Dendrinos Chapel
Interlochen Center for the Arts
Interlochen, MI
March 3, 2016
Erik Wm. Suter, Organist
The Organ Works
of
Maurice Duruflé
(1902-1986)
Fugue sur le Thème du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédral de Soissons, Op. 12
Méditation pour Orgue
Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain, Op. 7
Prélude, Adagio, et Choral Varié sur le thème du “Veni Creator”, Op. 4
Prélude sur l’Introit de l’Épiphanie, Op. 13
Scherzo, Op. 2
Suite pour Orgue, Op. 5
Prélude – Sicilienne - Toccata
Erik Wm. Suter, a native of Chicago, is a musician of international acclaim. For nearly 10 years, he
served as Organist at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, DC. He holds degrees from Oberlin
Conservatory and Yale University and his teachers were Haskell Thomson, Thomas Murray, and Gerre
Hancock. Previously, he held positions at Trinity Church, Copley Square, and at the Parish of All Saints,
both in Boston; and at Trinity Church-on-the-Green in New Haven, Connecticut.
Mr. Suter has performed extensively throughout North America as well as in many Asian and European
countries. He has performed at national conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Organ
Historical Society. As a continuo artist, he has appeared with The Philadelphia Orchestra and National
Symphony Orchestra. From 2003 until 2007, Mr. Suter was under the exclusive concert management of
Karen McFarlane Artists, Inc.
Mr. Suter won first prize in the 1993 Chicago American Guild of Organists Young Organist’s Competition;
first prize in the 1995 National Undergraduate Organ Competition in Iowa; the Gold Medal of the Mayor of
Musashino/Tokyo in the 1996 International Organ Competition in Japan; and first prize in the 1997 Yale
Biennial Organ Competition. He was a two-time finalist in the prestigious AGO National Young Artists
Competition in Organ Playing. Mr. Suter has been featured numerous times on the nationally syndicated
American Public Media show Pipedreams. His recordings, including 5 solo compact discs, can be found
on the JAV Recordings, Gothic and Pro Organo labels.
Mr. Suter is a commercial pilot and flight instructor. Based at Washington National Airport, he is a captain
on the Canadair Regional Jet for American Eagle. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland with his wife and
son. www.erikwmsuter.com
As one looks back upon the past 100 years of music and its composition there were few composers, if any, who
made such a lasting impression or inspired so many with so few works as Maurice-Gustave Duruflé. Though his
complete oeuvre is fewer than 15 published works, his 7 compositions for organ are firmly in the standard
repertoire, with nearly every organist playing at least one of his pieces. His Requiem, Op. 9 is known and
beloved by virtually every conductor and choir. However, as much as Duruflé was inspired to compose, he was
equally frustrated by his efforts. His compositional process consisted of extensive revision, but the result revealed
impeccable workmanship. While nowhere as prolific as Johann Sebastian Bach, their respective compositional
legacies share this attribute: for all of the perfection in harmony, counterpoint, structure, melody and texture, the
overall effect is purely beautiful and inspiring. The whole is far greater than the sum of the individual parts.
Impressionist? Classicist? Traditionalist? Many terms have been used to describe the compositional style of
Duruflé. Try as we might to define and classify his music, Duruflé found a unique place in the 20th Century
compositional canon. This is particularly ironic since his goal was never to establish his own niche among
celebrated 20th Century composers. Nevertheless, for all the inspiration he drew from those who came before
him, he did exactly that. He had little use for the experimentation that was so prevalent in the early to middle part
of the last century. Instead of searching for a new musical language like his colleague and lifelong friend Olivier
Messiaen, Duruflé looked to the plainsong that he was first regularly exposed to as a chorister in the choir school
at Rouen Cathedral. As a testament to his method, he wrote of the Requiem, Op. 9, “As a general rule, I have
above all tried to feel deeply the particular style of the Gregorian themes: and I have done my best to reconcile as
far as possible the Gregorian rhythmic patterns, as fixed by the Benedictines of Solesmes, with the demands of the
modern bar-structure.” This approach can aptly be used to describe nearly all of his works.
Duruflé wasn’t merely fascinated by the shapes and textures embodied in plainsong. His relationship with
Gregorian chant was far deeper than a simple interest in its mechanics. He felt an inner, spiritual connection to
everything that plainsong represents: from the cerebral nature of its shapes and patterns to the centuries of history
and liturgical service encompassed within. As a very young boy, his initial time at the choir school in Rouen was
an emotionally traumatic experience. Referring to the school as a “prison”, he was sick for the gentle and loving
home from which he came. This experience undoubtedly helped shape what would be a reserved and sometimes
brooding personality. While he harbored disdain for aspects of his daily life in the school, he was increasingly
thrilled by the experience of participating in the great feasts of the Church. He wrote, “The extraordinary
environment of this cathedral….this splendor that was evoked as the liturgy unfolded, profoundly impressed me.
These were, I can say, the best moments of my life as a chorister. I looked forward to feast days with impatient
joy….it is there, in this display of grandeur, in the midst of such great liturgical and musical riches, that I felt my
vocation as an organist….” He clearly took solace in the liturgy of the Church, and thus the foundation for his
compositional style was born out of the resulting love for and devotion to the traditions of centuries past.
Encouraged to study in Paris following his years in the Rouen Cathedral choir school, Duruflé began training with
Charles Tournemire of Sainte Clothilde and later Louis Vierne of Notre Dame Cathedral. His time with these two
giants had a formative influence, preparing him for admission to Paris Conservatoire. It was during his studies
with Eugene Gigout and Paul Dukas at the Conservatoire where his love of plainsong became fused with more
mature compositional technique. However, despite winning numerous awards in composition, Duruflé’s quest for
perfection increasingly became a source of obsession as well as frustration. It is estimated that he destroyed
nearly 90% of his works, refusing to let anything less than his best efforts become public.
In 1962, in honor of the 25th anniversary of the death of Louis Vierne, Duruflé published the Fugue sur le Thème
du Carillon des Heures de la Cathédrale de Soissons. The subject, taken from the carillon at Soissons
Cathedral, is shown below. The dedication is to Henri Doyen, organist of the cathedral, and who is believed to
have commissioned the work. Doyen wrote of the work, “….lively and sprightly, in a minor mode that
sometimes resembles Gregorian melody….always moving forward with seeming simplicity, always singing and
responding with the ringing of joyous, numerous bells, in turn crystalline and shimmering, until the masterful
ending on full organ.”
In 2002, the Méditation pour Orgue became the first piece by Duruflé to be published posthumously. As an
organ piece, it was only ever played by himself or his wife, Marie-Madeleine Chevalier Duruflé, for liturgies at
his longtime post at Saint Étienne-du-Mont in Paris. While the work was sketched for organ in 1964, Duruflé
elected to use its opening material as the basis for the Agnus Dei from the Messe “Cum Jubilo” of 1966 instead.
Like the Agnus Dei text itself, the piece is written with three statements of the opening material. Each time, it is
slightly modified and experiences increased harmonic tension. The piece ends serenely, offering a foil to the
intensity found in the opening theme.
Perhaps Duruflé’s most stirring work for organ is the Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d’Alain. Composed in 1942,
the piece was written in tribute to Duruflé’s friend and colleague, Jehan Alain. Alain, brother of the celebrated
organist Marie-Claire Alain, was killed in a 1940 battle in World War II. Through Alain’s all too brief collection
of dramatic and highly imaginative organ works, we get a glimpse of what a leading 20 th Century composer he
might have been. Duruflé undoubtedly shared this vision and was deeply affected by this loss.
For this piece, Duruflé extended the musical alphabet (beyond H, the German equivalent for B natural) as is
illustrated here:
ALAIN becomes ADAAF, the principal theme for both the Prélude and Fugue. In the closing bars of the
Prélude, Duruflé quotes the primary theme (shown below) from Litanies, perhaps Alain’s most popular work for
organ.
The double-fugue is a feat of 20th Century neo-classic counterpoint and is perhaps the finest example of such a
work written in the past 100 years. The opening, utilizing the original “ALAIN” subject, is reflective and somber
in character. The second, livelier theme – later combined with the first – gives the piece a rhythmic drive that
brings the work to its dramatic and powerful conclusion.
Duruflé’s most substantial plainsong-based work for organ is the Prélude, Adagio, et Choral Varié sur le thème
du “Veni Creator”. Composed in 1930, just after being appointed titular organist at Saint Etienne-du-Mont,
Duruflé won first prize in composition from Les Amis de l’Orgue for this work. It is a work that is unparalleled
in the great French tradition of organ music. The intricacy with which thematic development is undertaken is
limitless. The plainsong hymn consists of four phrases, each of which is brilliantly used for thematic material
throughout the work.
The Prélude features light and quietly shimmering triplet figures derived from the third phrase of the hymn. The
opening harmonic sequence almost certainly later inspired the opening bars of the Sanctus from the Requiem, Op.
9. Above the ever-present triplet figuration exists a series of canons at various intervals using the first six notes of
the third phrase in augmentation. After a brief opening section, a melody based upon the second phrase of the
hymn is played on an oboe stop. This phrase recurs using a variety of stops and is thematically varied throughout
the Prélude. The movement is brought to a close with a single flute stop with inner voices of the 6-part texture
stating more of the third phrase than has previously been heard. The final chord is an open fifth, giving a sense of
incompletion and reinforcing the modal nature of plainsong chant.
A recitative section which further develops the third phrase links the Prélude to the Adagio. As the texture settles
on undulating string stops and in the key of G minor, we hear the first phrase of the hymn for the first time. A
series of counter-melodies help develop and intensify the texture. A quasi-recitative section in G major –
centered yet again around the third phrase – is a momentary respite before the opening material of the Adagio is
heard again, this time in B flat minor. The previous counter-melodies are expanded upon as the piece leads to
what is perhaps the finest passage of organ music that Duruflé composed. A seamless crescendo ensues as
increased chromaticism and rhythmic compression lead to a profound and powerful climax. After the dust settles
and the listener is left wondering what will come next, the plainsong hymn is finally stated in its entirety. Four
variations follow, utilizing various compositional techniques and tonal colors of the organ. Perhaps as an homage
to the masters that preceded him, the final two variations are founded upon a canon at the fifth. The final
variation also reprises the triplets of the Prélude, using them to create a brilliant toccata. Duruflé’s mastery of
harmony is in full evidence towards the end of the final variation, where he seamlessly and effortlessly modulates
to a tri-tone away and then back again within the space of just a few measures. As the toccata reaches its climax,
the fourth phrase is heard in the soprano while the bass simultaneously plays the third phrase for a final time. In
the final bars, the pedal plays the theme for the “Amen”, adding final agreement and punctuation to the
culmination of the work.
In 1961, the Prélude sur l’Introit de l’Épiphanie appeared in a volume of Orgue and Liturgie, a publication
dedicated to the dissemination of new pieces for practical use in various liturgies. As the title suggests, this
particular volume was devoted to the feast and season of the Epiphany. Though it appears without an opus
number in its original publication, it was later designated Opus 13 by Mme. Duruflé. The piece is based upon the
antiphon from the Gregorian introit for the Mass of Epiphany “Ecce advenit dominator Dominus”: “Behold the
Lord ruler comes, and kingdom, power, and dominion are in His hand.” Like the many introits of Tournemire’s
L’Orgue mystique, this piece serves a brief, yet important liturgical purpose.
Dedicated to Charles Tournemire, the Scherzo mixes the playful mood so often found in this genre with
beautifully shaped melodies supported by sumptuous harmonies. The main theme – heard at the outset –
undergoes a variety of treatments in various keys and rhythm patterns. It follows the traditional scherzo form,
utilizing an A-B-A-C-A form. A coda concludes the piece in serenity, bringing to mind the tonal idiom of
Maurice Ravel. The piece was first written in 1926 and subject to later revisions when it was published in 1928,
becoming Duruflé’s debut publication for organ.
The Suite pour Orgue, composed in 1932 and dedicated to Paul Dukas, is one of two large-scale, multimovement works Duruflé composed for the organ. The Prélude is written in E flat minor, the same key with
which Dukas begins his Sonata for piano. The Sicillienne, with its lyrical and rhythmic lines, evokes the
harmonic and tonal ingenuity of Maurice Ravel. The Toccata is one of the finest examples of its genre found in
the French organ repertoire. It combines the dazzling technical demands expected of any toccata with long, lyrical
melodies that give unusual warmth to a technician’s ultimate challenge. In his 1938 visit to London, Duruflé
offered the following note for a performance of the work:
“The Prélude, which is somber in character, is composed in the form of a diptych. A single theme,
presented in three successive expositions, gradually accumulates the power of the organ. The second part
consists of a recitative, developing the first notes of the theme. The Sicilienne is of classic construction,
comprising three statements of the main theme and two episodes. The contrasting of timbres and a quest
for color have been the composer’s aim, as well as putting into relief the evocative character becoming to
this style of piece. The Toccata, which is in ternary form, begins with a short introduction, preparatory to
the entry of the rhythmic and vigorous principal theme, which is given to the pedals. In the middle
section, a second theme appears, and is later combined with the first. Finally, a return to the opening
measures, and a brilliant conclusion with the second theme.”
Over time, Duruflé developed a dislike for the Toccata. He revised the score years after its initial publication and
even added an entirely different ending.
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Erik Wm. Suter