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André Raison (c. 1640 – 1719) was a French
Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
and
organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...
. 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 Nanterre (; ) is the prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located some northwest of the centre of Paris. In 2018, the commune had a population of 96,807. The eastern part of Nanterre, b ...
(today a suburb of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
). He was educated there at the
seminary A seminary, school of theology, theological college, or divinity school is an educational institution for educating students (sometimes called seminarians) in scripture and theology, generally to prepare them for ordination to serve as cle ...
of the Church of St. Geneviève (today a commune of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
). 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 1665–66 Raison was appointed organist of the
Abbey of St Genevieve The Abbey of Saint Genevieve (French: ''Abbaye Sainte-Geneviève'') was a monastery in Paris. Reportedly built by Clovis, King of the Franks in 502, it became a centre of religious scholarship in the Middle Ages. It was suppressed at the time of t ...
in Paris, another place connected to St Genevieve and one that owned the land on which the Nanterre church stood. In Paris Raison first lived in a room in "The Guardian Angel", a house in Rue Saint Etienne des Grez, two city blocks away from the abbey. Apparently this was a very modest accommodation, yet Raison remained there for more than twenty years. After 1687–88 he moved to a much larger house at the intersection of the Rue Saint Etienne des Grez and Cholets. His life was improving steadily, and a tax register of 1695 places him in the top rank of Parisian organists, along with
François Couperin François Couperin (; 10 November 1668 – 11 September 1733) was a French Baroque music, Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. He was known as ''Couperin le Grand'' ("Couperin the Great") to distinguish him from other members of the musi ...
, Jean-Henri d'Anglebert, Nicolas Gigault, Nicolas de Grigny, and
Louis Marchand Louis Marchand (2 February 1669 – 17 February 1732) was a French 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 ...
.Butler, Grove. Finally, Raison's ''Second livre d'orgue'', published in 1714, indicates that at that time he worked as organist at the church of the
Jacobins The Society of the Friends of the Constitution (), renamed the Society of the Jacobins, Friends of Freedom and Equality () after 1792 and commonly known as the Jacobin Club () or simply the Jacobins (; ), was the most influential List of polit ...
at Rue St. Jacques in Paris.Gay 1975, 49. He died a few years later in 1719, and was succeeded at the Jacobins church by his most illustrious pupil, Louis-Nicolas Clérambault. Clérambault's ''Premier livre d'orgue'' (1710) was dedicated to Raison. Although Raison was somewhat interested in politics (at least twice he produced pieces inspired by political events: an
offertory The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
from ''Premier livre d'orgue'' is dedicated to
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
's entrance into the city hall on 30 January 1687, and several pieces in ''Second livre d'orgue'' commemorate the "long desired peace" that followed the
Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
). As far as the circumstances of his life are known, he seems to have been an exceptionally private and pious person. No record of Raison travelling or acting as organ consultant survives. His ''Premier livre d'orgue'' contains extensive instructions for inexperienced church musicians. He apparently never played at court and was not known by the associations there. His contacts with other organists were probably limited, and he was not mentioned in
Évrard Titon du Tillet Évrard Titon du Tillet (January 1677 – 26 December 1762) is best known for his important biographical chronicle, ''Le Parnasse françois'', composed of brief anecdotal lives of famous French poets and musicians of his time, under the reign of Lo ...
's famous ''Le Parnasse François'', a 1732 book of biographies of famous French musicians. The ''Lettres sur les hommes célèbres du siècle de Louis XV'', a similar book by the son of organist and composer Louis-Claude Daquin, also does not contain any mention of Raison, even though Raison's pupil Clérambault is given due praise.


Works

The first collection, ''Premier livre d'orgue'' of 1688, consists entirely of
liturgical Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
music: five masses (in order of appearance, in the first, second, third, sixth and eighth
modes Mode ( meaning "manner, tune, measure, due measure, rhythm, melody") may refer to: Arts and entertainment * MO''D''E (magazine), a defunct U.S. women's fashion magazine * ''Mode'' magazine, a fictional fashion magazine which is the setting fo ...
) and an
offertory The offertory (from Medieval Latin ''offertorium'' and Late Latin ''offerre'') is the part of a Eucharistic service when the bread and wine for use in the service are ceremonially placed on the altar. A collection of alms (offerings) from the c ...
in the fifth mode. The offertory has a subtitle "Vive le Roy des Parisiens" ("Long live the King of
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
ians"), referencing
Louis XIV LouisXIV (Louis-Dieudonné; 5 September 16381 September 1715), also known as Louis the Great () or the Sun King (), was King of France from 1643 until his death in 1715. His verified reign of 72 years and 110 days is the List of longest-reign ...
's entrance into the city hall on 30 January 1687. The collection features a long preface in which Raison explains that ''Premier livre d'orgue'' was composed to assist the musicians of secluded
monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which m ...
; for them he provides important instructions concerning style, ornamentation, registration and other aspects of performance practice. He also mentions that, since no pieces of the collection employ
plainchant Plainsong or plainchant (calque from the French ; ) is a body of chants used in the liturgies of the Western Church. When referring to the term plainsong, it is those sacred pieces that are composed in Latin text. Plainsong was the exclusive for ...
melodies, they can also be used as 15
Magnificat The Magnificat (Latin for "y soulmagnifies he Lord) is a canticle, also known as the Song of Mary or Canticle of Mary, and in the Byzantine Rite as the Ode of the Theotokos (). Its Western name derives from the incipit of its Latin text. This ...
settings. A much quoted passage instructs the performer to carefully observe the tempo of each piece to understand which dance is implied by the texture. All five masses follow the same standard scheme: 5 versets for Kyrie, 9 for Gloria, 3 for Sanctus, one Elevation, 2 Agnus Dei versets and a Deo Gratias. There are only minor variations: the first mass has an alternate version of Kyrie 1, the third provides one for Agnus 2, and the titles of Gloria settings are slightly changed in the 6th tone mass. The individual pieces are short versets in various typical forms of the French organ school: duos, trios, dialogues, fugues, récits, etc.; some are expressly labelled as such, others are not. Somewhat unusual for French music of the era are two
ostinato In music, an ostinato (; derived from the Italian word for ''stubborn'', compare English ''obstinate'') is a motif or phrase that persistently repeats in the same musical voice, frequently in the same pitch. Well-known ostinato-based pieces inc ...
variations – a
passacaglia The passacaglia (; ) is a musical form that originated in early seventeenth-century Spain and is still used today by composers. It is usually of a serious character and is typically based on a bass- ostinato and written in triple metre. Origin Th ...
(''Christe'' of the ''Messe du Deuxième ton'') and a
chaconne A chaconne ( , ; ; ; earlier English: chacony) is a type of musical composition often used as a vehicle for Variation (music), variation on a repeated short harmonic progression, often involving a fairly short repetitive bass-line (ground bass ...
(''Christe'' of the ''Messe du Sixième ton''). Both are much shorter than their German and Italian equivalents. Some 20 years later
Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: Help:IPA/Standard German, �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque music, Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety ...
used the bass from Raison's passacaglia for his famous '' Passacaglia and Fugue in C minor'',
BWV The (, ; BWV) is a Catalogues of classical compositions, catalogue of compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was first published in 1950, edited by Wolfgang Schmieder. The catalogue's second edition appeared in 1990 and the third edition in ...
582 (the bass from ''Trio en chaconne'' was also possibly used by Bach for the same piece). Many of the pieces are notable for their consistent employment of imitative counterpoint: for example, the ''Fugue grave'' of the third mass is fully imitative, a strict four-voice fugue, and even the passacaglia begins with an imitative passage. Other notable pieces include ''Gloria: Tu solus altissimus'' from the ''Messe du Sixième ton'', which is a Cromorne-Cornet dialogue alternating between 3/4 and
common time A time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, and measure signature) is an indication in music notation that specifies how many note values of a particular type fit into each measure ( bar). The time signature indicates the ...
, and ''Autre Kyrie'' from ''Messe du Première ton'', which is a five-voice piece.
Willi Apel Willi Apel (10 October 1893 – 14 March 1988) was a German-American musicologist and noted author of a number of books devoted to music. Among his most important publications are the 1944 edition of '' The Harvard Dictionary of Music'' and ''Fre ...
describes the overall style thus: "In their melodious, dance-like character these pieces follow Lebègue; others of a more organ-like and ecclesiastic approach are similar to Nivers'."Apel, p. 732. An interesting feature, indicative of Raison's meticulous attention to detail, is the early use of double dotting in French music of the period. The ''Deuxième livre d'orgue'', published in 1714, commemorates the
Treaty of Utrecht The Peace of Utrecht was a series of peace treaty, peace treaties signed by the belligerents in the War of the Spanish Succession, in the Dutch city of Utrecht between April 1713 and February 1715. The war involved three contenders for the vac ...
(or possibly the
Treaty of Rastatt The Treaty of Rastatt was a peace treaty between Kingdom of France, France and Archduchy of Austria, Austria that was concluded on 7 March 1714 in the Margraviate of Baden, Baden city of Rastatt to end the War of the Spanish Succession between bo ...
). To this end, the collection begins with a setting of and a fugue on the same subject. Some more fugues and preludes follow, an offertory, an ''Ouverture du Septième en d, la, ré'', an ''Allemande grave'' and a number of noël (French
Christmas carol A Christmas carol is a Carol (music), carol on the theme of Christmas, traditionally sung at Christmas itself or during the surrounding Christmas and holiday season. The term noel has sometimes been used, especially for carols of French or ...
s) variations. This collection was only discovered in the 20th century (whereas ''Premier livre d'orgue'' surfaced in 1897).


References


Bibliography

* Apel, Willi. 1972. ''The History of Keyboard Music to 1700'', pp. 731–733. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press. . Originally published as ''Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700'' by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel. * * Gay, Harry W. 1975. ''Four French Organist-Composers, 1549-1720'' (Memphis, 1975) * Guilmant, Pirro (ed.). ''Archives des Maîtres de l'Orgue'', Vol. 2: ''Raison, André - Livre d'Orgue''. Ed. Alexandre Guilmant, André Pirro. A. Durand et fils, 1899.


External links

*Free recordings of a few pieces by André Raison: **from ''Offertoire du 5e ton'' *

Vive le Roy des Parisiens **from ''Messe du 3e ton'' *

Récit de cornet *

Basse de trompette * {{DEFAULTSORT:Raison, Andre French Baroque composers French male classical composers French classical organists 1640s births 1719 deaths Musicians from Paris 18th-century French keyboardists 18th-century French classical composers 18th-century French male musicians 17th-century French male musicians French male classical organists