MESSE POUR LES
COUVENTS
COUPERIN ER i>. fin LI
ALLEMANDE IN G MINOR
UNSTN=YN NT] NOY NN (oe)
aI NM om VIN le):
CHACONNE IN G MINOR (1658)
GEORGES ROBERT
AT THE ORGAN OF
ST.-MERRY CHURCH, PARIS
PRINTED
1s
Us. Ae
- Band 2.
‘Band 3.
RE
MASTER WORKS
FOR ORGAN VOLUME 4
SIDE ONE
FRANÇOIS COUPERIN
(1668-1733)
MESSE POUR LES ‘COUVENTS
Band 1. . 1 KYRIE “(9:02) © ‘
oe . Plein jeu (Kyrie) — Fugue sur la Trompette
¥! (Kyrie) — Récit de Chromhorne (Christe) —
‘Trio (Kyrie) — Dialogue (Kyrie)
Il — GLORIA (16:48)
Plein jeu (Gloria) — Petite fugue sur le Chrom-
* horne (Benedicimus te) — Duo (Glorificamus
te) — Basse de Trompette (Domine Deus,
« Rex coelestis) — Chromhorne sur la Taille
(Domine Deus, Agnus Dei) — Dialogue (Qui
“ tollis pecatta mundi) — Trio (Quoniam tu
Rig solus sanctus) —= Récit de tierce" (Tu solus
altissimus) — Dialogue (Amen)
Band 25e
SIDE TWO
Band. f. IJ] — OFFERTOIRE (sur es grands jeux)
IV — SANCTUS: (1:38) à
i Plein: jeu (Sanctus) — Rézit de Carnet « (She
i # Dominus Deus Sabaoth) _
Vv _ 2ELEVATION (3:04):
+. Tierce en Taille (Benedictus) .
PRéndeÀ. VI— AGNUS DEI (2:21)
“Plein jeu (Agnus Dei) — Dialogue (Dona nobis”
+2 s VIDEO GRATIAS | MC
OUIS COUPERIN < #
(5:20)
+ Petit plein jeu
4 (1626-1661) .
Band 6. ‘ALLEMANDE in G minor, (3:30) * * ee
Band 7. SARABANDE en canon in D minor (1:39) Nue
Band 8. CHACONNE in G minor. (1658) (3:38) * -
GEORGES ROBERT. |.
| AT THE ORGAN OF *
‘ST. -MERRY CHURCH, PARIS -
@, :* 5
à CHARLIN fe Paca Paris +
Le supervisor, TERESA STERNE ;
Ver art ABE GURVIN , cover design WILLIAM S. HARVEY
The organ of Saint- Mon Church in Paris is one of the most
famous and beautiful” old organs. in’ the world “The conversion of the».
br tyle organ to the present classic instrument was begun *
in 1647, nd work has continued up fo the present. A mechanical
tracker-actionsinstrument, it has today a total of 4,474 pipes and
65 stops. The fe manuals can be used in various couplings, providing
a great a of tonal possibilities. The organ's specifications are «=
tas follows: GRAND-ORGUE
tier
= * 16 Montre * 16', Bourdon ‘ 16' Bombarde
8' Montre 8' Bourdon 8' Trompette
4' Prestant 8' Flûte = 4 Clairon
2: qe 4' Flûte R
4r Fourniture «2 2/3" Nasard
3r Cymbale oa “if 3/5' Tierce
+ il Dessus de grand
fs RE a + 5r Cornet
ee x | POSITIF +
* Montre * +5 * 8' Bou dé 8' Trompette
“ Prestant ORNE VAL LL me 4' Clairon
2' Doublette, +. 2/3" Nasard 8° Cromhorne * ¥
3r Plein-Jeu : 3/5' Tierce”
2r Cymbale 1 1/3' Larigot : .
+ RÉCIT expressif x
8' Principal | 8' Bourdon 16' Bombarde *
8' Dulciane * - 4 Flite. 8' Trompette
8' Voix céleste : 4 Clairon
4' Viole 8' Hautbois
2' Doublette’ 4
5r Mixture 3 “ei *
4r Pleindeu
3r Cymbale
“ECHO
2r Cymbale 8' Flûte à fuseau Dessus de Hautbois
4 Flûte Voix Humaine (Trémolo)
A 2 à 2' Quarte de Nasard
2r Sesquialtera
: : PEDALE :
16" Montre 32' Soubasse 16° Bombarde
8" Principal 16' Soubasse 8' Trompette
4° Prestant 8" Bourdon 4' Clairon
Sr Fourniture 16' Flûte ;
æ “ 8' Flite
. 4 Flûte
2' Flite
. 2r Cornet
+ Couplers: Grand-Orgue/Positif, Grand-Oraue/Récit, Grand-Orgue/
Echo, Positif/Récit, Récit/Echo aie
NONESUCH RECORDS 1855 BROADWAY NEW YORK CITY 10023
-the well-known “van’’
François Couperin le Grand was hf profession an organist, as
were other members of this distinguished French family of
musicians. In his turn, he was for many years organist at Saint-
Gervais in Paris, a position that was semi-hereditary in the
Couperin family. His uncle, Louis Couperin, had become organist
there in 1653—well before Frangois’s birth. At Louis Couperin’s
death in 1661, the post went to his brother, Charles Couperin, and
when Charles died, about 1679, his young son, Francois, became
organist—at least in name—at the unlikely age of eleven. For a
few years, another well known composer and organist, Michel
Richard Delalande, served as “organist-regent” until Frangois
could take over for himself, which he did in 1685 or early 1686
at the ripe age of 18. (Delalande himself had been only twenty-
two years old at the beginning of his brief term.) François ri re-
- mained at the post until his death i in 1733.
There are two extant organ masses by François le Grand, both
long attributed to an older Frangois in the family, who was called
the Sieur de Crouilly, a title apparently no more authentic than
in Beethoven’s name. Both of the organ
masses of the younger François are youthful works composed
within the first five years of his tenure at Saint-Gervais. He
obtained royal privilege to publish them in 1690, but in the end
did not do so; instead, he had an engraved title page made up
‘and printed to accompany a number of manuscript fair copies of
the music. One of these masses, a Messe à l’usage ordinaire des
Paroisses (for use on occasions other than those with special
connotations—Christmas, the Requiem for the dead, and so on),
was undoubtedly written for Couperin’s own use at Saint-Gervais.
The other mass, our present work, is a Messe pour les couvents—
designed for use by the nuns and monks of the various religious
institutions that flourished in France at that time. (For an
account of one of the most famous of these see Nonesuch
H-1040: Charpentier, Music for Port-Royal.) The term couvent
in Couperin’s French refers to both convents and monasteries.
A ‘mass for’ organ’ ’ might seem a ‘rather improbable concept at
first: a mass is a religious service, some parts of which are
‘traditionally sung in plainchant (Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, ete. ). The
organ mass has its basis in°a kind of alternatim practice, in-which
phrases of the plainchant were alternately, sung by the choir and
elaborated upon by the organ. It is the choral part of the music
that is almost ‘invariably omitted from both “manuscript and
_ printed copies of those organ masses that have come down to us
—hence, _ the apparent “4 sompleteness” of the organ mass. These
omissions would, of ee a sent no problems to church singers |
and organists “thoroughly ‘antl iliar with the requirements of. the
liturgy—they would simply ‘restore the original alternatim prac-
H-1150 (mono) H-71150 (stereo)
replacing, rather than elaborating, the actual chant appropriate to
those parts of the mass for which it is composed.
The music of the Couperin mass is very much of its time—
organ keyboard music in the French manner. Those who know
Couperin’s music for clavecin will recognize here the same
dignified, unhurried, gently human expression, quite without the
intense “drive” of German organ music, built not on an archi-
tecturally large scale as in much of Bach but, rather, made of
those small, gem-like articulations, each complete in itself, that
provide almost the only format in Couperin’s keyboard works and,
indeed, that of the other major French composers, including
Rameau. The French seldom wrote fugues, or the preludes that
Bach and others composed as springboards for fugal releases of
energy. French music was not deeply concerned with large
musical architecture except as imposed, on occasion, by outside
considerations such as the shape of the mass, or of an evening’s
opera spectacle, or a celebration piece in honor of a notable event.
The beauty of this kind of musical art is in the perfection of
each miniature segment, the elegance of the melody, the unerring
sense of harmony, the precise grace of the elaborate ornamenta-
tion. In recorded form, the work heard here is in effect a suite,
or ordre (the prevailing French term), not unlike those by
Couperin for clavecin—though with a scrupulous awareness of
organ color, as provided by the wonderfully varied array of stops
characteristic of the Baroque-period instrument.
Indeed, one of the more remarkable aspects of French organ
music of this time is the specific indication by the composer of
. the registration to be used, whereas in the organ school of Ger-
many the specific colors were almost invariably left to the per-
former’s discretion. Again, it is a difference of attitude—in
Germany the musical architecture was of first importance, the
color a matter of accommodation. In France, the tone color—the
actual sound of the organ—was a first consideration and an essen-
tial part of the musical style. Couperin actually incorporates the
registration into many of the titles of this organ mass, and we are
thereby given an exact indication of the “authentic” sound of the
original, as performed on an organ of the period itself.
In the Kyric, Plein jew (“full play”) calls for the full organ.
‘The trumpet stops, sounding somewhat like an actual trumpet,
_are reed stops rather than cupped- mouthpiece wind-pressure
devices characteristic of trumpet sound; but the loud, challenging
effect is clearly similar: The chromhorne (Krummhorn in Ger-
man) is a curiously nasal stop borrowed directly from an older
* double-reed instrument. Inthe Gloria, the term Taille refers to a
“melody in the middle or tenor range. A Récit is a solo melody
tice by singing from a standard’ chant book. (the Liber usualis, 5
for example) those musical portions of the mass that were not
designated to be played on the’ organ. x »
‘An, exceptionally clear ele inple DE a “proper « liturgical per-
formance of an organ mags can be provided from the Couperin
mass. His own titles for the organ movements indicate that he
+ has provided five sections representing parts of the Kyrie, which
in the chant mass comprises nine sections (three statements of
“Kyrie elcison”, three of “Christe, eleison”, and three of “Kyrie
eleison”). Working from what we “know of traditional alternatim
practice, we would follow this pattern in a church performance
of the Couperin mass: k s
ae yrie—organ Christe—chant Kyrie—organ
Kyrie—chant Christe—organ © Kyrie—chant
Kyri e—organ ¥% Christe—chant . Kyrie—organ
This basic pattern would be followed in all the movements for
vee Couperin supplies music. seus
“It is interesting, to note that orgam settings of the Credo : are.
few and far between. The reason is that this chant constituted an
act of faith “(I believe in one God .
should be ‘made clearly audible to the. congregation. Couperin
follows the French custom of substituting an Offertoire.
Early organ masses (their known history dates from the early
15th century) maintained a close connection with the original
chant, normally using the chant melody itself as a cantus firmus
. .”) whose every word’
(the term is related to our modern * “recital”). The Tierce is a
mixture stop, adding color to the organ tone via extra high
harmonics ; the Tierce speaks high up, not at the fundamental
pitch but at the 17th overtone, its sound altering that of the main
rank of pipes inuse. The Offertoire is played on th > Grands jeux,
or loudest stops. ther .terms Beds by Couperin are self-
explanatory.
Louis Couperin, the uncle of Han was a pupil of Jacques
de Chambonnières (c1602- 1672), the first great representative
of the French clazecin school. Cotiferin’s compositions for the
organ took over many features of the clavecin style that lent
themselves readily to the organ idiom; harpsichord ornamentation
figures were transferred re to the organ, as was even the
style brisé—a ’broken-chord style” that had been introduced into
—“fixed melody’—set in long notes of equal rhythm in the bass .
(to ensure that they would be easily heard). In Couperin’s organ
masses, however, the associations with the chant are more tenuous.
In the Messe ordinaire ..., the cantus firmus (from Mass IV,
Cunctipotens genitor deus) comes and goes in a very free manner ;
and in the Messe pour les couvents, cantus-firmus usuage is almost
non-existent. Thus, the latter becomes a kind of surrogate music,
harpsichord music via transcriptions of pieces originally written
for,the lute. Ml Tea
The three short pieces recorded here are part of a large collec-
tion of Couperin’s music for keyboard preserved in a manuscript
at the Bibliotheque nationale, (it also contains music for viols and
other instruments). Couperin was of a rather more serious
temperament than most of the composers of his generation, and
this is manifested in the constructivist techniques employed in
many of his dance mévements—the tendency to combine the dance
with contrapuntal artifices, as in the Sarabande en canon, is a
perfect example. The present works are often played on the
harpsichord (appropriate enough, in light of the exchange of
styles) and appear frequently in collections for piano study.
GEORGE P. MELANTE
SOURCES AND MODERN EDITIONS:
François Couperin, Messe pour les couvents—Piéces d’ orgue, Consistant en deux Messes
l'Une à l'usage ordinaire des Paroisses, Pour les Festes Solemnelles, L'Autre propre pour
les Couvents des Religieux et des Religieuses . . . à, Paris, 1690 (manuscript with
engraved title page). Mod. ed. by Paul Brunold (Oeuvres complètes de François Couperin,
VI), Paris, 1932.
Louis Couperin, Allemande in G minor, Sarabande en canon in D minor, Chaconne in
G minor (1658)—Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Vm" 1862 (‘‘Bayun'). Mod: ed.
by Paul Brunold (Oeuvres complètes de Louis Couperin), Paris, 1936.
2 DEAN STREET, LONDON, W.1, ENGLAND
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