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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
408 pages
Size: 9 x 6 in
10 digit ISBN: 1580462278
13 digit ISBN: 9781580462273
Binding: Hardback
First published: 01/Sep/2007
Price: 65.00 USD / 35.00 GBP
Imprint: University of Rochester Press
Series: Eastman Studies in Music
Subject: Music
BIC class: AVH
STATUS: Available
Details updated on 08/05/2008
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Reviews
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
Scholarly but very easy to read and full of information and interesting details. One for your Christmas wish list, definitely! --THE ORGAN CLUB JOURNAL
Well-written and insightful.--SING OUT!
The compositions of Maurice Duruflé succeed brilliantly in piercing the soul. Duruflé himself, by contrast, was legendary in his reticence and discretion. James Frazier provides readers with the most comprehensive overview yet to be written -- objective yet sympathetic -- of Duruflé's life and music. Through this study, we also learn of the rich culture that nurtured the arts in the first half of the twentieth century. Essential reading for performers and concertgoers alike. --Jesse Eschbach, DMA, Professor of Organ, University of North Texas
A rich and detailed biography of Duruflé, one in which so many vital strands of his time and place -- the sacred role of the organ in the liturgy, the impact of liturgical reforms, the secular role of the organ in concertos and symphonies, educational institutions and in particular life at the Paris Conservatoire, the backdrop of a turbulent political scene, and many more -- come together effectively and impressively. And Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, without whom Duruflé's story would have been so different, finally receives the attention she has long deserved. Written with admiration and respect, yet adhering to the highest standards of scholarship and fairness, his work is a model for biographies in music. --Lawrence Archbold, co-editor of French Organ Music from the Revolution to Franck and Widor (University of Rochester Press)
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