Cortege et Litanie, op. 19, No. 2 – Marcel Dupré

Описание: Cortege et Litanie, op. 19, No. 2 – Marcel Dupré (1886–1971)

Tim Tuller, organ October 6, 2019 concert

Conductor Marguerite Bradford Richardson
https://civicorchestrajax.org

Videography Vladimir Paje

Marcel Dupré’s impact on the music world was enormous. Not only was he a professor at the Paris Conservatory for 28 years and the organist for the Church of Saint-Sulpice for 37 years, but he was also a concert-artist who drew tremendous crowds to his performances. On one occasion, some 9000 people turned out to hear him play! A virtuoso arguably without peer, Dupré was renowned as an expert at improvisation and counterpoint and as a recitalist who could perform the entire corpus of Bach’s organ works from memory. His own compositions for organ, which range from moderately challenging to fiendishly difficult, often began as an improvisation before a large audience. His Cortège et litanie took a different route. Initially, it was the second of five pieces scored for an eleven-instrument ensemble that Dupré composed in 1921 as incidental music for a drama production. He also created a version for solo piano and, soon thereafter, a version for organ—which he published in 1924, and it is in this version that the work has most often been performed. Eventually, however, he transcribed it for organ and symphony orchestra, which was premiered by the Leopold Stokowski and the Philadelphia Orchestra, with Dupre himself playing the gigantic Wanamaker organ in the department store now known as Macy’s City Center.

As its name implies, this composition was designed by Dupré to evoke two solemn practices: a slow, dignified procession reminiscent of music associated with a funeral; and a lengthy prayer featuring a recurring petition such as “Have mercy upon us.”

The strings introduce the dignified, solid, chorale-like cortège theme—which indeed suggests an entourage passing before us. The theme is then repeated by organ and orchestra together—expanding slightly before dying away. The brief silence is pierced by a lone flute’s statement of the insistent litany-motif. Listen for repetitions of this element: by two flutes in unison; by a solo clarinet; by the violins and violas. As the entire string section becomes involved, you will hear that moment when the organ takes command of the litany-motif, soon joined by the woodwinds and brass. Listen especially for the dramatic return of the chorale, superimposed by the organ upon the unrelenting pleading of the full orchestra. No longer have we “cortège followed by a litany,” but “cortège and litany” simultaneously!