Secrets of Organ Playing Week 55 – Prélude by Gabriel Pierné

Gabriel Pierné succeeded his teacher Cesar Franck at St Clotilde in 1890 and served there until 1898 where he was, in turn, succeeded by Charles Tournemire, also a student of Franck. Pierné wrote quite a variety of music and, like Widor and Vierne, this far out numbers the numbers of organ compositions in his total output.

The Prélude is the first of three pieces of his op 29 published in 1892 – two years earlier than the construction of the organ upon which I am playing! In style, it is very classical and with and is very close to a perpetuum mobile toccata. The theme can be heard as sustained notes around the continuous triplet motif.

The organ upon which I am playing was built by Théodore Puget in 1890 and was originally installed in] the Sacré Coeur Convent in 1890. Owing to the anti-clerical political events in France around 1904 and which prohibited religious instruction in the schools, the mother superior of Sacré Coeur order had little choice other than to close 42 convents and send their contents out of France to avoid their being confiscated by the French government. The arrival of this rare organ arrival in Sydney in 1905 is an historic accident. The same can be said for the antique choir stalls and other exquisite French furnishings. I was assistant consult for this organ’s restoration which was complete in 2012. It is the only French organ in New South Wales.