Gaston Litaize

Gaston Gilbert Litaize (August 11, 1909 - August 5, 1991) was a French organist and composer. Considered one of the 20th century masters of the French organ [ [http://www.france-orgue.fr/durufle/index.php?zpg=drf.ocp International Organ Competition DURUFLÉ - LITAIZE] ] , he toured, recorded, worked at churches, and taught students in and around Paris. Blind from infancy, he studied and taught for most of his life at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for the Blind).

Life

Litaize was born in Ménil-sur-Belvitte, Vosges, in northeast France. An illness caused him to lose his sight just after birth. [ [http://www.geocities.co.jp/MusicHall/6119/museum/litaize/english.html Gaston Litaize (1909-1991)] ] He entered the Institute for the Blind at a young age, studying with Charles Magin, who encouraged him to move to Paris [Gaston Litaize (1909-1991)] and study with Magin and Adolphe Marty at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles, which he did from 1926 to 1931. Concurrently, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in October 1927 [Gaston Litaize (1909-1991)] , studying with Marcel Dupré and Henri Büsser, as well as privately with Louis Vierne [ [http://www.netreach.net/~druid/LVe/GastonLitaize.html Gaston Litaize, compositeur et organiste] ] . Over the course of six years, he won first prizes in organ, improvisation, fugue, and composition, as well as the Prix Rossini for his cantata "Fra Angelico". In 1938 he finished second to Henri Dutilleux in the Prix de Rome, said to be the first time that a blind person was accepted in the competition [Chase, Gilbert. "Musical Notes from Abroad", "The Musical Times" 76, June 1935, p. 557.] ; subsequently he asked Dutilleux many times to compose for the organ, but nothing came of it. [Sholl, Robert and Olivier Latry. "Á l'ombre de Notre-Dame" in "The Musical Times" 137, Aug. 1996, p. 36.]

He began working as organist at Saint-Cloud in 1934, and after leaving the Paris Conservatoire in 1939 he returned to the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles to teach harmony. In 1944 he began a thirty-year directorship of religious radio programs, where he oversaw five weekly broadcasts. He took up a position in 1946 at St François-Xavier, Paris, where he remained the organist until his death. In 1975 he retired from the radio and began teaching organ at St Maur-des-Fossés Conservatoire, where he "gained numerous disciples." [Cantagrel] He died in 1991 in Bruyères, Vosges.

As a performer, Litaize toured France, western Europe, the USA, and Canada. His first American tour was in the autumn of 1957. [Gaston Litaize, compositeur et organiste] His recording of the Messe pour les paroisses by François Couperin on the organ at Saint-Merri [Ducretet-Thomson DTL 93039. Mellers, Wilfrid. "French Classics on the Gramophone" in "Music and Letters" 38, Jan. 1957, p. 68.] earned highly positive reviews, called "admirably recorded" in "Musical Times" [Hussey, Dyneley. "The Musician's Gramophone" in "The Musical Times" 96, June 1955, p. 310.] and a "fine, sensitive performance" in "Music and Letters" [Mellers 1957] . Unusually, he elected not to use "notes inégales" in the performance [ibid.] , although he was very interested in researching "old" music. [Sholl and Latry] His improvisations were called "shattering displays" and compared favorably to Dupré, Demessieux, Cochereau, and Heiller. [Dalton, James. "Organ playing", "The Musical Times" 111, July 1970, p. 713.]

Litaize was highly influential on generations of French organists. He inspired Olivier Latry to choose his career:

At 16 I won piano first prize ... and I thought I might continue piano studies at the Paris Conservatoire. ... However, I decided to play the organ, choosing Gaston Litaize at the CNR de St-Maur-des-Fossés as my teacher as I had heard him give a very exciting recital at the Cathedral of Boulogne-sur-Mer. It was this that confirmed my desire to play the organ. [Sholl and Latry]

Works

Norbert Dufourcq summarized Litaize's compositional style: "Litaize inclines ... to restlessness and gloom, but his idiom is virile and glowing. He is a fine melodist and skilful polyphonist." [Dufourcq, Norbert. "Revue Musicale", March 1939, tr. M.D. Calvocoressi in "Music in the Foreign Press", "The Musical Times" 80, July 1939, p. 511.] A review of Litaize's "Douze Pièces" in "Musical Times" was generally negative, however, finding the music dry and calling Litaize a "virtuoso writing for virtuosos". ["New Music", "The Musical Times" 80, Aug. 1939, p. 602-3.] Of the "Prière", Henry Willis wrote that "extreme modernity was the key-note" [Willis, Henry. "An Organ-Builder in Paris", "The Musical Times" 78, May 1937, p. 439] . Archibald Farmer wrote that the "Préludes Liturgiques" were "clever, interesting, often good, and always modishly French." [Farmer, Archibald. "New Organ Music", "The Musical Times" 95, Aug. 1954, p. 430.]

Litaize was involved with experimental music; soon after the inception of musique concrète he was asked to write a piece for African xylophone, four bells, three zanzas, and two whirligigs, which Pierre Schaeffer fragmented and reformed into "Étude aux Tourniquets" in 1948-9. [Palombini, Carlos. "Machine Songs V: Pierre Schaeffer: From Research into Noises to Experimental Music" in "Computer Music Journal" 17, Autumn 1993, p. 15.]

List of compositions [From the [http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Litaize French Wikipedia entry on Litaize] ]

Organ

* Douze Pièces (1931-1937)
* Grand-Messe pour tous les temps (1948)
* Noël basque (1949)
* Cinq Pièces liturgiques (1951)
* Passacaille sur le nom de Flor Peeters (1953)
* Vingt-quatre Préludes liturgiques for organ without pedal (1953-1955)
* Fugue sur l'Introït "Da pacem" (1954)
* Thème varié sur le nom de Victor Gonzales (1957)
* Messe basse pour tous les temps (1959)
* Messe de la Toussaint (1964)
* Prélude et danse fuguée (1964)
* Epiphanie (1984)
* Deux Trios (1984):
** "Divertissement à trois"
** "Pièce en trio"
* Arches - Fantaisie (1987)
* Suite en forme de Messe (1988)
* Reges Tharsis - Méditation sur l'offertoire de l'Epiphanie
* Offerte vobis pacem (1991)
* Diapason - Fantaisie sur le nom de Jehan Alain

Organ with instrument(s)

* Passacaille for organ and orchestra (1947)
* Cortège for brass and organ (1951)
* Pentecôte - Triptyque for two organs (1984):
** "Vigile"
** "Nocturne"
** "Séquence"
* Diptyque for oboe and organ:
** "Andantino"
** "Scherzo"
* Triptyque for French horn and organ
* Sonate à deux for organ, four hands

Other works

* Récitatif et thème varié for clarinet and piano (1947)
* Missa solemnior for mixed vocal quartet and organ (1954)
* Missa Virgo gloriosa for soprano, tenor, bass, and organ (1959)
* Magnificat for mixed vocal sextet and organ (1967)

References

*

Notes

References are from Cantagrel unless otherwise noted.

External links

Recordings

* [http://www.raulprieto.net/mp3/litaize.mp3 Prélude et danse fuguée] (5.4 mb, mp3) by [http://www.raulprieto.net/ENGLISH/Inicio.htm Raul Prieto]
* [http://www.czerwinski.art.pl/pliki/nagrania/fuguee.wma Danse fuguée] (2.1 mb, wma) by [http://www.czerwinski.art.pl/recordings.htm Krzysztof Czerwinski]