Jean Titelouze

Jean ("Jehan") Titelouze (c. 1562/3 – 24 October 1633) was a French composer, poet and organist of the early Baroque period. Although his style was firmly rooted in the Renaissance vocal tradition, and he did not establish a school of his own, Titelouze is important as the first composer of the so called French organ school.

Life

In a 1930 study Amédée Gastoué suggested that the surname Titelouze may be of English or Irish origin (more specifically, derived from "Title-House"), [Amédée Gastoué. "Note sur la généalogie et la famille de l'organiste Titelouze", RdM, xi (1930), pp. 171–5.] but recently this theory has been disproven, and "Titelouze" is now linked to "de Toulouse". Titelouze was born in Saint-Omer in 1562/3 (his exact date of birth is unknown) and educated there; by 1585 he entered priesthood and served as organist of the Saint-Omer Cathedral. He moved to Rouen later that year and in 1588 succeeded François Josseline as organist of the Rouen Cathedral. His work was not limited to Rouen: he also acted as organ consultant and helped with installation and repairing of important instruments in various cities.

In 1600 Titelouze invited the famous Franco-Flemish organ builder Crespin Carlier to Rouen to work on the cathedral organ. The result of this collaboration was referred to by contemporary critics as the best organ in France. This instrument and Carlier's later work in France defined the French classical organ. Titelouze occasionally collaborated with Carlier on various instruments. In 1604 Titelouze became a French citizen (at the time, Saint-Omer, where Titelouze was born, was part of the Spanish Netherlands). In 1610 he was appointed one of the Rouen Cathedral's canons. In 1613 he won his first award from Rouen's literary society, Académie des Palinods, for his poems.

The year 1623 saw publication of Titelouze's "Hymnes de l'Eglise", a collection of organ settings of various plainchant hymns to be used during the liturgy. The same year, due to health problems, Titelouze partially retired from his organist position (although he kept the post until his death). In 1626 he published a second organ collection, "Le Magnificat", that contained various Magnificat settings. In 1630 he received another award from Académie des Palinods and was made "Prince des Palinods". He died three years later.

Titelouze was a friend of Marin Mersenne, an important French music theorist, mathematician, philosopher and theologian. Seven letters survive from their correspondence, from 1622–1633. Titelouze gave Mersenne advice on "L'Harmonie Universelle", published from 1634 to 1637.

Works

Titelouze's surviving output comprises two collections of organ pieces, the very first ones in 17th-century France. Less fanciful in style, more dogged, than the compositions of his somewhat younger contemporary Girolamo Frescobaldi, Titelouze's music shows a great knowledge of harmony, a skillful polyphony, and a monumental and severe character. Titelouze is also known to have written sacred vocal works, but these have been lost.

1624 : Hymns of the Catholic Church
*Ad coenam
*Veni creator
*Pange lingua
*Ut queant laxis
*Ave maris stella
*Conditor alme siderum
*A solis ortus
*Exsultet coelum
*Annue Christe
*Sanctorum meritis
*Iste confessor
*Urbs Jerusalem - [http://www.aristote.asso.fr/gui/Sons/titelouzeurbs.wav listen to the last variation]

1626 : Magnificat
*Et exsultavit
*Quia respexit
*Et misericordia
*Deposuit potentes
*Suscepit Israel
*Gloria Patri et Filio.

Media

References

* Willi Apel. "The History of Keyboard Music to 1700", pp. 499–504. Translated by Hans Tischler. Indiana University Press, 1972. ISBN 0-253-21141-7. Originally published as "Geschichte der Orgel- und Klaviermusik bis 1700" by Bärenreiter-Verlag, Kassel.
* "Archives des Maîtres de l'Orgue", Vol. 1: "Titelouze, Jean - Oeuvres completes d'orgue". Ed. Alexandre Guilmant, André Perrot. A. Durand et fils, 1898.
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Notes

External links

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* [http://clanfaw.free.fr/titelouze.pdf Complete opera in the edition of Alexandre Guilmant in 1897]
* [http://www.mutopiaproject.org/cgibin/make-table.cgi?Composer=TitelouzeJ Free scores (and midi files) by J. Titelouze at the Mutopia Project]
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