Litanies

Litanies by Jehan Alain (1922-1940)
A Madame Virginie Schildge-Bianchini

One of the most brilliant and least known composers of the last century was the Frenchman Jehan Alain, born in 1911 in a suburb of Paris. Son and brother of musicians, pupil of the greatest composers of the time, rewarded for his works from a very young age, in 1940 he died in the war.

"I consider the Litanies - a piece of skill even without the extreme virtuosity typical of French organists between the nineteenth and twentieth centuries - one of the most important if not the most important musical work of the twentieth century" (music historian Andrea Antonini).

"« Quand l’âme chrétienne ne trouve plus de mots nouveaux dans la détresse pour implorer la miséricorde de Dieu, elle répète sans cesse la même invocation avec
une foi véhémente. La raison atteint sa limite. Seule la foi poursuit son ascension. » Jehan Alain