André Fleury was (and remains) one of the greatest French organists of the 20th Century. When a teenager, I got so lucky to have him be my organ teacher to begin with, as he was a professor at the Paris Schola Cantorum, back in the late 1970’s. Everyone wanted to study with Langlais but pupils as I was, too sensitive. Fleury had studied the organ with Vierne, Tournemire (to whom he was an assistant) and Dupré. He had been a resident organist at St-Augustin (Cavaillé-Coll, 1899) for over a decade until WW2 and before he moved to Dijon where he was THE piano teacher at the Conservatoire together with the organist at the Cathedral of Dijon. After his wife died (the couple had a daughter), he returned to Paris (in fact, he leaved in the wealthy suburb of Le Chesnay), and started to teach organ at La Schola Cantorum, the school of music I was so lucky to attend. He then was appointed organist at St-Eustache, together with Jean Guillou who regarded him with great esteem and respect, and Guillou had insisted he should be his co-resident colleague. Maestro Fleury was also appointed the resident organist to the Cathedral of Versailles, where he had started practicing when a young student himself. Maître Fleury was the sweetest and most discreet gentleman, extremely generous, elegant, polite, old fashioned in his good manners, beautifully well behaved, interested in performance studies, with great knowledge in history, a beautiful baryton voice, as impressive as tall, a gifted composer with a sensitive sense of melody, well trained in Gregorian chant, a man of huge culture, not only in music but in literature (he used to tell us poems by our great writers), a magnificent improviser with no sense of ordinary show off at all, entirely dedicated to his organ class and every pupil he had, loving to take us to some Asian restaurant where he could carry on telling us about organ music and masters he had met and well known. I think he came too early before people could make as much recordings as the next generation did. Therefore he stuck to organ recitals through Europe and England. (Pierre Cochereau had been his pupil, and fleury remained close to Dupré). He played Bach with precision and a sense of “grandeur” (NOT “grandiose”) making the Cantor’s music sound quite clear in every details and really significant in a religious way. He made me understand why and how the art of legato was important, and even more difficult to approach than people would think, and how it mattered when it came to expression. He was very interested in early music and knew a great deal about it, although he played very few of it (Daquin was one of his favorite). He would sent me postcards when on vacation. Again, he was a true gentleman from the old days, with great spirit, with a delicate sense of humor, and above all, he was never judgmental. He could guess your own weaknesses and still use the most accurate figures of speech to make you feel at ease towards him. A very understanding man, quite unlike most colleagues of his, and certainly not like Langlais, who also taught at la Schola Cantorum. Fleury’s class, pretty crowded though, was still a quiet one. Sorry for being much too long, but I can never forget someone as important as André Fleury whom I miss now. I could never understand why he was so withdrawn. His playing technique was beautiful (he played the piano as a soloist) and his velocity was impressive. You can tell by his works. He had too much simplicity to enjoy being a star. I still play a few of his works. Some of them quite difficult. I also remember that he was acquainted to the Alain family (by his former teacher, father of his own soon to be wife, when a young man), especially Jehan, and he remained a great admirer of Marie-Claire for whom he had much esteem and told her so when the both of them met (St-Germain-en-Laye is closed to Versailles). His style and manner were very personal and specific. That’s probably why so many people have never heard of him nowadays. He didn’t started a tradition or a school.
Dear Lord, I have never heard reep pipes so deep and loud as the ones at 6:00 before. They sound absolutely phenomenal! And of course, a beautiful composition that I have never heard before!
I'm not sure why I like this organ the most that I've listened to on CZcams and there are several Cavalle? organs that are so grand. This one has a distinct elegance.
J'avais eu le privilège d'être autorisé à monter discuter avec le Maître peu de temps avant sa disparition. C'était après un concert à la console de St Sulpice. Un grand moment. J'avais même pris des photos, hélas la pellicule ne s'était pas enroulée, il ne me reste que mes oreilles. .
The obthur organ of Auxerre Cathedrale is a magnifical french neoclassical instrument. It's possible to play all of the organ directory. One regret, not to have a nave console (optical fiber transmission) for playing this organ. The interpretion of j j kauffmann is very good for this fleury piece
This is the organ of St. Etienne Cathedral in Auxerre, France. Inaugurated on November 1, 1986, the organ was built by Dominique Oberthur. The organ consists of 4 manuals (61 notes) and pedals (32 notes), 50 stops and approximately 4000 pipes. 30% of the Oberthur organ was constructed using pipes from the former organ of Auxerre Cathedral which was a tubular-pneumatic instrument built in the Anneessens workshop which remained playable until the early 1970s. The organ is currently maintained by curator Bernard Hurvy.
It'a big and powerful instrument, excellent to play from baroque to modern. The voices are very well chosen: it has not few, not too much stops (i mean, think about some american organs: 200 stops? useless) It has just what is needed to play everything: mixtures, reeds, some orchestral, two 32' at pedal, wonderful chamades (16'+8'+4'+5'1/3). And have mechanichal action... i had the pleasure to play it once, during a french holyday. Simply wonderful! Only one thing: the organist plays literally inside the organ case, not the best to hear the sound effect (but there is a hi-fi system that helps). So, great job Oberthur!
André Fleury was (and remains) one of the greatest French organists of the 20th Century.
When a teenager, I got so lucky to have him be my organ teacher to begin with, as he was a professor at the Paris Schola Cantorum, back in the late 1970’s.
Everyone wanted to study with Langlais but pupils as I was, too sensitive.
Fleury had studied the organ with Vierne, Tournemire (to whom he was an assistant) and Dupré. He had been a resident organist at St-Augustin (Cavaillé-Coll, 1899) for over a decade until WW2 and before he moved to Dijon where he was THE piano teacher at the Conservatoire together with the organist at the Cathedral of Dijon.
After his wife died (the couple had a daughter), he returned to Paris (in fact, he leaved in the wealthy suburb of Le Chesnay), and started to teach organ at La Schola Cantorum, the school of music I was so lucky to attend.
He then was appointed organist at St-Eustache, together with Jean Guillou who regarded him with great esteem and respect, and Guillou had insisted he should be his co-resident colleague. Maestro Fleury was also appointed the resident organist to the Cathedral of Versailles, where he had started practicing when a young student himself.
Maître Fleury was the sweetest and most discreet gentleman, extremely generous, elegant, polite, old fashioned in his good manners, beautifully well behaved, interested in performance studies, with great knowledge in history, a beautiful baryton voice, as impressive as tall, a gifted composer with a sensitive sense of melody, well trained in Gregorian chant, a man of huge culture, not only in music but in literature (he used to tell us poems by our great writers), a magnificent improviser with no sense of ordinary show off at all, entirely dedicated to his organ class and every pupil he had, loving to take us to some Asian restaurant where he could carry on telling us about organ music and masters he had met and well known.
I think he came too early before people could make as much recordings as the next generation did. Therefore he stuck to organ recitals through Europe and England. (Pierre Cochereau had been his pupil, and fleury remained close to Dupré).
He played Bach with precision and a sense of “grandeur” (NOT “grandiose”) making the Cantor’s music sound quite clear in every details and really significant in a religious way.
He made me understand why and how the art of legato was important, and even more difficult to approach than people would think, and how it mattered when it came to expression.
He was very interested in early music and knew a great deal about it, although he played very few of it (Daquin was one of his favorite).
He would sent me postcards when on vacation.
Again, he was a true gentleman from the old days, with great spirit, with a delicate sense of humor, and above all, he was never judgmental.
He could guess your own weaknesses and still use the most accurate figures of speech to make you feel at ease towards him. A very understanding man, quite unlike most colleagues of his, and certainly not like Langlais, who also taught at la Schola Cantorum.
Fleury’s class, pretty crowded though, was still a quiet one.
Sorry for being much too long, but I can never forget someone as important as André Fleury whom I miss now.
I could never understand why he was so withdrawn.
His playing technique was beautiful (he played the piano as a soloist) and his velocity was impressive. You can tell by his works.
He had too much simplicity to enjoy being a star.
I still play a few of his works. Some of them quite difficult.
I also remember that he was acquainted to the Alain family (by his former teacher, father of his own soon to be wife, when a young man), especially Jehan, and he remained a great admirer of Marie-Claire for whom he had much esteem and told her so when the both of them met (St-Germain-en-Laye is closed to Versailles).
His style and manner were very personal and specific. That’s probably why so many people have never heard of him nowadays. He didn’t started a tradition or a school.
Your portrait of André Fleury quite resembles its model: I was very fortunate to also study with him at 'La Schola' between 1973 and 1981.
Thank you Gabriel for such an informative statement about this - I fully agree - wonderful component in the organ world.
Dear Lord, I have never heard reep pipes so deep and loud as the ones at 6:00 before. They sound absolutely phenomenal! And of course, a beautiful composition that I have never heard before!
great music from an almost forgotten French organist and composer. Thank you for posting
I'm not sure why I like this organ the most that I've listened to on CZcams and there are several Cavalle? organs that are so grand. This one has a distinct elegance.
c'est très beau....je ne connaissais pas cet artiste ; je le répète: c'est majestueux
Musique splendide d'un compositeur dont on ne parle jamais. Et puis le grand orgue de la cathédrale d'Auxerre sonne magnifiquement.
J'avais eu le privilège d'être autorisé à monter discuter avec le Maître peu de temps avant sa disparition. C'était après un concert à la console de St Sulpice.
Un grand moment. J'avais même pris des photos, hélas la pellicule ne s'était pas enroulée, il ne me reste que mes oreilles. .
Beautiful like the heaven...
This is an interesting piece, very well played. Thanks for posting--I hadn't heard this before.
What a stunning piece Iv never heard it before.
The obthur organ of Auxerre Cathedrale is a magnifical french neoclassical instrument. It's possible to play all of the organ directory. One regret, not to have a nave console (optical fiber transmission) for playing this organ. The interpretion of j j kauffmann is very good for this fleury piece
Splendid
Magnificent Organ. Who is the builder and the location please?
This is the organ of St. Etienne Cathedral in Auxerre, France. Inaugurated on November 1, 1986, the organ was built by Dominique Oberthur. The organ consists of 4 manuals (61 notes) and pedals (32 notes), 50 stops and approximately 4000 pipes. 30% of the Oberthur organ was constructed using pipes from the former organ of Auxerre Cathedral which was a tubular-pneumatic instrument built in the Anneessens workshop which remained playable until the early 1970s. The organ is currently maintained by curator Bernard Hurvy.
Dominique OBERTHUR - FRANCE. Location : Cathédrale of AUXERRE
It'a big and powerful instrument, excellent to play from baroque to modern. The voices are very well chosen: it has not few, not too much stops (i mean, think about some american organs: 200 stops? useless) It has just what is needed to play everything: mixtures, reeds, some orchestral, two 32' at pedal, wonderful chamades (16'+8'+4'+5'1/3). And have mechanichal action... i had the pleasure to play it once, during a french holyday. Simply wonderful! Only one thing: the organist plays literally inside the organ case, not the best to hear the sound effect (but there is a hi-fi system that helps). So, great job Oberthur!
This Prelude and Fugue is worth more than all of Dupré's put together.
I don't agree, but I love too this P&F.