Maurice Duruflé

University of Rochester Press

2007

xxii, 375 p.

Eastman studies in music

List of Duruflé's works: p. [245]-249. Includes bibliographical references (p. [279]-354), discography (p. [250]-258), and index.

9781580462273

Maurice Durufle: The Man and His Music is a new biography of the great French organist and composer (1902-86), and the most comprehensive in any language. Written by James E. Frazier, himself an organist and noted authority on Durufle's life and work, this book traces Durufle's musical formation as an impressionable chorister at the cathedral in Rotten; his studies with Charles Tournemire and Louis Vierne and at the Paris Conservatoire; and his subsequent career as performer, composer, and Conservatoire professor. Frazier also examines the career and contributions of Durufle's wife, the formidable organist Marie-Madeleine Durufle-Chevaller." "Durulle brought the church's unique language of plainsong into a compelling liaison with the secular harmonies of the modern French school as typified by Debussy, Ravel, and Dukas." "Frazier's book reveals the genesis and early history of each of Durufle's works, including the fact that his widely loved masterpiece - the Requiem Op. 9 for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra - was composed on commission from the Vichy government. The book describes the conflicted circumstances, particularly the turbulent relationship of the French church with French secularism and nationalism, under which Durulle composed what proved to be one of the greatest choral works of the twentieth century." "Frazier, drawing on the accounts of those who knew Durufle personally as well as on his own detailed research, offers a broad sketch of this modest and elusive man, whom some considered a pathological perfectionist, but who is widely recognized today for having created some of the greatest works in the organ repertory - and the masterful Requiem.

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