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The Influence of Plainchant on French Organ Music After the Revolution Technological University Dublin ARROW@TU Dublin Doctoral Applied Arts 2013-8 The Influence of Plainchant on rF ench Organ Music after the Revolution David Connolly Technological University Dublin Follow this and additional works at: https://arrow.tudublin.ie/appadoc Part of the Musicology Commons Recommended Citation Connolly, D. (2013) The Influence of Plainchant on rF ench Organ Music after the Revolution. Doctoral Thesis. Dublin, Technological University Dublin. doi:10.21427/D76S34 This Theses, Ph.D is brought to you for free and open access by the Applied Arts at ARROW@TU Dublin. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral by an authorized administrator of ARROW@TU Dublin. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License The Influence of Plainchant on French Organ Music after the Revolution David Connolly, BA, MA, HDip.Ed Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Music Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of Music and Drama Supervisor: Dr David Mooney Conservatory of Music and Drama August 2013 i I certify that this thesis which I now submit for examination for the award of Doctor of Philosophy in Music, is entirely my own work and has not been taken from the work of others, save and to the extent that such work has been cited and acknowledged within the text of my work. This thesis was prepared according to the regulations for postgraduate study by research of the Dublin Institute of Technology and has not been submitted in whole or in part for another award in any other third level institution. The work reported on in this thesis conforms to the principles and requirements of the DIT’s guidelines for ethics in research. DIT has permission to keep, lend or copy this thesis in whole or in part, on condition that any such use of the material of the thesis be duly acknowledged. Signature: Date: ii Acknowledgements vi Abstract vii Author’s Notes viii List of Abbreviations ix Table of Musical Examples x Table of Chant Examples xiv Introduction xv PART A Chapter 1: Gregorian Chant: Development, Corruption and Restoration 1 • 1.1: Introduction 1 • 1.2: Gregorian chant and the corruption of the sixteenth century 3 • 1.3: Gallicanism and plainchant in nineteenth-century France 5 • 1.4: The restoration of chant 10 Chapter 2: Chant and Organ in France: An Introduction to Pre-revolutionary Practices 14 • 2.1: Introduction – The development of alternatim 14 • 2.2: Alternatim and the Council of Trent 19 • 2.3: The French classical school and Le Grand Siècle 22 Chapter 3: From Revolution to Revival: An Overview of Organ Playing in Nineteenth-Century France 27 • 3.1: Introduction: Post-revolutionary survival 27 o 3.12: The beginnings of a revival 30 • 3.2: Developments in organ building 32 • 3.3: Music education from the revolution to the Schola Cantorum 34 o 3.31: The École Niedermeyer 40 o 3.32: The Schola Cantorum 44 • 3.4: Improvisation in the early nineteenth century 47 • 3.5: The re-emergence of repertoire 49 • 3.6: Revival: Lemmens and Bach 50 • 3.7: Saint-Saëns and Franck: the classicist versus the romantic 53 • 3.8: Conclusion 59 PART B: Chapter 4: Liturgy I: Gigout and Guilmant 60 • 4.1: Introduction 60 • 4.2: Alexandre Pierre François Boëly – pioneer? 61 • 4.3: Towards a new chant style and a new organ music 64 • 4.4: The renewed use of a modal language: Éugène Gigout 71 • 4.5: Alexandre Guilmant and the development of liturgical repertoire 77 iii Chapter 5: Chant and the Organ Symphony: Widor and Dupré 95 • 5.1: Introduction 95 • 5.2: Charles-Marie Widor and his influences 95 • 5.3: Widor and the ‘organ symphony’ 101 o 5.31: The symphonies 103 • 5.4: Marcel Dupré and the Symphonie-Passion 105 • 5.5: Dupré the Improvisor 106 • 5.6: Religion, plainchant and improvisation in the music of Marcel Dupré 108 • 5.7: ‘Gothique’, ‘Romane’ and ‘Passion’ – conception and development 112 • 5.8: The use of chants in the organ symphonies 116 o 5.81: Fragmentation 117 o 5.82: Alteration, distortion, derivation and transformation 125 o 5.83: Selected general points on rhythmic approaches 153 o 5.84: Use of traditional forms 156 o 5.85: Textures: polyphonic, monophonic, figuration, sequence 161 o 5.86: The impact of chant on the tonality of the works 170 • 5.9: Conclusion: sacred or secular? illustrative or symbolic? 174 Chapter 6: Liturgy II: Chant, Improvisation and ‘The Sainte-Clotilde Tradition’ 181 • 6.1: Introduction 181 • 6.2: Context: Liturgical and political upheaval at the turn of the century 182 • 6.3: The 1903 motu proprio – an overview of its content and impact 183 • 6.4: Charles Tournemire 184 • 6.5: Tournemire, Franck and improvisation 187 • 6.6: Tournemire, religion and improvisation 189 • 6.7: L’orgue mystique (1927–1932) – an overview 194 • 6.8: L’orgue mystique: selected features of chant in an improvisatory style 198 • 6.9: Summary: chant, liturgy and improvisation 215 • 6.10: Jean Langlais 220 • 6.11: Langlais: character, influences and inspiration 222 • 6.12: Langlais and Tournemire 226 • 6.13: Langlais: Some general points on style 227 • 6.14: Langlais and chant 229 • 6.15: Choice of chants in Langlais 229 • 6.16: Some techniques used for development of the chants in Langlais 233 • 6.17: Conclusion: A Sainte-Clotilde tradition? 235 iv Chapter 7: Difference and Divergence: Towards a Twentieth-Century Assimilation of Chant and Organ Music 239 • 7.1: Introduction 239 • 7.2: Maurice Duruflé: the conservative 240 • 7.3: Duruflé, religion and Gregorian chant 242 • 7.4: Duruflé, chant and improvisation 244 • 7.5: Chant and the organ works of Maurice Duruflé: an overview 244 • 7.6: Fragmentation and variation: op.4 246 • 7.7: Duruflé and chant: organ works versus choral works 265 • 7.8: Duruflé: some conclusions 266 • 7.9: Olivier Messiaen: innovator 268 • 7.10: A brief synopsis of Messiaen’s music language 270 • 7.11: Messiaen the organist 272 • 7.12: Religion and organ works of Messiaen 273 • 7.13: Chant in the organ music of Messiaen 275 • 7.14: Symbolism and chant in Messiaen’s organ music 289 • 7.15: Concert music vs liturgical music in Messiaen’s works 291 • 7.16: Conclusion: Duruflé vs Messiaen and the twentieth century 293 Conclusion 296 Bibliography 300 v Acknowledgments To my supervisor Dr David Mooney for his patience, encouragement and expertise, always available at any point during the completion of this project To my friend Dr Kerry Houston for his support and wise words To colleagues and friends who contributed scores and articles: Peter Barley, David Leigh, Siobhán Kilkelly, David Adams, Una Russell, John O’Keeffe, William Woods, Richard Lea, Gerard Gillen and Vincent Rone (University of California, Santa Barbara) To my longstanding organ teacher Professor Gerard Gillen for his advice To Una McMahon, language centre, NUI Maynooth for helping with some translations To friends and colleagues in Maynooth and DIT, especially Darina McCarthy, Adrian Scahill, Antonio Cascelli, Gordon Delap, Lorraine Byrne-Bodley, Patrick F. Devine, John O’Keeffe and Martin O’Leary To the administrators of the Anne Leahy travel fund for allowing me to travel to the 2012 Tournemire conference in Pittsburgh PA. To Derek Moylan and Raymond O’Donnell for typesetting the various examples To the new friends made during the course of this research whose knowledge of this repertoire has assisted me greatly, especially Susan Landale and Ansgar Wallenhorst To Carole O’Connor, colleague and friend To my family, Tom, Mary, Peter and Alison for being there To my beloved fiancée Linda McCarthy, to whom this work is dedicated vi Abstract The period after the 1789 French Revolution was one of turbulence, musically, socially, culturally and politically. The violence against both people and property meant that the nineteenth century was a time of renewal and regrowth. At all times this was uncertain as numerous political upheavals took place as the French attempted to define their future direction. As with all aspects of culture, organ music experienced a slow regrowth over the course of the long nineteenth century, perhaps being at a particular disadvantage due to its role in the church, an institution which also went through a period of difficulty from the anticlericalism of the revolutionary period to the separation of church and state in 1905. This dissertation examines the role that the early music of the church (namely Gregorian chant) played in shaping organ music in France during the past two centuries in particular. As an almost constant presence in French organ music, either through the organ masses of the classical era, the improvisations of the virtuosic organists of the Cavaillé-Coll period or the chant-based music of the revival, chant has been a presence in the music of the French organist-composer. This work aims to explore this role. In some cases a composer’s work is examined analytically, although this is not an analysis thesis. In other instances, the philosophies and motivations of key composers are discussed. This includes consideration of the role of chant not only as it is quoted directly, but also the impact of its modal and rhythmic style on these composers. vii Author’s Notes There are a number of points which should be clarified at the outset of this dissertation. The terms ‘chant’, ‘plainchant’, ‘Gregorian chant’ and ‘plainsong’ are used interchangeably. Whilst acknowledging that there may be subtle distinctions between these terms, in this work all will be used to refer to the ritual music of the Western church.
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