Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword, by Jesse Eschbach
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader on Terminology
- Introduction
- Chapter One Duruflé's Childhood and Early Education
- Chapter Two Life at the Cathedral Choir School
- Chapter Three Lessons with Charles Tournemire
- Chapter Four Lessons with Louis Vierne
- Chapter Five The Conservatoire Student
- Chapter Six Duruflé's Distinctions
- Chapter Seven The Contested Successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde
- Chapter Eight Duruflé's Performing Career
- Chapter Nine The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Ten The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Eleven Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire
- Chapter Twelve Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Thirteen Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Fourteen Duruflé's Compositions: Their Genesis and First Performances
- Chapter Fifteen Duruflé's Role in the Plainsong Revival
- Chapter Sixteen The Vichy Commissions
- Chapter Seventeen The Requiem
- Chapter Eighteen The Musical History of Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Nineteen The Organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Twenty Duruflé as Organist and Teacher
- Chapter Twenty-One Duruflé and Organ Design
- Chapter Twenty-Two The Church in Transition
- Chapter Twenty-Three The North American Tours
- Chapter Twenty-Four The Man Duruflé
- Appendix A Maurice Duruflé
- Appendix B Discography
- Appendix C Stoplists of Organs Important to the Careers of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
Chapter Ten - The Orchestral Musician
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 March 2023
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Foreword, by Jesse Eschbach
- Preface
- Acknowledgments
- A Note to the Reader on Terminology
- Introduction
- Chapter One Duruflé's Childhood and Early Education
- Chapter Two Life at the Cathedral Choir School
- Chapter Three Lessons with Charles Tournemire
- Chapter Four Lessons with Louis Vierne
- Chapter Five The Conservatoire Student
- Chapter Six Duruflé's Distinctions
- Chapter Seven The Contested Successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde
- Chapter Eight Duruflé's Performing Career
- Chapter Nine The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Ten The Orchestral Musician
- Chapter Eleven Professor of Harmony at the Paris Conservatoire
- Chapter Twelve Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Thirteen Marie-Madeleine Chevalier
- Chapter Fourteen Duruflé's Compositions: Their Genesis and First Performances
- Chapter Fifteen Duruflé's Role in the Plainsong Revival
- Chapter Sixteen The Vichy Commissions
- Chapter Seventeen The Requiem
- Chapter Eighteen The Musical History of Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Nineteen The Organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont
- Chapter Twenty Duruflé as Organist and Teacher
- Chapter Twenty-One Duruflé and Organ Design
- Chapter Twenty-Two The Church in Transition
- Chapter Twenty-Three The North American Tours
- Chapter Twenty-Four The Man Duruflé
- Appendix A Maurice Duruflé
- Appendix B Discography
- Appendix C Stoplists of Organs Important to the Careers of Maurice and Marie-Madeleine Duruflé
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
- Eastman Studies in Music
Summary
In 1938 and 1939 Duruflé was the soloist for the two premieres of Francis Poulenc's Concerto for organ. The experience brought him into brief contact with the Princess Edmond de Polignac, one of the greatest music patrons of the time. Moreover, the greater popularity of the concerto on this side of the Atlantic has lent a singular importance to Duruflé's having played the premieres, which one critic described as “one of his most important assignments.” But given the rocky course of the concerto's genesis, it is surprising the premieres ever came to pass.
The Princess Edmond de Polignac (1865–1943) was the American heiress to the Singer sewing machine fortune. Born Winnaretta Singer, she had a Paris salon that was the center of artistic and musical life between the wars. She showcased Fauré and Debussy, and commissioned new works from the major composers of her day, including Satie, Ravel, Stravinsky, de Falla, Jean Françaix, Igor Markevitch, and Poulenc. From Poulenc she commissioned two works, the Concerto for two pianos and the Concerto for organ. The princess was herself a pianist and organist, having studied the latter with Eugène Gigout and Nadia Boulanger. Her second husband, Prince Edmond de Polignac, thirty years her senior, was a descendant of the Cardinal Melchior de Polignac.
Beginning in 1933, Nadia Boulanger became the princess's advisor for new commissions and for the concerts presented in her salon. Polignac's commission for an organ concerto was made through Boulanger, in the autumn of 1934, and was originally offered not to Poulenc, but to Jean Françaix. Françaix found himself too busy with other projects and suggested Poulenc, who accepted the commission enthusiastically.
On September 16, 1934, the princess wrote to Poulenc offering him 12,500 francs, half of what he wanted for the commission. In the same month, Boulanger wrote to Poulenc, telling him of her delight about the concerto, hoping to chat with him about “the possibility of writing a work that the princess could eventually play, perhaps with a quartet or piano!”
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Maurice DurufléThe Man and His Music, pp. 69 - 75Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007