Marcel Dupre: Les Vepres de la Vierge CD
Marcel Dupre's Fifteen Antiphons came into being as a set of improvisations played during the celebration of Vespers in Notre-Dame on 15 August 1919. Their true title, Les Vêpres de la Vierge, is also a clue to their true nature: a set of improvisations inserted into the choral liturgy, replacing fifteen items of it.
A centuries-old living tradition of such alternation between choir and organ (alternatim) lies behind Dupre's Op. 18. On that 15 August1919 an Englishman, Claude Johnson, the General Managing Director of Rolls-Royce, was attending Vespers. A man of great vision and sensitivity, he was struck by the beauty of Dupre's music and wanted to buy a copy of it.
On being told that it had been improvised, and therefore not written down, he at once persuaded Dupre to try to recapture his original inspiration and commissioned the set of 15 pieces. They appeared the following year.
Track listing
1 Deus in adjutorium Dum esset rex/Ps 110 (109) Gregorian Chant
2 Maestoso: Dum esset rex Marcel Dupre
3 Læva ejus/Ps 113 (112) Gregorian Chant
4 Tranquillo: Læva ejus Marcel Dupre
5 Nigra sum/Ps 122 (121) Gregorian Chant
6 Træs lent: Nigra sum Marcel Dupre
7 Jam hiems/Ps 127 (126) Gregorian Chant
8 Assez animé: Jam hiems Marcel Dupre
9 Speciosa facta es/Ps 147 Gregorian Chant
10 Andante moderato: Speciosa Marcel Dupre
11 Ab initio/Ave maris stella Gregorian Chant
12 Træs modéré: Sumens illud Marcel Dupre
13 Solve vincla reis Gregorian Chant
14 Lento: Monstra te esse Marcel Dupre
15 Virgo singularis Gregorian Chant
16 Adagio: Vitam præsta Marcel Dupre
17 Sit laus Deo Patri Gregorian Chant
18 Animato: Amen Marcel Dupre
19 Dignare me Gregorian Chant
20 Beatam me dicent/Magnificat Marcel Dupre
21 Andante: Et exsultavit Gregorian Chant
22 Quia respexit Marcel Dupre
23 Maestoso: Quia fecit Gregorian Chant
24 Et misericordia Marcel Dupre
25 Allegro: Fecit potentiam Gregorian Chant
26 Deposuit potentes Marcel Dupre
27 Cantilena: Esurientes Gregorian Chant
28 Suscepit Israel Marcel Dupre
29 Misterioso: Sicut locutus Gregorian Chant
30 Gloria Patri Marcel Dupre
31 Finale: Sicut erat Gregorian Chant
32 Beatam me dicent Marcel Dupre
33 Salve, Regina Gregorian Chant