit before admission to Dupré’s class at the Paris Conservatory. His career was largely devoted to recording, resulting in releases of the complete organ symphonies of Widor and Vierne, the complete organ works of Jeanne Demessieux, sonatas of Mendelssohn, preludes and fugues of Saint-Saëns, the major organ works of Liszt, and the Promenades en Provence of Eugène Reuchsel. He was Demessieux’s suppléant at the Madeleine, and also assisted Pierre Cochereau at Notre-Dame Cathedral. As he approaches his centennial, it seemed especially appropriate to begin collecting some of his indelible memories of one of the most eventful epochs in the history of our profession.

Jesse Eschbach: If I remember correctly, Jeanne Demessieux was Marcel Dupré’s assistant in the organ class [at the Paris Conservatory] towards the end of the war. Was it at this time that you met Jeanne Demessieux for the first time? How did she prepare you for the organ class? Technique, repertory, interpretation, counterpoint, harmony, improvisation?

Pierre Labric: Yes, Jeanne Demessieux replaced Dupré in the organ class during the week of May 14–21, 1946. I’m transcribing the themes she had us work on [in improvisation]: What beautiful themes!

That day, she worked quite awhile with me. It was the year I was first runner-up. I believe I remember that she was happy with my improvisation. I attended her overwhelming competition for her unanimous first prize on June 6, 1941. The entire audience broke the law of silence: frenetic and long applause reflected the general enthusiasm. That day, our contact started.

How long did you work with Jeanne Demessieux?

I worked all my life, and I owe everything to Jeanne Demessieux.

At the end of your studies at the conservatory, did you remain in contact with Demessieux?

Yes, and after her appointment to the Madeleine, she asked me to play services in her place. I always remained in cordial contact with her and her dear mother after she became a widow. During a lesson, I asked her if, in the vast nave of a cathedral, one had to moderate tempo a little bit because of the reverberation. “No,” she replied, “It is necessary simply to articulate.”

What repertory did you undertake with Demessieux? Bach, Buxtehude, old French music, Liszt, Franck?

She had me work on her (Six) Études with great interest. They made me progress enormously. I started with the octave study, which I perfected during all of the school year 1948. I played it for her in May, and with her advice I worked on it during [summer] vacation. I played it for her again in September. She was happy with my work, and encouraged me to put it on my program on October 15 at St-Godard, Rouen. I was happy and . . . proud! I got her precious advice for the big Vierne works. I recorded all of them later, observing everything scrupulously. She had me work for part of the afternoon. Madame Demessieux prepared for us, delicately, a delicious snack that we savored with one of my friends who accompanied me to my lesson—she, too, has since passed! All of this downed with a cup of coffee for which I could never replicate the flavor.

“Mama has her little secrets,” Jeanne told us! My modest repertory was Liszt, Franck, Widor, Guilmant, Vierne, Duruflé, very little Litaize, very little Langlais, Jean-Claude Touch, Jean Guillou. A pirated version of my recording of his Toccata from one of my concerts at Saint-Ouen de Rouen is on the internet.

What preparatory studies did the teacher Demessieux want in place before taking a student?

She required a serious piano technique with etudes of Chopin or Liszt.

Did she ask for repertory studied at lessons be memorized?

No. I played all of my lessons with the text.

Could you describe the legendary memory of Demessieux?

For the magazine Étude (April 1950), the editors asked Jeanne Demessieux for an article on Dupré. She wrote fifteen sublime pages in which appeared not a shade of vengeance, not a trace of the least bitterness. The writing has the limpidity of the entire truth. What a marvelous lesson Jeanne Demessieux gave to Dupré.

The Rouen Philharmonic Society, directed by an excellent musician-pianist Pierre Duvauchel, was always running a deficit. Demessieux, who came for a sou, filled the coffers: a half hour before the concert, there wasn’t a chair left in the immense nave!

A poor priest had difficulties keeping his school afloat. He dared to ask Jeanne, then at the top of her international glory, if she would accept to give a concert for a rather low fee. Her secretary responded, “Miss Demessieux asks me to inform you she will offer a free recital for your school. A date has to be found according to her possibilities.” I have read the letter.

You recounted a beautiful anecdote concerning a trip Demessieux made to Normandy, around Deauville, I think. A priest from a little village asked her to visit his parish the day after the concert. What happened when she tried out the organ?

Jeanne Demessieux had given a concert in Deauville on August 27, 1956. You have the review written by Guy Bouchaux, which deserves to be read by everyone.

Verbal program notes were given by the Canon Leprieur, priest of Beuzeville about twenty kilometers away. Demessieux was to return to Paris by car with M. Haerpfer, the builder of the organs in Deauville and Beuzeville, which has a smaller organ.

Abbot Leprieur had invited Demessieux to visit the organ in Beuzeville the next day on her way back to Paris. The grapevine having done its work, about twenty from the audience of the day before greeted Demessieux when she got out of the car. Abbot Leprieur led her to the gallery, followed by the would-be listeners. She got to know in very little time the modest instrument of sixteen stops. She didn’t even need much more time for the giant consoles during her American tours. She went through each stop attentively and was getting ready to leave the keyboards. Abbot Leprieur then said suddenly, “Mademoiselle, would you play the Alain Litanies for us?” Without hesitating, Demessieux gave us a brilliant interpretation of the Litanies. After that, Galérant (in the photo) asked her for the Second Choral of Franck; another asked her for the “Toccata” from the Fifth Symphony of Widor; another suggested a Noël of D’Aquin. “Which one?” she asked simply. After, a gentleman I didn’t know asked for the “Carillon de Westminster.” Others requested several Bach pieces. All of these pieces were at random and not on the program from the day before. She played for two consecutive hours, responding with a perfect humility to the requests of each with the single aim of pleasing. There is the perfect example of a concert “requested by the audience.”

What happened when she tried the organ, you ask me? Nothing!

Jeanne was very reserved, always in perfect control, and also in control of her company. She never felt the need to ask questions. For her, all the problems were worked out ahead. If someone explained to her the reason for something because of this, because of that, she listened very politely, without feeling the need to open her mouth. She remained silent. She was like the diamond who never sought to shine, but was made to shine. She played the organ at Beuzeville most naturally, before several subjugated and privileged people, enthusiastic and astonished by such natural facility.

Jeanne was radiant taking leave of her improvised admirers. And we went to lunch at the rectory, as the photo attests, taken by the young curate of the parish when we arrived. Sixty-two years ago! Jeanne made a very quiet “impact,” yet strongly powerful, felt by everyone around her. Her rich personality radiated naturally without being conscious of it, so it seemed.

Monsieur Albert Dupré, father of the Dupré in question, was organist of the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll of Saint-Ouen de Rouen—“Orgue à la Michel-Ange” according to the famous estimation of Widor who came to inaugurate it. On the occasion of the first concert of Jeanne’s at Saint-Ouen, hearing about it, Dupré supposedly exclaimed, “Imagine, she dared play Papa’s organ!” The clumsy remark eventually got back to Jeanne Demessieux who spontaneously retorted, “Oh, Papa had nothing to complain about!”

She was very humorous.

I don’t think we have many recordings of Demessieux’s improvisations. Could you tell us about her style in improvisation? Did she often improvise in established forms such as sonata-allegro, fugue, double fugue, lied, variations, passacaglia, etc., or was she rather free?

During her concert tours in America, Miss Murtagh⁴ called Jeanne Demessieux, pointing out a day when Jeanne wasn’t on time. She scolded her on the telephone like a little girl. With her usual calm, her natural distinction, her nobility of a great lady, Jeanne Demessieux responded simply with, “Madam, I always⁵ do what I want,” cutting off any response. Many organists do what they can, starting with me! At the keyboard, Demessieux always did what she wanted. Her magnificent recordings are the proof!

As for her improvisations, if they were always inspired (again, she did what she wanted), they all were adapted to the character of the given theme. I heard her improvise many a time, the very first being her conservatory competition on June 6, 1941. The luminous cadenzas of the first two concertos of Handel were improvised before being written down and recorded on the Decca label. The first one astonished Guy Bouchaux at her concert in Deauville on August 27, 1956, as well as her improvisation on In Paradisum.

I recall yet today her extraordinary symphonic fresco on the Kyrie Orbis factor given to her by Fr. Boulzy at the end of her concert on November 7, 1953, at Saint-Eustache. She finished with a prodigious fugue. The large audience, which filled the nave, was cosmopolitan: French, Italians, Germans, English, Americans, Japanese applauded discretely when she came down from the gallery.

Examples are numerous and deliciously fascinating. I’ll limit myself to several: I heard Demessieux improvise at Saint-Ouen. For her, to improvise was to abandon herself to her rich and inspired imagination at the end of a concert. The mind free, on a magnificent instrument she loved, developing a very beautiful theme given to her by Maurice Duruflé, I remember elegant variations faithfully ornamenting the theme under the sumptuous sonorities of the “Cavaillé-Coll à la Michel-Ange,” which she knew how to transfigure like no one else.

To your question, I don’t know about recordings of her improvisations with the exception of the one on the Hamburg CD, The Legendary Jeanne Demessieux, done in several churches in Hamburg: St-Sophiekirche, St-Michaelskirche, St-Christianskirche on the label Festivo, 6961-862. Many years ago, I was fortunate to hear her splendid improvisations during her legendary concerts in the Netherlands.

M. Van der Oter, deceased, and his colleague Mr. Herman van Vliet, an excellent organist, played for me a magnificent improvisation in Masslouis, which I would ardently like to hear again, and another one, in the Netherlands, the given theme of which lended itself to rondo form, three refrains and three couplets. This quarter hour of true music was so perfect that it made me think of the truly vivid “Rondo Final” of the magnificent Fifth Symphony of Louis Vierne. Regrettably, I never heard either one again!

I found in the archives of Norbert Dufourcq a detailed study of the Madeleine organ written in 1965 by Jeanne Demessieux. This document attests to the fact that Demessieux had a great deal of expertise in organbuilding and especially on the style of Cavaillé-Coll. Dupré, as far as I know, didn’t teach these things to his students. How did Demessieux acquire this knowledge?

To your inquiry, I am going to offer the truest, most exact, most pertinent, the simplest response there is, that of Jeanne Demessieux herself:

I wrote to the periodical L’Orgue that I was waiting and hoping for the organ of the twentieth century:⁶ an intelligent synthesis, yet original in its audacity, of instruments from the past. In the absence of which, the promoters of neo-classicism will be burdened with the heavy responsibility of having implicitly condemned all⁷ organ repertory from Bach to the present. The works of Messiaen, Langlais, and others call for a complete radiance in sound where everything is possible.

These thoughts, harbingers of light and wisdom, are a veritable gospel of truth and for all time. And here is a striking aspect of Jeanne Demessieux.

Appointed titular organist of the beautiful Cavaillé-Coll of the Madeleine in 1962, where she succeeded Edouard Mignan, she was keenly interested in the preservation of her instrument. She watched jealously over its esthetic. Her keen awareness of eclecticism, fed by multiple experiences collected over all continents, gave her the ability to compare organs of different characters—following faithfully the evolution of building, with prudence and especially wisdom, while strongly opposing certain displeasing trends.

Her searching spirit always involved a curious look towards the future, without denying the lessons from the past. Her perfectionist and innovative spirit researched unceasingly balance and truth. Her art was enriched with a lofty spirituality. Her enthusiastic listeners perceived her marvelous message with a quieted serenity while others, more receptive, caught a glimpse of her in the light.

Did she have American students? I know that Frank Speller8 went to study with her, but did she have others?

I don’t know.

You mentioned her Te Deum. If I understood you correctly, this work was finished in Demessieux’s mind well before she wrote it down?

Your assertion is absolutely exact. The brutal and sudden rupture with Dupré, never understood by poor Jeanne Demessieux, necessarily accentuated her timidity and humility that were already the basis of her exceptional personality. “I never talk about my plans,” she responded to an overly gushing interlocutor.

At her concert in Deauville, I asked her discretely if she would soon give us the joy of a new work. “Yes,” she answered spontaneously. “I am thinking of writing a work in the spirit of the chorals of Franck on the Te Deum.” Overwhelmed, I didn’t push further, being content with this detail, so affectionately confided, I being one of the rare individuals—if not the only—to know the gestation of the most beautiful of the Te Deums. No reference concerning what I knew to be a serious confidence would be brought back to her, at least coming from me.

The streets of Rouen were all decked out with giant posters as if to announce the visit of the Queen of England: “Jeanne Demessieux on her return from America.” She returned from a big concert tour, during which she had played her Te Deum, not yet published, but for which I didn’t know the reason. It was on the program for April 30, 1958. That’s when I heard it for the first time, next to her, in the afternoon. I was astonished by the grandeur and the beauty of the work. It is impossible to find more moving accents to praise God. I asked her if she would consent to loaning me her manuscript. “But no, dear Pierre, I haven’t yet had time to write it down!” My eyes popped out of my head before such prowess that I never would have imagined. I remained speechless.

In matters of interpretation, did she use rubato or rather subtleties of touch, or a combination of both?

Jeanne Demessieux had an incredible phrasing. In the chorale preludes of Bach, she used two different cornets, which offered an agreeable echo effect. She played certain works with a surprising slowness, but never gave the impression of dragging.

She played quick tempos with an absolute mastery, a ravishing lightness. Listen to her in the delicious scherzo of the Grande Pièce Symphonique of César Franck where she excelled, in order to be convinced of the perfection found in her recording of the complete organ works of Franck, which came out in 1961.

Jeanne Demessieux never stopped being a pianist. She had her [first] prize when she was 17. She brought her extraordinary technique to the organ. At one of her concerts I attended with my friend Marie-Claire Alain, at the end Alain told me, “You know, it’s magnificent! One really feels she’s a first prize in piano!” I responded, “It’s obvious. I agree with you.” Such was my total approbation.

The complete works for organ of César Franck recorded at the Madeleine in 1959 reveal interpretations where virtuosity is often highlighted. I’m thinking, for instance, of the allegros in the Grande Pièce Symphonique. As far as I know, only her student Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier played Franck like that. More than fifty years after these recordings first appeared, metronomic indications written by Franck himself were discovered in a letter addressed by Franck to an American organist,⁹ which tends to demonstrate that such virtuosity wasn’t at all scorned by César Franck. Jeanne Demessieux, it would seem, was right. Did she talk about these interpretations and her very personal ideas on the subject of Franck’s music?

Jeanne Demessieux revealed Franck like no one else, a recording of reference. What can I add?

Mr. Labric, you are perhaps the last to have often played the authentic Cavaillé-Coll of Notre-Dame, Paris,10 before the reconstruction and electrification in the 1960s. I would like very much if you would talk about this legendary instrument before the transformations occurred.

“My alter ego,” said Vierne speaking about his Cavaillé-Coll at Notre-Dame, Paris. Nothing better than these words could translate the nature of the emotional attachments that bound together one to the other. This was affirmed by Bernard Gavoty. Gavoty continued, “as the flower breaks loose from its sheath, the song swells and spreads forth. With his hands, the musician sculpts his work in a sonorous clay of which nothing can evoke the voluptuous richness. The entire organ seems to stir in contact with this soul that brings it to life.”

The organ of Notre-Dame de Paris was the absolute masterpiece of Cavaillé-Coll. In the fingers of Vierne, it offered a unique splendor. A musician from Rouen, André Haumesser went from time to time to the gallery of Notre-Dame to hear Vierne. He mixed in with the regulars, and at the instant Vierne was preparing to improvise, one of them said, “Let us listen to the word of Saint Thomas d’Aquin.”

I had the good fortune to often play the magnificent Cavaillé-Coll, admired throughout the world. I remember my first contact which left an indelible feeling. Léonce de Saint-Martin,11 a very distinguished and courteous man, welcomed me one evening after the cathedral closed, allowing me to play the second symphony of Vierne. From the first chord, I was veritably transported in the instant in an ethereal world by this river of sound that flowed under my fingers. The solo stops were ravishing in the following movements up to the sparkling “Final” in which the unique tutti of the instrument seemed indeed to want to explode the shell of the cathedral, as Gavoty wrote. But this prodigious power had nothing of any harshness. Rather, it was part of the incomparable splendor of the organ.

One Sunday of the Holy Trinity, Saint-Martin let me play Dogme, the fourth movement of Méditation sur le Saint-Esprit of Jeanne Demessieux, at the end of vespers. I was happy. This was still at the time of the old [mechanical] console.

Later, I gave Sunday concerts on the new electric console of Jean Herman, which worked very well. It was worthy of the consoles of Beuchet-Debierre. This console permitted me later to record very conveniently the Six Études of Demessieux, which require a perfectly regulated pedalboard.

I had the joy of playing six Sundays, the substitute for Pierre Moreau,¹² a very courageous man, recovering from surgery. I arrived Saturday evening. I had almost three hours. For my pleasure alone, I played the six symphonies of Vierne on the instrument that had inspired them. What an unforgettable emotion. Léon Bloy called the royal Cavaillé-Coll, “The organ of eternity.”

I took advantage of these occasions that came my way, I can say by chance, to play at the closing voluntaries, a finale from the Vierne symphonies for the greatest joy of a group of young musicians gathered around the console.

§

As Pierre Labric approaches his centennial, I am certain my American colleagues join me in wishing Mr. Labric every joy and happiness. He is, after all, one of the last remaining figures to have witnessed the joys, triumphs, trials, and tribulations of the legendary organ class at the Paris Conservatory during the post-war period. His recollections help us approach those years with a far deeper understanding of the legendary names that shaped my generation and beyond. Thanks, Pierre Labric, for sharing your pristine memory and impressions of an era that now seems so very distant to most of us. Most of all, thanks for transmitting the legacy of the legendary Jeanne Demessieux to future generations.

Notes

1. Derived from the traditional French harpsichord and piano “schools” where the fingers do most of the work. Arm weight, and arm movements in general, were not introduced at the conservatory until after World War II, although some French pianists were very aware of (and advocated) arm weight and arm movements before 1946.

2. Visit www.organ.music.unt.edu for a video of Mme Duruflé at the University of North Texas auditorium console filmed in February 1992, playing a segment of the Vierne Naïades and a Handel concerto. Although she never knew or consulted Dorothy Taubman, the core of Mme Duruflé’s virtuosity is derived in large part from the same precepts learned by and passed on through the great technician who was Dorothy Taubman: long fingers moved from the short extensor muscles, and very subtle forearm rotations, up-down movement, in-out movements, and lateral shifting of the arm when required by the music.

3. Lest the reader assume that I have migrated to the almost rabid, anti-Dupré groups prominent in France today, such is not the case. My students perform probably more Dupré works than any other studio in North America. My admiration for Dupré as a virtuoso and composer is unbounded, but from what I have learned from his students and others, he was a bit of a dictator and often poorly advised by members of his entourage. Jeanne Demessieux was not the only artist whose career was almost sabotaged by Marcel Dupré.

4. Lilian Murtagh (1907–1976) originally managed concert organists and others for the LaBerge and Colbert agencies before purchasing the organ division from Henry Colbert and forming her own management for organists in 1962. In 1976, her organization merged with Karen McFarlane to create Murtagh-McFarlane Artists Management. Jeanne Demessieux’s three North American tours (1953, 1955, 1958) were organized by Lilian Murtagh.

5. Underscored by Labric.

6. Underscored by Demessieux.

7. Underscored by Demessieux.

8. Frank Speller (1938–2017), former professor of organ at University of Texas for more than forty years, studied with Jeanne Demessieux in Paris sometime during the 1960s. He was one of the few American organists to study with her.

9. Rollin Smith, “César Franck’s Metronome Marks: From Paris to Brooklyn.” The American Organist, September 2003, 58–60.

10. Aristide Cavaillé-Coll finished his 86-stop masterpiece in 1868, inaugurated March 6 of that year by Franck, Chauvet, Guilmant, Widor, Saint-Saëns, Durand, and Loret. The organ was rebuilt and electrified in the 1960s.

11. Léonce de Saint-Martin (1886–1954) succeeded Louis Vierne as titular organist of Notre-Dame de Paris in 1937.

12. Pierre Moreau (1907–1991) served at Notre-Dame de la Gare, Paris, before his appointment to Saint-Marcel, Paris, 1935–1985, and was Saint-Martin’s suppléant at Notre-Dame. Under Pierre Cochereau, Moreau was promoted organiste adjoint, retiring in 1986. He studied with Charles Tournemire for five years and was awarded a first prize in organ in 1938 at the Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles.