Inhalt:
4 Motets sur des thèmes gregoriens

Duruflé grew up in Louviers in the northern French region of Haute-Normandie
(Upper Normandy), where as a boy he was a chorister and studied piano. At the
age of 17 he moved to Paris to study organ with Charles Tournemire. A year
later Duruflé wasadmitted to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied organ,
piano and composition, and was awarded five first prizes in various subjects.
Upon graduation Duruflé became musical assistant to Louis Vierne at Notre
Dame, but soon after this was appointed organist at Saint Étienne-du-Mont in
Paris, where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1943 he was
appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, a position he maintained
for 27 years. From 1926 until 1977 Duruflé published 14 compositions,
including the Requiem, Op. 9 (1947). Duruflé traveled extensively as a
concert organist, and was active as a recording artist. Later in life he and
his second wife often performed as an organ duo. The composer suffered severe
injuriesin an automobile accident in 1975, which left him nearly bed-ridden
for the final decade of his life.Composed in 1960, Quatre Motets sur des
thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10 (Four Motets on Gregorian Themes) were dedicated to
Auguste le Guennant, director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris. Each of
the four motets begins with an incipit of Gregorianchant, which serves as
melodic inspiration for the composition that follows. The four motets are (in
order): Ubi caritas, Tota pulchra es, Tu es Petrus, and Tantum ergo. Ubi
caritas is an early Christian antiphon traditionally used in the Maundy
Thursday service during the washing of the feet, an act of Jesus from the
Last Supper. The antiphon has become closely associated with the Eucharist,
and is sometimes alsoused at weddings. Duruflé sets only the first of the
four stanzas of the text.