Maurice Duruflé (January 11,
1902 – June 16, 1986) was a French
composer, organist, and
pedagogue.
Life
Duruflé
was born in Louviers
, Eure
.
In 1912,
he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral
Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with
Jules Haelling. At age 17, upon moving to Paris, he took
private organ lessons with Charles
Tournemire, whom he assisted at Basilique
Ste-Clotilde, Paris
until 1927. In 1920 Duruflé entered the Conservatoire de
Paris
, eventually graduating with first prizes in organ,
harmony, piano accompaniment, and composition.
In 1927,
Louis Vierne nominated him as his
assistant at Notre-Dame
. Duruflé became titular organist of St.
Étienne-du-Mont in Paris in 1929, a position he held for the rest
of his life. In 1939, he premiered
Francis Poulenc's Organ Concerto (the
Concerto for Organ, Strings and Timpani in G minor); he
had advised Poulenc on the registrations of the organ part.
In 1943 he
became professor of harmony at the Conservatoire de
Paris
, where he worked until 1970. In 1947,
Duruflé wrote what is probably the most famous of his few pieces:
the
Requiem op. 9,
for soloists, choir, organ and orchestra. The same year,
Marie-Madeleine Chevalier became his assistant at
St-Étienne-du-Mont. They married in 1953 (after Duruflé's first
marriage to Lucette Bousquet, contracted in 1932, ended in civil
divorce in 1947 and was declared null by the Vatican on 23 June
1953) . The couple became a famous and popular organ duo, going on
tour together several times throughout the sixties and early
seventies.
Duruflé suffered severe injuries in a car accident in 1975, and as
a result he gave up performing; indeed he was largely confined to
his apartment, leaving the service at St-Étienne-du-Mont to his
wife Marie-Madeleine (who was also injured in the accident).
He died in
Louveciennes
(near Paris) in 1986, aged 84.
Duruflé was highly critical of his own composition. He only
published a handful of works and often continued to edit and change
pieces after publication. For instance, the Toccata from
Suite,
op. 5 has a completely different ending in the first
edition than in the more recent version, and the score to the
Fugue sur le nom d'Alain originally indicated accelerando
throughout. The result of this perfectionism is that his music,
especially his organ music, holds a very high position in the
repertoire.
Compositions
Organ solo
- Scherzo op. 2 (1926)
- Prélude, Adagio et Choral varié sur le theme du 'Veni
Creator' op. 4 (1930)
- Suite op. 5 (1932):
- Prélude
- Sicilienne
- Toccata
- Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain op. 7
(1942)
- Prélude sur l'Introït de l'Epiphanie op. 13
(1961)
- Fugue sur de la Cathédrale de Soissons op. 12
(1962)
- Méditation op. posth. (1964)
- Lecture à vue (unpublished)
- Fugue (unpublished)
- Lux aeterna (unpublished)
Chamber music
- Prélude, Récitatif et Variations op. 3 for
flute, viola, and piano (1928)
Piano solo
- Triptyque op. 1: Fantaisie sur des thèmes
grégoriens (1927/1943, unpublished)
- Trois Danses op. 6 (1932, piano version by the
composer):
- Divertissement
- Danse lente
- Tambourin
Piano for 4 hands
- Trois Danses op. 6 (1932, transcribed by the
composer):
- Divertissement
- Danse lente
- Tambourin
Two pianos
- Trois Danses op. 6 (1932, transcribed by the
composer):
- Divertissement
- Danse lente
- Tambourin
Orchestra works
- Trois Danses op. 6 (1932):
- Divertissement
- Danse lente
- Tambourin
- Andante et Scherzo op. 8 (1940)
Choral works
- Requiem
op. 9 for soloists, choir, orchestra, and organ (1947)
- Version with Orchestra (1947)
- Version with Organ (1948)
- Version with small Orchestra (1961)
- Quatre Motets sur des Thèmes Grégoriens op. 10
for choir a capella (1960):
- Ubi caritas et amor
- Tota pulchra es
- Tu es Petrus
- Tantum ergo
- Messe Cum Jubilo op. 11 for baritone solo,
male choir, and orchestra (1966):
- Version with Organ (1967)
- Version with Orchestra (1970)
- Version with small Orchestra (1972)
- Notre Père op. 14 for unison male choir and
organ (1977)
- Version for 4-part mixed choir a capella (1978)
Miscellaneous works
- Hommage à Jean Gallon (1953)
- Sicilienne from Suite op. 5 for small
orchestra (flute, oboe, clarinette, bassoon, horn, and string
quintet, unpublished)
Transcriptions
- Johann Sebastian
Bach: 4 Chorale Preludes for Organ ,
orchestrated by Maurice Duruflé (1942/1945):
- Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (18 Chorales)
- Nun freut euch, lieben Christen gmein BWV 734
- O Lamm Gottes unschuldig BWV 656 (18 Chorales)
- In dir ist Freude BWV 615 (Orgelbüchlein)
- Louis Vierne: Soirs
étrangers op. 56, for violoncello
and piano, orchestrated by Maurice Duruflé (1943):
- Grenade
- Sur le Léman
- Venise
- Steppe canadien
- Poisson chinois
- Louis Vierne: Ballade
du désespéré op. 61, poème lyrique
for tenor solo and piano, orchestrated by Maurice Duruflé
(1943)
- Maurice Duruflé: Requiem op.
9, for voice and piano (1947)
- Johann Sebastian
Bach: Two Chorales from Cantatas BWV 22 und 147 ,
arranged for organ solo by Maurice Duruflé (1952)
- Louis Vierne: Trois
Improvisations for organ (Notre-Dame-de-Paris,
November 1928), transcribed by Maurice Duruflé (1954):
- Marche épiscopale
- Méditation
- Cortège
- Charles Tournemire:
Cinq Improvisations for organ (Ste. Clotilde,
Paris, 1930/1931), transcribed by Maurice Duruflé (1956-1958):
- Petite rapsodie improvisée
- Cantilène improvisée
- Improvisation sur le "Te Deum"
- Fantaisie-Improvisation sur l'"Ave maris stella"
- Choral-Improvisation sur le "Victimae paschali"
- Gabriel Fauré:
Prélude de Pelléas et Mélisande , transcribed for
organ solo by Maurice Duruflé
- Robert Schumann:
Lamentation , transcribed for organ solo by
Maurice Duruflé
Bibliography
- Darasse, Xavier. "Maurice Duruflé", in Guide de la musique
d’orgue, edited by Gilles Cantagrel. Paris: Fayard, 1991:
335-337.
- James E. Frazier, Maurice
Durufle: The Man & His Music (The Boydell Press
2007)
- Ronald Ebrecht, ed. Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986): The Last
Impressionist. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 2002. ISBN
081084351X.
- Jörg Abbing. "Maurice Duruflé. Aspeckte zu Leben und Werk."
Verlag Peter Ewers, 2002. ISBN 3-928243-07-1.
- Frédéric Blanc. "Maurice Duruflé. Souvenirs et autres écrits."
Éditions Séguier-Atlantica, 2005. ISBN 2-84049-411-6.
External links