Charles Arnould Tournemire (22 January 1870 – 3 or 4 November 1939) was a French composer and organist, notable partly for his

improvisation Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

s, which were often rooted in the music of

Gregorian chant Gregorian chant is the central tradition of Western plainchant, a form of monophonic, unaccompanied sacred song in Latin (and occasionally Greek) of the Roman Catholic Church. Gregorian chant developed mainly in western and central Europe durin ...

. His compositions include eight symphonies (one of them choral), four

operas Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libretti ...

, twelve chamber works and eighteen piano solos. He is mainly remembered for his organ music, the best known being a set of pieces called ''L'Orgue mystique''.

Biography

Born in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

, Tournemire moved in adolescence to Paris, and there became one of

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

's three youngest students (the other two were

Henri Büsser Paul Henri Büsser (16 January 1872 – 30 December 1973) was a French classical composer, organist, and conductor. Biography Büsser was born in Toulouse of partly German ancestry. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1889, where he studied ...

and a Belgian, Guillaume Lekeu, the latter having been born only two days before Tournemire). From 1898 (on the resignation of

Gabriel Pierné Henri Constant Gabriel Pierné (16 August 1863 – 17 July 1937) was a French composer, conductor, pianist and organist. Biography Gabriel Pierné was born in Metz. His family moved to Paris, after Metz and part of Lorraine were annexed to Germ ...

) to 1939, Tournemire served as the ''organiste titulaire'' at Franck's old church, the

Basilique Ste-Clotilde, Paris The Basilica of Saint Clotilde (''Basilique Ste-Clotilde'') is a basilica church in Paris, located on the Rue Las Cases, in the 7th arrondissement. It is best known for its twin spires. History Construction of the church was first mooted by the P ...

. He was also professor of chamber music at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

. In 1931, he published a biography of Franck. A year before the biography appeared, Tournemire recorded five organ improvisations, which were later transcribed by

Maurice Duruflé Maurice Gustave Duruflé (; 11 January 1902 – 16 June 1986) was a French composer, organist, musicologist, and teacher. Life and career Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure in 1902. He became a chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School fro ...

from

phonograph A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...

recordings. Of ten 78-rpm discs which Tournemire made in 1930, playing the

Aristide Cavaillé-Coll Aristide Cavaillé-Coll (; 4 February 1811 – 13 October 1899) was a French organ builder. He has the reputation of being the most distinguished organ builder of the 19th century. He pioneered innovations in the art and science of organ buildi ...

organ of Sainte-Clotilde, five contain compositions by Franck. This set of discs was awarded the

Grand Prix du Disque Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and co ...

in 1931 and has been reissued on both LP and CD. Insofar as Tournemire's name is now remembered, it is usually spoken of in connection with his largest composition, ''L'Orgue mystique'', a group of 51 sets of five pieces each (except for Holy Saturday, which contains only three pieces), all written between 1927 and 1932. This collection covers the cycle of the Roman Catholic liturgical year, each set being based on the Gregorian chants for the day. Unlike the symphonies of

Charles-Marie Widor Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher of the mid-Romantic era, most notable for his ten organ symphonies. His Toccata from the fifth organ symphony has become one of the ...

, which are usually heard in secular recitals (even when individual movements of these symphonies had liturgical origins), ''L'Orgue mystique'' was designed for church use. Tournemire died in

Arcachon Arcachon ( ; ) is a commune in the southwestern French department of Gironde. It is a popular seaside resort on the Atlantic coast southwest of Bordeaux, in the Landes forest. It has a sandy beach and a mild climate said to be favourable for inv ...

, France, in 1939. The precise cause of his death is uncertain. All that is known is he left his house on October 31 for a walk and never returned. His body was found in a bog in Arcachon, a fair distance from where he left, on November 4 and he was presumed to have died on November 3 or 4.

References

External links

Complete list of works
*
Article and review, on Tournemire's chamber works

Charles Tournemire Memories
Contains worklist, though that is the only working link on the page, which has not been updated in eight years (Feb. 2008). {{DEFAULTSORT:Tournemire, Charles 1870 births 1939 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French composers 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century classical composers 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Conservatoire de Paris faculty Cathedral organists Composers for pipe organ French classical composers French classical organists French male classical composers French opera composers Male opera composers French male organists Organ improvisers Musicians from Bordeaux Male classical organists

Biography

Further reading

References

External links