Tag Archives: chant

Modeling Tournemire: Offertoire

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As I prepare to play selections from Tournemire’s L’Orgue mystique for All Saints this weekend, I thought we’d look at the second movement for some improvisation ideas.

Form and Language

The Offertoire for All Saints is based on the chant Justorum animae. The short piece contains five sections: A)harmonized chorale, B) monophonic chant, A’)elaborate harmonized chorale, B’) shorter monophonic chant, C) Coda.

The chant is in Dorian, Mode 1, so though there are no alterations in the key signature, because Tournemire starts the chant on G, every B is flatted except at the final cadences of the A sections. He borrows from closely related modes by including E-flats and A-flats. The chant is presented in half notes in the soprano, but Tournemire suppresses all the repeated notes, making each pitch of the chant equal in duration. While a traditional Bach-style chorale harmonization would include many root position chords, Tournemire rarely uses root position triads. Sevenths, suspensions, and inversions keep the progression unstable even at the cadence in the middle of the section at the end of the first phrase of the chant. The voices move mostly with step-wise motion.

The second section is a monophonic statement of the last two phrases of the chant. The change of registration and texture provide a contrast to the opening chorale. The relative speed of the chant also changes dramatically from half-notes to eighth-notes.

The return to the opening material for the third section is on a slightly softer registration and now includes more motion. While there were occasional eighth-notes in the first harmonization, this repetition keeps to the same harmonies, but includes constant eighth-note motion.

The fourth section is an echo of the second. The registration is softer, and only the second (final) phrase of the chant is cited. The final section seems to be a return to the opening material, but does not cite any of the chant. It is more of an extended harmonic return to an open fifth on the tonic G.

As offertories often take different lengths of time in different places, it strikes me that this piece could be easily shortened if needed by leaving out a section (or two or three). It would also be possible to repeat the longer B section instead of the shorter B’ section in order to lengthen the piece. While I do not know that Tournemire intended a performer to do these things, if we consider these pieces as examples of how we can improvise and fulfill the musical needs of the liturgy, I see no reason not to alter the number of sections we might play.

Applications

To summarize, here are ten ways to apply ideas from Tournemire’s Offertoire in our improvisations:

  1. Alternate contrasting sections to create a piece to cover an unknown length of time.
  2. Borrow from closely related modes or keys for harmonic interest.
  3. Use inversions and suspension to keep the piece moving forward.
  4. Suppress repeated notes in the melody.
  5. Standardize the rhythm of the melody into one time value.
  6. Change the unit of standardization for contrasting formal sections.
  7. Use single voice textures.
  8. Plan for repetition. Make sure you can play what you just played again.
  9. Repeat with variation. Keep it the same, but add more motion.
  10. Use registration to help mark formal sections.

As an example, I recorded an improvisation on Veni Veni Emmanuel following the model of this movement which you can watch here. As I recorded it before writing this column, I’m not sure I followed all ten of the above ideas, but hopefully it demonstrates at least some of the ways to apply ideas from Tournemire to a new theme.

Happy Halloween!
Glenn

Newsletter Issue 52 – 2015 10 31

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Modeling Tournemire: Preludes

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SeniorRecitalCoverI planned my senior recital at Westminster Choir College for Sunday evening, October 31, so I decided to include some selections appropriate for the day. I opened with the Bach Toccata and Fugue in D minor, concluded with the Toccata from Louis Vierne’s Pièces de Fantasie. In the middle of the program, I played the complete L’Orgue mystique, no. 48 for All Saint’s (November 1). this was the second suite from L’Orgue mystique that I learned. The first was no. 17 for Easter which I had learned and played for a chapel service earlier in the spring at the request of my chant teacher, Fr. Gerard Farrell. Fr. Farrell was not only a chant scholar, he was an organist and had studied with Flor Peeters. Fr. Farrell’s love of chant the organ music based on it definitely led to my interest in the music of Tournemire and improvisation.

The Prélude

The first movement of the suite for All Saints is a simple one page prelude. It alternates a brief harmonic progression with accompanied presentation of portions of the introit chant Gaudeamus omnes in Domino. I have marked up a copy of the score here showing the alternating sections. In it’s simplest description, the piece is a seven part rondo: ABABABA with A being simple harmonic fill and B containing the theme. This plan of alternating sections will be our model for the form. The tonal language of the accompaniment is simple, staying virtually all the time in the mode of the chant providing atmosphere more than following traditional harmonic progressions.

Advent

In Tournemire’s day, the organ was not used during the season of Advent except on the third Sunday, referred to as Gaudete Sunday and the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. As most organists continue to play during the Advent season now, I thought it would be a good idea to take themes from Advent and apply Tournemire’s forms and ideas to them in order to fill in the gap in today’s repertoire not covered by L’Orgue mystique. Perhaps the best know Advent theme today is Veni Emmanuel, a modal chant tune that I’m sure Tournemire would have used if he had needed to write more organ music for the season.

One of the tasks that I’ve suggested from time to time that will help us become better improvisations is to actually take pencil and paper and write out our ideas. I took the time to craft a Prélude à l’Introït on Veni Emmanuel following rather closely Tournemire’s prelude for All Saints. (Donwload the score here.) While I can claim it as a composition, it really is simply an example of how we can take the form and ideas from Charles Tournemire and apply them to themes that we know and use in our liturgies today. I encourage you to play through both the scores and to try your hand at improvising your own prelude following this model on a theme of your choice.

Videos

While I haven’t managed to make a video lesson of this yet, I was able to record performances of both the All Saints Introit and my Advent version. I also recorded an improvisation on Adoro Te Devote following the same idea (and registration). None of these is terribly long, but they can be fabulous ways to fill a couple of minutes, introduce a new tune to the congregation, or even provide an introduction to singing a hymn. I hope these lessons and examples will lead you to enjoy and discover the music of Charles Tournemire as I was led to it by Fr. Farrell.

May your improvisations be inspired,

Glenn

Newsletter Issue 51 – 2015 10 04

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The Liturgical Suite 200 Years Later

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While the 200 years between François Couperin and Charles Tournemire offered a substantial contribution to organ repertoire (with pieces of both great and dubious quality), after the French Classical suite, the next substantial collection of liturgical suites for organ is L’Orgue mystique of Charles Tournemire.

Charles Tournemire

Tournemire2Charles Tournemire served as the organiste titulaire at the Basilique Ste-Clotilde in Paris and taught Chamber Music at the Paris Conservatoire. He has been described as a mystic with a deep faith in the Catholic Church. L’Orgue mystique is a series of 51 suites covering all the Sundays and major Feasts when it was permissible to use the organ. Most suites contain five movements as follows:

  1. Prélude à l’Introït
  2. Offertoire
  3. Élévation
  4. Communion
  5. Pièce terminale

While the French Classical movements were named by their registration, Tournemire identifies each movement only with its location in the liturgy. Virtually every movement references at least one Gregorian chant that was sung if not immediately before or after the organ piece at some other point during the celebration of the day. These chants were probably known by many organists of Tournemire’s time, but as he does not identify the chants in the composition, we are dependent upon researchers like Robert Sutherland Lord who have spent time identifying the chants included in each movement. Many can be found easily, but changes in liturgical books over the years have made some harder to identify than others.

Teaching Models

Just as the Orgelbüchlein and some other collections of J.S. Bach were written for teaching purposes, I believe Tournemire’s L’orgue mystique also had a teaching application. This collection is a catalog of compositional ideas and demonstration manual for improvisation in the Mass. Though still under copyright in the US, the collection is in the public domain in Canada, the EU, and in those countries where the copyright term is life+70 years or less, and thus may be found on IMSLP. Because I had an employee discount while working at a music store when I was a student and had plenty of cash to build my music library (and well before a resource like IMSLP had even been dreamed of), I actually purchased hard copies of almost every volume of the series. (I have two copies of one volume and am missing another because I tried to order the one I was missing but mistakenly ordered the wrong one.) I encourage you to purchase (or download where legal) several of the volumes so that you may study the way Tournemire treats chant. Over the next few weeks, I plan to take different movements from the suites as models for improvisations and suggest ways that we can build new pieces following what Tournemire has shown us.

For a head start on Tournemire’s style, beyond actually studying the scores, I will point you to a handout that David McCarthy prepared on the Five Improvisations of Tournemire available at http://davidmccarthymusic.com/technique.htm. David identifies lots of keyboard figuration which will be helpful to know as we seek to model Tournemire’s style.

Thank you

This newsletter marks number 50 that I have written, so I want to thank all of you who have subscribed, continue to read and share your feedback with me. I started this website and newsletter to try and accumulate the seemingly few resources on improvisation into one location. Thanks to help from readers like David, my own knowledge continues to grow, and I have located many other resources to share with you. I look forward to finding, creating, and sharing more resources with you in the future so that you too may continue to become better improvisers.

Hoping your improvisation skills are improving,

Glenn

Newsletter Issue 50 – 2015 09 28

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Veni redemptor gentium

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veni-redemptor
Veni redemptor gentium is assigned to the Roman Catholic Office of Readings in the Liturgy of the Hours for Advent from December 17 through December 24. It was translated into the German chorale “Nun komm der Heiden Heliand” by Martin Luther with the melodic adaptation to the German words made by either Martin Luther or Johannes Walter. More recently, Dom Paul Benoit, OSB adapted the chant into the hymn tune Christian Love, as a setting of Omer Westendorf’s text “Where Charity and Love Prevail,” a common meter translation of the Holy Thursday chant hymn Ubi caritas.

See a list of other hymn and chorale themes here.

Videos:
Maria Scharwieß – Improvisation on ‘Veni redemptor gentium’ – Nathanaelchurch in Berlin-Schöneberg

Veni, Veni Emmanuel

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VeniVeniEmmanuel

The tune ‘Veni, Veni Emmanuel’ was adapted by Thomas Helmore from a fifteenth century French Franciscan Processional. He first published it in The Hymnal Noted in 1854 with a translation by John Neale of the Latin hymn ‘Veni Emmanuel’. The text is a paraphrase of the O Antiphons sung at vespers during the seven days immediately before Christmas.

See a list of other hymn and chorale themes here.

Videos:
Timothy Howard – Postlude on ‘Veni Emmanuel’ – Pasadena Presbyterian Church
János Pálúr – Improvisation on ‘Veni Emmanuel’ – Óbuda Reformed Church

In Paradisum

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InParadisumSm

May the angels escort you into paradise; at your coming, may the martyrs receive you and bring you into the holy city, Jerusalem. May the chorus of angels receive you, and with Lazarus, once a poor man, may you have eternal rest.

In Paradisum is the Gregorian chant antiphon sung at the end of the traditional Roman Catholic Requiem Mass as the body is being taken out of the church. The chant is in the mixolydian mode.

Find a list of other chant themes here.

Puer Natus Est

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PuerNatusEst

Puer natus est is the introit chant for the Third Mass of Christmas Day (Mass of the Day). The chant is in the mixolydian mode.

Find a list of other chant themes here.

Videos:
Olivier Messiaen – Improvisation “Puer Natus Est” – La Trinité
Tobias Schmid – Improvisation ‘Puer natus est’ – Rottenburger Dom
Jonathan Wessler – Fantasy-improvisation on Puer natus est nobis – Christ Church Episcopal, Rochester, New York

Lydian mode

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LydianMode
The Lydian mode is Mode 5 of the church modes used in Gregorian chant. In modern terms, it is most easily described as the scale from F to F using only the white notes of the piano. In order to construct the scale starting on other notes, follow the pattern ascending from tonic: whole step – whole step – whole step – half step – whole step – whole step – half step.

A handout showing the mode starting from all twelve notes is available here.

The Lydian mode is considered a major mode because of the major third above the tonic. It differs from the major scale by having a raised fourth degree, though some chants will use a B-flat negating any difference between this mode and the major scale. The ancient Greek Lydian mode in the diatonic genus resembles the major scale rather than the ecclesiastical Lydian mode.

Some themes in the Lydian mode include:

Videos:
Olivier Latry – Improvisation on The Simpsons Theme – Toronto

Dies Irae

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DiesIrae
Dies Irae is the Gregorian chant Latin sequence sung at the Roman Catholic Requiem mass. It dates from at least the thirteenth century and is often attributed to Thomas of Celano of the Franciscan Order or the Dominican Latino Malabranca Orsini. In some sources its origin is ascribed to St. Gregory the Great, St. Bernard of Clairvaux, or St. Bonaventure. The text describes the day of judgment, the last trumpet summoning souls before the throne of God, where the saved will be delivered and the unsaved cast into eternal flames.

Dies Irae is in the Dorian mode. See a list of other chant themes here.

Videos:
László Fassang – Improvisation on ‘Dies Irae’ – Biserica Reformată de pe Ulița Lupilor
János Pálúr – Dies Irae – Improvisation – Palace of Arts, Budapest