The name of French composer Fernand de La Tombelle is nowadays somewhat forgotten, but this man was renowned during his lifetime, even outside of France. To give but one example, he composed a Fantaisie de concert for organ especially for the inauguration of Chicago’s Auditorium Theater instrument.1 Moreover, many of his organ compositions were dedicated to American organists, and some of these musicians were the first to perform La Tombelle’s music.2
Baron Fernand de La Tombelle was a composer, pianist, and organist, a pedagogue and lecturer, a poet and writer. He was well versed in folklore and photography and was a talented amateur painter. An excellent cyclist, he was also keen on astronomy and archaeology.
As a composer, his great concern for form and the clarity of his musical ideas make him a fine example of French Romantic Classicism following his teachers and friends Alexandre Guilmant, Théodore Dubois, and Camille Saint-Saëns. Except for opera, La Tombelle tried his hand at almost every genre, and in abundance (one can estimate his works to nearly 500 opus numbers). Obviously, everything has not the same interest but many compositions have musical value. Among his masterpieces, chamber music has a special place (he was awarded the Grand Prix Chartier de l’Institut for his chamber music in 1896) and also his choral music. In France, during the Belle Epoque, La Tombelle was one of the most important composers of vocal works for male choirs (chœurs d’Orphéon). In the latter part of his life, he turned increasingly towards religious music, writing majestic oratorios and cantatas.3 Furthermore, as a way to democratize classical music and decentralize it from the almighty Parisian Milieu, he composed many hymns, motets, and Masses for a wide range of performers, both professionals and amateurs.4 Musical life in France had always been more or less ruled by people in Paris, but fortunately some regional masters tried to make music a vivid reality in other parts of the country.
Moreover, La Tombelle was a fine instrumentalist, first taught by his mother (a pupil of Thalberg and Liszt) and then by Guilmant. He was the official piano accompanist of the Trocadéro concerts, initiated by Alexandre Guilmant at the Paris World’s Fair in 1878. La Tombelle discovered the organ around 1870 at the Cathédrale Saint-Etienne de Toulouse through the local organist, Jules Leybach. His later studies with Guilmant confirmed his affinity for the instrument. He often substituted for Guilmant and Dubois, at La Trinité and at La Madeleine, where he was assistant organist from 1885 to 1898. He played inaugural concerts on several instruments5 and was a talented performer.
La Tombelle contributed to the foundation of the Schola Cantorum in 1896 along with Charles Bordes, Vincent d’Indy, and Alexandre Guilmant. There, he taught harmony for about ten years. He was sought after as a lecturer, as he could speak knowledgeably on a wide range of musical topics.
Fernand de La Tombelle composed texts as well as music, with poetry one of his favorite means of expression. Quite often he set his own texts to music. He wrote articles and books on music, theatrical fantaisies, and well-developed travelogues (as a member of the Automobile Club du Périgord he wrote about their excursions around France). More surprisingly, he wrote a small culinary work: Les pâtés de Périgueux!
Although born in Paris (on August 3, 1854), La Tombelle had family roots in the Périgord region through his mother. Périgord remained the region closest to his heart, which is why he spent the greater part of his life in his château of Fayrac (see photo above). A staunch supporter of local customs, he set many popular regional themes to music, as did Julien Tiersot, Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray, Vincent D’Indy, Joseph Canteloube, and Maurice Emmanuel in other parts of France.
Works for organ
For much of his life La Tombelle composed for his favorite instrument, the organ. (See list of his organ works, below.) Two previously unpublished works are now available in print. Epithalame for violin and piano (or organ) was composed around 1897 (Editions Delatour France DLT2479). (Epithalame refers to a nuptial lyrical poem sung for newlyweds in ancient Greece.) The opening measures of the manuscript are shown in Example 1. Jeanne d’Arc is a suite of symphonic episodes for organ (Editions Delatour France DLT2478).
Jeanne d’Arc
Jeanne d’Arc occupies a very special place in La Tombelle’s œuvre. His largest work for organ, it is forty-five minutes in length. La Tombelle was offered the commission to compose this work in 1905 thanks to the bishop of Périgueux and Sarlat. This suite of nine movements narrating the life of Joan of Arc was first performed by the composer on the Merklin organ of Notre-Dame de Bergerac (in Périgord) on June 4, 1905. In France, the law establishing the separation of church and state was enacted in 1905, ending the Concordat, which established the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France. Thus, the subject of the composition was not trivial at all in such a period of turmoil. During this time of fracture between Catholics and exacerbated anticlericalists, Joan, a daughter of God and also a child of France, was considered a unifying and comforting figure for a country stricken with doubt over the Concordat. This “hagiographic symphony” is made up of five parts divided into nine movements. It gives a chronological account of the main events in Joan of Arc’s life: from her birthplace in Domrémy, to her death at the stake in Rouen and her subsequent glory. La Tombelle utilizes musical forms in vogue at that time (march, pastorale, cantilena, symphonic poem, and so on), cleverly working them into the narrative.
We know very little about the genesis of the composition; nevertheless, a letter to Abbé Cyprien Boyer (composer and a professor at the seminary of Bergerac, pupil of Guilmant and close friend of La Tombelle) of March 1905 gives us some information:
My Dear Monsieur l’Abbé
Thank you for your kind letter. As it tarried a little to come, I wrote yesterday to Mr Bernachot, but my letter is now useless since you are telling me that everything will be done as I wish. So please let him know that he need not bother himself.
I have almost completed my work on the composition. I just have to write a Triumphal March for Reims. It is quite difficult because I want to avoid a march with big military effects, which would be of the worst taste (though pleasant for many people) and on the other hand, to compose a Triumphal March without bombard, it is a delicate problem to solve.
I recommend to you the beginning Pastorale, n°2, Apparition of St Michael, and n°8 (the voices in the jail). I think you will be pleased. This will be archaism inserted in the most exalted modernism! Palestrina and Debussy!!
With much friendship and see you on June the 4th!6
From an aesthetic point of view, the score is closer to Guilmant (the two last movements call to mind his famous Marche funèbre et Chant séraphique) and Saint-Saëns (La Tombelle’s Entrée triomphale reminds one of the Marche du synode from the opera Henri VIII) than to Palestrina and Debussy. The style, however, also reveals occasional colors of the Franckist movement. Besides, there are hints of the early works of Fauré in some mysterious melodic and harmonic progressions. Plainchant is used twice (the Te Deum and the introit Gaudeamus omnes in domino), for the two movements of the coronation of Charles VII.
The unity of the piece is further ensured through the use of two main themes: one for Joan (Example 2) and one for the Archangel (Example 3). Running through the composition, they are linked together and superimposed using numerous rhythmic and melodic variations as the events unfold. Other recurring motifs also appear at significant times, all of them with a specific meaning.
The first part of the composition, divided into two movements, evokes the life of young Joan in her native countryside of Domrémy and is a true introduction to the whole work by presenting the two main musical ideas. The first piece is a Pastorale, mostly based on a modal theme using the characteristic triplet rhythm and played on the also typical sound of the oboe stop (Example 4). This first movement is also an excuse to introduce wo cyclical elements: the rhythmical pattern symbolizing Domrémy and the melodic theme of Joan (Example 5).
The short second piece is Apparition de Saint Michel (Vision of St. Michael). The melodic theme of the Archangel is presented in the left hand, accompanied very softly in the high register of the instrument by an ostinato of triplets. This mélodie accompagnée evokes the voices that pushed Joan to leave her birthplace and go to help her country against the English invasion and to help her king to be officially crowned before God at Reims Cathedral (a city held by the Burgundians, allied to the king of England). (See Example 6.)
The second part of the composition, in one developed movement, is a very descriptive symphonic poem using all the cyclical themes or motives of the work. The title is Vers Chinon—Vers Orléans (Toward Chinon—toward Orléans).
The music illustrates first, on the cyclical pattern representing the Ride, Joan’s journey from Domrémy to Château Chinon where she met the king. La Tombelle uses some bars of an old dance, the pavane, to depict the nonchalant and frivolous court of Charles VII. Then a dialogue is made between this dance and Joan’s theme, the latter each time more persuasive. At last, she convinced the king to action.
The second half of the symphonic poem is a well-prepared crescendo, increasingly stirring and heroic, on the Ride pattern and Joan’s theme. This is the battle to free the city of Orléans! Victory is expressed, at the end, with a fortissimo and by using the Archangel theme (Example 6) and Domrémy’s pattern. Now, the young country girl became the standard bearer of an army.
With the third part of La Tombelle’s work, we find ourselves at the king’s coronation in Reims Cathedral. Two movements describe this episode.
The first movement is a Triumphal March in ABA′ form, with its two specific musical themes (one for A, another for the “trio” part B). During part A′, Domrémy’s pattern is inserted in the solemn procession and superimposed on the other melodic element. A short coda uses the Gregorian chant Te Deum. Everything is ready to start the royal ceremony.
The second piece, Action de Grâce (Blessing), is again a mélodie accompagnée. The right hand plays a cantilena on the trumpet stop. This musical phrase is inspired by the Gregorian chant Gaudeamus omnes in Domino and includes references to Joan’s and the Archangel’s themes. A neutral rhythm of triplets gives a soft background to this time of prayer.
Rouen, Normandy! In the short but expressive fourth part of the composition, Joan has been captured, abandoned by her king, and waits for her trial. The first piece evokes La Prison (the Jail). Thick and tortured sonorities, chromatic lines and harmonies give no comfort to her (Example 7). The dungeon is no place even for thought. Therefore, this movement is the only one where we cannot find any typical pattern or theme.
But after that, in an extreme sweetness, whisper Les Voix (the Voices) on the Vox Coelestis stop. This second movement is based on some fragments of the Archangel’s theme. Very cloudy harmonies gradually disappear in the sky.
The fifth and last part of La Tombelle’s musical epic is Le Bûcher—Le Ciel (the Stake—Heaven). In the first movement, Joan is condemned to death by fire for her heresy. For that reason, the composer employs a merciless Marche funèbre (funeral march) to describe the scene. The Ride pattern is the main element here, but modified, no longer for a run toward victory. Also present is Joan’s theme, diminished and tormented, but fighting to the end. Unfortunately, the scaffold and the flames are stronger than anything. After a great climax and a long diminuendo, one can hear the Archangel melody, amplified and broad.
Apothéose (Apotheosis) concludes the whole work in the tenderness and peace of Heaven. Arpeggios on the Vox Humana stop surround the two main themes of the composition (Example 8). Afterwards, La Tombelle closes his cyclical masterpiece by quoting all the important elements (the Ride, Domrémy, the Voices, the Archangel, etc.). Of course, Joan’s theme, pure and ethereal, ends the musical tale, very slowly in the high register (Example 9). As a ray of hope, Jeanne d’Arc starts in A minor, seeks its way through nine musical episodes, each time with a different principal key signature, and, at the very end, finds its conclusion in a beautiful A-major sonority.
This short overview of Fernand de La Tombelle as organ music composer aimed to increase knowledge of his French romantic repertoire. Although La Tombelle was not a revolutionary genius, he was a talented and sincere musician, which is more than sufficient to pay him a tribute.
For information, excerpts, and scores for purchase, visit www.editions-delatour.com/fr/744_de-la-tombelle-fernand. ν
Notes
1. Organist Clarence Eddy (1851–1937) premiered this piece. For the same occasion, French composer Théodore Dubois (1837–1924) wrote Fantaisie triomphale for organ and orchestra.
2. For example, the Finale from the third organ sonata was dedicated to William C. Carl (1865–1936) who premiered it in 1896. In the same year, Clarence Eddy premiered the paraphrase Et vox angelorum respondet domino at the Trocadéro. Other pieces were also dedicated to American musicians such as Dudley Buck, Samuel P. Warren, Gerrit Smith, and Roland Diggle.
3. Among them, Crux (1904), Les Sept Paroles du Christ (1906), L’Abbaye (1913), or Cantate à Saint Joseph (1923) are to be mentioned for their qualities.
4. To be more comprehensive, we can add to this catalog many songs worthy of interest; piano, harmonium, organ pieces; and also music for band, orchestral suites, incidental music, and ballet music.
5. Mostly inaugurations of instruments in France and Spain: Schola Cantorum (1898), Azcoitia (Spain 1898), Laon Cathedral (1899, with Charles Tournemire), Albi Cathedral (1904, with Adolphe Marty), Saint Etienne de la Cité at Périgueux (1905, with Alexandre Guilmant), Tulle Cathedral (1912), Montauban Cathedral (1917, with Georges Debat-Ponsan), Sacré-Cœur de Toulouse (1924).
6. Fernand de La Tombelle, autographed signed letter to Cyprien Boyer, March 1905, Archives of Diocese de Périgueux and Sarlat.
Fernand de La Tombelle:
Solo organ works
1883—Offertoire pour le jour de Pâques (Lissarague)
1883—Pastorale-Offertoire pour orgue (Lissarague)
1884—Six versets (Lissarague)
1885—Marche nuptiale (Lissarague)
1888—Pièces d’orgue en six livraisons, op. 23 (Richault & Cie)
1ère : Prélude / Echo / Méditation
2e : Magnificat / Marche de procession
3e : Allegretto cantando / Carillon
4e : Première sonate en Mi mineur
5e : Prélude et fugue sur la prose de l’Ascension / Canzonetta
6e : 2 fantaisies sur des Noëls anciens/ Marche pontificale
1890—Aubade pour harmonium (Richault & Cie)
1890/91—Deuxième série de pièces d’orgue en six livraisons, op. 33 (Richault & Cie)
1ère : Fantaisie de concert
2e: Deuxième sonate en Fa # mineur
3e: Variations sur un choral / Andantino
4e: Pastorale / Marche nuptiale
5e: 2 poèmes symphoniques : La Nativité, le Vendredi Saint / Épithalame
6e : Élégie / Marche solennelle
1894—Ad te domine, Abbé Hazé, Album d’auteurs modernes: pièces inédites pour orgue ou harmonium, volume 1 (Gounin-Ghidone)
1895—Sortie, “sur le thème Ite missa est du premier ton,” Abbé Hazé, Album d’auteurs modernes: pièces inédites pour orgue ou harmonium, volume 2 (Gounin-Ghidone)
1895—“Et vox angelorum respondet Domino, paraphrase pour grand orgue” (unpublished)
1896—“Finale d’une troisième sonate en Sol” (unpublished)
1899—Les Vespres du commun des saints (Schola Cantorum)
1900—Rapsodie béarnaise (Costallat & Cie)
1905—Jeanne d’Arc. Episodes symphoniques pour grand-orgue (Editions Delatour France DLT2478)
1907—Fantaisie sur Deux Thèmes (Profane et Grégorien), “Chanson de Nougolhayro/Hymne de l’Avent,” (Schola Cantorum)
1910—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Fête du Saint Sacrement) (L.-J. Biton)
1910—Cantilène pour grand orgue (L.-J. Biton)
1910—Vox angelorum pour grand orgue (ou harmonium) (L-.J. Biton)
1911—Méditation, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 1 (M. Senart)
1911—Toccata, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 1 (M. Senart)
1911—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de Noël) (L.-J. Biton)
1911—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de Pâques) (L.-J. Biton)
1911—In Pace, “A la mémoire vénérée de mon cher maître et ami de 40 années Alexandre Guilmant” (Schola Cantorum)
1912—Dix pièces pour orgue sur thèmes grégoriens, populaires ou originaux, en deux cahiers (Janin Frères)
1913—Suite d’orgue sur des thèmes grégoriens (Temps de la Pentecôte) (L.-J. Biton)
1913—Préludes, fugues, chorals et toccatas, extraits de la Méthode d’harmonium (Librairie de l’art catholique)
1914—Andantino, Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les maîtres contemporains de l’orgue, volume 7 (M. Senart)
1914—Pièce pour harmonium (Schola Cantorum)
1917—50 pièces pour harmonium (L.-J. Biton)
1918—Adagio (A. Ledent-Malay)
1919—“Symphonie Dominicale” (Introibo, Orate fratres, Pater noster, Agnus Dei, Ite missa est) (unpublished)
1920—Meum ac vestrum sacrificium, offertoire pour orgue (Hérelle)
1921—Dix pièces dans le style grégorien (L.-J. Biton)
1921—Symphonie Voces belli (Pro Patria, Pro Defunctis, Pro Vulneratis, Pro Lacrymantibus, Pro Deo), Abbé Joseph Joubert: Les Voix de la Douleur Chrétienne, volume 1, Aux Héros de la Grande Guerre (A. Ledent-Melay)
1922—Offertoire (Schott Frères)
1923—Cinq versets de Magnificat en sol (ou antiennes) (Procure générale des missionnaires et du clergé)
1924—[Trois petites pièces] (Offertoire, Mélodie élévation, Pastorale communion), in Méthode d’harmonium par le chanoine Vincent Bado (Bureau de la Musique Sacrée)
1924—Symphonie Pascale (Entrée épiscopale, Offertoire et Sortie) sur O filii mélodie populaire du XVIIIe siècle et sur la séquence Victimae paschali, in Échos des cathédrales (Procure générale des missionnaires et du clergé)
1927—Requiescant (L.-J. Biton)
1927—Tre pezzi per organo (Introduzione, Offertorio, Finale) (Casa editrice “Musica Sacra”)
1928—Trois pièces (Petite entrée, Communion, Sortie), in Cantantibus organis, “recueil de 25 pièces pour harmonium ou orgue sans pédales” (Société anonyme d’éditions & de musique)
Undated, unpublished works:
—“Paraphrase [sur des motifs du chœur Le poème des heures]”
—“Prélude, variations et finale sur un thème du Frère Albert des Anges”
—“Suite Nuptiale” (Cortège–Entrée, Epithalame–Offertoire, Défilé–Sortie)
(Epithalame published separately: Editions Delatour France DLT2479.)
