Charles Tournemire Collection
Catalog Record: http://lccn.loc.gov/2006568223
General International Standard for Archival Description
Music Division Library of Congress Washington, D.C.
Finding aid encoded by Library of Congress Music Division, 2011
Encoded Archival Description
Encoded Archival Description (EAD) Version 2002
collection
Charles Tournemire Collection circa 1868-1962 (bulk 1900-1936)
Tournemire, Charles, 1870-1939
Biographical History for: Charles Tournemire Collection circa 1868-1962 (bulk 1900-1936)
Biographical Note Charles Tournemire, a composer, organist, and teacher, was born in Bordeaux, France, on Jan. 22, 1870. He was appointed organist of the church of St. Pierre in Bordeaux at the age of eleven. After studying at the Bordeaux Conservatoire, he transferred to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of sixteen, where he studied the piano with Bériot and harmony with Taudou. Around 1889, he joined César Franck's organ class and in 1891 Tournemire won first prize for organ in Charles-Marie Widor's class. After working briefly at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, he succeeded Gabriel Pierné as organist at the Basilique Sainte Clotilde, a post he held for the rest of his life. Between 1900 and 1904 he composed his first five symphonies. He achieved his first major recognition as a composer when he won the concours musicale de las ville de Paris for his choral work Le sang de la siréne in 1904. In 1908, Tournemire married the sister of the wife of Josephin "Sâr" Péladan, a French mystic who was the founder of the Ordre de Rose-Croix in Paris. Tournemire began immersing himself in nineteenth century French mystical writers, such as Hello, Huysmans, and Péladan. Beginning in the late 1920s, Tournemire increasingly withdrew from the musical establishment becoming heavily involved with not only mystical writers, but medieval architecture and early Christian spirituality. Tournemire composed three more symphonies after the First World War, none of which were performed in his lifetime. In 1919, he became professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire where he also taught organ improvisation. Tournemire was an influential teacher whose students included Maurice Duruflé, Jean Langlais, and Daniel Lesur, among others. After 1921, many of his best compositions were written for the church. He wrote the immense L'orgue mystique (1927-1932) which was a cycle of fifty-one organ suites, one for every Sunday of the church year, each based on the appropriate plainsong. In 1931, Tournemire recorded five organ improvisations at Sainte Clotilde. These were later transcribed from the phonograph recordings by Maurice Duruflé and are among his best known works. His last composition was the opera Il poverello di Assisi (1937-1938) based on a text by "Sâr" Péladan. The precise cause and date of his death are uncertain. He died at Arcachon around Nov. 4, 1939.
Scope and Content Note The collection primarily consists of manuscript and printed music, but also includes librettos, a scrapbook, books, and one issue of a journal. The music includes items by Tournemire and by other composers. The Tournemire materials include six holographs, including an arrangement for piano (four hands) of the First symphony by Raoul Moreau, three manuscripts, and eight printed scores. There are two additional Tournemire holographs, one is an arrangement of the sixth suite from Walther's Hortulus chelicus, and the other a transcription of Frescobaldi's Toccata per l'Elevazione. The printed scores by other composers include items from the Ecole classique de l’Orgue series, edited by A. Guilmant. Additional materials include two librettos for Tournemire works, a lyric sheet of a poem by Verlaine, and a scrapbook entitled Le sang de la siréne, after Tournemire's prize-winning composition. Six books came with the collection, four of which are annotated and one printed especially for Tournemire. Two books were transferred to the Library of Congress general collections (see "Transfers" above).
series
Music, circa 1868-1962, undated
subseries
Music by Charles Tournemire, 1899-1962, undated
Original compositions, including manuscripts and printed scores, and arrangements and transcriptions.
file
Manuscripts
1re Symphonie romantique, op. 18 bis
Poème [mystique] pour piano, op. 33
(Chryséis) Les Dieux sont morts, drame lyrique, op. 42 (fragments for the concert performance)
La Legénde de Tristan, op. 53
Fantasie symphonique pour orgue, op. 64
Symphonie-choral d’orgue, op. 69
Symphonie sacrée pour orgue, op. 71
Deux fresques symphoniques sacrées pour orgue, op. 75 and op. 76
Printed Music
Pièce symphonique pour grand orgue, op. 16. Paris : Schola Cantorum, [1899]
Suite de Morceaux pour grand-orgue, op. 19 (Toccata, Interludes). Paris : Pérégally & Parvy, 1900
Sagesse, poème pour chant et piano, op. 34. Lyon : Janin, 1921
Triple choral pour orgue, op. 41. Lyon : Janin, 1912
Triple choral pour orgue, op. 41. Paris : Schola Cantorum, Procure générale de musique, [1962]
Les Dieux sont morts, drame lyrique, op. 42. Paris : Choudens, 1921
Suite evocatrice pour grand orgue, op. 74. Paris : Bornemann, 1938
L’orgue mystique, op. 55, 56, 57. Cycle de Noël, op. 55. Paris : Heugel, 1928-1930
Cycle de Paques, op. 56. Paris : Heugel, 1928-1930
Cycle après la Pentacôte, op. 57. I: No. 26-38. Paris : Heugel, 1928-1932
Cycle après la Pentacôte, op. 57. II: No. 39-51. Paris : Heugel, 1934-1936
Arrangements and Transcriptions
Walther, Johann Jakob. 6e suite de l’Hortulus chelicus, accompagment arrangée par Ch. Tournemire, op. 13. Violin part.
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Toccata per l’Elevazione
Music by Other Composers, circa 1868-circa 1938, undated
Printed scores, including several from the series Ecole classique de l’Orgue.
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Chorals-Préludes, Ier Livre. Paris : Heugel, [19--]
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Chorals-Préludes, 4er Livre. Paris : Heugel, [19--]
Bach, Johann Sebastian. Chorals-Préludes, 5e Livre. Paris : Heugel, [19--]
Buxtehude, Dietrich. Werke für orgel, v. 1. Leipzig : Breitkopf & Härtel, 1903-1904
Buxtehude, Dietrich. Werke für orgel, v. 2. Leipzig : Breitkopf & Härtel, 1903-1904
Cabanilles, Iohannis. Opera omnia, vol. 1. Barcelona : Biblioteca de Cataluña, 1927
Cabanilles, Iohannis. Opera omnia, vol. 2. Barcelona : Institut d’estudis Catalans, Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1933
Cabanilles, Iohannis. Opera omnia, vol. 3. Barcelona : Institut d’estudis Catalans, Biblioteca de Catalunya, 1936
Franck, Cèsar. 6 pièces d’orgue. Paris : Durand, 1868-1890?
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Fiori musicali. Paris : Senart, 1922
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Sammlung von orgelsätzen. Leipzig : Breikopf & Härtel, 1889?
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Toccata XII. Paris : Hérelle, [19--]
Griguy, Nicolas de. Oeuvres d’orgue. London : Schott, 1904
Liszt, Franz. Zwölf Kirchen-Chor-Gesänge mit Orgelbegleitung; no. 12: Pro Papa: Dominus conservet eum. Leipzig : C. F. Kahnt, [189-?]
Mathey, Paul. Ante et post praedicationem, op.2. Zwei Stücke für Orgel und Violine (ohne Obligatespedal), 2 v. Zürich ; Leipzig : Gebrüder Hug, 1938?
Matthews, Edmund. Chorale prelude on “St. Mary” for the organ. London : Novello, 1933
Matthews, Edmund. Interlude on “Strength and Stay” for the organ. London : Novello, 1933
Ropartz, Joseph Guy. Intermède. Paris : Schola Cantorum, [189-?]
Ropartz, Joseph Guy. Sur un thème Breton. Paris : Schola Cantorum, 1900
Items in the Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant series:
Bruhns, Nicolas. Choral Nun komm, der heiden Heiland. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Buxtehude, Dietrich. Fugue en Ut. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Buxtehude, Dietrich. Prélude et Fugue en La. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Fugue en Sol mineur. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Krebs, Johann Ludwig. Fugue en Sol. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Murschhauser, F. X. A. Praeambulum du 3e ton, Arpeggiata, Fuga. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Scheidt, Samuel. Cantilena anglica fortunae. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Sweelinck, Jan Pieters. Fantasie en Ré mineur. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Walther, Johann Gottfried. Prélude et fugue en La majeur. Paris : Durand, circa 1900
Concert historique d’orgue / revus par Alexandre Guilmant. Paris : Durand, 1889?
Unidentified. Compositions for organ
Librettos
Manuscript librettos and lyric sheet for compositions by Tournemire.
Nittetis, tragédie lyrique en 3 actes et 7 tableaux, op. 30. Acte I.
Nittetis, tragédie lyrique en 3 actes et 7 tableaux, op. 30. Acte II.
Nittetis, tragédie lyrique en 3 actes et 7 tableaux, op. 30. Acte III.
Sagesse, op. 34; poem by Paul Verlaine
Trilogie Faust - Don Quichotte - Saint François d’Assise, op. 52
Scrapbook, 1904, 1909
Articles and correspondence about Le sang de la siréne, by Tournemire (1904).
Le Sang de la Sirène (title on the cover), 1904, 1909
Books, circa 1899-1923, undated
Two books were transferred to the Library of Congress general collections.
Bédier, Joseph. Le roman de Tristan et Iseut. Paris : L’Edition d’Art, 1914.
Emmerich, Anne-Catherine. La douloureuse passion de Notre-seigneur Jésus-Christ. Tournai : Casterman, [18-- ]
Pauphilet, Albert. La queste du Saint Graal. Paris : Les éditions de la Sirène, 1923
Theocritus. uvres complètes de Théocrite. Paris : Garnier frères, 1899
Ruskin, John. La Bible d’Amiens. Paris : Societé du mercure de France, 1904
Schuré, Eduard. L’évolution divine du sphinx au Christ. Paris : Perrin, 1921
Journal, 1928
Contains one issue.
Cahiers Rhodaniens. January 1928