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Marcel Dupré
ORGAN MUSIC
VOLUME 1
Alessandro Perin
at the organ of the Duomo of San Lorenzo, Abano Terme, Padua, Italy
Marcel Dupré 1886-1971 Marcel Dupré was unquestionably one of
Organ Music · Volume 1 the most eminent figures of the French organ
school in the twentieth century. He began
Suite in F minor Op.39 From “7 Pièces” Op.27 his musical studies at the age of seven, and
1. Allegro agitato 3’22 9. IV. Carillon 5’20 very quickly his prodigious gifts, his thirst
2. Cantabile 3’53 to learn, his rigour of work, his endurance
3. Scherzando 2’17 10. Variations sur un vieux Noël and his prodigious memory faculties were
4. Finale 4’06 in D minor Op.20 to propel him on a trajectory leading to
(Variations on a Noël) 12’51 career heights never reached before. His
4 Verses on the hymne brilliant career at the Paris Conservatory
“Ave Maris Stella” Évocation Op.37 Poème symphonique was crowned with numerous prizes, notably
From “15 Versets sur les Vêpres du 11. Moderato 8’30 in piano (Louis Diémer), organ (Alexandre
commun des fêtes de la Sainte Vierge” 12. Adagio con tenerezza 8’34 Guilmant), fugue and composition (Charles-
Op.18 13. Allegro deciso 7’31 Marie Widor). A virtuoso on both keyboard
5. I. When the Salutation Gabriel instruments and a gifted composer from
Had Spoken 1’08 an early age, Dupré quickly distinguished
6. II. Jesus Tender Mother, himself by his exceptional ability to improvise, a discipline in which he became an
Make Thy Supplication 2’19 undisputed master, and which he practiced throughout his life, both as a liturgical
7. III. So Now as We Journey, organist - notably on the rostrum of the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ at Saint-Sulpice
Aid Our Weak Endeavor 2’35 in Paris, where he succeeded Widor in 1934 - and as a concert performer in front of
8. IV. Amen (Finale) 2’09 a breathless audience. He went on to teach his art rigorously to two generations of
organists, when he himself became professor of the organ class at the Conservatoire
(1926-1954), succeeding Eugène Gigout. After his studies and under the influence
of Widor, he competed for the Prix de Rome for composition, which he won in July
Alessandro Perin organ 1914. Ironically, he never stayed at the Villa Medici because of the First World War.
at the organ of the Duomo of San Lorenzo, Abano Terme, Padua, Italy Dupré’s career had an exceptionally favourable start during this same period. In
1916, Louis Vierne, the illustrious titular of the Great Organ of Notre-Dame de Paris
– Dupré’s teacher and a disciple of Widor like himself - had to leave France for health

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reasons, and during the war period lived far away from his instrument, in forced he improvised at the opening concert before a jubilant audience - his first public
exile. Dupré, who had occasionally replaced him before, became his official substitute improvisation of a complete symphony - was hailed by the press as a ‘musical
until Vierne’s return in 1920, a return that complicated relations between the two miracle’. Dupré was quickly won over by the advanced state of American organ
men, which had previously been affectionate and cordial. Nonetheless, the brilliant building: electric drives, light and precise touch, the ability to memorize timbre
young musician quickly made a name for himself for his style and his assertive combinations. These novelties had a direct influence on the way he wrote, which is
personality. On 15 August 1919, during the service of Vespers, an anonymous person immediately apparent in his Variations sur vieux Noël (Variations on Old Christmas),
in the crowd was deeply impressed by the improvisations he heard. It was Claude Op.20, composed during the tour. While these variations seem to be rooted in a
Johnson, Chairman and Managing Director of the Rolls-Royce firm, a great music French tradition dating back to the seventeenth century, they are marked by their
lover, organ enthusiast and also a patron of the arts. He met Dupré and commissioned extraordinarily innovative and ambitious character. The ancient popular melody
him to write a work which was to reflect the liturgical improvisations he had heard Noël nouvelet, elegant and melodically close to the Ave Maris Stella, provides the
the previous Sunday. Thus were born 15 Versets pour les Vepres du commun des fêtes material for the elaboration of dazzling ‘études tableaux’, a concept which was also
de la Sainte Vierge (Vespers of Our Lady), Op.18, which Johnson edited at his own dear to Rachmaninoff, teeming with musical inventions of composition, colouring
expense. The composer gave the first performance of the work at the Royal Albert and moods. They constitute a plethora of transcendental studies for the organ, as
Hall in London on December 9, 1920. The four verses on Ave Maris Stella form the well as character pieces, and the few variations that are easy to execute (3rd, 6th,
heart of the work, preceded by five antiphons from the Psalms and followed by six 8th) display by contrast great contrapuntal skills of canonic composition. The
verses from the Magnificat. In each of these verses, the Gregorian melody is treated finale is in two parts, with a concise, rigorous and light-hearted fugato followed by
in a particularly inventive and innovative way. The first is symphonic in character, a dazzling toccata, in which the theme thunders victoriously on the pedal under a
with the theme performed in canon between the soprano and bass. The second, on repeated chordal beat, a technique borrowed from the Lisztian piano tradition. With
the contrary, is collected and meditative, the theme evolving in the tenor register on a a transition to major mode that transforms the Noël theme into a veritable hymn of
soloist's playing, set in subtle and mysterious hues. The third is an ornate chorale in glory, the work ends in a spectacular, luminous and triumphant chiming of bells.
the style of Bach. Here, Dupré anticipates his future collection entitled the Tombeau The discovery of the American organ and its facilities, but also the special
de Titelouze, Op.38, in which he set out to apply the traditional forms of Lutheran atmosphere of the venues where he performed, influenced Dupré’s style of composing
chorale treatment to Gregorian hymns. The fourth and last verse has become one of in the following years. The so-called ‘concert’ repertoire was gradually gaining
the composer's best-known pieces, a brilliant, dazzling Toccata which immediately ground, and Louis Vierne in particular had already paved the way with his Pièces
speaks to the heart of the listener with its fierce energy and conciseness. en style libre, later extended by his more elaborate Pièces de Fantaisie. In the same
Dupré's London debut was a convincing triumph, and his ensuing tour in the spirit, Dupré composed his Seven Pieces, Op.27, in 1931, most of which are in fact
United Kingdom put him in the spotlight even more and opened the doors to his based on some of his teacher’s Pièces en style libre. The Carillon, the fourth part of
future American tours. The first of these took place in 1921, and the symphony the collection, is a veritable perpetuum mobile, founded on a basis of parallel fourths,

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another display of scintillating bells. The theme, which eminently displays all the movement contrasts, and irresistibly evokes the climate of war and its barbarity, as
glittering power of the symphonic organ, is inspired by the ringing of a real carillon, well as an underlying yearning for revenge and victory. The flow of the development
that of the church of the Immaculée-Conception in Elbeuf near Rouen, where Marcel is interspersed with two episodes reminiscent of the first two movements, and the
Dupré's father, Albert, was himself organist before eventually becoming titular coda quotes a third - from the first movement - before concluding with a triumphant
organist of the famous Cavaillé-Coll organ in the abbey church of Saint-Ouen in C major, asserted by three striking, masterful and final chords.
Rouen. After the war, Dupré directed his compositional research into two main directions.
Albert Dupré died in 1940, at a time when the masterpiece of the brilliant organ His ambition to develop instrumental technique led him to write a series of twelve
builder had been dismantled the previous year for a necessary restauration. It was transcendental studies, which he intended for one of his most brilliant disciples, with
a double blow for the composer, in this troubled period at the beginning of the whom he maintained strong ties after her graduation at the conservatory: Jeanne
Second World War, to be unable to pay homage to his father as he would have Demessieux. The latter herself published a collection of Etudes, which was quickly
wished, for lack of an instrument. However, the instrument was rebuilt in 1941, renamed, leading the composer to step aside in order to better showcase it, and
allowing for a new inauguration. For the occasion, Dupré composed a lengthy piece to retain the publication of his own studies. However, these would eventually be
in a new genre: his symphonic poem Evocation, Op.37. The symphonic aesthetic published in different opuses, such as the Deux Esquisses (two sketches) Op.41, later
is often manifestly present throughout the body of works of the composer, but his joined by a third, published after the composer's death by Rolande Falcinelli, another
relationship to the symphonic form was rather paradoxical. He wrote only two, great disciple, who would succeed him in the organ class at the conservatoire in 1954.
atypical, pieces of the genre: his Symphonie-Passion, Op.23, a poem or sacred fresco Four of them provided the material for the Suite, Op.39. It is therefore through this
in four tableaux, and his Second Symphony, Op.26, which is in fact a triptych, with dimension of ‘study’ that the work must be viewed. The first movement, Allegro
a concise dramaturgy. As an improviser, Dupré practiced the classical symphony agitato, is particularly characteristic of this aspect, developing an intertwining of
extensively, but in a language and conception much more traditional than as a technical formulas, virtuosic and spectacular, evolving in a harmonic spectrum that
composer. In his writing, he quickly abandoned the genre in favor of the symphonic is deliberately dizzying. The second movement, Cantabile, much more restrained and
poem, a form that attracted him and which he developed in a unique way. It is not a intimate, is in fact a ricercare under a different name. The third movement is a playful
literary, mythological or pictorial subject that inspires Evocation, but quite simply the Scherzando, whose openly humorous or entertaining tone – a rare occurrence in the
musician's childhood memories, linked to his parents, to the Abbey of Saint-Ouen and composer's repertoire - as well as the delicate hues, make one forget its difficulty of
its unique atmosphere, as well as to his legendary instrument. The work consists of execution. The Finale bears the mark of the great Dupré, martial, scolded, implacable,
three movements. The first movement includes numerous contrasting episodes which and concludes the whole in a heroic and haughty mood.
constitute as many ‘scenes’, where one encounters real gems of writing, harmony and © Vincent Crosnier
instrumental colouring. The second movement, full of nostalgia, tenderness and poetic Translation: Jan Tazelaar
abstraction, alludes to the composer's mother. The energy and harshness of the third

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Organ of the Duomo of San Lorenzo, Abano Terme - Padua (Italy) Pedale
Organ sound Composition "Tamburini" after the general review and processing Principale 32
carried out by the manufacturer Diego Bonato designed by Francesco Finotti, Contrabbasso 16
June 1999. Subbasso 16
Bordone 16
Accessories: 6 x 255 = 1530 adjustable combinations, advancement in sequence “+” Gran quinta 10.2/3
and “-” key block level, “Crescendo”, expressive, invoking selector grids adjustable Basso 8
piston pairs and unions, under the front of the first keyboard, loud pedal, Anches, Bordone 8
Fonds, Mixtures, All lighs, adjustable bench and pedalboard, lectern. Flauto 4
Flauto 2
I Manuale - Organo II Manuale - III Manuale - Recit
Tiorba II
Positivo Grand’Organo Flauto di concerto 8
Controfagotto 32
Principale 8 Principale 16 Bordone 8
Bombarda 16
Flauto a camino 8 Principale 8 Viola 8
Fagotto 16
Unda maris 8 Corno camoscio 8 Celeste 8
Tromba 8
Ottava 4 Flauto di concerto 8 Ottava 4
Baryton 8
Flauto a cuspide 4 Flauto cilindrico 8 Flauto del Colle 4
Corno di bassetto 4
Decimaquinta 2 Ottava 4 Nazardo 2.2/3
Settima 1.1/7 Flauto 4 Ottavino 2
Piccolo 1 Terza 3.1/5 Terza 1.3/5
Sesquialtera II Duodecima 2.2/3 Larigot 1.1/3
Cembalo II Decimaquinta 2 Ripieno V
Tromba armonica 8 Cornetto V (da g) Bombarda 16
Cromorno 8 Mixtur IV Tromba 8 Unioni: I/Ped. – II/Ped. – III/Ped. – Acuta
Chamade 4/16 Ripieno II Clarone 4 I/Ped. – Acuta II/Ped. – Acuta III/Ped.
Tremolo Ripieno IV Oboe 8 – I/II – III/II – III/I – Grave I – Acuta
Fagotto 16 Voix humaine 8 I – Grave III/I – Acuta III/I – Acuta II
Musette 16 Campane – Grave I/II – Acuta I/II – Grave III/II –
Tromba 8 Espressioni divise Acuta III/II – Grave III – Acuta III
Chamade 8 Tremolo
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Alessandro Perin was born in Conselve
(Padua), Italy, in 1984. He received a
Master’s Degree in Organ and Organ
Composition (2008) from the Pollini
Conservatory in Padua, Italy, where
he studied with Rino Rizzato. He has
also studied harpsichord with Roberto
Loreggian and received a Master’s Degree
in Harpsichord from the Dall’Abaco
Conservatory in Verona. He studied at
Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Special thanks to:
Hamburg (Germany) with Prof. Wolfgang Daniele Tobio, for the precious assistance, promptings and encouragement
Zerer and Prof. Menno van Delft and Vincent Crosnier, titular organist of the Church of Saint Joseph in Eghien-les-Bains
received a Master’s Degree in Organ in Giacomo Aduso, titular organist of the Duomo of San Lorenzo in Abano Terme
2010. The following year he frequented don Alessio Bertesso, parish priest of the Duomo of San Lorenzo in Abano Terme
an advanced course at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis with Prof. Andrea Marcon.
Furthermore the lessons he received from Italian organist Francesco Finotti were of
fundamental importance for his musical growth. In 2008 he also graduated cum laude
in Classical Philology at the University of Padua. Since 2015 he is official organist at
the S. Maria Assunta Cathedral in Padua.
He became inspired by the music and playing of Jean Guillou who had a
profound influence on his style of playing and approach to the organ. In May
2017 he performed in a concert Guillou’s organ transcription of Stravinsky’s Trois
mouvements de Pétrouchka in the presence of the great French organist.
He published the first Italian translation (Armelin, 2014) of Kleine
Generalbassschule of Johann Mattheson (1681-1764). In 2018 he recorded for Tactus
Recording: 18-19 June 2020, Duomo of San Lorenzo, Abano Terme (PD), Italy
a double cd dedicated to organ works of the Paduan composer Gaetano Valeri
Recording, editing and mastering: Federico Savio
(1764-1832). Cover: Ambrose McEvoy, Monsieur Marcel Dupré at the organ of Notre Dame
Photo page 3: Dupré 1942, Saint-Pierre Church at Caen (France), Cavaillé-Coll organ (destroyed), courtesy of the
President of ‘Association des Amis de l’Art de Marcel Dupré’ of Paris, Mr. Bruno Chaumet
10 p & © 2021 Brilliant Classics 11