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Maurice Durufle : the man and his music / James E. Frazier.

By: Frazier, James E [author].
Material type: materialTypeLabelBookSeries: Eastman studies in music: v. 47.Publisher: New York : University of Rochester Press, [2007]Copyright date: ©2007Description: xxii, 375 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm.Content type: text Media type: unmediated Carrier type: volumeISBN: 9781580469609 (paperback); 9781580462273 (hardback).Subject(s): Duruflé, Maurice, 1902-1986 | Organists -- France -- Biography | Composers -- France -- BiographyDDC classification: 780.92 DUR
Contents:
Duruflé's childhood and early education -- Life at the cathedral choir school -- Lessons with Charles Tournemire -- Lessons with Louis Vierne -- The conservatoire student -- Duruflé's distinctions -- The contested successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde -- Duruflé's performing career -- The orchestral musician -- The Poulenc organ concerto -- Professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire -- Marie-Madeleine Chevalier -- Overview of Duruflé's compositions -- Duruflé's compositions : their genesis and first performances -- Duruflé's role in the plainsong revival -- The Vichy commissions -- The Requiem -- The musical history of Saint Étienne-du-Mont -- The organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont -- Duruflé as organist and teacher -- Duruflé and organ design -- The Church in transition -- The North American tours -- The man Duruflé.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number Status Barcode
General lending MTU Cork School of Music Library Lending 780.92 DUR (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Available 00214250
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A deeply researched biography of the great French organist, who composed some of the best-loved works in the organ repertory -- and the masterful Requiem.

Maurice Duruflé: 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. James E. Frazier traces Duruflé's musical training, his studies withTournemire and Vierne, and his career as an organist, church musician, composer, recitalist, Conservatoire professor, and orchestral musician. Frazier also examines the career and contributions of Duruflé's wife, the formidable organist Marie-Madeleine Duruflé-Chevalier.
Duruflé 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)in works for his own instrument and in his widely loved masterpiece, the Requiem Op. 9 for soloists, chorus, organ, and orchestra.
Drawing on the accounts of those who knew Duruflé personally as well as on Frazier's own detailed research, Maurice Duruflé offers a broad sketch of this modest and elusive man, widely recognized today for having created some of the greatest works in the organ repertory -- and the masterful Requiem.

James E. Frazier holds advanced degrees in philosophy, organ, theology, and sacred music from St. Alphonsus College, Mt. St. Alphonsus Seminary, Hartt School of Music, the Yale University Divinity School, and the Yale Institute of Sacred Music. He served Episcopal churches in Hartford, Connecticut, and St. Paul, Minnesota, as organist and director of music. For ten years he was director of music for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

Bibliography: (pages 337-354) and index.

Duruflé's childhood and early education -- Life at the cathedral choir school -- Lessons with Charles Tournemire -- Lessons with Louis Vierne -- The conservatoire student -- Duruflé's distinctions -- The contested successions at Notre-Dame and Sainte Clotilde -- Duruflé's performing career -- The orchestral musician -- The Poulenc organ concerto -- Professor of harmony at the Paris Conservatoire -- Marie-Madeleine Chevalier -- Overview of Duruflé's compositions -- Duruflé's compositions : their genesis and first performances -- Duruflé's role in the plainsong revival -- The Vichy commissions -- The Requiem -- The musical history of Saint Étienne-du-Mont -- The organs at Saint Étienne-du-Mont -- Duruflé as organist and teacher -- Duruflé and organ design -- The Church in transition -- The North American tours -- The man Duruflé.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Organist, teacher, and composer, Durufle (1902-86) was one of France's unique musical talents. Although he has inspired research among organist-scholars, he remains relatively little known to music historians and theorists, likely the result of his small compositional output and his ties to the church. Frazier's narrative incorporates a wide array of sources--among them manuscripts, letters, interviews, and personal experiences--and provides significant insight into Durufle's works and the relatively secretive life he and his wife led. Though the organization of the book's 24 chapters is questionable and the writing is repetitious in places, the content is straightforward. Frazier's research is excellent, even though he does occasionally rely on anecdotal evidence. As Frazier points out, Durufle scholarship awaits the availability of personal papers and important documents currently in the possession of Frederic Blanc, a former student of Durufle and president of the Association Maurice et Marie-Madeleine Durufle. But even without these materials, Frazier has written a book that makes an important contribution to the ongoing scholarship of Durufle. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. B. Doherty Arizona State University