Note by note: Dupré Prelude and Fugue in C

Memorizing is hard work. And it’s time-consuming. But it’s worth it, because memorized performance always sounds better (assuming the music was solidly memorized in the first place). Memorizing this prelude and fugue is not to be taken lightly, and it must be constantly refreshed. I believe that the chromaticism of the prelude and the close strettos of the fugue just make this piece a memorization nightmare. Not even the Vierne 6th or the Clérambault first Suite was this tricky!
Well, that’s that. Below are some of my insights into playing the piece, memorized or not:
Dupré’s fingerings and pedalings are welcome, although I changed quite a few to fit my own hands and feet. I wonder what he would have thought. Sometimes he goes to an unnecessary amount of trouble with substitutions, whereas I could just tuck a thumb or cross a long finger over another.
Graham Steed’s book has excellent insights into all of Dupré’s organ music. He knows of a couple corrections for the C Major that Dupré confirmed post-publication (measures 27 and 179, mentioned below). I see several additional opportunities for consideration, all mentioned in turn below.
Measure 12: The final eighths in the manuals will have to be released early to be repeated in measure 13. Dupré would have prescribed a sixteenth-note break, but if you’re playing slower, you might delay that to the thirty-second-note level with some success. So long as it doesn’t sound panicked. Ditto the second eight note of 19 and the final eighth of 38 and 39 and isolated notes in the right hand of 52-54. Ditto lots of individual Pedal notes in measures 2, 4, 9, 26, 28, 40, 43, 45, and 65.
Measure 13: I believe the final A-flat in the left hand should be A natural, since there are two A naturals against it in the right hand, plus the A-natural quarter note in the Pedal. Crunchy chromaticism aside in this Prelude, outright atonality or the prolongation of what sounds like a wrong note is probably a misprint.
Measure 27: According to Dupré/Steed, the final G of the right hand should be G-sharp. I concur.
Measure 33: Curious that Dupré does not reverse the Pedal couplers here like he did for a similar texture in measures 16 and 51. That’s probably because in 35, the right foot will be more melodic there than textural before. By 43, the Pedal is back to ‘normal’ in this configuration. In 60, the Pedal is once more melodic, but with the Récit coupler rather than Great. I doubt any of this is a misprint, but it is nevertheless noted, and the performer may have to do whatever it takes to preserve good balance. As we all know, the lower end of Pedal eight-foot flutes and bourdons can be notoriously weak in the U.S., so you may have to go into various contortions to keep the upper Pedal notes from being too loud but the lower notes from disappearing completely
Measure 35: The right hand is on its own for legato here. I don’t try to disguise wide intervals with what my teacher Clyde Hollway called the “omigod” way of trying to achieve legato where legato is not possible for most hands. So I just lift the thumb proudly, note by note, until the intervals shrink back down to something more manageable. That is even more pronounced in measures 59, where the white/black key pattern makes detachment even more necessary. I’ll take a detached sound over a panicked sound any day.
Measure 43: The first eighth (E-flat) of the left hand is not the same interval it was in corresponding passages in measures 2 and 15. I wonder if that E-flat should have been a G instead. If so, then the entire passage (42-43) would match its sibling measures 1-2 and 14-15, interval for interval. For the record, I have not changed that E-flat in performance; I just raise the question here. Misprint?
Measure 56 is engraved strangely. The half-rest in the Pedal most likely applies to the upper voice in the Pedal, which has been resting since the previous measure. The lower voice has a half-note, which lasts the full measure, but its stem is pointing up. I believe the stem should be pointing down to continue to signify the lower voice, and that the note be held for the entire measure.
Measures 69-70: The left-hand stab accents are a bit jarring. Was Dupré just asking for an early release? If so, he might have used a staccato, as he did at the beginning of 69. And I don’t know how much “accent” one should be expected to get from the light registration. Was Dupré asking for only the top note to be released early and the other two notes of the triad to move legato? Who knows? I’m still experimenting.
The Fugue is a nightmare for finger/voice independence. Make sure you’re obeying Dupré’s staccato and legato markings exactly.
Measure 109: Third beat, I move the right hand to the Swell as instructed, but I move the left hand to the Positif, for greater relief of the subject. I’ll move the left to the Récit for the downbeat of 115.
Measure 115: The soprano is legato, but not the second soprano. This legato lingers all the way into the downbeat of 123, including the manual change.
Measure 124: The pedal is still legato, which suggests a full-value second beat, against the staccato second beat of the manuals. So far, that hasn’t sounded ragged to me. Similar mismatches occur in the B Major fugue, so it’s not unheard of. Dupré’s exacting markings and performances are testament.
Measure 134: The left hand note values are incomplete. The final E-flat should probably be an eighth note.
End of measure 137: Both soprano voices are now legato, all the way to the rest in 143.
Measures 149-157: Legato here, staccato there. Watch Dupré’s markings, especially for the isolated staccato voices. And release legato voices exactly on rests, not early.
Measure 158: The downbeat is still legato, which means full value to the rest.
Measure 159: Second and third beats: notice that Dupré has written a long note value there, asking for a longer length to the tie. Otherwise, all is staccato.
Measures 167-173: Hardest part of the piece, if you ask me. I’m dying here.
Measure 179: I move the left hand to the Positif on the downbeat of 179, rather than 180, so that I don’t have to negotiate a potentially awkward manual change after sextuplets. Third beat of 179: I move the right hand to the Positif, one beat earlier than instructed. Since the fugue subject begins on the 3rd beat, it just makes sense there. Curiously, Steed/Dupré says that the left hand should remain on the Great there to the end of the piece. That doesn’t make sense to me until 190.
Measure 189: I move my right hand to the Great a beat early. Although that is not a subject statement, moving on the third beat of 189 would retain the third-beat start pattern.
Measures 197-204: I find it dangerous for my hands to work so hard. Those bouncing/traveling chords would all be hard enough to play, anyway, even without the Pedal scurrying up and down. I redistribute the notes and leave the hands in one position. That introduces issues of finger independence but it would remove the issue of hitting cracks with so much quick repositioning from chord to chord.
Measure 218: Dupré didn’t have that high C at St-Sulpice. If you don’t, either (and if you’re in the U.S., then why not?!), solve it any way you like.
The Great upper work and reeds, the Pedal upper work and reeds, and the manual 16s are not employed at the beginning of the Fugue. Dupré does not specifically call for registrational buildup except by way of his fff in 197, which to the French meant simply ‘full organ.’ But surely he would allow some sort of buildup along the way from his opening registration. I suggest some growth at the third beat of 137 (which may have to be reversed somewhat in the Pedal for 161-173). Depending on the size of the instrument, I suggest further growth at the third beat of 173, the second beat of 184, and the third beat of 189, plus the required full organ at the third beat of 196. Finally, I don’t see the point of holding something in reserve for 216 – the pregnant pause and the thick notes themselves are excitement enough.

