F. J. Fetis and His Role in the Development of French Organ Playing School in the Second Half of the 19th Century
Abstract
The article focuses on life and work of the Belgian musicologist F. J. Fetis— the first director of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. His enthusiasm about Bach’s music influenced the formation of the French-Belgian organ playing school and the repertoire of the second half of the 19th century. His influence would not be possible without his active journalistic work and his high profile as a musicologist and a theorist. He managed to create favorable working environment for the first graduates of the conservatory, in particular, J.-N. Lemmens. His position as a follower of Bach’s tradition was instrumental in raising the profile of the conservatory. It also helped to attract musicians not only from Belgium, but also from France.
In the 1860s, Lemmens used Bach’s works to train Guilmant and Widor, young French organists and composers studying at the Brussels Conservatory. By the end of the 19th century, the work of the two composers laid the foundation for the “new” organ repertoire, which was very much needed already in the middle of the century. “Serious” music that followed Bach’s tradition contrasted with the spontaneous sentimental improvisation of a number of other French organ composers.
Towards the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, Fetis's aesthetic preferences, through Lemmens' pedagogical work, eventually shaped a substantive part of the organ repertoire. The new repertoire was marked by the revival of choral works based on Gregorian chants. Thus, a series of examples shows the continuity of the traditions of choral works by the 18th century German composers and the 1950s and the 20th century French composers.
Keywords: Fétis, Bach, Lemmens, Widor, Cavaillé-Coll, France, Belgium, choral arrangements
For citation: Strizhakova E. A. F. J. Fetis and His Role in the Development of French Organ Playing School in the Second Half of the 19th Century [Electronic source]. In: Sovremennye problemy muzykoznaniya / Contemporary Musicology, 2020, no. 4, pp. 75–89. (In Russ.) DOI: 10.56620/2587-9731-2020-4-075-089
References
Krivitskaya E.D. Istoriya frantsuzskoi organnoi musyki: ocherki [History of French organ music: essays]. Moscow: Kompozitor [Composer], 2010.
Kuregyan T.S. Horal’naya obrabotka [The choral arrangement] // Muzykal'naya enciklopediya [Music encyclopedia]. Vol. 6 / Ed. by J.V. Keldysh]. Moscow: Sovetskii kompositor [Soviet composer], 1973–1982. Pp. 45–52.
Suslova A.N. Alexander Gilman. Zhizn i tvorchestvo [Alexander Gilman. Life and creativity]. Diss. … kand. iskusstvovedeniya: 17.00.02 [Dissertation of the candidate in art]. Moscow, 2012.
Campos R. Le commerce de la critique: journalism musical et corruption au milieu du XIXe siècle [The Critical Trade: Music Journalism and Corruption in the Mid-19th Century] / Sociétés & Représentations. 2015/2 N°40. Pp. 221–245.
Eeckeloo J. François-Joseph Fétis and the Brussels Conservatory Library Revue Belge De Musicologie [Electronic source] / Belgisch Tijdschrift Voor Muziekwetenschap. Vol. 62. Pp. 135–146. URL: www.jstor.org/stable/25486044.
Fétis F.-J. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique [Universal biography of musicians and general bibliography of music]. Vol. 3. Paris, 1862.
Fétis F.-J. Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographie générale de la musique [Universal biography of musicians and general bib- liography of music]. Vol. 5. Paris, 1863.
Fétis F.-J. Correspondance [Electronic source] / Compiled and Ed. by Robert Wangermée. Collection Musique-Musicologie. Sprimont: Mardaga, 2006. URL: https://books.google.ru/books/about/Correspondance.html?id=HxMdPpUh-3EC&redir_esc=y
Fétis F.-J. L’orgue mondaine [sic] et la musique érotique à l’église [The social organ [sic] and erotic music in the church] [Electronic source] // Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris [Paris Musical Journal and Gazette]. 6 avril 1856 [April 6, 1856]. No. 14. Pp. 105–106. URL: https://archive.org/search?query=Revue+et+Gazette+musicale+de+Paris++
Grace H. French Organ Music: Past and Present (1919). NY: The H. W. Gray Co. Sole Agents for Novello& Co., Ltd. 2010.
Hiemke S. Die Bach-Rezeption Charles-Marie Widors [The Charles-Marie Widors Bach Reception]. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang GmbH, Europaeischer Verlag der Wissenschaften, 1994.
Near J. A Life Beyond the Toccata. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 2011.
Ochse O. Organists and Organ Playing in Nineteenth-century France and Belgium. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2000.
Vallas L. La véritable histoire de César Franck: 1822–1890 [The true story of César Franck: 1822–1890]. Paris: Flammarion, 1955.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56620/2587-9731-2020-4-075-089
Copyright (c) 2020 Elena A. Strizhakova
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/