Pastorale

Édouard Mignan (17 March 1884 - 17 September 1969) was a French organist and composer.

He was born in Orléans and 14 years old he became the organist of église Saint Paterne. He studied organ in Paris with Alexandre Guilmant and Louis Vierne and won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1912. He was organist at Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin from 1917 to 1935. He succeeded Henri Dallier as organist of la Madeleine in 1935 and held that post until 1962.

"Pastorale" was published by G. Schirmer in 1914. This was originally part of "The Organ Loft Series," the collection that has already provided me with a large bit of material to upload and to share.

"Pastorale" has an immediate appeal to it! Certainly it's French, and sort of passes back and forth between tonal and modal in an effortless and flowing manner.

The main solo voices heard are the wonderful Flûte Harmonique of the Solo and the rich Hautbois of the Swell.

There are certainly elements of Mignan's teacher, Louis Vierne, present here, but without the torture and anguish that we often hear in Vierne's writing.

This piece is new to me, and I thank Dr. John Henderson for sending this to me several months ago. I'm glad that I finally got around to it. :-)

I think you'll find this quite tricky if you decide to give it a try.

The score is attached below, as well as several photos of Édouard Mignan and some period shots of La Madeleine .

Be SURE to check out his socks in the one photo! :-)