Norbert Dufourcq

**-THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE IS A WORK IN PROGRESS! INFORMATION IS CONTINUALLY BEING UPDATED, AND THE TEXT IS BEING EXPANDED.-**

*"Dufourcq" redirects here.*

## Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq

Norbert Dufourcq in his personal study (colourised), 18 September 1958

### Relatives

Parents:Albert Dufourcq, professor of the history of the Middle Ages, University of Bordeaux (1872-1952)

Madeleine Prot (1879-1951)

Siblings:

Mathilde Dufourcq (1903-1996)

Marie Dufourcq (1910-1994)

Louise Dufourcq (1913-2000)

Pierre Dufourcq (1918-1989)

Children:

Marie-Claire Moonen (192?-)

Elisabeth Ropartz (192?-)

Françoise Dufourcq (19??-)

Colette d'Yvoire (193?-)

Bertrand Dufourcq, diplomat and politician (1933-2019)

Martine Bey (193?-)

Grandchildren:

Nicolas Dufourcq, CEO of Bpifrance and billionaire (1963-)

### Affiliation

École Nationale des Chartes, ParisAssociation des amis de l'orgue

Maison Georges Danion-Victor Gonzalez

## Biographical information

### Marital status

married to Marguerite-Odette Madeleine Latron (6 October 1903 - 13 September 1994)(m. 20 September 1926 - 19 December 1990)

### Place of birth

Château de Charbonnière (750 Route Nationale 20 152)Saint-Jean-de-Braye, Orléans, Loiret

### Place of death

Apartement de M. et Mme. Norbert DufourcqArrondissement VI, Paris, Ile-de-France

## Physical description

### Eye color

Brown

**Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq, Jnr.** *(born 21 September, 1904, Saint-Jean-de-Braye, Loiret - died 19 December, 1990, Arrondissement VI, Paris, Île-de-France)* was a French organist, organologist, neoclassicalist, musicologist, pedagogue, historian, editor, author, musicographer, consultant, and archivist, who served as professor of music history at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris from 1941 to 1975 and professor of musicology at the Ècole normale de musique de Paris from 1958 to 1963. In addition, he served as *Secretary-General* of the Association des Amis de L'Orgue from 1927 to 1990; also being one of its co-founders.

Dufourcq was renowned as one of the most important musicologists and organologists of the 20th century, especially in France, and was one of the most established scholars of his time. His research and treatises, which were written from 1933 til 1989, have remained beneficial to study of the French classical organ to this day. He was the winner of the 1936 *Prix Hercule-Catenacci* for his book *Esquisse d'un historie de l'orgue en France* and one of the winners of the *Prix Broquette-Gonin* in 1983 for his book *Le Livre de l'orgue Français*. From 1955 to 1958, Dufourcq served as the President of the *Société français de musicologie* and was the founder of the *Recherches sur la musique française classique* journal. As a musicologist, his most prominent colleague was Marcelle Benoit.

The son of Prof. Albert Dufourcq (1872-1952), who worked at the University of Bordeaux as a historian, and Madeleine Dufourcq née Prot (1879-1951), he graduated from the École Nationale des Chartes as a Doctor of Letters and served as titular organist of the church of Saint-Merri in Paris from 1923 until his death. At Saint-Merri, he was also the consultant for the rebuild by Gonzalez of its historical organ, originally from the 18th century, then rebuilt in the 19th (considered to be one of Gonzalez' best instruments, as well as a masterpiece of neoclassicalism).

Dufourcq's musicological work and organological work are owned by the French state; they cover numerous subjects ranging from the harpsichord to the organ to its music, as well as history and biographies. He also frequently wrote for the magazine "L'orgue" which he cofounded, contributing over 450 articles in writing in almost all of its issues. He remains one of the most controversial figures in the French organ school's history, but is also rather obscure in the modern organ world.

He was a student in organ of André-Louis Marchal, as well as being a colleague of his; and also presented many of his recitals and albums. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Dufourcq was not a composer, but still improvised. He was also a close friend of Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James, and as well as one of the organbuilder Victor Gonzalez (Victorino González y Lucas) and a colleague of his successor Georges Danion. The former four are renowned as the "fathers of neoclassicalism". However, despite his numerous important endeavours, A major reason for Dufourcq's unpopularity and controversy due to his consultation of the restoration of the grand organ of Auch Cathedral (co-consulting with André Marchal) by Jean de Joyeuse (in which a very large body of historical pipework and action were removed) attempts for the removal of the Puget organ of Albi Cathedral and backing of the installation of a neoclassical Kurt Schwenkedel organ; destroying large parts both of their then-credible reputations. Additionally, a proposal for the extremely renowned Isnard organ at Saint-Maximin-de-Sainte-Baume's rebuild was made, which was rejected after controversy from major organists such as Pierre Cochereau, and the fact that this would have taken the same form as the aforementioned rebuild at Auch Cathedral.

Dufourcq had six children - his most famous child was Bertrand Charles Albert Dufourcq, a diplomat who served as the French Ambassador to Russia (1990-1992) and Ambassador to Germany (1992-1993) as well as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1993 to 1998. His grandson is the CEO of investment bank Bpifrance, billionaire Nicolas Dufourcq. His grave rests in the Cimetière de Montmartre in Paris, having passed away in 1990.

## Biography

### Childhood

Norbert Dufourcq was born in the afternoon of Wednesday, the 21st of September; in the Château de Charbonnière (the residence of the wealthy Dufourcq and Prot families) in Saint-Jean-de-Braye; a suburb of Orléans (which is known for its renowned cathedral organ) in the autumn of 1904. The commune, and thus the city of Orléans itself are located in the Loiret department of France. He was baptised at the town's *Église Saint-Jean-Baptiste* with the names "Stéphane Jean-Marie" from his godparents, a few days after his birth. His namesake was his grandfather, Bernard Norbert Dufourcq.

He was the third of six children: he had two elder sisters, Henriette Stephanie Geneviève-Jacqueline Gallet (1902-1988), Mathilde Georgette Marie-Madeleine Deslandres (1903-1996), and three younger siblings: two sisters, Marie Henriette Pierre Louise Bertier (1910-1994) and Louisette Marcelle Mathilde Geneviève Boespflug (1913-2000) as well as a younger brother, Pierre Paul Norbert Emmanuel Dufourcq (1918-1989). His parents were Albert Eleuthère Dufourcq (1872-1952), professor of history specialising in the Middle Ages at the University of Bordeaux, and Marie-Madeleine Dufourcq née Prot (1879-1951); a housewife (however, it should be noted her father was Paul Prot, head of Parfums Lubin, and thus one of the wealthiest men in France); his family consisted of academics.

In 1914, shortly before (as well as during) the First World War, Norbert began learning the piano with a teacher named Amédée Gastoué and harmony and counterpoint with Marie-Rose Hublé, the organiste titulaire of the church of the famous church of Saint-Eustache (she was the successor of Joseph Bonnet). Both of these regular lessons took place at the Collège Stanislas (coloquially known as "Stan"), located in France's capital city of Paris - known for its rich musical (especially organological) culture, where the Dufourcq family moved to. While the children as well as their mother were mostly unaffected by the war, their father was enlisted mandatorily into the draft (he was a captain in the *144e régiment d'infanterie territoriale* and, by the end of the conflict, was a batallion commander). Norbert and his siblings were taken care of by his grandparents and mother.

### Student years

Dufourcq began taking an interest in the organ due to his harmony teacher, and she even allowed him to play at Saint-Eustache's grand organ (by Pierre-Alexandre Ducroquet and Joseph Merklin, built 1854 and rebuilt in 1879) in numerous sessions. However, his father forced him to study at the École nationale des chartes, one of France's most prestigious universities. He graduated as a *palaeographer archivist* and as a Doctor of Letters; the latter being equivalent to a "Doctor of Philosophy" (PhD).

However, his true passion, music, remained untouched; as when he was a teenager, he contacted André-Louis Marchal; a famous blind organist who studied under Eugène Gigout, for private organ lessons. Marchal was the professor of organ at the *Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles* (National Institute for the Blind Youth). Dufourcq ended up becoming one of Marchal's most important students and was deemed "exemplary" - though he is primarily known today for being an musicologist and not an organist. It is here that he met his future wife, Marguerite-Odette Madeleine Latron (1903-1994); a fellow historian.

Dufourcq was an amateur organist up until 1923 - as when he was only eighteen, Dufourcq auditioned for and won the position of titular organist of the Église Saint-Merri in Paris (with Marchal's encouragement and backing), which had an important Clicquot-Cavaillé-Coll organ. He initially used his salary to pay for his tuition at the *École nationale*, but he held this position until his death. André Marchal introduced him to Victor Gonzalez (a former apprentice of Aristide Cavaillé-Coll's company) in 1923. Gonzalez (1877-1956) was a Spanish organbuilder, born in Hacinas, Burgos; who quickly became a friend of Dufourcq. The previous year, he had opened his own organbuilding firm.

In 1926, he proposed to his girlfriend, Latron; she accepted afterwards. They married a few months later in the (currently former) commune of Poncé-sur-le-Loir (Sarthe, Pays de la Loire), on the day before his 22nd birthday. They also spent their honeymoon there. Upon their return to Paris, the newlyweds then purchased a flat in the sixth *arrondissement* of the city and settled in it permanently.

#### *Association des Amis de l’orgue*

In December of 1926, *Monsieur le comte* Bérenger Axel René de Cassaigne de Beaufort de Miramon Fitz-James, a patron of the arts and an organ enthusiast, proposed to his colleagues the creation of a society towards the appreciation of the pipe organ, as well as its development in the neoclassical style. The style, which was drawn from influences from the Neo-Baroque organ movement pioneered by Albert Schweitzer, wished to combine the aesthetics of the Baroque and Symphonic schools to create a versatile organ that could encompass playing the entirety of the organ's repertoire - the ideals of such an instrument influenced many future composers including Maurice-Gustave Duruflé, André-Édouard Antoine-Marie Fleury, Jean François-Hyacinthe Langlais III, and many others.

Gonzalez, the Count, Dufourcq, as well as Marchal later discussed this in January of the following year and together, founded the *Association des Amis de l'orgue* (Association of the Friends of the Organ). Norbert Dufourcq was appointed as its *Secretary-General*. The society later grew in members, however it was known for being critical of people like Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré and Léonce de Saint-Martin; who preferred "neosymphonicism" and were conservatives. The association sponsored concerts, competitions, compositions, and restorations of instruments. However, despite the association being very popular in the 20th century - especially the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, after the 1980s membership declined. It live in relative obscurity (and has barely any members) today.

The reputations of Dufourcq and Marchal were boosted due to the association and both of them quickly became prominent members in the organ world. They were close friends and served as consultants for many of the rebuilds of the Gonzalez firms and designing its dispositions for organs.

## Legacy

### Criticism

> *"How could some have dared to claim that [Danion-Gonzalez] was a 'specialist' of traditional organbuilding?" -Daniel-François Roth*
>
>

(to be expanded)

Criticism of Norbert Dufourcq as well as his colleague André-Louis Marchal is very common amongst academic and organological circles due to their incompetent consultations of the rebuild of the organ of Auch Cathedral by Danion-Gonzalez in 1958. Dufourcq's reputation was almost ruined due to his mismanagement and ordering pipework to be removed **and destroyed**, as well as electrification and modernisation; including a barker lever for the Grand-Orgue, electropneumatic action for stops and manuals and the pedalboard; new scaling for pipework, mixture composition modification, and much more.