Pièce pour Grand Orgue

Best known for his epic Sonata Eroica, Joseph Jongen (1873-1853) was a prolific composer of not only organ music, but orchestral and chamber music too. The most successful Belgian composer of his generation (as was César Franck before him), Jongen was a recipient of the Prix de Rome and travelled Europe for a number of years. During World War 1 he moved to England where he conducted at the Proms and gave many organ recitals. His style is not dissimilar to that of Franck with his characteristic lyricism and sumptuous harmonies.

His Pièce pour Grand Orgue from 1892 is a typical Franco-Belgian turn of the century piece. An ebullient and confident composition in G major, it is written in a quasi-ternary form with a quieter central section framed by majestic outer sections.

Although small by comparison with some Cavaillé-Coll organs (notwithstanding his orgues-des-choeurs), the renowned organ at Oloron-Sainte-Marie in the French Pyrénées was built in 1870 and certainly packs a punch, helped in part by the glorious acoustic. An earlier organ was likely built by the Clicquot family but was lost in the revolution. The case, however, survived and was returned to its pre-revolution glory during the 1982 restoration.