Marche-Sortie in G-Major

Théodore Dubois (1837 –1924) was a Paris-based composer, organist, and music teacher. He began his career impressively, winning the Prix du Rome at 24 years old, but was subsequently viewed as musically conservative and (somewhat unfairly) as ‘capable and tasteful, but not strikingly original or inspired’. Whilst this could be said of many of the works of his 1898 collection Sept-Pièces they are, nonetheless, all liturgically useful, and relatively straightforward. The final piece, Marche-Sortie, is written in a modified ternary form: the two outer sections are mainly chordal with a contrasting middle section featuring a simple melody in the right hand is accompanied by arpeggios in left. Interestingly, the score gives no indication to change registration or any dynamic marking in the central section but it doesn't seem right to play the entire piece on the Grand Choeur, so I have allowed the Flûte Harmonique to shine.

The organs of Cavaillé-Coll are synonymous with French romantic music and the pieces in this volume are perfectly suited to his smaller organs of which the organ at Oloron-Sainte-Marie is one of the finest.