Offertorie (Les échos sacrés)

Samuel-Alexandre Rousseau was a French composer, organist and musicographer, born June 11, 18531 in Neuve-Maison (Aisne) and died October 1, 1904 in Paris.

Son of the builder of harmoniums, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris at the age of 14, where in 1872, he was one of the first students of the organ class of César Franck, with Paul Wachs and Francis Thomé . He studied composition with François Bazin, and obtained the Grand Prix de Rome in 1878.

After his time in Rome, he became organist-accompanist and later chapel master at the Basilica of St. Clotilde. In addition to several masses and a Requiem, he composed many pieces for the organ and the harmonium.
In 1900, he was knighted by the Legion of Honor.

Les échos sacrés was published by Alphonse Leduc around 1890. It is dedicated: "A mon ami Paul Wachs".

During the time when I can not really do much pedal playing, I'm still trying to keep going by finding nice works without demanding pedal parts.

If you like French sacred music from the late 1890's, then these pieces may be very much to your liking!

There are 100 pieces in 8 volumes - "Cent morceaux pour Orgue-Harmonium divisés en dix offices, dont deux offices funèbres." This lovely "little" thing (it lasts 8 minutes) is found in Part 2 - "Offertoires".

It's unashamedly sweet and salon-like, but I'd feel absolutely no embarrassment at all if I had the chance to play this in a liturgical setting.

Granted, you won't find too many Roman Catholic parishes that still have an Offertory that lasts 8 minutes, but it would still make a fine prelude.

During my time of semi-incapacitation, I'll probably look at more of these works. :-)

For another, absolutely unique work by Rousseau, I encourage you to check out "Prélude et Cantilène", which you can find here:

https://www.contrebombarde.com/concerthall/music/29120

The score is attached below, plus two photos of Rousseau, one of Wachs, the dedicatee, and a photo of the Basilica of St. Clotilde.