Solemn vespers in Notre Dame de Paris with pope Leo - Olivier Latry on organ
  • Simon
    Posts: 173
    https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2026-09/pope-leo-vespers-notre-dame-paris-france-apostolic-visit.html
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,838
    People whined about the organ again but I’m very happy personally. I only wish that they would use the fauxbourdon for the alternating verses of the Magnificat. The people chant just fine in unison for the odd verses.
  • davido
    Posts: 1,252
    Has anyone seen a music list for vespers or any of the other Parisian papal events?
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,838
    the booklets are online and were published by the Office of Liturgical Celebrations of the Supreme Pontiff (or whatever it's called nowadays). though I can't find them at the moment; I know that, for example, they are doing the Kyrie and Agnus Dei of Mass IV (sadly not the Gloria, as it's not called for, I suppose) on Monday in Metz, along with the Berthier Sanctus pro Europa…

    However, the Vespers booklet didn't listed any of the music for the office and didn't even have the melodies that were needed for the psalms and antiphons; the Magnificat was, go figure, the ton royal du 6e ton, but without the customary fauxbourdon, sung between men and women.
  • Diapason84
    Posts: 170
    I look forward to the day when the likes of Latry, Cochereau, Hakim, Messiaen and Langlais fade from influence in the organ world. The polytonal bombast of the improvisations got tiresome a long time ago. (Edit: I realize these musicians are from different generations, but the collective impact wears on me.)

    Also, it would be nice that if Leo is going to indulge a vespers service near a hideous half-circle altar, which has no antecedent except in Le Corbusier's head, he would at least ease off on the Latin Mass-goers, who generally worship around and endorse historically and spiritually consistent liturgical architecture. O tempora, o mores.
  • Felicia
    Posts: 173
    @davido,

    The missal gives the music for the chants, and it indicates in the text some of the musical items sung, and in which language. Unfortunately, it does not provide the music for those items.

    https://www.vatican.va/content/dam/liturgy/pdf/2026/20260925-28-messale-francia.pdf
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,282
    I look forward to the day when the likes of Latry, Cochereau, Hakim, Messiaen and Langlais fade from influence in the organ world. The polytonal bombast of the improvisations got tiresome a long time ago.


    Lumping Hakim and Cochereau with Latry would get you in trouble in Paris. Langlais is a generation behind along with Messiaen. Different approaches....

    I am weary of Latry also but he is the king these days. And Latry has a stable of students who walk the same path as he so don't hold your breath. I heard Philippe Lefebvre a year or so ago here in the States. Really wonderful but not polytonal.

    I think the ones to watch are Vincent Dubois and Karol Massokowski. Tonal but sensitive. There are others...Thomas Ospital another. Soyez gentile!
    Thanked by 2CHGiffen BruceL
  • MatthewRoth
    Posts: 3,838
    Benjamin Alard is magnificent but also does a lot of Bach; he started at the organ of the territorial parish where I lived when I was a TAPIF assistant, and so bol 1 of the complete keyboard works was recorded on that same organ. They have organ recitals a few times a year, not enough, but some, and one is always part of the weekend dedicated to European cultural patrimony. The mayor was present this year for the prize given out to a young musician, the name of which is of Pierre de Manchicourt, who is known to have been born in the town.
  • BruceL
    Posts: 1,056
    No Sophie-Veronique love in here?

    Also, we will welcome Jean-Baptiste Robin here in Birmingham this April. If you're in the region, the Cathedral and Anna Catharine Grace Memorial Pipe Organ are worth checking out for a multitude of reasons, too. https://stpaulsbhm.org
  • kevinfkevinf
    Posts: 1,282
    I forgot Sophie...definitely a wonderful improviser. I have never heard Mssr. Robin so I do not know. Age wise he is younger.
  • 32ContraBombarde32ContraBombarde
    Posts: 162
    I admire Latry, and personally enjoy his improvisations. I think he's the worthy torchbearer of a very particular French school niche (let's call it Notre-Dame "local custom"). But I am plenty sympathetic to those who find it distracting (or worse), and I'd never attempt to do what he does in a liturgical setting (assuming I had the skill, which I decidedly *do not*).

    I think the Saint-Sulpice improv ethos is my favorite. Roth, Cauchefer-Choplin (whose epic full name, by the way, is Sophie-Véronique Colette Claude Cauchefer-Choplin), and I'm liking what I see of Massokowski so far. And I'll give another big thumbs-up to Ospital. He seems very well formed in liturgy, and seems to have all of his priorities right.
    Thanked by 1CHGiffen
  • Jehan_Boutte
    Posts: 274
    I am glad they used the old Vulgate version of the Magnificat, instead of the Nova Vulgata version.
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