Secrets of Organ Playing Week 52 – Sortie from Messe du Jour de Noël –Alexandre-Pierre-François Boëly

In 1840, Boëly (1785 – 1858) was appointed organist at St Germain-l’Auxerrois, Paris where he presided over the Clicquot organ formerly in the nearby Saint-Chapelle. He is credited as having been the first to introduce the German style pedal board in Paris in order to play Bach, a composer whose works he championed. At the same time, he was looked upon with disdain for his support of Bach’s music, considered by his contemporaries as unplayable and was dismissed from his organist’s post in 1851, Boëly wrote a considerable amount of organ and piano music and his style might be called ‘transitional’ which means between the French Classical and French Romantic styles.

The Messe du Jour de Noël op 11 was written in 1840 is Boëly’s only Mass. As in Chapentier’s Messe de Minuit (ca 1694), the common of the Mass ie Kyrie, Gloria etc, the parts are based on traditional French Noëls (Carols) and these are played alternatim with the scola cantorum singing the intervening parts in chant. The Sortie is the postlude and is based on the Noël, À minujt fut fait un réveil. It is Grand Jeu piece ie played on the large reeds and cornet stops. At times, the Positif is used in dialogue. An interesting point is Boëly’s marking where the pedals are to be used. Also, he calls upon what the French called a ‘ravalement’ an extension in the pedal compass which descends below C. The pedals of the 1771 Clicquot organ went down three extra notes: Contra A, Bb and B (as can be found Poitiers Cathedral today). This extension on affected the reeds as the flue= stops started at C. The Bombarde 16 would have sounded in the 32’ octave for those notes). Calling for a Contra Bb at the end needs to be modified on modern instruments. The same can be said for the Contra B which Bach calls for in his Pièce d’orgue BWV 572.

The organ I am playing is a French Canadian instrument by Létourneau op 22 and built in 1989. It is currently located in my old Jesuit school chapel, St Aloysius College. The organ was originally located in St Joseph’s Basilica, Edmonton, Canada before it was sold to St Aloysius. It was a perfect fit, with only 6 inches from the top of the instrument to the chapel ceiling. In style, it is technically German but especially serves classical French music well as can be seen by the very prominent reeds.