One of things that draws people to playing the organ is the sense of complete control and domination you get (= me).
Widor, Fauré, Saint-Saëns, Franck, Dupré, Vierne, Messiaen, Dubois, Duruflé – some of these names may be familiar, because from the mid-1850s, if you wanted to really study improvisation and composition, you went to Paris.
Langlais (full name: Jean François-Hyacinthe Langlais – what an amazing middle name!) was blind by the age of two, and was sent to the Parisian Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (National Institute for Blind Children). There he studied organ, and then went to the Paris Conservatoire, learning with Tournemire, Dukas (of Sorcerer’s Apprentice fame) and Dupré. He won prizes for performance and composition.
As well as teaching at the Institut, and at the Parisian Schola Cantorum, he was organist of Saint-Clotilde, from 1945-1988. This is the church with two spires just south west of the Musée d’Orsay off the Rue Saint-Dominique, and where Franck had been organist.
There is a tradition in catholic music of taking plainsong melodies and then developing them. In his Incantation pour un jour saint (Incantation for a Holy Day), in his 20th century modal/dissonant style, Langlais takes the Lumen Christi plainsong which is sung at the Easter Vigil as the candle is lit – that’s the modal melody based on thirds you can hear.
The final section is the ‘Thanks be to God’ (Deo Gratias – if you’ve sung Britten’s Ceremony of Carols you may know this text), which is for full organ and the melody in the pedals (which is the third line of the score).
If you want to hear Langlais playing it himself, click here:
The Listening Project Blog 