Eustache Du Caurroy (1549, Gerberoy – 1609, Paris).
At the age of twenty, Du Caurroy was a singer at Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.
He was the victor at three singing competitions, became sous-maоtre de la chapelle royale in 1578 and was made official composer of the royal chamber in 1595.
Du Caurroy diligently served three kings of France – Charles IX, Henri III and Henri IV, and thus had the honour of composing the famous Missa pro defunctis, performed by tradition at the splendid funerals of France's kings.
Enjoying the patronage of the Church and enchanting his contemporaries, he was an extremely generously gifted man. Late in the reign of Louis XIII, le Pиre Mersenne confirmed that "Du Caurroy deserves our high regard thanks to the richness of his harmonies and counterpoint."
Du Caurroy's works, published both during his lifetime and posthumously, may divided into three groups: Church prayers (vocal and liturgical music in Latin), Meslanges (vocal music in French) and forty-two fantasies for three, four, five and six instruments.
The Instrumental Fantaisie, despite its name, is strict in terms of form and is split into sections in accordance with imitative counterpoint, and in one or several motifs. Du Caurroy's fantasies are at the core of the genre's international development, linking the 16th and 17th centuries and leading to the fugue. |
| |
François Couperin (ca 1631 – ca 1701) – a composer of Church organ music, the brother of Louis Couperin and the uncle of François "Le Grand" – was the only member of the family to be awarded the title "Sieur de Crouilly" in honour of the town founded in 1552 close to the Abbey of Saint Pierre in Chomet et Beauvais, from where his parents came. In 1679, François Couperin became the organist at the Église Saint-Gervais, taking over from his two brothers – Louis and Charles – after their deaths. He held the position for ten years, although, in 1689 he was forced to retire. He was succeeded by his young nephew François (later to become "Le Grand"), who was then just twenty-one years of age.
The only work by François Couperin, Sieur de Crouilly, that has been definitively attributed is "Organ pieces contained in two masses, one of which was for everyday use in parishes for celebrations and the other intended for monasteries." Because of a strange misunderstanding during the composer's lifetime, in 1690 only the title sheet of the work was published. The work is remarkable for its unique nature and the complicated structure of sound effects, the rich palette of timbres and the abundance of musical innovations, all well before their time. |
| |
Johan Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) came from a dynasty of musicians that lived in Turin for over two centuries. His passion for music manifested itself at an early age and he began studying the violin, harpsichord and, later, the organ with the most enormous pleasure.
In Arnstadt, where from 1703–1707 Bach served as the organist of the Neue Kirche, he made a meticulous study of organ works by the composers of Flanders, France and Northern Germany. As an organist at the Church of Saint Blaise in Mulhouse between 1707 and 1708, Bach became firmly established in the eyes of his contemporaries as an unsurpassed expert in organ music.
From 1708–1717 he held the post of Court Chamber Musician and Organist at the Ducal Kapelle at the Court of Weimar. At this time, Bach was introduced to Italian art, perfected his technique as a composer and earned a reputation as an incomparable virtuoso, demanding connoisseur, teacher and qualified composer.
It is the Weimar period to which the vast majority of his works for organ can be linked. |
| |
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897) was the son of a double bass player and took piano and composition lessons from Eduard Marxen – a professor who had the finest reputation in the town. Brahms gave his first concert at the age of ten. At the age of twenty, he left his home town and, a further ten years after that, he settled in Vienna, making a glittering career as a pianist and a conductor.
Like Mendelssohn, Schumann and Liszt, Brahms was a pianist, a composer of chamber music and a symphonist to a greater degree than he was an organist. But, although his pieces for organ represent only the smallest fraction of his art and do not mix and merge all the various stylistic trends, they reflect the composer's attraction to minor key and haziness of the colouring.
Brahms' organ works include one fugue (1856-1857), three preludes and fugues and Eleven Choral Preludes, Op. 122 (1896). By 1859 he had written Psalm XIII, Op. 27, and Geistliches Lied, Op. 30, for vocal ensemble accompanied by organ or piano for three and four hands.
Like his great predecessors – Bach, Beethoven and Rafael – in his art Brahms strove to be the "soul of Heaven itself" because that is where the truth is to be found. |
| |
Leonid Karev is a graduate of the Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatoire and prize-winner at international organ and composition competitions, among them U.F.A.M. (Paris, 1996), the Marcel Dupré Competition (Chartres, 1998), the Gino Contilli Competition (Messina, 2001) and the Guido of Arezzo Competition (Arezzo, 2002).
He was taught by Professor K.K. Batashov (composition class), Yu.M. Butsko (orchestration class) and N.N. Gureyeva (organ class).
From 1992, Leonid Karev continued his studies in France under Professors Alain Banquart and Michel Merlet for composition and Michel Chapuis, André Isoir and Jean Guillou for organ at the Paris and Boulogne Conservatoires as well as at the École Normale de Musique.
Currently Leonid Karev is the organist of the Church of the Assumption of the Virgin in Paris and Professor at the Hierres and Auxerre Conservatoires. He performs concerts at festivals in Europe, Russia and the USA.
Leonid Karev's compositions include Dulce memoriae for symphony orchestra, Mots interrompus for organ and symphony orchestra, Chanson des pierres for reciter and orchestra, sonatas for organ, two pianos, violin and piano and numerous other pieces for various instruments.
According to the reviewer of the Moscow Music Herald, "the compositional integrity, the musical language, technically complex though accessible, the stylistic cohesion and the careful respect for materials quoted and for the sound possibilities of an instrumental ensemble – these are the main features of this composer's art." (Moscow Music Herald) |
