Duruflé's Chant Donné

[Vox Humana]

According to the third edition of John Henderson's A Directory of Composers for the Organ, Duruflé's

 

"

Chant Donné: Hommage à Jean Gallon

was No.27 in

64 Leçons d'Harmonie, offertes en hommage à Jean Gallon

1953 ... Though often played on the organ, and well suited to it, this was a four part open score "exercise"."

This notwithstanding, the piece was evidently published in short score at some point because Richard Fairhurst once showed us a copy of it. Can anyone shed any further light on the different forms of this piece please?

[martinstanley]

James E Fraser's recent comprehensive and well-researched biography Maurice Durufle the Man and his Music makes only a brief mention of this piece adding little to that you have already detailed and does not provide anything on different forms.

[Jim Treloar]

I can't contribute anything very constructive on this subject, but the piece does appear on a Calliope CD (CAL9939) Hommage a Durufle by Thierry Escaich and the Cambridge Voices. It lasts only 1'55" and is sung wordless by the choir. The booklet states"....he composed (it) for the harmony classes at the Paris Conservatiore. Far from being a pastiche, this piece shows Duruflé's taste for simple and expressive modal harmony, the almost "Gregorian" sweetness of which apparently arises from the linear displacement of the vocal parts." Listening to it just now it is in my view a very beautiful piece.

[acc]

.

[Richard McVeigh]

I played this before evensong on Saturday, its lovely.