Jean Langlais (1907–1991) — Deux petites pièces dans le style médiéval, op. 114 (1960) for organ
The French composer Jean Langlais (1907–1991) was born in La Fontenelle (near Mont Saint-Michel) and was educated at the National Institute for the Blind and the Paris Conservatory. He studied with André Marchal, Marcel Dupré, Paul Dukas, and Charles Tournemire. Langlais served as organiste titulaire of the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde in Paris from 1945 until 1988. He performed many recital tours throughout Europe and the United States, and taught at the Schola Cantorum in Paris from 1961 to 1976. As a composer, Langlais published hundreds of works, most of which are for the organ.
These two brief, evocative works form the appendix to the collection “Douze petite pieces,” op. 130. Like Langlais’s well-known "Suite Médiévale," the Medieval reference is meant more abstractly, rather than any strict imitation of the actual style of that music. The first piece is freely composed; the second piece quotes the plainsong “Virgo Dei Genetrix” and evokes organum.
Published by Masters Music Publications, Inc. (http://www.ludwigmasters.com
) in “Twelve Little Pieces”