Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq (21 September 1904 – 19 December 1990) was a French

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

music educator Music education is a field of practice in which educators are trained for careers as elementary or secondary music teachers, school or music conservatory ensemble directors. Music education is also a research area in which scholars do origina ...

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and musicographer.

Biography

Norbert Dufourcq was born in 1904 in Saint-Jean-de-Braye in the Loiret department of France. His parents were the historian Albert Dufourcq who worked as a professor at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

and Madeleine Dufourcq, née Prot. His maternal grandfather, Paul Prot, owned Parfums Lubin. He was the third of six children. He was named after his paternal grandfather, Bernard-Norbert Dufourcq. Trained at the

École des chartes École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing in région Île-de-France * Éco ...

and holder of a doctorate of literature, and an

archivist An archivist is an information professional who assesses, collects, organizes, preserves, maintains control over, and provides access to records and archives determined to have long-term value. The records maintained by an archivist can cons ...

palaeographer Palaeography ( UK) or paleography ( US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic discipline of historical writing systems. It encompasses the historicity of manuscripts and texts, subsuming deciphering and dati ...

, Norbert Dufourcq nonetheless devoted himself to music. An amateur organist (pupil of André Marchal), he served as titular organist of the organ of the

Saint-Merri The Church of Saint-Merri or ''Église Saint-Merry'') is a parish church in Paris, located near the Centre Pompidou along the rue Saint Martin, in the 4th arrondissement on the Rive Droite (Right Bank). It is dedicated to the 7th century abbot o ...

church in Paris from 1923 to his death. The Clicquot/ Cavaillé-Coll

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

was restored by the company in a under the direction of its owner between 1946 and 1947. Many stops were added to the instrument. A professor of

music history Music history, sometimes called historical musicology, is a highly diverse subfield of the broader discipline of musicology that studies music from a historical point of view. In theory, "music history" could refer to the study of the history of ...

at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

from 1941 to 1975 and

musicology Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, ...

at the

École normale de musique de Paris The École Normale de Musique de Paris "Alfred Cortot" (ENMP) is a leading conservatoire located in the 17th arrondissement of Paris. The school was founded in 1919 by Auguste Mangeot and Alfred Cortot. The term ''école normale'' (English: no ...

between 1958 and 1963, he was also the author of numerous articles and books on music in general, the

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

and

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

in particular; Moreover, he founded the journal ''Recherches sur la musique française classique'', continued by Marcelle Benoît.

Pedagogy

In 1946, he participated in a collective work entitled ''La Musique des origines à nos jours''. The collaborative work had him partner with musicologists such as Solange Corbin de Mangoux. An organ enthusiast from a young age, he was co-founder with Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James of the ''Association des amis de l’orgue'' from 1926 to 1927 and served as its Secretary-General. He also established the magazine ''L’Orgue'', where he often wrote expressing his ideas on the historicity of French classical organs. Additionally, Dufourcq was also responsible for the restitution and publication in modern edition of classical French organ music such as ''livres d'orgue'' by Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Gilles Jullien, Nicolas Lebègue, Louis-Antoine Dornel,

Alexandre Boëly Alexandre Pierre-François Boëly (19 April 1785 – 27 December 1858) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and violist. Career Born in Versailles into a family of musicians, Boëly received his first music lessons from his father, Jean-Fr ...

, Michel Corrette, as well as a manuscript by Mathieu Lanes; as well as a controversial rebuild of the organ of

Auch Cathedral Auch Cathedral () is a Roman Catholic church building, church located in the town of Auch in the Midi-Pyrénées, France. It is a national monument, and is the seat of the Archbishopric of Auch. Under the Concordat of 1801, the ecclesiastical off ...

in which a large amount of historical 17th-century pipework was destroyed, and an electrification of the instrument's

tracker action Tracker action is a term used in reference to pipe organs and steam calliopes to indicate a mechanical linkage between keys or pedals pressed by the organist and the valve that allows air to flow into pipe(s) of the corresponding note. Thi ...

. Dufourcq was president of the French association of musicologists Société française de musicologie from 1955 to 1958. His archives of the ''Commission des orgues'' are kept in the archives of the city of Paris, Papiers Norbert Dufourcq, 1933–1984, Cotes: D70Z 1 à 10, référence de l’instrument de recherche: VII.2.3.

Personal life

On the day before his 22nd birthday in 1926, he married the historian Odette Latron (1904-1994). Dufourcq had five children, one of whom was the diplomat Bertrand Dufourcq; who was the father of the businessman

Nicolas Dufourcq Nicolas Georges Norbert Dufourcq (born 18 July 1963) is a French businessman. He has been the general manager of the Banque Publique d’Investissement ( Bpifrance) since its creation in January 2013. Early life and education Dufourcq was born on ...

. He died on 19 December 1990. A simple funeral service, in accordance with his will, was held in the Parisian church of Saint-Sulpice in his memory. He was buried at the

Montmartre Cemetery The Cemetery of Montmartre () is a cemetery in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, France, that dates to the early 19th century. Officially known as the Cimetière du Nord, it is the third largest necropolis in Paris, after the Père Lachaise Cemet ...

afterwards.

Bibliography

*1933: ''La musique française'',

Éditions Larousse Éditions Larousse () is a French publishing house specialising in reference works such as dictionaries. It was founded by Pierre Larousse, and for some time was known also as Librarie Larousse; its best-known work is the '' Petit Larousse'' sin ...

, Paris. *1935: ''Esquisse d'une histoire de l'orgue en France du XIIIe au XVIIIe siècles, étude technique et archéologique de l'instrument'', thèse pour le doctorat ès-lettres. *1938: ''La musique d'orgue française au XXe.'', Paris. *1942: ''Les Clicquot : facteurs d'orgues du Roy, contribution à l'histoire d'une famille d'artisans d'origine champenoise sous l'Ancien Régime'', Floury, Paris. *1946: ''La musique des origines à nos jours'', under the dir. of Norbert Dufourcq, Larousse. *1948: ''Jean-Sébastien Bach, le maître de l'orgue'', Floury, Paris. *1948: ''L'Orgue'', PUF, Paris, ''( Que sais-je ?)''. *1949: ''Le clavecin'', PUF, ''(Que sais-je ?)''. *1969: Marcelle Benoît, Norbert Dufourcq and Bernard Gagnepain, ''Les grandes dates de l'histoire de la musique''''Les grandes dates de l'histoire de la musique'' on Amazon
/ref> 3rd ed., 1995.

References

Sources

* "Norbert Dufourcq (1904-1990)". ''L'Orgue''. ''Cahiers et mémoires'' issues 49-50 (1993): 292 pages.

External links

Musica et Memoria
Biographical notes and photos. Extended biography.

Le grand orgue de St-Merry par Pierre Astor. {{DEFAULTSORT:Dufourcq, Norbert Winners of the Prix Broquette-Gonin (literature) 20th-century French musicologists French classical organists École Nationale des Chartes alumni Collège Stanislas de Paris alumni French music historians 1904 births People from Loiret 1990 deaths 20th-century French organists 20th-century French male musicians French writers about music 20th-century French classical musicians Presidents of the Société française de musicologie French male classical organists