Prélude et Fugue sur le nom d'Alain Op. 7

Duruflé's Prélude et fugue sur le nom d'Alain, Op. 7 (1942) is an homage to his fallen friend Jehan Alain, who was killed (aged 29) near Saumur fighting in the war in 1940. By manipulating the alphabet around those letters with musical significance, Duruflé finds an equivalent for Alain in the notes ADAAF, which yield a syncopated theme picked out against the Prélude's flickering scherzo, thrice interrupted by a plangently descending quoted from Litanies. Its slowing last announcement ends the Prélude and leads directly to the attractive fugal subject, which undergoes a regular exposition. The development suggests a radiant smile before the scherzo returns, contrapuntally worked to a brilliant climax of great power.