Dupré - Deux Esquisses Op. 41

Dupré's Deux Esquisses (Two Sketches). Now THESE are some serious organ works. I discovered them last year when my teacher played them in a recital and I immediately fell in love with them. Actually, obsessed is probably a better word. Originally there were three sketches. The two that I'm referring to are the sketches in E minor and B-flat minor. However, there was a sketch that was supposed to come before those two and that one was in C. Mr. Dupré however was very critical and very specific about what was published and what was not and he never published the third (technically the first) sketch to make it Trois Esquisses, he only published the two. In 1975 however, four years after Dupré's death, the manuscript for the first sketch was found and published posthumously under the supervision of Rolande Falcinelli. In Graham Steed's book The Organ Works of Marcel Dupré he calls this act "inexcusably wicked."

Here's the first page of the "first" sketch:

Another interesting fact about the sketches was that they were originally to be part of Dupré's twelve transcendental studies for which he wrote for Jeanne Demessieux, but after finishing those he still had some material left over and made them into the sketches.

Shortly after hearing these sketches I bought John Scott's two-disk set of Dupré organ works on which he recorded all three sketches! (Which, btw I highly recommend!) Honestly though, I can see why Dupré never published them as a trilogy. Though I do enjoy the first sketch it doesn't feel as coherent as the E minor and the B-flat minor and therefore doesn't quite work as a trilogy like Dupré must have originally intended. But still, it's a good piece of music.

Link for John Scott's recording: John Scott - Dupré Organ Works

EDIT: My organ teacher just recently released a new CD from the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in NYC and the sketches are on there. Link below:

Ken Cowan - Deux Esquisses

The E minor sketch is first and is sometimes referred to as the "repeated notes" sketch. I've done my best at sight reading through it a few times and I must say that the manual parts fit very comfortably under the hand for the most part. So props to Dupré on that one! There are some very tricky sixteenth note pedal passages though. I think the biggest issue with the sketch would be bringing it up to speed because even at a moderate tempo it doesn't seem all too bad, but then again it's Dupré and I'm sure if I really started working on it other difficulties would arise. But it's in a simple ABABA pattern so once you learn part of it you've learned a nice chunk of the rest of it.

Below is the first page from the score (published by Alphonse Leduc).

The second sketch, often referred to as the "octaves" sketch, is the complete opposite from the first. While the e minor is quiet and rather mysterious the b-flat minor incorporates the full organ and is very bold. Dupré himself referred to the sketch as "tumultuous" when he gave it to Demessieux. In Steed's book he also says Dupré may have also added "See what you can do with this pedal part in your high heels."

Something interesting to be noted about this piece is it's absence of a time signature. This is unusual for Dupré. It seems to go back and forth between 9/8 or 6/8 and 2/4, 3/4, and 4/4. Steed also notes that for a piece that lasts less the five minutes it has all the ingredients for a symphonic finale in sonata-rondo form and shows that Dupré was writing for the future and didn't bother with technicalities of form.

Here's the first page.

Once again I will quote Mr. Steed in his book because he says it better than I could. "Difficulties abound in the second sketch and become greater as the development proceeds: nothing more diabolical has been invented than the octave trills and octaves for the pedal on pages 17 and 18. As if that were not enough, the three pages of coda are still harder, and faster as well. It is almost impossible to conceive how such a mild-mannered person as Marcel Dupré could work up such a towering rage at the keyboard." I think that sums up this sketch pretty well because there is no better word than diabolical to describe this beast of a piece.

Dupré himself said "This is very hard music." That just makes me want to cry...

As of right now these piece have held the position of my absolute favorite organ pieces of all time. Without a doubt. It is my only wish now that someday I will play them myself....

Below is a video of my organ teacher playing the Sketches. He's the one who introduced them to me so it's fitting I post his recording. =)

Yours in Music,

Jim