Samiksha Jaiswal (Editor)

Marie Madeleine Duruflé

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Died
  
1999, Paris, France

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé Organists Marie Madeleine Chevalier Durufle and her husband Maurice

Albums
  
Vierne et Tournemire (Aux grandes orgues Gonzalez de la cathédrale de Soissons) [Mono Version]

Record labels
  
BNF Collection, The Restoration Project

Similar
  
Maurice Duruflé, Frédéric Blanc, Charles Tournemire, Vincent Warnier, Orchestre Lamoureux

Chopin etude no 10 op 24 for organ arrangement by marie madeleine durufl


Marie-Madeleine Duruflé (née Chevalier; 8 May 1921 – 5 October 1999) was a world-famous organist.

Contents

She is generally considered to be the last great representative of the French romantic school of organists, which emphasised elegant grandeur, clarity of texture and freedom of rhythm. She gave incomparable interpretations of works from French organists, like Charles-Marie Widor, Louis Vierne, Jean Langlais, Marcel Dupré and her husband Maurice Duruflé.

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé fredericdenisfreefrImagesduruflegif

Mme durufl plays vierne symphony 3 finale


Early life and education

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé MarieMadeleine Durufl

Duruflé was born in Marseille on 8 May 1921, and she was soon recognized as very talented. When she was 11, she was appointed organist of the Cathedral Saint-Véran of Cavaillon. At the age of 12, she began to study at the Conservatoire d'Avignon. She was unable to continue her studies as she wished due to the outbreak of the Second World War, but in 1946, at the age of 25, she began to study under Marcel Dupré at the Conservatoire de Paris, where she won first prize for the organ. In 1953, she received the Grand Prix International Charles-Marie Widor for organ and improvisation.

Professional life

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé Jon Gillock American Organist

Duruflé met her husband, Maurice Duruflé, at the Conservatoire where he was an assistant professor under Dupré for a year. They married in 1953 and Marie-Madeleine became the assistant-organist at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, where her husband had been organist since 1930. The couple toured and gave concerts together, appearing in the USA for the first time in 1964.

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé MarieMadeleine DURUFL biographie

In 1975 the couple were involved in a car accident in the south of France. Marie-Madeleine injured her ribs and pelvis; her husband Maurice was more seriously wounded, and gave up performing. Marie-Madeleine continued to play as the organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.

Tours, prizes and awards

Marie-Madeleine Duruflé MarieMadeleine Chevalier Durufl

  • 1949: First Prize for interpretation and improvisation at the Conservatoire de Paris.
  • 1960: Composed Six Fables de La Fontaine.
  • 1964-1974: Concerts, tours, and recitals with her husband in France, Europe, the United States, and the USSR.
  • 5 June 1987: Appointed Officier des Arts et Lettres.
  • During her tours with her husband, before the car crash, she used to play the most impressive works. In an interview for The New York Times in 1989, she admitted it was on purpose: "My husband was a very great virtuose at the organ, but once he became my husband, I worked harder than him. He used to tell me often: 'you will play the most difficult pieces, and I will play the ones of interpretation' ".

    In 1989, three years after her husband's death, Duruflé took part in a festival "Duruflé" in New York, her first international recital for 15 years. Her last public concert, took place in New York, at the Ascension Church in 1993.

    Songs

    Caprice sur les grands jeux
    Requiem - Op 9: Sanctus
    Requiem - Op 9: Introit

    References

    Marie-Madeleine Duruflé Wikipedia