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Pierre Pincemaille dead at 61

Pierre Pincemaille

Pierre Pincemaille, 61, died, January 12, an international concert organist, church organist, music professor, and composer. Born in Paris, France, December 8, 1956, Pincemaille was awarded five first prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (harmony, counterpoint, fugue, organ interpretation, and organ improvisation) and won five international improvisation competitions: Lyon (1978), Beauvais (1987), Strasbourg (1989), Montbrison (1989), and Chartres (1990).

In 1987, Pierre Pincemaille was appointed titular organist of the prestigious 1841 Cavaillé-Coll at the Gothic Saint-Denis Cathedral-Basilica. He loved accompanying beautiful liturgy there, amidst the tombs of the Kings of France. Highly inspired by Pierre Cochereau, Pincemaille founded a concert series there, from 1989 to 1994. For his 30th anniversary there, he performed his last concert on November 5, 2017, programming choral works he cherished, conducted by Pierre Calmelet: Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle and three of his own recently composed vocal motets (to be published), as well as J. S. Bach’s Pièce d’Orgue, BWV 572, symbolizing for him the three periods of life.

Pierre Pincemaille also performed with orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit, and John Nelson. His recordings include the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé and César Franck, Charles-Marie Widor’s ten symphonies, selected pieces by Jehan Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Olivier Messiaen, and Louis Vierne, his own improvisations and transcriptions of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka, as well as works with orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns, Hector Berlioz, Joseph Jongen, and Aaron Copland. Several of Pierre Pincemaille’s compositions were published: Prologue et Noël varié [Prologue and Variations on a Noel] (Sampzon, Delatour France, 2007), a 4-voice a cappella Ave Maria (Lyon, À Coeur Joie, 2013), and En Louisiane for trombone and piano (Delatour France, 2017).

Recently, Pierre Pincemaille taught counterpoint at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, harmony at the Conservatory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and organ improvisation at the Conservatory in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés for the past 17 years. For the past 14 years, he formed a generation of French and foreign organ improvisers, many who have won prizes in international competitions: among them, six Parisian organists: David Cassan (at the Oratoire du Louvre), Thomas Lacôte (La Trinité), Samuel Liégeon (St.-Pierre-du-Chaillot), Hampus Lindwall (St.-Esprit), Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard (St.-Eustache), and Olivier Périn (St.-Paul-St.-Louis).

Among his honors and distinctions, Pierre Pincemaille was a Knight in the following three orders: the Academic Palms, Arts and Letters, and St. Gregory the Great.

Pierre Pincemaille is survived by his wife, Anne-France, and their three children, Claire, Marc, and Éric.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier, Paris, France

 

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Wilbur R. Dodge, 83, died November 20, 2017, in Binghamton, New York, an engineer, physicist, professional photographer, English country dancer, organist, organbuilder, and organ technician. He graduated from Clarkson University and Harpur College (now Binghamton University) with degrees in electrical engineering and physics and followed in his father’s footsteps working at Ansco Film Company.  With Norman Smith, he started their company, R D & D before he moved on to Link Aviation where he worked on simulators for the Gemini and Apollo missions.

Dodge was a member of the choir and guest organist for various churches in the community including Trinity Memorial and Christ Churches. He also maintained and tuned pipe organs in churches throughout the region. He was dean of the Binghamton Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, 1999–2001. 

Wilbur R. Dodge is survived by his partner, Anneliese Heurich; children: Glenn Burch (Bellefonte, Pennsylvania), Michael and Tammy Burch (Deland, Florida), Barbara Burch (Paisley, Florida), and Laura Appleton (Binghamton); several grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A memorial service was held at Christ Episcopal Church in Binghamton on January 20.

 

Mark Coan Jones died December 24, 2017. Born February 25, 1957, in Asheville, North Carolina, he studied organ with Marilyn Keiser and with Donna Robertson at nearby Mars Hill College. For the past 22 years, Jones was director of music and organist for The Pink Church (First Presbyterian Church), Pompano Beach, Florida. He previously served St. Nicholas Episcopal Church, Pompano Beach; First Presbyterian Church, Newton, North Carolina; and Trinity Episcopal Church, Asheville.

Jones appeared with the Florida Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Lynn University Conservatory Orchestra, Young Artists Chamber Orchestra, Palm Beach Atlantic Symphony, and Miami Bach Society, and in collaborations with chamber groups and area choruses, including the Nova Singers, Florida Philharmonic Chorus, Master Chorale of South Florida, Masterworks Chorus of the Palm Beaches, Fort Lauderdale Christian Chorale, and Gay Men’s Chorus of South Florida. He arranged music for organ and brass and performed with the Dallas Brass, Avatar Brass, Empire Brass, Lynn Conservatory Brass, and Eastman Brass. He performed extensively across Europe, Scandinavia, and Russia, in collaborations and solo recitals. 

Jones’s organ compositions have been performed in venues across the United States and in Europe, and have been broadcast nationally. His Three Lenten Hymn Meditations, Trumpet Tune in D, and Lenten Hymntunes have been recorded and performed by various organists.

From 2006 through 2014, Mark was principal accompanist for the von Trapp Children, the great-grandchildren of the singing family made famous by the Rodgers & Hammerstein movie The Sound of Music. His solo appearances and concerts with the von Trapps included performances around the world.

Mark Coan Jones is survived by his parents Hubert Mack and Shirley Williams Jones of Asheville, his sister Suzanne Jones Hamel and husband Richard Anson Hamel of Covington, Kentucky, and his partner Hilarion (Kiko) Suarez Moreno of Deerfield Beach, Florida.

 

Yuko Hayashi died January 7 in Salem, New Hampshire, at the age of 88. She was born in Hiratsuka, Japan, on November 2, 1929. For more than 40 years she was professor of organ at the New England Conservatory and department chair for 30 years. As a performer, she concertized extensively on three continents—Asia, North America, and Europe—giving recitals and masterclasses in Japan, South Korea, the United States, Holland, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. She was the recipient of the coveted Arion Award from the Cambridge Society for Early Music as an “outstanding performer and master teacher of the historical organ.” She was also awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the New England Conservatory.

Hayashi graduated with a degree in organ performance from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1948 and for five years was organist for the symphony orchestra of NHK, the Japanese national broadcasting company. She came to the United States in 1953 on scholarship, sponsored by Philanthropic Educational Organization and studied for one year at Cottey College in Nevada, Missouri. She then transferred to the New England Conservatory in Boston where she was awarded three degrees in organ performance: Bachelor of Music, Master of Music, and Artist Diploma. In 1960 she began teaching at the conservatory and was appointed chair of the department in 1969 by then president Gunther Schuller. Her primary teachers were George Faxon, Donald Willing, Anton Heiller, and Gustav Leonhardt (harpsichord).

Her frequent travels to Europe began in 1966 when she went to the Haarlem Organ Academy in the Netherlands and began life-long associations with Anton Heiller, Luigi Tagliavini, and Marie-Claire Alain. In 1971, she studied with Michel Chapuis in France and was introduced to many historic organs in North Germany and Holland by Harald Vogel and Klaas Bolt. This was the beginning of many exchanges of concerts and masterclasses across the Atlantic Ocean between Boston and Europe. It was during this time that Hayashi became organist of Old West Church in Boston, performing on a new mechanical-action organ built by Charles B. Fisk. She served as organist there for nearly 40 years and was the founder and executive director of the Old West Organ Society until her retirement in 2010.

Beginning in 1970, Hayashi crossed the Pacific Ocean yearly to give recitals and masterclasses in Japan. With Italian organist Umberto Pineschi and the assistance of Japanese organ builder Hiroshi Tsuji and his wife Toshiko Tsuji, she founded the Italian Organ Academy in Shirakawa. She was influential in persuading organ committees from universities, churches, and concert halls to commission mechanical-action organs from organbuilders from around the world. Most noteworthy are the instruments for International Christian University (Rieger), Toyota City Concert Hall (Brombaugh), Minato Mirai Concert Hall, Yokohama (C. B. Fisk, Inc.), and Ferris University, Yokohama (Taylor & Boody, Noack Organ Company, and J. F. Nordlie Pipe Organ Company organs).

In 1989, Yuko Hayashi took a leave of absence from the New England Conservatory to accept a position as professor of organ at Ferris University, Yokohama. She taught there for six years before returning to Boston. She also became titular organist at St. Luke’s International Hospital Chapel, which houses an organ built by Marc Garnier of France. She was responsible for relocating a historic 1889 organ built by Hook & Hastings to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Cathedral in Yokohama where her father served as priest for many years.

Yuko Hayashi is survived by two brothers, Makoto Hayashi and Satoru Hayashi, and several nieces and nephews, all residing in Japan. A memorial service for Yuko Hayashi will be held at Christ Church, Andover, Massachusetts, April 28, at 11:00 a.m. Memorial contributions may be directed to: Old West Organ Society, c/o Jeffrey Mead, Treasurer, 72 Trenton Street, Melrose, Massachusetts 02176;  St. Andrew’s Cathedral, 14-57 Mitsuzawa-shimo-cho, Kanagawa-ku, Yokohama City, Kanagawa, 221-0852, Japan; or St. Luke’s International Hospital Chapel, c/o Organ Committee, 9-1 Akashi-cho, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, 140-8560, Japan.

 

Pierre Pincemaille, 61, died, January 12, an international concert organist, church organist, music professor, and composer. Born in Paris, France, December 8, 1956, Pincemaille was awarded five first prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris (harmony, counterpoint, fugue, organ interpretation, and organ improvisation) and won five international improvisation competitions: Lyon (1978), Beauvais (1987), Strasbourg (1989), Montbrison (1989), and Chartres (1990).

In 1987, Pierre Pincemaille was appointed titular organist of the prestigious 1841 Cavaillé-Coll at the Gothic Saint-Denis Cathedral-Basilica. He loved accompanying beautiful liturgy there, amidst the tombs of the Kings of France. Highly inspired by Pierre Cochereau, Pincemaille founded a concert series there, from 1989 to 1994. For his 30th anniversary there, he performed his last concert on November 5, 2017, programming choral works he cherished, conducted by Pierre Calmelet: Louis Vierne’s Messe Solennelle and three of his own recently composed vocal motets (to be published), as well as J. S.
Bach’s Pièce d’Orgue, BWV 572, symbolizing for him the three periods of life.

Pierre Pincemaille also performed with orchestras under the direction of conductors such as Mstislav Rostropovitch, Myung-Whun Chung, Riccardo Muti, Charles Dutoit, and John Nelson. His recordings include the complete organ works of Maurice Duruflé and César Franck, Charles-Marie Widor’s ten symphonies, selected pieces by Jehan Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Olivier Messiaen, and Louis Vierne, his own improvisations and transcriptions of Stravinsky’s The Firebird and Petrushka, as well as works with orchestra by Camille Saint-Saëns, Hector Berlioz, Joseph Jongen, and Aaron Copland. Several of Pierre Pincemaille’s compositions were published: Prologue et Noël varié [Prologue and Variations on a Noel] (Sampzon, Delatour France, 2007), a 4-voice a cappella Ave Maria (Lyon, À Coeur Joie, 2013), and En Louisiane for trombone and piano (Delatour France, 2017).

Recently, Pierre Pincemaille taught counterpoint at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, harmony at the Conservatory in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, and organ improvisation at the Conservatory in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés for the past 17 years. For the past 14 years, he formed a generation of French and foreign organ improvisers, many who have won prizes in international competitions: among them, six Parisian organists: David Cassan (at the Oratoire du Louvre), Thomas Lacôte (La Trinité), Samuel Liégeon (St.-Pierre-du-Chaillot), Hampus Lindwall (St.-Esprit), Baptiste-Florian Marle-Ouvrard (St.-Eustache), and Olivier Périn (St.-Paul-St.-Louis).

Among his honors and distinctions, Pierre Pincemaille was a Knight in the following three orders: the Academic Palms, Arts and Letters, and St. Gregory the Great. 

Pierre Pincemaille is survived by his wife, Anne-France, and their three children, Claire, Marc, and Éric.

—Carolyn Shuster Fournier, Paris, France

Marie-Claire Alain: August 10, 1926–February 26, 2013

The world’s most distinguished concert organist, Marie-Claire Alain, died at the age of 86 on February 26, 2013, in Le Pecq, France

James David Christie

James David Christie holds positions as the Distinguished Artist in Residence at the College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts, Chair and Professor of Organ at the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, Oberlin, Ohio, and serves as College Organist at Wellesley College, Wellesley, Massachusetts. He has previously held positions at Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, M.I.T., and Boston University. He has served as organist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra since 1978. 

James David Christie has made over fifty tours of Europe and performs regularly in Canada, Asia, Australia, and Iceland. He has recorded for Decca, Philips, Nonesuch, JAV, Northeastern, Arabesque, Denon, RCA, Dorian, Naxos, Bridge, and GM and has received several awards for his solo recordings, including the Preis der Deutschen Schallplatten Kritik and the Magazine d’Orgue: Coup de Coeur. In the fall of 2010, he was on sabbatical in Paris, France, where he served as visiting Professor of Organ at the Paris Conservatory.

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The world’s most distinguished concert organist, Marie-Claire Alain, died at the age of 86 on Tuesday, February 26, 2013, in Le Pecq, a small French commune located next to her home city of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. She had been in failing health for several months and the cause of her death was reported as a cardiac arrest. Madame Alain performed around the entire world, but always held her many American friends and audiences in her heart as her favorite public. She performed over 2,500 concerts and made over 280 recordings during her lifetime.

Marie-Claire Alain was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye on August 10, 1926. Her father was the organist-composer Albert Alain (1880–1971) and her mother was Magdeleine Alberty (1890–1971). She had three siblings, all excellent musicians, who preceded her in death: her older sister, Marie-Odile Alain (1914–1937), and two brothers—the renowned organist-composer Jehan Alain (1911–1940) and Olivier Alain (1918–1994). Her father, Albert, was the organiste titulaire of the Church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye from 1924 until his death in 1971. Marie-Claire began assisting her father at the church in 1937 at the age of 11. She was appointed her father’s successor upon his death in 1971 and faithfully served as organiste titulaire for the following 40 years. She resigned in 2011 because of her declining health. 

She studied at the Conservatoire national supérieur de Paris, where she was an organ student of Marcel Dupré; there she also studied harmony with Maurice Duruflé and fugue with Simone Plé-Caussade. At the Paris Conservatory, she won first prizes in organ, improvisation, fugue, harmony, and counterpoint. She studied organ privately with Gaston Litaize and André Marchal; both of these famous teachers were important mentors in her career and played a great role in her artistic development.

Marie-Claire Alain was an extraordinary teacher and her students have won a staggering number of international competitions. Today her students hold some of the most important and prestigious teaching and church positions around the world. Marie-Claire Alain was professor of organ at the Conservatoires nationaux de région in Rueil-Malmaison (1978–1994) and Paris (1994–2000). Prior to and even after 1978, she always had a very large private studio and taught many of the most famous organists of today on her Haerpfer-Erman house organ at her homes in L’Étang-la-Ville and Maule, as well as at the Church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. Madame Alain taught every summer in the Netherlands at the Haarlem Summer Organ Academy with her close friends and colleagues Anton Heiller and Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini from 1956–1972; after 1972, she returned to teach at Haarlem on three occasions in 1974, 1982 and 1994. She also founded and taught at the Académie Jean-Sébastien Bach de Saint-Donat from 1971–1991. From 1991 to 2009, she was a permanent member of the organ faculty for the Académie d’orgue de Romainmôtier, Switzerland. In 1985, Marie-Claire Alain donated the family house organ, built by her father between 1910 and 1971, to the Jehan Alain Association in Romainmôtier. Madame Alain’s last teaching in North America took place at the McGill Summer Organ Academy, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in July 2007, and her very last trip to North America was as a juror for the First Canadian International Organ Competition in Montreal in the fall of 2008.  She served on that jury with five of her former students: John Grew (Artistic Director of the CIOC), Dame Gillian Weir, James David Christie, Ludger Lohmann, and James Higdon.

The list of awards and honors given to Marie-Claire Alain is immense. She received honorary doctorates from Colorado State University, Southern Methodist University, the Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), the Boston Conservatory, McGill University, and Johns Hopkins University. She was awarded the Prize of Les Amis de l’Orgue, the Edison Prize (Holland), the Golden Disque Award (Japan), the Prize of the President of the Republic (Académie Charles-Cros), and the Buxtehude Prize (Lübeck). In addition, she was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque (Académie Charles-Cros) sixteen times, the Léonie Sonnig Foundation Prize (Copenhagen), the Franz Liszt Prize (Budapest), the Golden Laser Prize of the Académie du Disque Français, and 1984 International Performer of the Year (New York City chapter of the American Guild of Organists). She has received numerous “Diapasons d’or” for her outstanding recordings. Marie-Claire Alain was a member of the Royal Academy of Music, Stockholm and the Royal Academy of Music, London. She was made a Chevalier in the Royal Order of Danneborg (Denmark). She held the rank of Commandeur in the Légion d’honneur, the Ordre national du Mérite and the Ordre des Arts et Lettres. French President François Hollande promoted Madame Alain to the rank of Grand Officier in the Ordre national du Légion d’honneur on July 14, 2012.

Marie-Claire Alain’s impressive list of recordings includes three versions each of the complete organ works of J.S. Bach, François Couperin, Nicolas de Grigny, and Jehan Alain, two versions each of the organ concerti (with orchestra) of G.F. Handel and the organ works of César Franck, and complete recordings of the organ works of Buxtehude, D’Aquin, Bruhns, Böhm, and Mendelssohn. She recorded organ concerti by Poulenc, Charles Chaynes, Haydn, C.P.E. Bach, Vivaldi, Mozart (Church Sonatas), and two recordings of Symphonie III of Saint-Saëns. Madame Alain appeared as a continuo artist on dozens of recordings, many with the Jean-François Paillard Chamber Orchestra. She also has recorded many works by Liszt, Pachelbel, Vierne, Widor, Messiaen, and others. Madame Alain performed and recorded with the legendary flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal and the acclaimed trumpet virtuoso Maurice André. For a complete discography, please consult Alain Cartayrade’s thorough listing in the French publication L’Orgue, Cahiers et Mémoires No. 56, 1996; the listing may also be read online: www.france-orgue.fr/ (to access the listing, type in “Marie-Claire” in the box marked “Recherche rapide organist” on the right side in the middle of the page).

Marie-Claire Alain married Jacques Gommier, a musician and choral conductor, in 1950; he died in 1992. Monsieur Gommier was a wonderful husband and often handled her correspondence and did musicological research for Madame Alain. He never complained or corrected anyone when he was addressed as ‘Monsieur Alain’ when he accompanied his wife on her many North American tours! They had two children: a son, Benoît, who died in 2009 at the age of 57, and a daughter living in Paris, Aurélie Decourt, musicologist and author of several books on the Alain family. Dr. Decourt organized a national French celebration and festival held in Saint-Germain-en-Laye for the 2011 centenary of the birth of Jehan Alain; she also appeared at Alain centenary events in the United States. [See articles in The Diapason: “Marie-Claire Alain—80th birthday tribute” (July 2006), “National French Centenary Celebration of the Birth of Jehan Alain” (November 2011), “Jehan Alain—The American Festival: Wichita State University” (January 2012), and “Jehan Alain: His Life and Works” (July 2012).] She took extraordinary care of her mother in her last years, and this was greatly appreciated by Madame Alain’s family and friends. In addition to her daughter, Marie-Claire Alain’s survivors include six grandchildren, one nephew, and two nieces (the three children of Jehan Alain: Lise, Agnès, and Denis).  

Madame Alain’s funeral took place at the Church of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on Friday, March 1 at 10:00 am. Her coffin was placed under the Grand Orgue in the church before and after the service. The church was full and the congregation was filled with her many friends from Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Paris, as well as musicians and many organists from Paris, France, and western Europe. Several organists played works of J. S. Bach and Jehan Alain for the service, including former Marie-Claire Alain students Vincent Warnier, Daniel Roth, Bruno Morin, Jean-Baptiste Robin, and Jean Ferrard. A small Gregorian choir sang parts of the Requiem Mass. Her daughter, Aurélie, gave a touching eulogy and spoke lovingly of her mother’s last difficult weeks and how optimistic she was about life. When she would ask her mother how she was feeling, she would respond that she was getting ‘better and better each day.’ As Madame Alain held the rank of Grand Officier in the Légion d’honneur, an honor guard carried the French flag into the church and gave a military homage when her coffin was taken outside the church at the end of the service. Marie-Claire Alain was buried next to her husband in the Gommier family plot in the “New Cemetery” of Saint-Germain-en-Laye.  

The world has lost a great artist—we have lost a great inspiration, an exceptional human being, and a great friend. Thank you, Madame Alain, for making our lives so rich and so full of beauty—we will never forget you. May your soul rest in peace, now and forever—Amen.

 

 

André Isoir: An Eclectic French Organist

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

Dr. Carolyn Shuster Fournier thanks Father Michel Chausson, James David Christie, Jean-Louis Coignet, Pierre Farago, Jean Fonteneau, Yves Fossaert, André Isoir, Alain Louvier, Yvonne Mills, Francis Prod’homme, and Pascale Rouet for their assistance in preparing this article. Author of numerous articles for The Diapason, she is a French-American organist, musicologist, international concert organist and titular of the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll choir organ at La Trinité in Paris, France. She has premiered numerous contemporary works, collaborating with composers such as Jacques Castérède, Jacques Chailley, Jacques Charpentier and Daniel Pinkham. In April 2009, she recorded a CD in homage to Nadia Boulanger at La Madeleine in Paris. She is Chevalier in the Order of Arts and Letters.

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Vital music-making is the heartbeat that animates André Isoir. Honorary organist at the church of Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris, Chevalier of Arts and Letters and recipient of the National Order of Merit, André Isoir has received the highest distinctions as an international concert and recording artist, with a vast repertoire and more than sixty recordings to his name. An eminent professor, he has taught over 900 organists from all over the world. A Renaissance man, he is also a composer who has made many transcriptions. Fascinated by organ building, he has been a consultant for numerous organ restorations and has served as a corresponding member of both the French Historical Monuments Commission (1970–85) and the Commission of Unclassified Historical Monuments from (1980–84).

Initial inspiration
André Isoir was born on July 20, 1935 in Saint-Dizier (in Haute-Marne, near Reims). He played the bugle in the city band. At age fourteen, his life was transformed when he heard J. S. Bach’s Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543, played on the organ in the chapel of his school. He immediately fell in love with this instrument. For the next two years, he studied on this organ with a Salesian priest and accompanied on the harmonium a church choir led by his father, an amateur musician. When Noëlie Pierront1 came to Saint-Dizier with the Philippe Debat Vocal Ensemble2 and performed a stunning rendition of Marcel Dupré’s Prelude and Fugue in G Minor, Isoir had the opportunity of playing Bach’s Fugue in G Minor, BWV 542, for her. Impressed by his immense talent, she encouraged him to come to Paris to study at the César Franck School.3

Musical training
In 1952, André Isoir enrolled at the César Franck School, then located on the rue Vavin, near Notre-Dame-des-Champs, in the Montparnasse district. After studying piano with Germaine Mounier, he then studied with two of Louis Vierne’s former students: Geneviève de La Salle and Édouard Souberbielle. First he entered de La Salle’s organ class.4 An excellent musician, she enabled him to acquire a firm technique and taught him to play with elegant phrasing, varied articulations, and refined registrations. She excelled in the art of registration so much so that Joseph Bonnet requested that she spend hours with him preparing for his concerts and recordings on the Gonzalez organ at Saint-Eustache. She gave her lessons on a Pleyel studio organ with electro-pneumatic action,5 teaching the works of Bach, Alain, Duruflé, Franck, Messiaen, and Vierne, leaving aside those by Widor and Gigout. In February 1956, when Geneviève de La Salle left to teach at the Gregorian Institute in Lisbon, Isoir succeeded her as organist and choirmaster at Saint-Médard in Paris.6
To acquire a solid musical formation, Isoir studied Gregorian chant as well as improvisation and harmony with René Malherbe,7 harmony with Yves Margat, counterpoint with Marcel Bitch, and continued piano with Germaine Mounier. This prepared him to enter Édouard Souberbielle’s8 organ class. This “true aristocrat of the organ” possessed a vast culture and an eminent spirituality that deeply influenced all of his students. He expanded each student’s personal perceptions by making them feel uncomfortable with their own opinions. This enabled them to acquire an elegant style.
In Souberbielle’s class, Isoir continued to play, notably, works by Bach and Franck, but more importantly, he began to play the early French composers. Influenced by his son Léon,9 Édouard Souberbielle served as consultant for the construction of a Roethinger organ in the French classic style (curiously enough with electric action) at the Benedictine Abbey in Limon (in the southern part of the Île-de-France). Voiced by Robert Boisseau, this organ included a Plein-jeu as described by Dom Bédos. It thus served as an inspiration to future constructions in this style by Philippe Hartmann and Pierre Chéron. In addition, Souberbielle’s refined and inspiring approach to improvisation, enrobed with Ravel-like harmonies, concentrated on the free treatment of a theme and, of course, the fugue.
In order to launch a career, it was necessary to obtain a First Prize in organ from the Paris Conservatory. While still enrolled at the César Franck School in September 1957, André Isoir entered Rolande Falcinelli’s10 organ class and Olivier Messiaen’s analysis class at the Paris Conservatory, where his fellow students included Xavier Darasse and Yves Devernay. He remained there for three years, taking lessons on a “really horrible organ”11 and received his Second Prize in organ on June 15, 1959. On June 22, 1960, he unanimously obtained, with the strong support of Maurice Duruflé, a First Prize in organ performance and improvisation. Fifteen days earlier, Isoir had received the ultimate degree that really mattered to him—the Superior Diploma in organ and improvisation at the César Franck School.
At the César Franck School, Isoir met many of his future friends and colleagues: Denise and Michel Chapuis, Jeanne Joulain, Éliane Lejeune-Bonnier, Elisabeth and Joachim Havard de la Montagne, Simone and Jean-Albert Villard, Émmanuel de Villèle, Paule Piedelièvre, and others, as well as his future wife, Annie Kergomard, whom he married in 1961.12 During his military service, from 1960 to 1962, he played brass instruments in a military band, along with Francis Chapelet, who became one of his closest friends.13

Beginning a musical career: skills as an improviser and a composer
Following his studies, Isoir’s international career was launched when he won various competitions: in Saint Albans (England), where he received the First Prize in 1965, and in Haarlem (Holland), where he won prizes for three consecutive years (1966–1967–1968). He also won the “Challenge Prize” and is the only Frenchman to have earned that distinction since the beginning of this competition in 1951. Isoir excelled in the ephemeral art of improvisation that enabled him to express his thoughts eloquently. For him, even a minimum amount of imagination, when it’s coupled with an assimilation of various styles and a sufficient preparation of an abundance of fresh ideas, can enable one to improvise well. He was fascinated with presenting, in a short span of time, a coherent form with appropriate registrations that bring out the style of the proposed theme. His vital musical personality, ready to receive and develop unexpected ideas (it is not surprising that he is an avid fisherman!) has been fully revealed through his improvisations.
Animated by a love of accompanying the liturgy, André Isoir used his improvisation skills to prepare the parishioners to pray and become spiritually receptive. From 1956 to 1971, he served as organist and choir master at Saint-Médard in Paris.14 He began his concert career by giving a recital in this church in October 1963, of classical works from the Flemish and German schools (Leonhard Kleber, Sweelinck, Wilhelm Karges, Scheidt, Lübeck, Pachelbel, Buxtehude and Bach). He played in such a manner that the romantic Stoltz instrument (1880) sounded like a German baroque organ!15 Throughout his career, he constantly presented lesser-known works in his programs.
In 1970, he was named as one of the four organists at Saint-Séverin, along with Michel Chapuis, Francis Chapelet, and Jacques Marichal, re-establishing the former Parisian tradition of having four organists. In 1963, Alfred Kern had successfully reconstructed the 1745 Claude Ferrand organ in a neo-classic aesthetic (under Michel Chapuis’ guidance, with Philippe Hartmann redoing the action). Isoir has many fond memories of the pre-Vatican II repertoire that he accompanied there. While at Saint-Séverin, he composed a Ravel-like Agnus Dei, with the text in French. (See musical example.) In 1973, after having served as a consultant for the reconstruction of Haerpfer-Ermann’s organ at Saint-Germain-des-Prés, he was appointed organist there, along with Odile Bayeux, following a long line of blind organists who had served there (notably Augustin Barié, André Marchal, and Antoine Reboulot).16
In February 1974, Les Amis de l’Orgue awarded him with a First Prize for his first organ composition, Variations sur le Psaume 92 [“Variations on a Huguenot Psalm”]. James David Christie was in the audience for this occasion. When he told André that he really loved his piece more than any other and wanted to play it regardless if it won the prize or not, Isoir gave him his personal copy of the score on the spot! When the work was published by Forberg Verlag in Germany in 1979, Christie noticed that one variation had not been published:

When I asked André about this several years later, he told me in his very humble and self-effacing manner that he felt the piece was too long with seven variations and six were enough. The work is an absolute masterpiece and the audiences love it; I have played it in concert often since 1975. I tried to commission André in 1989 for another major organ work, but he refused. He said he found composition too stressful and preferred improvising and performing the repertoire of others. I have often lamented the fact he did not devote more time to adding great repertoire to the organ. I always felt his glorious, exciting improvisations would have been the seeds of many a great composition.17
André Isoir has made numerous transcriptions, many of which have been published by Delatour France.

Interest in organ building and in early French music
Fascinated with mechanics in his youth, Isoir has always loved to tinker with and repair broken clocks. In the early 1960s, at an antique dealer’s near Saint-Séverin, he acquired an eighteenth-century barrel organ [a serinette] from Nancy, a cylindrical instrument that was used to teach domestic birds how to sing. He then constructed a copy of this instrument and installed ten pipes: C, D, E, F, G, A, B-flat, B-natural, C, and D. He reconstructed the cylinder with eight tunes, according to the indications specified by Engramelle, and incorporated an air by Couperin, La petite chasse. He has also built two regals and a virginal.
Francis Prod’homme, the organizer of concerts at Notre-Dame in Pontorson, near Mont Saint-Michel, has related an example of André Isoir’s generosity.18 During one evening meal, Isoir observed that Francis’s clock was not well-regulated and that it needed to be “tuned.” As on numerous other occasions, Isoir proclaimed “I will take care of that for you.” In several minutes, and with a delightful child-like smile that lit up André’s face, the clock was once again happily chiming in universal harmony.
Isoir’s close friend, the organ builder Jean-Georges Koenig,19 taught him how to construct wooden pipes. His friend, Father Michel Chausson (a priest who built organ pipes) taught him how to construct metal pipes. In addition, in 1965, Isoir constructed his first regal with Jean-François Clément and worked with Gérard Fonvielle, who built him a harpsichord. Isoir is not in favor of building exact copies of instruments; he prefers to play mechanical-action instruments that enable the performer to bring out the vocal polyphonic lines and to play a large part of the repertoire. His repair kit has accompanied him on his various concert tours, and he has admitted that on many occasions that he has spent more time repairing and tuning the various organs than rehearsing on them!
The composer Alain Louvier attests to André Isoir’s capacities as a “solitary navigator” [“navigateur solitaire”]:

André Isoir could have constructed a hydraulic organ, an aeolian, solar or geothermal . . . and could have taken it on a non-stop trip around the world on a trimaran sailing raft . . . he knew how to do everything, to repair anything. One would have thought that he was born in an organ case! A true genius in making repairs, with practically nothing he could fix a tremolo, a reed pipe, even its mechanism.
I imagine him—as an organist in the Iron Age—busy cutting down trees, carving wood, casting tin, hammering it, and, finally, creating his own organ, the fruit of his ear and his unbounded imagination.20
Isoir’s innate inventive spirit in improvisation and organ building led to his fascination with the interpretive possibilities of “recreating” early French organ works. Right from the start, Isoir realized that the organs he had played in the 1950s and 1960s in Paris, most of them in the neo-classical style, were not suitable for early French repertoire. This had not stopped interpreters such as Abel Decaux, Joseph Bonnet, and André Marchal from playing this repertoire. With restorations of magnificent organs like Jean-Esprit Isnard’s 1772 basilica organ in Saint-Maximin-en-Provence (restored by Pierre Chéron in 1954) and François-Henri Clicquot’s 1790 organ at Saint-Pierre Cathedral in Poitiers (restored by Robert and Jean-Loup Boisseau in 1971–1972), organists began to discover the splendid sound of these organs as well as a lively, variable wind and a suspended mechanical action, which allowed one to vary the attack.
Obtaining a varied, responsive action is extremely important to André Isoir. The French classical organ, with its sensitive action and lively wind, needs only a minimum amount of material to offer a maximum sound effect. For example, in Poitiers, with a wind pressure of 110 mm., four or five stops suffice to fill the cathedral. Following Alfred Kern’s reconstruction of the Saint-Séverin organ in 1968, René Delosmes, Pierre Hardouin, Jean Fellot, Alain Lequeux, Michel Chapuis, Francis Chapelet, and André Isoir, presided over by Jean Fonteneau, united to protect early French historic organs: they founded the French Association for the Preservation of Early Organs (A.F.S.O.A.—Association française pour le sauvegarde de l’orgue ancien).21
By consulting early sources, Isoir discovered that the early French repertoire can be moving and expressive. Once he had studied the various treatises and documents, notably with the musicologist Jean Saint-Arroman, he realized on the one hand that the knowledge of these texts did not suffice to bring this music to life; on the other hand, he was also aware that spontaneity and freshness never come by chance. To attain the elegance, distinction and well-proportioned expressions that are so characteristic of French art, one must study the various imperative rules and then put them aside, along with any automatic mechanical responses. Instead, one must use one’s intuition to find a harmonious balance, continually determined by good taste, the ultimate guide. As with wine tasting, it is so much more important to “taste” its fragrance than to recite texts about it. Isoir was especially guided by the writings of Eugène Borrel, who wrote that eighteenth-century art was “elegant, distinguished, warm without excessiveness.”22 Simplicity is a sign of real intelligence. Isoir particularly loves playing early French music because it gives the interpreter a great deal of freedom in bringing this music to life.

Organ professor
For André Isoir, teaching is a sacred mission, enabling one to give priceless treasures to others, helping them to feel completely at ease while playing. He taught organ and harmony at the Angers Conservatory (1966–79);23 at the conservatoires in Versailles and Orsay (1974–83);24 and from 1982 to 1996 at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory as well as at various summer academies: Lagny (1982, 1985, 1986), Meaux (1983), Mitry-Mory (1984), Luxembourg (1989) and Nemours (1993). Among his 900 students are Jörg Abbing, Michel Bouvard, Jean Boyer, Monika Dabrowska-Beuzelin, Frédéric Denis, Frédéric Desenclos, François Espinasse, Pierre Farago, Yves Fossaert, Dominique Fournier, Jean-Louis Gil, Juliette Grellety-Bosviel, Emmanuelle Haïm, Makiko Hayashima, Léonid Karev, Joachim Kunze, Sven-Ingvart Mikkelsen, George Ritchie, Henri de Rohan, Pascale Rouet, Christophe Simon, Liuwe Tamminga, Timothy Tikker, Jean-Michel Verneiges, Francis Vidil and Haru Yamagami, to name but a few. Convinced that knowledge about organ building is indispensable to improving one’s interpretation, notably in the art of registration and touch, he also taught his students the rudiments of organ construction and maintenance. According to organist and composer Pierre Farago, his successor as organ professor at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory,
When André Isoir taught and played, the instrument was transformed under his fingers, and relinquishing its mechanical aspects, became purely organic—if I dare say—like a living being gifted with flowing expressiveness. His teaching is subtle and complex, insisting on utmost rigor, with utmost patience, without ever expressing it in the form of a dogmatic principle. The scores we studied were never cenotaphs, empty monuments or museum graphics, but rather sleeping beauties which ought to be brought back to life.25
In the early 1980s, the composer Alain Louvier, Director of the Conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt, met André Isoir during the construction of the Koenig organ in the concert hall there. In spite of the fact that the city did not really want to invest in what the “very cultivated and refined” mayor Georges Gorse referred to as an “accordion for the wealthy,” Louvier appreciated Isoir’s “sense of humor, in addition to his wide-ranging competence, which both worked wonders.” Louvier had included stops in this organ with the seventh and eleventh harmonics that produced quarter tones. He was astonished by Isoir’s use of these stops:

By combining these experimental stops with the voix humaine, he was able to produce a sort of strange Bombarde 16 on the pedal that the city could not afford . . . thanks to his extraordinary acoustical intuition, one could play a Bach chorale with quarter tones, that were not noticed as such.26
In his teaching, André Isoir constantly emphasized the importance of acquiring a more fluid technique, of becoming sufficiently inventive in bringing music to life. At my first lesson at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory in 1983,27 we spent two hours looking at possible interpretations of the first movement (a Plein-Jeu) of Jean-Adam Guilain’s First Suite. I felt as if André were an optician who kept inserting different lenses to ask me if I could read the letters. It was necessary to understand the structure and the vital expression of this work from the inside out, to let the notes speak naturally. A deep harmonic and melodic analysis of each work, coupled with a fantastic imagination, enables one to perform this music spontaneously.
In the eyes and ears of a great artist, no detail is too small to be taken into consideration. An authentic artist with a vital personality abandons all preconceived static conceptions with prefabricated formulas and continually externalizes his capacity to listen to his playing, thus enabling him to understand more fully and to communicate an inner musical message. Each artist is a medium who communicates the deep spiritual message of the music. When I wrote to Frank Taylor in 1983, to share my experiences with him, he replied:

I’m happy you are studying with André—I think he’s perhaps the greatest eclectic (all round good) organist in the world. And I would rather hear him play anything, than anyone else I can think of. Give him my very most affectionate best wishes when next you see him.28
Recognized as an excellent teacher, in 1991 André Isoir co-authored, with Dominique Ferran and François-Henri Houbart, a practical catalog of the organ repertoire, in order of difficulty for the first ten years of organ lessons. It presents exercises and methods, early music until the seventeenth century, separate chapters on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the traditional notation and new notation in the twentieth century, concertos and unclassifiable pieces.29

International concert and recording artist with an eclectic repertoire
André Isoir first gave concerts in North America in the 1960s, thanks to his friend Jean Fonteneau, an assistant organist at Saint-Séverin. In 1971, Isoir performed in Oberlin (Ohio), Quebec, Montreal, at Harvard University, and in New York. At that time, Fisk was building his famous organ for the Old West Church in Boston. Isoir provided him with numerous details concerning the construction of the French-style reed stops incorporated into this instrument, thus contributing to the movement in favor of restoring instruments to play early French music in the United States. In 1974, he performed in Toronto and in Buffalo, where he met with the early French music specialist David Fuller. In 1975, he played concerts in Toronto and Montreal. In 1976, he returned to Harvard and gave recitals in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
In November 1989, James David Christie invited André Isoir to come to the United States for a mini-tour in Boston. He testifies to Isoir’s memorable performances in Wellesley and Worcester:

He played a fantastic concert at Wellesley College on the meantone Fisk organ, complete with short octave, sub-semitones, a three-octave keyboard range, etc. He ended his program with a super-charged, exciting performance of his transcription of Bela Bartók’s Roumanian Folk Dances (originally for piano solo).
He played at Holy Cross, Worcester, and ended the program with an incredible improvisation on “B-A-C-H.” I think there is an archival recording of the Holy Cross concert; it was just stunning and André was in his usual top form, having the time of his life.30
During this last tour to the United States, Isoir also gave masterclasses on the Charles Fisk organ at the Old West Church for the AGO national convention. On this occasion, Isoir has quite fond memories of the moments he spent with Frank Taylor, Barbara Owen, and Charles Fisk.
Isoir has inaugurated at least eighty organs. I was privileged to attend the memorable inauguration of the Gonzalez organ at Meaux Cathedral on June 8, 1982. That year, he also inaugurated the Grenzing organ at Saint-Cyprien (in the Périgord, where he also served as a consultant) and the Marc Garnier organ at the church in Esquelbecq. On November 3, 1990, he was especially pleased to inaugurate the restored Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ in Saint-Dizier, his hometown. In addition, he often plays with other musicians. In 1973, he toured with Georges Brassens in Paris and the Île-de-France, playing twenty-one concerts on a positive organ built by Jean-Loup Boisseau.
Isoir has given numerous concerts outside of France, performing in Freiberg on September 18, 1983. In 1988, he was absolutely delighted to perform for the first time on the magnificent organ in Weingarten, in Sion in 1989, in Lübeck and Hamburg in 1990. He has also performed on numerous occasions in Japan: in 1978, 1987, 1990 and 1993. In 2006, he toured Russia, performing in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
In addition, he performs regularly on the four-stop, one-manual organ that the builder Philippe Vialle built for him. Isoir had added a tremolo and a “cymbale” made up of fifteen pipes that he “invented,” only to discover since then that it is present in several diverse and unknown pieces. He rarely ever plays the same piece on the same organ.
The variety of styles in his eclectic repertoire is revealed by the pieces that four composers have dedicated to him. In June 1973, Jean Langlais acknowledge his “classical side,” appropriately dedicated to him his Plein-Jeu, the first movement of his Suite baroque, op. 176.31 In 1983, Alain Louvier’s Etudes for Aggressors, Book Six for Organ (Études pour Agresseurs, livre 6 pour orgue), published by Alphonse Leduc in 1987, were written for the mechanical-action three-manual Koenig organ in the concert hall at the Boulogne-Billancourt Conservatory. He dedicated these pieces to Isoir, who premiered them.32 They use the same techniques as in his previous five books for piano and harpsichord (ten fingers, two palms, two forearms, without fists), but with the addition of two feet! The two last pieces are appropriate tributes to André Isoir, who also plays the trombone and the French horn: Lionel Rogg’s Finale (written in the spring of 1994) was inspired by the sumptuous sonorities of the American big band;33 Pierre Vidal’s piece, entitled Cromorne, was written in 1996.36
In 1971, Jacques Le Calvé, the director of Calliope, was so impressed by Isoir’s performance of this repertoire that he asked him to make his first record at the Church of Saint-Jacques in Compiègne (L’Orgue français au Grand Siècle, works by André Raison, Jacques Boyvin and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers).
Among his favorite historic French organs, Isoir has recorded numerous times on the J. Boizard (1714) historic organ of the Abbey of Saint-Michel-en-Thiérache: in 1987, The Couperin Dynasty, François “the Great,” Armand-Louis, Gervais-François Couperin (ADDA 581063); in 1993, Nicolas de Grigny, Complete Organ Works (Erato S.A./Radio France, MUSIFRANCE 4509-91722-2); and in 1997, Jean-Adam Guilain, Four Suites for the Magnificat (1706) with the Demoiselles of Saint-Cyr, directed by Emmanuel Mandrin (France Musique, Tempéraments, TEM 316012, Distribution Harmonia Mundi).
André Isoir has always felt comfortable playing a vast repertoire (although never ever Reger!). Among his recordings of romantic works, two were made on the Cavaillé-Coll organ at Luçon Cathedral: César Franck’s Complete Organ Works (Calliope, CAL 9920/1, 1987, recorded in 1975) and The Romantic Organ, works by Boëly, Lefébure-Wély, Guilmant, Pierné, Widor, and Ropartz on the Cavaillé-Coll in Luçon and on the Isnard/Cavaillé-Coll/Boisseau organ in Pithiviers (Calliope, CAL 5922). In 1996, he recorded The Organ in Compiègne during the Second Empire on the Carlier/Plet organ at Saint-Antoine in Compiègne (Calliope, CAL 9934).
Isoir loves performing on successful neo-classical organs, such as the Pascal Quoirin in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence and the Haerpfer-Ermann at Saint-Germain-des-Prés in Paris. Among the recordings that bear witness to this, he recorded François Couperin’s Messe des Paroisses and French Noëls on the Saint-Séverin organ (Calliope, Le Livre d’Or de l’Orgue français).
Rodin’s most penetrating thoughts concerning French taste that have been perpetuated from the eighteenth century to the twentieth century sum up André Isoir’s approach to an eclectic repertoire:

The additions of previous centuries in our cathedrals, in different styles—chapels, stained-glass windows, decoration—do not destroy the harmony of them, because throughout the various periods these embellishments have been determined by the same French taste.35
In the same spirit, it is not surprising that in November 2000, Isoir recorded repertoire from the fourteenth century to the end of the nineteenth in celebration of the 500th anniversary, in 2001, of the Renaissance organ in Lorris, one of the oldest organs in Europe.36 This is in spite of the fact that this organ only has a 48-note keyboard with a 14-note coupled pedalboard and is tuned at A=405/408! Father Michel Chausson, who initiated the restoration of this historic instrument, admires André Isoir: he is among “all those who have provided great poetical inspiration to twentieth century organ interpretation.”37 Our world needs such a spirit more than ever.
From 1976 to 1993, Isoir crowned his career with an ultimate homage to his great teacher Édouard Souberbielle, by recording J. S. Bach’s complete organ works on six different organs by German builders (fifteen CDs produced by Calliope, 9703-17). His greatest joy was recording Bach’s Passacaglia and Fugue on Josef Gabler’s monumental stunning organ (1737–1750) at Weingarten Abbey, a legendary instrument conceived around the number 6: the number of the beast of the Apocalypse, six windows, six tonal plans, 6,666 pipes.
Grenzing’s Saint-Cyprien organ is among Isoir’s favorites, where he rerecorded, in 1993, Bach’s four Toccatas and Fugues along with the Fantasy and Fugue in G Minor. In 1988 and 1989, André Isoir played in European television broadcasts, notably on the France 3 channel, in programs written and hosted by Gilles Cantagrel and in Alain Duault’s “Musicales.”
In all his interpretations, Isoir’s deeply human approach gives a spiritual dimension to his artistic offerings. His interpretations are well conceived and prepared, yet spontaneous. His wife Annie observed that it was very rare to hear him play a piece in its entirety during his practice sessions. He usually works fragment by fragment, even measure by measure. More than searching for perfection, he aims at playing as naturally as possible. His eyes, ears and mind are constantly receptive to discovering new elements of a musical score. Adapting to each particular circumstance, his elegant playing moves his audiences. As Yves Saint-Laurent said, “without elegance that comes from the heart, there is no elegance.”
Thank you, André, for sharing your immense joy in making beautiful music and for so generously enlightening your audiences and students throughout the world.

All of the citations in French were translated by the author.
All photos are from the Collection A. Isoir, and are published with his kind permission.

Concours d’Orgue 2004

Concours Internationaux de la Ville de Paris

Kenneth Matthews

Kenneth Matthews is Director of Music at Old First Presbyterian Church in San Francisco.

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The City of Paris 5th International Organ Competition took place June 1-9, 2004. The Paris Concours d'Orgue, which occurs biannually, has grown in importance each year. One reason for its popularity is no doubt the generous prize money:

Interpretation Competition

1st Grand Prize of the City of Paris: Euros: 9000

2nd Grand Prize, offered by the Academy of Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France: Euros: 6000

3rd Prize: Euros: 2500

Improvisation Competition

1st Grand Prize of the City of Paris (dedicated to the memory of Pierre Cochereau): Euros: 5000

Prize for the best performance of the 6th Concerto for Organ and Orchestra op. 68 of Jean Guillou (commissioned by Musique Nouvelle en Liberté), offered by the Academy of Beaux-Arts of the Institut de France: Euros: 1500

Prize for the meilleur espoir (most promising young artist), offered by SACEM: Euros:1500

Of the 250 organs in Paris, some 130 belong to the City of Paris itself, including many historically important and significant instruments. It was recognition of this great diversity and richness that led to the creation in 1994 of the first Concours d'Orgue, part of the series Concours Internationaux de la Ville de Paris. For the 5th Concours, 57 candidates applied to the recorded pre-selection elimination round, and 39 candidates of 17 nationalities were accepted for the Concours.

One of the principal characteristics of the Paris Concours is that each round of the competition is held on a different organ, the various organs being those most appropriate for the literature being played (for instance, Couperin at the Chapelle Royale, or Franck at Sainte-Clotilde). At the same time, candidates are required to adapt quickly to instruments that are often quite different from each other.

Members of the jury were Michel Chapuis, president, France; José Enrique Ayarra Jarne, Spain; Martin Haselböck, Austria; James Higdon, USA; François-Henri Houbart, France; Leo Krämer, Germany; Roman Perucki, Poland; Ville Urponen, Finland; Yang-Hee Yun, Korea.

For one reason or another, four candidates elected not to attend (one each from Australia, France, USA, and Korea). For the original round 33 interpretation candidates (three of whom were also improvisation candidates) and two more improvisation candidates (for a total of five improvisation candidates) participated, representing 17 countries.

First round of interpretation finals:

Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR

The initial interpretation elimination round was held at the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR on the rue de Madrid, Tuesday and Wednesday, June 1-2, and consisted of two movements of a Bach trio sonata, and one of the 11 Brahms chorale preludes. The organ at the Conservatoire is a three-manual of 32 stops built by the German builder Gerhard Grenzing working in Spain, and was completed in 1996. At the end of the second day, the jury selected nine candidates of the 33 (listed in order of performance). The playing was all of a high level of excellence, worthy of an international competition (although one or two candidates had an off day). Paolo Oreni (Italy) was the only candidate to play the required Bach and Brahms pieces from memory.

Douglas O'Neill, USA

Yevgenia Semeina, Russia

Kirsten Eberle, Germany

Ekaterina Kofanova, Belarus

Elke Eckerstorfer, Austria

Els Biesemans, Belgium

Ghislain Leroy, France

Henry Fairs, UK

Paolo Oreni, Italy

Second round of interpretation finals / First round of improvisation finals:

Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes

The second round of interpretation finals and the first round of improvisation finals began on Friday, June 4, at Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes. The church, in a Romano-Byzantine style with cupolas, was designed in the 1930s and completed in 1957. In the 1990s, the choir was redesigned according to Vatican II ideas, and a new organ incorporated in a new organ tribune. Following an international competition, the new organ was built in 1995 by Pascal Quoirin, who also designed the organ tribune. The organ contains 34 stops on three manuals of 56 notes and a pedal of 30 notes. The specification of the organ is described as “suitable for classical or baroque music.”

Candidates for both the second round of interpretation finals and the first round of improvisation finals were required to play two works of J. S. Bach: one of three Leipzig chorales, Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele, BWV 654; Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 659; An Wasserflüssen Babylons, BWV 653; and either the “Dorian” Toccata, BWV 538, or Pièce d';Orgue, BWV 572, or ?Fugue in G Major, BWV 577.

The acoustic of the church is somewhat vast, and candidates were challenged in finding appropriate registrations. The chorale preludes were registered differently of course but every registration I heard was thoughtful and interesting. A preferred approach was accompaniment on an 8 ft. principal, with solos on various mutation combinations.

I found the pedal lightweight in effect except when the 16 ft. reed was engaged (which, when it occurred, was during the middle section of the Pièce d'Orgue), and I suppose it is characteristic of this style of instrument. The French seem to have arrived at a common denominator for a “Bach organ,” as evidenced by the organs at the Conservatoire and at Saint-Ferdinand-des-Ternes. It seems rather dated when one compares it to work in this country by such builders as Paul Fritts & Co., Richards, Fowkes & Co., or Taylor & Boody Organbuilders.

La Madeleine

The second round of interpretation finals continued on Saturday, June 5, at 8:00 pm at the Church of the Madeleine, home of Cavaillé-Coll's landmark organ of 1841-46. Containing 48 stops on four manuals and pedal, the organ remained more or less intact until 1971, when the firm of Danion-Gonzalez electrified the action and recast the organ in a neo-classic form. Since 1988, organbuilder Bernard Dargassies has made some changes in order to return more closely to the original sound. Recently, he added a chamade, “a stop planned for but not included in the original organ.”

For this round, candidates selected pieces by two composers from the following list of works:

Marcel Dupré

Prelude and Fugue in F Minor, op. 7;

Symphonie Passion (first movement, Le Monde dans l'attente du Sauveur)

Symphonie Passion (second movement, La Nativité)

Evocation (Final)

Cortège et Litanie

Louis Vierne

2nd Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro)

2nd Symphonie (2nd movement, Choral)

3rd Symphonie (Finale)

4th Symphonie (4th movement, Romance)

4th Symphonie (Finale)

Charles-Marie Widor

5th Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro vivace)

5th Symphonie (2nd movement, Allegro cantabile)

6th Symphonie (1st movement, Allegro)

Symphonie gothique (2nd movement, Andante sostenuto)

Symphonie romane (3rd movement, Cantilène)

From these required pieces, we heard quite a bit of the Dupré Evocation, the Cortège et Litanie, and the first movement of the Widor 5th Symphonie. So some of the less frequently chosen pieces took on a bit of added interest: Els Biesemans's playing of the Dupré La Nativité; Ghislain Leroy';s Dupré F-Minor Prelude & Fugue, and then the last two players, Henry Fairs and Paolo Oreni, who offered contrasting versions of the Andante sostenuto of Widor's Symphonie gothique.

Saint-Étienne-du-Mont

The first improvisation series took place on Sunday, June 6, at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont. Improvisation candidates were given a theme, a response for the Office of Tierce (“Inclina cor meum Deus in tabernacula tua”) and asked to improvise a triptych lasting around fifteen minutes. Saint-Étienne-du-Mont is famous for being the church of the Duruflés and the 1956 Beuchet-Debierre, which Duruflé had built for his tonal ideas. (The organ, rebuilt by Victor Gonzalez in 1975 and then by Bernard Dargassies in 1991, is the fourth largest organ in Paris, with 83 stops on 4 manuals and pedal).

None of the candidates had any problem treating the theme (or at least the head of it, which is what most of them used) for 15 minutes and using a wide variety of registrations and improvisation skills. However, only one of them, Noël Hazebroucq, was able to communicate (to my listening skills, at any rate) the stated requirement of a triptych. It was almost as if the other players were unwilling to quit playing for even a moment in order to clearly delineate sections of their improvisation. I suppose it would be possible to have a triptych where the sections flow into each other (I am thinking of the Adagio and Choral variations of the Duruflé Veni Creator, which are connected without pause; even so, the diminuendo to a single stop, followed by the plainsong statement on principal choruses, serves as a marker between the two sections). As a result, with the other players, it was not possible to say where sections might have been. One player, for instance, began an adagio on flutes, progressed to fonds, played a mf statement of the theme in canon, followed by a slow crescendo to ff reeds, with the plainsong theme in the pedal, followed by a decrescendo to Gemshorn Celeste plus 32' with quick decorated bits of the theme, followed by a crescendo to fonds, then staccato reeds, then a vivace section on swell reeds, followed by a short toccata figure, followed by a chordal full organ statement of the theme.

Hazebroucq, by contrast, began with a scherzo with the theme in canon, followed by a quick outburst on tutti, followed by the original scherzo with theme in canon, again followed by a short outburst on tutti. Section two began with flutes and bits of the theme, colored by high bell effects; followed by fugal bits on fonds and reeds, then an ornamented version of the head of the theme in dialogue on the cromorne and clarinet stops. The third section began with fast statements on the theme, and subsided into bits on the theme on various piano stop combinations.

Following the improvisation round at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont, the candidates for the Finale were announced; for interpretation: Els Biesemans, Belgium; Henry Fairs, UK; Ghislain Leroy, France; Paolo Oreni, Italy; and for improvisation: Noël Hazebroucq, France; Robert Houssart, The Netherlands.

Finale

Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles

The first round of the Finale was held at the Chapelle Royale du Château de Versailles on Monday, June 7, at 2:30 pm. Interpretation candidates were required to play:

François Couperin, extracts from the Messe pour les Paroisses:

Plain Chant du premier Kyrie, en taille

Dialogue sur les trompettes et tierces du Grand Clavier et le bourdon avec le larigot du Positif

4th couplet, Tierce en taille

6th couplet, Offertoire sur les Grands jeux

or

Nicolas de Grigny, extracts from La Messe:

Premier Kyrie en taille, à 5, qui renferme le chant du Kyrie

Cromorne en taille à 2 parties

Trio en dialogue

Dialogue sur les Grands jeux

or

Louis-Nicolas Clérambault, Suite du deuxième ton:

Plein Jeu

Duo

Trio

Basse de cromorne

Flûtes

Récit de nasard

Caprice sur les Grands jeux

The organ case at the Chapelle Royale at Versailles originally contained a Robert Clicquot. This organ was rebuilt in turn by Louis-Alexandre and then François-Henri Clicquot, then by Dallery, Abbey, and Cavaillé-Coll, before being replaced in 1938 by an organ by Gonzalez. It took until the end of the 20th century to recreate the famous Clicquot, work entrusted to the builders Boisseau and Cattiaux. The present specification comprises 37 stops on three manuals and a pedalboard à la française. Its tuning (A=415) refers to the time of Louis XIV, and the temperament is meantone. Some of the most famous of French organists have been named to the Chapelle Royale: Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Nicolas Lebègue, Louis Marchand, Jean-François Dandrieu, François Couperin. The current organist is Michel Chapuis.

For the round at Versailles, Biesemans and Oreni played the required Couperin pieces, while Fairs and Leroy played the required de Grigny pieces. (Due to a missed train connection, I had to listen to Ms. Biesemans through the door.) It was interesting hearing the subtle differences between two players, each playing the same literature.

Basilique-Sainte-Clotilde

The second round of the Finale was held at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde on Tuesday, June 8: first that for interpretation, then for improvisation on the very famous organ of the basilica, built originally by Cavaillé-Coll for César Franck. At the moment, it seems impossible to consider the sound of the organ at Sainte-Clotilde apart from recent developments there. I was quite surprised to discover that the console of the organ at Sainte-Clotilde had been relocated from one of the most celebrated of organ tribunes to the choir balcony. Also, according to Les Orgues de Paris (Paris: Délégation à l'Action Artistique de la Ville de Paris, [c. 1991]) and descriptions I have seen of the stoplist, the organ at Sainte-Clotilde has 61 stops. The official handbook of the Concours d'Orgue 2004, published under the signature of M. Jacques Taddei (M. Taddei is the current titulaire of Sainte-Clotilde), describes the organ as having 68 stops. It appears that stops are in the process of being added. (One wonders what they are and if they are there yet.) The work is being done by organbuilder Bernard Dargassies.

The Sainte-Clotilde organ sounds different from the neo-classic 1962 Langlais rebuild of the organ. The Récit seems louder, both the Hautbois and the Trompette sounding considerably louder than before. The Hautbois no longer “disappears” beneath the fonds of the organ, as had been the case, robbing the organ of an effect with which generations of organists had been familiar. The volume of the Récit Trompette seems equally upset, more definitively coloring every registration with which it is used. Now the Positif seems frequently louder than the Grand-Orgue, and the movement from Positif to Grand-Orgue is either minimized (fonds) or seems actually inverted (reeds).

Interpretation candidates were required to play:

any one of the three Chorals of César Franck

and one of the following:

Jehan Alain: Scherzo (Suite)

Maurice Duruflé: Scherzo

Jean Langlais: Arabesque sur les flûtes (Suite française)

Olivier Messiaen: Alleluias sereins d';une âme qui désire le ciel (L';Ascension)

Els Biesemans played the second Choral and the Duruflé Scherzo. Henry Fairs played the first Choral and the Messiaen Alleluias sereins. Paolo Oreni played the second Choral and the Messiaen Alleluias sereins. Ghislain Leroy played the third Choral and the Duruflé Scherzo.

The playing was quite good, even if the organ left something to be desired. One wished for more expressive playing in the Franck from virtually all the players (the exception being Oreni, who phrased very musically). Players were less than scrupulous in following the various crescendi and decrescendi, which are so important to Franck's music. It was interesting hearing the paired linkings of the Duruflé and the Messiaen. I regretted not having had the opportunity to hear Jean Langlais's Arabesque sur les flûtes at Sainte-Clotilde.

Next followed the section for improvisation. Candidates were given a literary text for their improvisation at Sainte-Clotilde: verses from the Apocryphal Prayer of Azariah, additions to the book of Daniel between 3:23 and 3:24. The verses were not in strict order and I was only able to note verse numbers, but the following is a close if perhaps not exact English version of the text given to the improvisation candidates:

52 Let the earth bless the Lord: let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever

37 Bless the Lord, you angels of the Lord . . .

60 . . . all people on earth . . .

43 . . . all you winds . . .

44 . . . fire and heat . . .

45 . . . winter cold and summer heat . . .

47 . . . nights and days . . .

56 . . . you springs . . .

57 . . . you whales and all that swim in the waters . . .

52 Let the earth bless the Lord: let it sing praise to him and highly exalt him forever.

Noël Hazebroucq and Robert Houssart approached the text from different viewpoints. Hazebroucq, who was first, chose not to approach the text as an opportunity for tone painting, but as the basis for an improvisation with many sections of contrasting effects, linked by a disjunct 4-note motif, closing with a very busy few minutes at the end where all creation seemed to be called to praise. In his improvisation, Houssart seemed to be trying to reflect the various text passages (vivace swell flutes for the angels, ascending and descending chordal passages for the winds, etc).

Saint-Eustache

Wednesday, June 9 found us at Saint-Eustache for the required performances of Jean Guillou's 6th Organ Concerto, opus 68, commissioned by the Concours under the aegis of Musique Nouvelle en Liberté. The administration of the Concours had decided, before the Concours began, to make a cut in the Concerto for Organ and Orchestra (in the interests of time, it was said) of a little less than 200 measures out of a total of 413 measures. Hence, what we heard was a portion of the work Guillou composed. The orchestra was that of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR under the direction of Pierre-Michel Durand; the orchestra and M. Durand also participated in the final concert of laureates Wednesday evening, when the organ concerto was heard one more time.

We heard the two improvisation candidates, Hazebroucq and Houssart, perform the concerto first. As improvisation candidates, they were required to insert two (the entire score called for three) cadenzas. These were followed by the four interpretation candidates, who were required to perform a cadenza written by Guillou.

The organ at Saint-Eustache, built by the Dutch firm Van den Heuvel, with 101 stops on five keyboards and a pedalboard, is the third largest in the City of Paris (after Notre-Dame, 112 stops, and Saint-Sulpice, 102 stops). Van den Heuvel may be Dutch, but the plan sonore of the organ is unquestionably French. All candidates played the console placed in the nave, with its electrical transmission.

Again, the playing was of a uniformly high level. What was interesting (albeit somewhat fatiguing) was six sequential hearings of the same piece: each player managed to bring some personal approach to the piece, even though the broad registrational outlines were indicated. Some elected for a slightly smaller, chamber approach (if one can approach 101 stops as any sort of chamber instrument!), while others used the full declamatory powers of the massive tutti with its five 32 ft. stops.

About 4:30 pm we heard the last required performance. Those attending were invited to either remain or return at 8:00 pm for the awarding of the prizes and a concert by the laureates. I suspect most of us elected to retire to various bars and cafés to pass the time.

Awarding of prizes and concert of laureates

Saint-Eustache, 8:00 pm

First, the members of the jury were presented to the audience by Michel Chapuis, the president of the jury. Following the presentation of the jury, the prizes were awarded.

The SACEM prize for meilleur espoir (most promising young artist) was awarded by the jury to the 21-year-old Russian organist Yevgenia Semeina.

The jury also awarded a "Special Mention" to Italian organist Paolo Oreni.

Third prize for interpretation was awarded to 25-year-old Els Biesemans of Belgium. Second prize for interpretation went to 28-year-old Henry Fairs of the United Kingdom. First prize for interpretation was won by 22-year-old Ghislain Leroy of France.

First prize for improvisation (dedicated to Pierre Cochereau) was awarded to 24-year-old Noël Hazebroucq of France.

The jury also awarded a “Special Mention” to Robert Houssart.

The prize for best interpretation of the 6th Concerto for Organ and Orchestra went to Henry Fairs.

Following the awarding of the prizes, we heard a concert of the laureates. Noël Hazebroucq was given two themes for improvisation: the Salve Regina, and Salut à la mère de la miséricorde. Ghislain Leroy played the Duruflé Scherzo, followed by the first movement, allegro vivace, of the Widor 5th Symphonie.

The concert was then to conclude with Henry Fairs and the orchestra of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR, under the direction of Pierre-Michel Durand, in the seventh (abbreviated) performance of the day of the Guillou Concerto for Organ and Orchestra.

While the orchestra was assembling for the performance, Jean Guillou, organiste titulaire of Saint-Eustache, took advantage of the opportunity to extend a welcome to Saint-Eustache, and to speak for a moment about the concerto he had been commissioned to write. He said that he had not been asked about the substantial cut the administration had elected to make in his piece. He pointed out that he had fulfilled the terms of the commission regarding the length of the piece. Since something like half of the piece was omitted, he pointed out that it was not the concerto that he had written that we were hearing, but rather a “denatured” (or perhaps “diluted”) version. He did not wish any of the candidates any ill will, but felt compelled to make his objections known.

M. Jacques Taddei, the director of the Concours, attempted to explain the reasons for the modification, but his remarks were met with booing. In spite of this, Henry Fairs, Pierre-Michel Durand, and the orchestra of the Conservatoire supérieur de Paris-CNR presented the seventh (abbreviated) and last performance of the day of the Guillou Concerto for Organ and Orchestra to general acclaim.

So ended nine days of one of the most interesting of competitions (although one not unmarked by strife and controversy), and the opportunity to hear many of the most gifted young organists of the present day.

Joseph Ermend Bonnal, a French Organist-Composer: His Quest for Perfection (Part 1)

Carolyn Shuster Fournier

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

Default

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

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

His musical formation in Bordeaux

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

The Paris Conservatory

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

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

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

His early compositions

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

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

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

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

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

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

His early church positions

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

His first concerts

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

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

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

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

His departure for Bordeaux and Bayonne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

His mature compositions, influenced by the Landes

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

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

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

His compositions for Les Amis de l'Orgue30

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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