Marcel Dupre

Marcel Dupré Was Born In Rouen Normandy France . Born Into A Musical Family He Was A Child Prodigy. His Father Albert Dupré Was Organist In Rouen. Dupré Entered The Paris Conservatoire In 1904 Where He Studied With Louis Diémer And Lazare Lévy Piano Alexandre Guilmant And Louis Vierne Organ And Charles-Marie Widor Composition . In 1914 Dupré Won The Grand Prix De Rome For His Cantata Psyché. In 1926 He Was Appointed Professor Of Organ Performance And Improvisation At The Paris Conservatoire A Position He Held Until 1954. Dupré Became Famous For Performing More Than 2 000 Organ Recitals Throughout Europe The United States Canada And Australia Which Included A Recital Series Of 10 Concerts Of The Complete Works Of Johann Sebastian Bach In 1920 Paris Conservatoire And 1921 Palais Du Trocadéro Both Performed Entirely From Memory. The Sponsorship Of An American Transcontinental Tour By The John Wanamaker Department Store Interests Rocketed His Name Into International Prominence. In 1934 Dupré Succeeded Charles-Marie Widor As Titular Organist At St. Sulpice In Paris A Post He Held Until His Death In 1971. From 1947-1954 He Was Director Of The American Conservatory Which Occupies The Louis XV Wing Of The Château De Fontainebleau Near Paris. In 1954 Dupré Succeeded Claude Delvincourt As Director Of The Paris Conservatoire Where He Remained Until 1956. He Died In 1971 In Meudon Near Paris At The Age Of 85. As A Composer He Produced A Wide-Ranging Oeuvre Of 65 Opus Numbers And Also Taught Two Generations Of Well-Known Organists Such As Jehan Alain And Marie-Claire Alain Pierre Cochereau Jeanne Demessieux Rolande Falcinelli Jean Guillou Jean Langlais And Olivier Messiaen To Name Only A Few. Aside From A Few Fine Works For Aspiring Organists Such As The 79 Chorales Op. 28 Most Of Dupré's Music For The Organ Ranges From Moderately To Extremely Difficult And Some Of It Makes Almost Impossible Technical Demands On The Performer E.G. Évocation Op. 37 Suite Op. 39 Deux Esquisses Op. 41 Vision Op. 44 . His Most Often Heard And Recorded Compositions Tend To Be From The Earlier Years Of His Career. During This Time He Wrote The Three Preludes And Fugues Op. 7 1914 With The First And Third Preludes In Particular The G Minor With Its Phenomenally Fast Tempo/figurations And Pedal Chords Being Pronounced Unplayable By No Less A Figure Than Widor. Indeed Such Is Their Difficulty That Dupré Was The Only Organist Able To Play Them Until Several Years Later. In Many Ways Dupré May Be Viewed As A 'Paganini' Of The Organ - Being A Virtuoso Of The Highest Order He Contributed Extensively To The Development Of Technique Both In His Organ Music And In His Pedagogical Works Although Like Paganini His Music Is Relatively Unknown To Musicians Other Than Those Who Play The Instrument For Which The Music Was Written. A Fair And Objective Critique Of His Music Should Take Into Account The Fact That Occasionally The Emphasis On Virtuosity And Technique Can Be Detrimental To The Musical Content And Substance. However His More Successful Works Combine This Virtuosity With High Degree Of Musical Integrity Qualities Found In Works Such As The Symphonie-Passion The Chemin De La Croix The Preludes And Fugues The Esquisses And Évocation And The Cortège Et Litanie. As Well As Composing Prolifically Dupré Prepared Study Editions Of The Organ Works Of Bach Handel Mozart Liszt Mendelssohn Schumann César Franck And Alexander Glazunov. He Also Wrote A Method For Organ 1927 2 Treatises On Organ Improvisation 1926 And 1937 And Books On Harmonic Analysis 1936 Counterpoint 1938 Fugue 1938 And Accompaniment Of Gregorian Chant 1937 In Addition To Essays On Organ Building Acoustics And Philosophy Of Music. As An Improviser Dupré Excelled As Perhaps No Other Did During The 20th Century And He Was Able To Take Given Themes And Spontaneously Weave Whole Symphonies Around Them Often With Elaborate Contrapuntal Devices Including Fugues. The Achievement Of These Feats Was Partially Due To His Unsurpassed Genius And Partially Due To His Hard Work Doing Paper Exercises When He Was Not Busy Practicing Or Composing. Although His Emphasis As Composer Was The Organ Dupré's Catalog Of Musical Compositions Also Includes Works For Piano Orchestra And Choir As Well As Chamber Music And A Number Of Transcriptions. Some Works Initially Published By HW Gray And Now Out Of Print Have Begun To Be Reissued By Crescendo Music Publications. read less