Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911) - Messe Solennelle (1852)
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Composer: Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911)
Work: Messe Solennelle in F (1852)
Performers: Virginiе Pеrrin (soprano); Hеrvé Lamy (tenor); Bеrtrand Bοntοux (basse); Cori Spеzzati; Mariе-Angе Lеurеnt (orgue); Oliviеr Opdеbееck (direction)
Painting: Johannes Bosboom (1817-1891) - Interieur van de Geertekerk te Utrecht met de viering van het heilig avondmaal (1852)
Image in high resolution: https://flic.kr/p/2iJufXV
Further info: https://www.discogs.com/Alexandre-Guilmant-Cori-Spezzati-Marie-Ange-Leurent-Olivier-Opdebeeck-Troisi%C3%A8me-Messe-Solennelle-Op/release/14699991
Listen free: https://open.spotify.com/album/7yBJuf22nrhABeLK1jLKlb
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(Félix) Alexandre Guilmant
(Boulogne-sur-Mer, 12 March 1837 - Meudon, 29 March 1911)
French organist, teacher, composer and editor. He was the son of Jean-Baptiste Guilmant (1794-1890), organist of St Nicolas, Boulogne, who was his first teacher; he also received harmony lessons from Gustav Carulli. Devoted to the organ from an early age, he set himself an unremitting regime of practice, composition and studying treatises. At 16 he had become organist of St Joseph, and two years later his first Messe solemnelle in F was performed at St Nicolas. Soon his musical activities broadened to include teaching solfège at the Ecole Communale de Musique, playing the viola in the Société Philharmonique, and establishing an Orphéon that won a number of prizes. In 1860 he went to Brussels to study with the organist J.N. Lemmens, purportedly the inheritor of the authentic tradition of J.S. Bach. Numerous opportunities to inaugurate new organs followed, above all those of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll in Paris at St Sulpice in 1862, and at Notre Dame in 1868. His meteoric rise gained him the prestigious post at La Trinité in 1871. Thereafter, Paris became the hub of his activities; in 1878 his additional appointment as resident organist of the Palais du Trocadéro – also equipped with a magnificent Cavaillé-Coll organ – encouraged him to pursue a parallel career as a concert recitalist, enabling him to popularize and broaden the organ repertory. His work editing and publishing the then forgotten works of such early composers as Titelouze, Grigny, Clérambault and Couperin, together with an insatiable curiosity regarding the music of his contemporaries, including Liszt, Schumann, Rheinberger, Franck, Saint-Saëns, Widor and S.S. Wesley, produced a performing repertory of unparalleled breadth. His programmes also included Handel’s organ concertos with orchestra, and Berlioz and Wagner transcriptions. Guilmant’s phenomenal energy impelled him to undertake regular extensive recital tours throughout mainland Europe, Britain and America, making a particular impact in the English-speaking world with his catholic breadth of taste, and versatility in managing a large range of instruments. #ClassicalMusic