Hommage à Frescobaldi, VI. Antienne

Jean Langlais (1907–1991) – Hommage à Frescobaldi, VI. Antienne

One listener remarked that movement V, the Fantaisie, sounded like a conclusion. In a way, it was — but it also served as a transition. Across the cycle, Langlais offers four chant-based liturgical movements (Kyrie, Offertoire, Élévation, Communion), ends that arc with a final Kyrie reference in the Fantaisie, and only now turns to the freely composed movements that lead toward the concluding pedal solo in movement eight.

Here, the Antienne unfolds in a pattern of call and response: a solo voice on the Positif (Cornet decomposé) presents the opening phrase, followed by the same material harmonized in four parts on manuals and pedals using full flute choruses (16ʹ, 8ʹ, 4ʹ). The melody, clearly Lydian, moves in wide, angular intervals — notably major-seventh to tritone gestures at phrase endings — giving it a free, modern, and ethereal cast. In the harmonized statements, the raised fourth of the Lydian mode contributes additional tritones, subtly coloring the texture.

The structure feels improvisatory yet balanced: soloist then chorus, repeating antiphonally as the title suggests. In the coda, Langlais places the opening solo phrase in the pedals (8ʹ and 4ʹ flutes) while the manuals supply a four-part harmonic “chorus” above (16ʹ and 4ʹ flutes). The result is inward and meditative, illuminated by a quiet sense of ritual.

Here Langlais sets aside pre-existing chant and fashions his own “antienne” — an antiphonal utterance shaped in his personal organ language. Its call-and-response design evokes liturgical practice, but the musical voice is unmistakably twentieth-century French, with its refined explorations of color, texture, and line. This movement opens the cycle’s final arc and gently prepares the way for the tuneful variations and pedal virtuosity that follow. (ChatGPT assisted in the editing of this description.)