Jean Titelouze
Encyclopedia
Jean Titelouze (c. 1562/3 – 24 October 1633) was a French
composer, poet and organist of the early Baroque
period. His style was firmly rooted in the Renaissance
vocal tradition, and as such was far removed from the distinctly French style of organ music that developed during the mid-17th century. However, his hymns and Magnificat settings are the earliest known published French organ collections, and he is regarded as the first composer of the French organ school.
In a 1930 study Amédée Gastoué suggested that the surname Titelouze may be of English or Irish origin (more specifically, derived from "Title-House"), 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 hymn
s 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 eight 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. Although the strict polyphonic style of Titelouze's music soon disappeared from French organ music, his influence was still felt for some time after his death; for instance, the Parisian composer and organist Nicolas Gigault
included a fugue à la maniere de Titelouze (literally "in Titelouze's style") in his 1685 Livre de musique pour l'orgue. Some three hundred years later, the composer inspired one of Marcel Dupré
's organ works, Le Tombeau de Titelouze, op. 38 (1942).
Titelouze's surviving output comprises two collections of organ pieces. These are the first published collections of organ music in 17th century France. The first, Hymnes de l'Église pour toucher sur l'orgue, avec les fugues et recherches sur leur plain-chant (1624), contains 12 hymn
s:
Every hymn begins with a verset with a continuous cantus firmus
: the hymn melody is stated in long note value
s in one of the voices, usually the bass, while the other voices provide contrapuntal
accompaniment. Other versets are only occasionally cast in this form. More frequently the 16th century motet
practice is used: the hymn melody either migrates from one voice to another, with or without imitative inserts between verses, or is treated imitatively throughout the piece. In three versets (Veni Creator 3, Ave maris stella 3, and Conditor 2) the melody in one voice is accompanied by two voices that form a canon, in two (Ave maris stella 4 and Annue Christe 3) one of the voices provides a pedal point
. In most versets, counterpoints to the hymn melody engage in imitation or fore-imitation, and more often than not they are derived from the hymn melody. All of the pieces are in four voices, except the canonic versets, which use only three.
The second collection, Le Magnificat ou Cantique de la Vierge pour toucher sur l'orgue suivant les huit tons de l'Église, published in 1626, contains eight Magnificat
settings in all eight church modes. There are seven versets per each setting, presenting the odd-numbered versets of the canticle, with two settings of Deposuit potentes:
In the preface, Titelouze explains that this structure makes these Magnificat settings usable for the Benedictus
. Save for the introductory ones, all of the versets are fugal. Most feature two main points of imitation: the first concludes on the mediant
cadence
of the mode, and so, Titelouze writes, the organist can shorten any verset during the service by substituting this cadence with one on the final. Most fugue subjects are derived from the chant; there are many double fugues and inversion fugues in the collection. Four-voice polyphony is employed throughout the collection. The music is much more forward-looking than in Hymnes (see Example 2 for an excerpt from one of the inversion fugues).
Although French organs already had colorful solo stops at the time, Titelouze did not use them. According to the prefaces of both collections, he was concerned with making his pieces easier to play and playable by hands alone. Titelouze goes as far as suggesting, in the preface to Hymnes, to alter the music if it is too difficult to play.
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
composer, poet and organist of the early Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
period. His style was firmly rooted in the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
vocal tradition, and as such was far removed from the distinctly French style of organ music that developed during the mid-17th century. However, his hymns and Magnificat settings are the earliest known published French organ collections, and he is regarded as the first composer of the French organ school.
Life
Toulouse
Toulouse is a city in the Haute-Garonne department in southwestern FranceIt lies on the banks of the River Garonne, 590 km away from Paris and half-way between the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea...
". Titelouze was born in Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer
Saint-Omer , a commune and sub-prefecture of the Pas-de-Calais department west-northwest of Lille on the railway to Calais. The town is named after Saint Audomar, who brought Christianity to the area....
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
Rouen
Rouen , in northern France on the River Seine, is the capital of the Haute-Normandie region and the historic capital city of Normandy. Once one of the largest and most prosperous cities of medieval Europe , it was the seat of the Exchequer of Normandy in the Middle Ages...
later that year and in 1588 succeeded François Josseline as organist of the Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral
Rouen Cathedral is a Roman Catholic Gothic cathedral in Rouen, in northwestern France. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Rouen and Normandy.-History:...
. 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
Canon (priest)
A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....
. In 1613 he won his first award from Rouen's literary society
Literary society
A literary society is a group of people interested in literature. In the modern sense, this refers to a society that wants to promote one genre of literature or a specific writer. Modern literary societies typically promote research about their chosen author or genre, publish newsletters, and hold...
, 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 hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s to be used during the liturgy
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
. 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 eight Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
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
Marin Mersenne
Marin Mersenne, Marin Mersennus or le Père Mersenne was a French theologian, philosopher, mathematician and music theorist, often referred to as the "father of acoustics"...
, an important French music theorist
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
, mathematician
Mathematics
Mathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
, philosopher and theologian
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. Seven letters survive from their correspondence, from 1622–1633. Titelouze gave Mersenne advice on L'Harmonie Universelle, published from 1634 to 1637. Although the strict polyphonic style of Titelouze's music soon disappeared from French organ music, his influence was still felt for some time after his death; for instance, the Parisian composer and organist Nicolas Gigault
Nicolas Gigault
Nicolas Gigault was a French Baroque organist and composer. Born into poverty, he quickly rose to fame and high reputation among fellow musicians. His surviving works include the earliest examples of noëls and a volume of works representative of the 1650–1675 style of the French organ...
included a fugue à la maniere de Titelouze (literally "in Titelouze's style") in his 1685 Livre de musique pour l'orgue. Some three hundred years later, the composer inspired one of Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré , was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.-Biography:Marcel Dupré was born in Rouen . Born into a musical family, he was a child prodigy. His father Albert Dupré was organist in Rouen and a friend of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, who built an organ in the family house when...
's organ works, Le Tombeau de Titelouze, op. 38 (1942).
Works
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
s:
- Ad coenam (4 versets)
- Veni CreatorVeni Creator SpiritusVeni Creator Spiritus is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. It is normally sung in Gregorian Chant and often associated with the Roman Catholic Church, where it is performed during the liturgical celebration of the feast of Pentecost...
(4 versets) - Pange lingua (3 versets)
- Ut queant laxisUt queant laxisUt queant laxis or Hymnus in Ioannem are verses in honour of John the Baptist written in Horatian Sapphics by Paulus Diaconus, the eighth century Lombard historian...
(3 versets) - Ave maris stellaAve Maris StellaAve Maris Stella is a plainsong Vespers hymn to Mary. It is of uncertain origin and can be dated back at least as far as the eighth century. It was especially popular in the Middle Ages and has been used by many composers as the basis of other compositions...
(4 versets) - Conditor alme siderum (3 versets)
- A solis ortus (3 versets)
- Exsultet coelum (3 versets)
- Annue Christe (3 versets)
- Sanctorum meritis (3 versets)
- Iste confessor (3 versets)
- Urbs JerusalemUrbs beata Jerusalem dicta pacis visioUrbs beata Jerusalem dicta pacis visio is the first line of a 7th or 8th-century hymn sung in the Office of the Dedication of a Roman Catholic church.-Text:...
(3 versets)
Every hymn begins with a verset with a continuous cantus firmus
Cantus firmus
In music, a cantus firmus is a pre-existing melody forming the basis of a polyphonic composition.The plural of this Latin term is , though the corrupt form canti firmi is also attested...
: the hymn melody is stated in long note value
Note value
In music notation, a note value indicates the relative duration of a note, using the color or shape of the note head, the presence or absence of a stem, and the presence or absence of flags/beams/hooks/tails....
s in one of the voices, usually the bass, while the other voices provide contrapuntal
Counterpoint
In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more voices that are independent in contour and rhythm and are harmonically interdependent . It has been most commonly identified in classical music, developing strongly during the Renaissance and in much of the common practice period,...
accompaniment. Other versets are only occasionally cast in this form. More frequently the 16th century motet
Motet
In classical music, motet is a word that is applied to a number of highly varied choral musical compositions.-Etymology:The name comes either from the Latin movere, or a Latinized version of Old French mot, "word" or "verbal utterance." The Medieval Latin for "motet" is motectum, and the Italian...
practice is used: the hymn melody either migrates from one voice to another, with or without imitative inserts between verses, or is treated imitatively throughout the piece. In three versets (Veni Creator 3, Ave maris stella 3, and Conditor 2) the melody in one voice is accompanied by two voices that form a canon, in two (Ave maris stella 4 and Annue Christe 3) one of the voices provides a pedal point
Pedal point
In tonal music, a pedal point is a sustained tone, typically in the bass, during which at least one foreign, i.e., dissonant harmony is sounded in the other parts. A pedal point sometimes functions as a "non-chord tone", placing it in the categories alongside suspensions, retardations, and passing...
. In most versets, counterpoints to the hymn melody engage in imitation or fore-imitation, and more often than not they are derived from the hymn melody. All of the pieces are in four voices, except the canonic versets, which use only three.
The second collection, Le Magnificat ou Cantique de la Vierge pour toucher sur l'orgue suivant les huit tons de l'Église, published in 1626, contains eight Magnificat
Magnificat
The Magnificat — also known as the Song of Mary or the Canticle of Mary — is a canticle frequently sung liturgically in Christian church services. It is one of the eight most ancient Christian hymns and perhaps the earliest Marian hymn...
settings in all eight church modes. There are seven versets per each setting, presenting the odd-numbered versets of the canticle, with two settings of Deposuit potentes:
- Magnificat
- Quia respexit
- Et misericordia
- Deposuit potentes, first setting
- Deposuit potetnes, second setting
- Suscepit Israel
- Gloria Patri et Filio
In the preface, Titelouze explains that this structure makes these Magnificat settings usable for the Benedictus
Benedictus
-Music:* Benedictus , the canticle sung at Lauds, also called the Canticle of Zachary.* The second part of the Sanctus, part of the eucharistic prayer* Benedictus , a song by Simon and Garfunkel...
. Save for the introductory ones, all of the versets are fugal. Most feature two main points of imitation: the first concludes on the mediant
Mediant
In music, the mediant is the third scale degree of the diatonic scale, being the note halfway between the tonic and the dominant. Similarly, the submediant is halfway between the tonic and subdominant...
cadence
Cadence (music)
In Western musical theory, a cadence is, "a melodic or harmonic configuration that creates a sense of repose or resolution [finality or pause]." A harmonic cadence is a progression of two chords that concludes a phrase, section, or piece of music...
of the mode, and so, Titelouze writes, the organist can shorten any verset during the service by substituting this cadence with one on the final. Most fugue subjects are derived from the chant; there are many double fugues and inversion fugues in the collection. Four-voice polyphony is employed throughout the collection. The music is much more forward-looking than in Hymnes (see Example 2 for an excerpt from one of the inversion fugues).
General information
Sheet music
- Complete opera in the edition of Alexandre Guilmant in 1897
- Free scores (and midi files) by J. Titelouze at the Mutopia Project