Maurice Duruflé
The Man and His Music
James E. Frazier
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 with Tournemire 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 is organist and director of music at the Episcopal Church of Saint John the Evangelist (Saint Paul, Minnesota).
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DETAILS
18 b/w illustrations
Pages: 402
Size: 9 x 6 in
13 digit ISBN: 9781580462273
Binding: Hardback
First published: 01/Sep/2007
Price: 70.00 USD / 40.00 GBP
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Eastman Studies in Music
Subject: Music
BIC class: AVH
STATUS: Available
Details updated on 09/02/2010
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Reviews
A mine of information. . . . a veritable tale of our times.--MUSICAL TIMES [Andrew Thomson]
Provides significant insight into Duruflé's works and the relatively secretive life he and his wife led....Frazier's research is excellent. . . . An important contribution. -- CHOICE [Brian Doherty]
Frazier's exploration of arabesque in architecture and music and his treatment of musical luminosity are memorably insightful and reveal a thoughtful understanding of Duruflé's work. . . . An interesting and well-constructed view of Duruflé's world, and a highly informative text as well. -- CHOIR & ORGAN [Steven Plank]
A work of unprecedented scope and depth, . . . [Frazier's book] is a biography abundantly rich in detail; though it declines the tone of a hagiography, it is obviously a labor of love. . . . Frazier skillfully illuminates the contexts in which Duruflé's life unfolded . . . [and] Frazier's survey of Duruflé's compositions is particularly strong. . . . A special pleasure of the book is the chapter on [Duruflé's future wife, and a world-renowned organist,] Marie-Madeleine Chevalier . . . Frazier's book will no doubt stand as a defining work in Duruflé scholarship and nurture scholars of 20th-century French organ music for years to come. AMERICAN ORGANIST Lawrence Archbold
One of the best musical biographies I have read for many years: sound in musical and, for the most part, in historical judgment . . . , sympathetic without being sycophantic, and most gracefully written. Duruflé deserves no less. --Roger Nichols, GRAMOPHONE
[Frazier] sees Durufle as a compelling figure, given over to the same foibles and doubts we all have. Frazier's ability to obtain primary sources lends credence to his observations. This is a superb work, one to be valued by usic historians and organists alike. --Metz, American Record Guide, Jan/Feb 2008
This substantial study . . . , although sympathetic, . . . is not a work of hagiography. . . .[The author argues that] the somewhat short-lived revival of Gregorian chant in the French church . . . [during] Duruflé's composing life was a happy coincidence from which music was the main beneficiary [notably through the widely beloved Requiem]. . . . The very considerable value of this booklies in its personal evaluation of a man whose personality is likely to remain something of a mystery but whose music has already transcended his life. --TEMPO [Bret Johnson]
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