26. Noël varié pour un Offertoire (À la venue de Noël)

As a different project this year, I decided to do the entire collection (34) of Noëls composed by Antoine Lefébure-Wely (Isaac- Francois Lefebvre), father of the much more famous Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely. As I did them, I really enjoyed them, and find them to be quite "transitional" in moving from the classic baroque noël format, into music that sounds much, much more Classical. I felt that the 1855 St. Omer Cavaillé-Coll was a fine organ for these, and that's what I've used for all of them.

Antoine Lefébure-Wely was born c. 1756 - died June 22, 1831 in Paris, and was well-known as organist, pianist and composer.

He was a master of harpsichord (and fortepiano) and organist in Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas in Paris. In 1805, he became organist in Saint-Roch after a competition between Nicolas Séjan and Gervais-François Couperin. He had been a substitute since 1802.

Having become organist of an important parish, he felt it useful to change his name from Isaac-François Lefebvre (Isaac Lefebure) to Antoine Lefébure-Wely (named after his wife of English origin).

He was installed as keyholder Clicquot de Saint-Roch, "received September 13, 1805", the post he will occupy until the end of his life. In 1828, a victim of a stroke, he remained partially paralyzed until his death; he is often replaced during the last years by his young son Alfred.

The year 1778 saw th first publications of his works, and he is mentioned as "master of harpsichord" in the musical Almanac of 1779.

He is best known for being the father and first teacher of Louis James Alfred Lefebure-Wely.

In terms of "performance practice," I've played these more "classically," using less inégales, less added ornaments, and somewhat more "varied" registration, still based upon the traditional French usage.

The score for the complete set is attached below, as well as photos of Saint-Jacques-du-Haut-Pas and Saint Roch.

Unfortunately, I could find no photos of the composer.