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French Organ School
The French organ school formed in the first half of the 17th century. It progressed from the strict polyphonic music of Jean Titelouze (c. 1563–1633) to a unique, richly ornamented style with its own characteristic forms that made full use of the French classical organ. Instrumental in establishing this style were Louis Couperin (c. 1626–1661), who experimented with structure, registration and melodic lines, expanding the traditional polyphonic forms, and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (1632–1714), who established the distinct forms and styles of what was to become the French organ tradition. Characteristic forms and nomenclature French organ composers cultivated four major genres: masses, hymns, suites and noëls. Noëls are variations on Christmas carols, whereas the first three genres were all realized as collections of brief pieces in various characteristic forms. Such forms included the following: * Récit: a piece in which a single voice emerges soloistically above ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jean Titelouze
Jean (''Jehan'') Titelouze (c. 1562/63 – 24 October 1633) was a French Catholic priest, composer, poet and organist of the early Baroque period. He was a canon and organist at Rouen Cathedral. His style was firmly rooted in the Renaissance vocal tradition, and as such was far removed from the distinctly French style of organ music that developed during the mid-17th century. However, his hymns and Magnificat settings are the earliest known published French organ collections, and he is regarded as the first composer of the French organ school. Life In a 1930 study Amédée Gastoué suggested that the surname Titelouze may be of English or Irish origin (more specifically, derived from "Title-House"), but recently this supposition has been disproven, and "Titelouze" is now linked to "de Toulouse".Howell, Cohen, Grove. Titelouze was born in Saint-Omer in 1562/3 (his exact date of birth is unknown) and educated there; by 1585 he entered the priesthood and served as organist of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nicolas Gigault
Nicolas Gigault (ca. 1627 – 20 August 1707) was a French Baroque organist and composer. Born into poverty, he quickly rose to fame and high reputation among fellow musicians. His surviving works include the earliest examples of noëls and a volume of works representative of the 1650–1675 style of the French organ school. Life Little is known about Gigault's life. François-Joseph Fétis, a 19th-century musicologist, claimed Gigault was born in Clayes-en-Brie, a village near Paris. However, no locality survives by that name. It is supposed that Gigault's birthplace was just outside Paris. A similar situation occurred concerning Gigault's date of birth: André Pirro deduced in the early 20th century that Gigault must have been born in 1624/5, however, a later study by Pierre Hardouin revealed that the composer could not have been born before 1627. Gigault's father, Estienne Gigault, was a bailiff at the law-courts of Paris. Gigault was born into poverty and his financial situat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gaspard Corrette
Gaspard Corrette (c. 1671before 1733) was a French composer and organist. He was born around 1671, probably in Rouen, where he was organist for the church of St-Herbland. In approximately 1720 he moved to Paris. The exact date of his death is not known. His son, Michel Corrette, also was a musician, composer, violinist, harpsichordist and organist. Works The only surviving work by Corrette is an organ mass in the eighth Church Mode, published in 1703. The mass consists of 24 pieces, all in Tone 5, except for the ''Elevation'' which is in Tone 1. ''Messe du 8e Ton pour l’Orgue à l’Usage des Dames Religieuses, et utile à ceux qui touchent l’orgue.'' * ''Premier Kyrie - Grand Plein Jeu'' * ''Fugue'' * ''Cromhorne en Taille'' * ''Trio à deux dessus'' * ''Dialogue à deux Choeurs'' * ''Gloria In Excelsis - Prélude à deux Choeurs'' * ''Concert pour les Flûtes'' * ''Duo'' * ''Récit tendre pour le Nasard'' * ''Dialogue de Voix humaine'' * ''Basse de Trompette ou de Cromhor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Marchand
Louis Marchand (2 February 1669 – 17 February 1732) was a French Baroque organist, harpsichordist, and composer. Born into an organist's family, Marchand was a child prodigy and quickly established himself as one of the best known French virtuosos of his time. He worked as organist of numerous churches and, for a few years, as one of the four ''organistes du roy''. Marchand had a violent temperament and an arrogant personality, and his life was filled with scandals, publicized and widely discussed both during his lifetime and after his death. Despite his fame, few of his works survive to this day, and those that do almost all date from his early years. Nevertheless, a few pieces of his, such as the organ pieces ''Grand dialogue'' and ''Fond d'orgue'' have been lauded as classic works of the French organ school. Life Marchand came from a musical family: his grandfather, Pierre (d.1676) had been a schoolmaster and music teacher and his three sons, Jean (Marchand's father), Pie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charles Piroye
Charles Piroye (c. 1668-1672c. 1730) was a French Baroque organist and composer. Biography Very little is known about his life, and even the dates of his birth and death have not yet been determined. He may have been born in Paris. His teachers were Jean-Baptiste Lully and Michel Lambert, but some of the surviving music suggests not their influence, but that of Marc-Antoine Charpentier. From 1690 to 1712 Piroye was organist of the Jacobins Church at Rue St. Jacques, and from 1708 to 1712 organist at Saint-Honoré. He started publishing his music at least as early as 1695; a tax register from that year lists him among the organists of the second rank (the "first rank" included François Couperin, Louis Marchand, and others). By 1712 he was evidently very well known, for the publisher of Piroye's ''Pièces choisies'' mentioned the composer's exceptionally high reputation ("each day renewed applause") in the preface. Évrard Titon du Tillet, writing in 1732, referred to Piroye as on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
François Couperin
François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musically talented Couperin family. Life Couperin was born in Paris, into a prominent musical family. His father Charles was organist at the Church of Saint-Gervais in the city, a position previously held by Charles's brother Louis Couperin, the esteemed keyboard virtuoso and composer whose career was cut short by an early death. As a boy François must have received his first music lessons from his father, but Charles died in 1679 leaving the position at Saint-Gervais to his son, a common practice known as ''survivance'' that few churches ignored. With their hands tied, the churchwardens at Saint-Gervais hired Michel Richard Delalande to serve as new organist on the understanding that François would replace him at age 18. However, it is likely Couperin b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pierre Dandrieu
Pierre Dandrieu (d'Andrieu) (baptised in Angers on 21 March 1664 – 20 October 1733) was a French priest, composer and organist. Life Pierre Dandrieu was baptised in Angers. After studying with Lebègue, he held the organ of , now destroyed, on the île de la Cité in Paris, for more than 40 years. His nephew Jean-François Dandrieu succeeded him to this same gallery in 1733. Dandrieu died in Paris on 20 October 1733. Works Pierre Dandrieu published around 1714 a book of 42 and various pieces for the organ (mainly) or harpsichord, published again between 1721 and 1733 (c. 1725 according to the BnF) : :NOELS. / O Filii, Chansons de Saint Jacques, / Stabat Mater, et Carillons. / Le Tout Revû augmenté / et Extrêmement Varié, et mis pour L’Orgue / Et pour le Claveçin. / par Mr. Dandrieu / Prêtre et Organiste de St. Barthelemy / À Paris. (s. d.) :1. ''À la Venue de Noel'' :2. ''Une Jeune Pucelle'' :3. ''Chantons je vous prie Noel hautement'' :4. ''Or nous dites M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mathieu Lanes
Mathieu Lanes (1660–1725 in Toulouse) was a French harpsichordist, organist and composer. Life Almost nothing is known about him, except that he was organist and choir master of the Saint-Étienne Toulouse Cathedral at the beginning of the 18th century. Works He is known by a 134-page manuscript entitled ''Petites Pièces d'orgue de M. Lanes'' (1710–1722), with 90 anonymous parts for the organ, and harpsichord pieces by François Couperin. (''Le Rossignol en amour, Double du Rossignol en amour, Fanfare pour la suite de Diane, La Voluptueuse''), kept at the Library of the municipal conservatory of Toulouse (Res. Mus. Cons. 943). Some pieces such as the Gavote, the Rondeau, the Piémontoise and the Sonata in G major were likely to be played on the harpsichord. Modern reprints * ''Petites pièces d’orgue de Mathieu Lanes'', ed. Norbert Dufourcq, Roger Hugon, Janine Alaux and Roberte Machard. Paris: , Heugel, 1970. - XVII-91 p. Discography France Orguediscography by Al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jacques Boyvin
Jacques Boyvin (c. 1649 – 30 June 1706) was a French Baroque composer and organist. He was probably born in Paris, and studied there. One of his first jobs was that of organist of the Parisian church ''des Quinze-Vingts'', and in 1674 he was appointed titular organist of the Rouen Cathedral, where Jean Titelouze served as organist some 40 years earlier. Other jobs included playing the organ of Rouen's Saint Herbland Church and supervising the rebuilding of the giant four-manual Clicquot cathedral organ. Boyvin was also an organ teacher: François d'Agincourt was one of his pupils and succeeded him as organist of the Rouen Cathedral. Like Titelouze, Boyvin remained the organist of the cathedral until his death on 30 June 1706. Boyvin published two collections of organ works, in 1689 and in 1700, both featuring pieces spanning all church modes. The books contain 16 suites, no less than 120 individual pieces total. The second book contains the ''Traité abrégé de l'accompagnement ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gilles Jullien
Gilles Jullien (c. 1651/165314 September 1703) was a French Baroque composer and organist. He is credited with bringing the style of French organ music then current in Paris to Chartres.Apel 1973, 734. Almost nothing is known about Jullien's life or training. His burial certificate indicates he was 50 or slightly younger when he died, so he must have been born between 1651 and 1653. It is assumed that he became organist of the Chartres Cathedral on 6 December 1667. The date is questionable, but the fact that Jullien was appointed organist of the cathedral while still very young is indisputable. He occupied this position until his death in Chartres in 1703. He was succeeded at the cathedral by his eldest son, Jean-François Jullien. All of Jullien's surviving music is contained in his ''Premier Livre d'orgue'' (Paris, 1690). It consists of around 80 pieces (most influenced by Nicolas Lebègue's work), organized into eight organ suites in the eight church modes. According to the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lambert Chaumont
Lambert Chaumont (c. 1630 – April 1712) was a Flemish Baroque composer and organist. Chaumont was from the Liège area, possibly born in that city. The earliest mention of his name dates from January 1649, when he is listed as a lay brother at the Carmelite monastery at Liège. He was still there in October 1651, and then a monastery accounts entry dated 8 May 1659 lists Chaumont among the nine brothers who completed their novitiates at the monastery at Reims. Nothing is known about the next 15 years of Chamount's life. On 10 February 1674 he was made rector of the parish of St. Martin's Church at Huy. The post was insignificant, and the church and the parish were very small, but eventually Chaumont's career progressed further. On 7 September 1688 he became priest of the parish of the nearby St. Germain's Church, and ''pater'' of the Carmelites at Huy. He occupied these positions until his death in 1712.Quitin, Grove. Chaumont's extant oeuvre comprises a collection of organ mus ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
André Raison
André Raison (c. 1640 – 1719) was a French Baroque composer and organist. During his lifetime he was one of the most famous French organists and an important influence on French organ music. He published two collections of organ works, in 1688 and 1714. The first contains liturgical music intended for monasteries and a preface with information on contemporary performance practice. The second contains mostly noëls (variations on Christmas carols). Life The exact date and place of Raison's birth are unknown. He was born in the 1640s, possibly in or near the town of Nanterre (today a suburb of Paris). He was educated there at the seminary of the Church of St. Geneviève (today a commune of Paris). Raison's later life was evidently greatly influenced by the experiences at St. Geneviève. Writing in 1687 or 1688 (in the preface to his ''Premier livre d’orgue'', published in 1688) the composer mentioned that he found the purpose of his life while studying at the seminary. Around ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
