Tag Archives: French

Rolande Falcinelli

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FalcinelliRolande Falcinelli (1920 – 2006) was a French organist, pianist, composer, and teacher. She studied organ and improvisation with Marcel Dupré at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1955, she succeeded Dupré as organ professor at the Paris Conservatory, teaching there until 1987. Among her numerous students were Xavier Darasse, Louis Thiry, Yves Devernay, Francis Chapelet, André Isoir, Daniel Roth, Jean-Pierre Leguay, Sophie-Veronique Cauchefer-Choplin, Louis Robillard, Philippe Lefèbvre, Maurice Clerc, Patrice Caire, Marie-Bernadette Dufourcet, and Naji Hakim. She also served as titular organist at Sacré-Coeur in Paris from 1946 to 1973.

You can hear her on Spotify.

Recordings:

Rolande Falcinelli: 4 Grandes Improvisations en Concert


Rolande Falcinelli : Improvisations

Gaston Litaize

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gaston-litaize-aux-claviers-de-l-orgue-de-saint-françois-xavier-à-parisAssociation Gaston Litaize:
http://www.gastonlitaize.com/

Gaston Litaize (1909 – 1991) was a French organist and composer. An illness caused him to lose his sight just after birth. He entered the Institute for the Blind in Nancy, studying with Charles Magin. Magin encouraged him to continue studies in Paris at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles. Litaize enrolled concurrently there and at the Paris Conservatory. His teachers in Paris included Adolphe Marty, Marcel Dupré, Henri Büsser, and Louis Vierne.

In 1939, Litaize became organist at Saint-Cloud, and in 1944 he became director of religious radio programs, overseeing five weekly broadcasts. In 1946, Litaize became organist titulaire at Saint‑François‑Xavier, a post he held until his death. When he retired from the radio in 1975, he became the organ teacher at the Conservatoire in St Maur-des-Fossés. His students there included Denis Comtet, Olivier Latry, Eric Lebrun, and Christophe Mantoux.

Litaize made numerous recordings, some of which have been reissued. He also was very active as a composer. A complete list of his compositions is available here. Olivier Latry has even transcribed and published one of Litaize’s improvisations.

Biography:

Gaston Litaize by Sébastien Durand
This book is in French.


Fantaisie et Fugue sur le nom de Gaston Litaize
Alain Litaize
This book is in French and includes an audio CD with unpublished works and improvisations of Gaston Litaize.

Recordings:

Gaston Litaize: Organ
Includes an improvisation on Victinmae paschali laudes.


Gaston Litaize: Récital de Son 80 Anniversaire
Includes Litaize playing some of his own compositions and an improvisation.


Gaston Litaize e Guy Bovet: All’organo di Carasso (Ticino)
Includes repertoire played by Gaston Litaize and Guy Bovet as well as an improvisation by each of the organists.

ohscatalog_2270_113982655
Litaize plays Litaize
Gaston Litaize plays his own works on the 1979 Winfried Albiez (Lindau / Lake Constance) organ located in the gallery of the Church of St. Mary in Kempen, Germany as well as three improvisations. Available through OHS.

André Fleury

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fleury_andre_mediumAndré Fleury (1903-1995) was born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France. He received his musical training as a private student of Henri Letocart (a former student of César Franck), and later, of André Marchal and Louis Vierne. At the Paris Conservatory, he studied organ with Eugène Gigout and received a first prize in organ performance and improvisation under Gigout’s successor, Marcel Dupré, in 1926. Fleury also studied composition with Paul Vidal.

In 1920, Fleury became Gigout’s assistant at St. Augustin in Paris, and, later, also assistant of Charles Tournemire at Ste. Clotilde. He became titular organist at St. Augustin in 1930. In 1941, he was appointed professor of organ at the École Normale de Musique in Paris.

After World War II, Fleury relocated to Dijon. In 1949, he succeeded Émile Poillot as titular organist at Dijon Cathedral and as professor of piano (a year later also of organ) at the Dijon Conservatory. In 1971, he accepted Jean Guillou’s invitation to become co-titular organist at St. Eustache in Paris. He also was appointed as professor of organ at the Schola Cantorum and as titular organist at Versailles Cathedral.

As a composer, Fleury wrote numerous works for organ, many of which have not been published yet. He premiered several important organ compositions, such as the organ sonata of Darius Milhaud, Maurice Duruflé’s Scherzo op. 2, as well as La Nativité du Seigneur by Olivier Messiaen (the first integral performance of this organ cycle, after the premiere by Jean Langlais, Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur, and Jean-Jacques Grunenwald).

Among his students were Bernard Gavoty, Pierre Cochereau, and Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur.

Videos:
André Fleury – Improvisation-Demonstration of Dijon Cathedral – France

André Marchal

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MarchalAndré Marchal (1894-1980) was born blind. He studied organ under Eugène Gigout at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1913, he won the First Prize in organ-playing and four years later he also won the prix d’excellence for fugue and counterpoint. Marchal taught organ at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles in Paris, in addition to serving as titular organist of the Abbey of Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1915–1945) and Saint-Eustache (1945–1963). He was an unparalleled improviser and was recognized as such by Fauré. Among his students are many brilliant musicians such as Peter Hurford, Louis Thiry and Jean-Pierre Leguay.

There is now a Concours André Marchal held every other year in Biarritz, France offering prizes for interpretation and improvisation. Previous winners of the improvisation prizes include: David Cassan, David Maw, Noël Hazbroucq, Martin Bacot, Olivier Perin, Alexandre Mason, Torsten Laux, and Frederik Malmberg.

Videos:
André Marchal – Improvisation on theme of George Dyson – Royal Festival Hall, London

Jeffrey Brillhart – Breaking Free

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BreakingFreeBrillhart
Jeffrey Brillhart
Breaking Free: Finding a Personal Voice for Improvisation through 20th Century French Improvisation Techniques. Published by Wayne Leupold Editions.

One of the great difficulties I see in the teaching of improvisation is choosing where to begin and how to cover the wealth of material that a well-trained improviser needs to know. Whereas Gerre Hancock focuses almost entirely on form throughout his book Improvising: How to Master the Art, the bulk of the material in Breaking Free concerns harmonic language.

Jeffrey Brillhart attacks the challenge of what to cover and where to begin by narrowing the focus to “finding a personal language for organ improvisation through 20th century French Improvisation techniques,” the subtitle of the book. In the Introduction, Brillhart acknowledges that each student’s route to mastery is different:

There is no “one size fits all,” in learning to improvise or in teaching someone to improvise. What may work for one student may completely stymie another student.
…
Improvisation is a mystery. We do not fully understand what happens within the mind of the improviser while improvising. Improvisation is a search. It is a search for a personal musical language. It is a search for musical coherence. It is a search for personal self-expression. It is a search for beauty.

Breaking Free is a book filled with ideas for the student to explore. The first part (chapters 1-5) provides a philosophical grounding of improvisation and establishes the importance of the theme. Many example themes are given and chapter 4 is a catalog of development techniques. Any advice or examples provided are always accompanied by the encouragement of the student to find his or her own solution for how to treat the theme.

Part II (chapters 6-15) move into harmonic language and provides a framework not of scales, but intervals. Each chapter is devoted to a different interval (fifths, fourths, thirds, seconds, and so forth) and the harmonic colors that can be generated while using that specific interval to either harmonize or accompany the given theme. The pentatonic mode is also introduced and the student is urged to explore canons in this mode because of the harmonic simplicity the mode offers. Triads and seventh chords are also given their own chapters in this part, and while there may be references to key centers in the text, the student is encouraged to explore the textures without the restriction that a scale or specific mode would require.

Part III (chapters 16-20) begins with a look at Charles Tournemire. This chapter combines the techniques already covered with the structure and style of a specific composer, and provides a bridge into a harmonic language built upon modes. The next three chapters explain and explore the modes of Gregorian chant, a common theme source for much of French music. The final chapter of this part looks at the Bartok mode and serves as a bridge into Part IV which covers the more complex modes of Olivier Messiaen.

Only in Part V (chapters 25-35) does Brillhart finally begin to address large scale forms. Forms covered in this part include Passacaglia, Song From, Scherzo, Sonata Allegro, the structures of Louis Vierne and Pierre Cochereau, free improvisation and finally improvising on a literary text. The last two chapters (Part VI) provide examples of the language of Debussy and Ravel for the student to explore. Finally, for the student still searching at the end of this book there is a wonderful two-page bibliography of high quality resources for further exploration either of improvisation or other specific musical topics such as harmony or counterpoint.

Having spent the majority of my formal instruction in improvisation learning from French teachers, I am delighted that Jeff Brillhart has created this volume. While it may not be exactly what I experienced in France, he provides a codified and logical progression for something that I saw many French teachers address in a very haphazard way. By choosing to focus on a specific style, he actually helps the student develop many tools that can be applied in other areas. The greatest difficulty with this book may come from the lack of specific challenges for the student. Each chapter of Improvising: How to Master the Art by Gerre Hancock concludes with specific activities for the student to complete before moving on. While each chapter in Breaking Free has numerous examples and may offer ways for the student to apply the materials in the chapter, there is no task given where the student (or teacher) can clearly know if they have understood and can apply the material presented. If the student is creative, then this is probably not much of a problem, but for a beginning improviser who has trouble generating ideas, this may make it difficult to use this book without the aid of a teacher. Perhaps unintended, but a likely benefit of a student working through this book will not only be a breaking free of harmonic language, but also a strengthening of the creative muscle.

It takes a lot of varied skills to master the art of improvisation. Breaking Free by Jeff Brillhart is an excellent resource for adding tools to the improviser’s toolbox. Using this book, not only will the student break free harmonically, but he or she will also break free from the reliance on a teacher and discover his or her own creative potential. For anyone interested in improvising in a modern style (whether French or not), I highly recommend this book.

Frère Jacques

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FrereJacquesSm

Frère Jacques, frère Jacques,
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!
Ding, daing, dong. Ding, daing, dong.

Frère Jacques is a French nursery melody. In English, it is sometimes called “Are You Sleeping?,” or “Brother John”. The tune is one of the most basic repeating canons along with the melody of “Three Blind Mice”. It bears a resemblance to the piece Toccate d’intavolatura, No.14, Capriccio Fra Jacopino sopra L’Aria Di Ruggiero composed by Girolamo Frescobaldi, which was first published around 1615. “Fra Jacopino” is one potential Italian translation for “Frère Jacques”. The exact origins of the melody are unknown.

See a list of other potential traditional song themes here.

Videos:
Anders Bondeman – Improvisation Frere Jacques – Stockholm City Hall Organ
Xaver Varnus – Variations on Frère Jacques – Dominican Church, Budapest
Andrea Kumpe, Max Pöllner & Christian Kohler – Six Handed Improvisation on Frère Jacques – Pfarrkirche St. Nikolaus, Immenstadt

Louis Vierne

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vierne[1]

Louis Vierne (1870 – 1937) is best known as a composer and organist at Notre Dame in Paris, France. He was born in Poitiers, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but was discoverd at an early age to have a gift for music: at age two, a pianist played him a Schubert lullaby and he promptly began to pick out the notes of the lullaby on the piano.
After completing school in the provinces, Louis Vierne entered the Paris Conservatory. From 1892, Vierne served as an assistant to the organist Charles-Marie Widor at the church of Saint-Sulpice in Paris. Vierne subsequently became principal organist at the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris, a post he held from 1900 until his death (while performing a concert) in 1937. Though he held one of the most prestigious organ posts in France, the Notre-Dame organ was in a state of disrepair throughout much of his tenure. To raise money for its restoration, he undertook a concert tour of North America including a performance on the famous Wanamaker Organ in Philadelphia. Some of his students include Augustin Barié, Edward Shippen Barnes, Lili Boulanger, Nadia Boulanger, Marcel Dupré, André Fleury, Gaston Litaize, Édouard Mignan, Alexander Schreiner, and Georges-Émile Tanguay.
Vierne made phonograph recordings of six works of Bach, three of his own compositions and three improvisations. Originally recorded by Odéon, they were reissued most recently by EMI in 1981 with two of the improvisations appearing again in 1994. Maurice Duruflé transcribed the improvisations as he had done with the recordings of Charles Tournemire.

Biography:

Louis Vierne: Organist of Notre Dame Cathedral
by Rollin Smith, Pendragon Press, 2009.

Vidoes:
Recorded in 1929, there is some noise in the audio on these video, but I believe they are worth sharing because it is Vierne himself improvising.

Louis Vierne – Marche Episcopale – Notre Dame, Paris
Louis Vierne – Meditation – Notre Dame, Paris
Louis Vierne – Cortege – Notre Dame, Paris

and while it isn’t an improvisation, there is a short video of Louis Vierne playing at Notre Dame here.

Twinkle, Twinkle

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Twinkle

“Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star” is a popular English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early 19th-century English poem, “The Star” by Jane Taylor. The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in Rhymes for the Nursery, a collection of poems by Taylor and her sister Ann. It is sung to the tune of the French melody “Ah! vous dirais-je, Maman”, which was first published in 1761 by François Bouin in La Vielleuse habileand. It was later arranged by Mozart for a famous set of variations. Many other texts for this melody exist in English, German, and even Vietnamese!

Twinkle, twinkle, little star,
How I wonder what you are.
Up above the world so high,
Like a diamond in the sky.
Twinkle, twinkle, little star.

Ah! Vous dirai-je Maman
Ce qui cause mon tourment?
Papa veut que je raisonne
Comme une grande personne
Moi je dis que les bonbons
Valent mieux que la raison.

See a list of other potential traditional song themes here.

Videos:
Melinda Kistetenyi – Free improvisation on “Ah vous dirai-je, Maman” – Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest

Maurice Duruflé

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Durufle

Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986) was a French composer, organist, and teacher. 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. His harmony professor was Jean Gallon.

In 1927, Louis Vierne nominated him as his assistant at Notre Dame. Duruflé and Vierne remained lifelong friends, and Duruflé was at Vierne’s side acting as assistant when Vierne died at the console of the Notre-Dame organ on June 2, 1937. Duruflé became titular organist of St-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris in 1929, a position he held for the rest of his life. In 1943 he became Professor of Harmony at the Conservatoire de Paris, where he worked until 1970.

in 1947, Marie-Madeleine Chevalier became his assistant at St-Étienne-du-Mont. They married on 15 September 1953. The couple became a famous and popular organ duo, going on tour together several times throughout the sixties and early seventies.

His transcriptions of the recorded improvisations of Charles Tournemire have become some of the most widely performed and well known of Tournemire’s “compositions.”

Recordings:

Duruflé: En Concert
Appears to include an improvised rhapsody as part of the program of repertoire.


Duruflé: Works for Organ & Choir
This recording contains choral works of Maurice Duruflé, along with the Suite, op 5, and improvisations by Thierry Escaich.

Charles Tournemire

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Tournemire2Charles Arnould Tournemire (1870 – 1939) was a French composer, organist, and accomplished improviser. His compositions include eight symphonies (one of them choral), four operas, twelve chamber works and eighteen piano solos. Today he is almost exclusively remembered for his organ music, especially L’Orgue Mystique, a set of 51 suites of pieces for the liturgical year based upon the chants of the day.

He studied organ with César Franck. From 1898 to 1939, Tournemire served as the organiste titulaire at Franck’s old church, the Basilique Ste-Clotilde in Paris. He was also professor of Chamber Music at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1931 he published a biography of Franck. A year before the biography appeared, Tournemire recorded five organ improvisations, which were later transcribed by Maurice Duruflé from the phonograph recordings. These recordings and most all of his improvisations were often rooted in the music of Gregorian chant.

Book:
TournemirePrecis

In 1936, Éditions Max Eschig published Précis d’éxecution de registration et d’improvisation à l’orgue by Charles Tournemire. Of the 117 pages, only the last 16 are devoted explicitly to the art of improvisation. Much of the text is devoted to philosophy, references to examples in repertoire, with some explanation of forms. Tournemire writes that the most profitable study that one could do is to read each day a sonata of Haydn, Mozart or Beethoven, and then to take the same elements and try to develop them oneself.

Recording:

Charles Tournemire: Complete Recordings

Videos:
*original audio recorded by Tournemire with slide show of pictures for videos

Charles Tournemire – Te Deum – Ste. Clotilde, Paris, France
Charles Tournemire – Fantasie on ‘Ave Maris Stella’ – Ste. Clotilde, Paris, France

I couldn’t find a video or audio online of Tournemire himself playing the other improvisations, but am including performances by other organists below because these have been such influential and well-known improvisations:
Charles Tournemire (Philippe Lefebvre plays) – Victimae paschali laudes – Chartres Cathedral, France