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 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.

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 eighth 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 sour 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 and 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 lunging, “omigod” way of trying to achieve legato where legato is not possible. 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 proud, gently detached sound over a panicked lunging-for-notes sound any day. Now, all that said, it is possible, however, to roll the thumb sideways from note to note, like dragging a hurt foot over a curb. This requires good timing so that both voices in the right hand move at the same time.

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 47: Right hand, sixth sixteenth: that should probably be F natural to make a more 'natural' resolution from the E natural just before it. (F had been flatted on the third sixteenth.)

Measure 56: The Pedal is engraved strangely. The half rest is positioned in the measure in such a way that it looks like the entire Pedal should take a rest for the second half of the measure, but the note and rest values are incorrectly displayed in that case. Compare to the the left hand just above, where a quarter rest is employed at the same spot for a voice there. It could be that the half rest in the Pedal applies to the right foot, which has been resting since the previous measure. But if that were the case, then the half-rest should be located dead center of the measure left to right, which it is not. And in other places (1, 22-25, etc.), Dupré employs a whole rest when a voice rests for an entire measure, even with a time signature of 2/4. Therefore, I feel that the half rest given in 56 does apply to the right foot but should be a whole rest, and that the half-note G in the left foot should play across as written. On another day, I just thought the note and rest should each have been reduced to quarter-note value and apply to the left foot, but I later felt that we need that low G all the way across. So that's where I am now: left foot G for the entire measure, and half-rest should be a whole-rest for the right foot's voice. Oh, but I'm not finished: this is all a little further complicated by the sudden upstem of the low G there, suggesting that the right foot no longer has a voice to play. But if that were the case, then we would still be left with a half note lasting the full measure, with a renegade half-rest that doesn't apply to anything in particular.

Measure 60: The first E in the left hand is marked natural as a courtesy, but that E was not altered in the previous measure to warrant the cautionary natural. Therefore, I wonder if the E in measure 59 should have been flatted (left hand penultimate sixteenth).

All these discussions of accidentals brings me to this: This prelude is a veritable minefield of accidentals, and it is perfectly reasonable to assume that the engraver/publisher made more than one error. It is also equally reasonable to assume that Dupré himself made errors either in the manuscript or in the proofreading. Furthermore, given the extreme chromaticism of the movement, there is very little solace in deciding one way or the other -- how it sounds may not help much! However, I would offer that this piece is rather improvisatory in nature, and I'll bet that if all things be otherwise equal, then one might go with what is more comfortable to play, what "feels" better under the fingers when improvising. Perhaps Dupré might have played E-flat in 59, depending on where his fingers landed in that dreamy sequence.

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 such a light registration. Was Dupré asking for only the top note to be released early and the other two voices to move legato? Who knows? I’m still experimenting.

The Fugue is an etude 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. Then I’ll move the left to the Récit for the downbeat of 115.

Measure 115: The first 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 in this measure, against the staccato second beat of the manuals. So far, that hasn’t sounded ragged to me. But depending on the organ, that low G might 'stick out' unnecessarily if it isn't shortened. Similar mismatches occur in the B Major fugue, so it’s not unheard of. But in the B Major, Dupré’s exacting markings and performances are testament that they were correct.

Measure 134: The left hand note values are incomplete. The final E-flat should be an eighth note.

End of measure 137: Note that 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 longer note value there, thereby establishing a later staccato release.

Measures 167-173: Hardest part of the piece to memorize, if you ask me. The voice independence is a nightmare.

Measure 179: Third beat: I move the right hand to the Positif one beat early, to smooth out that transition. Consequently, I move the left hand to the Positif on the downbeat of 179, rather than 180.

Measure 180: Curiously, Steed/Dupré say that the left hand directive to the Positif should be deleted and that the left hand should remain on the Great there to the end of the piece. That doesn’t make sense to me. Other than a brief false start 180-181, the left hand has no subject entrance in this passage and if remaining on the Great could threaten to overpower the stretto voices in 185-189. Alternatively, just to bring that fragment of the subject into relief, the II-III directive in 180 might be moved to, say, the second beat of 182, in preparation for the stretto.

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. Furthermore, not only are there no more "straight" subject entrances after 189, Dupré also abandons the strict four-voice counterpoint on the third beat of 189, and one might as well commence this "coda" on the Great there.

Measure 196: Unless the 32s muddy the Pedal scales, I don’t see the point of holding those in reserve for later. In any case, I have full organ on by 212.

Measures 197-204: I find it dangerous for my hands to work so hard playing all those octave-spread chords. Those bouncing/traveling chords would all be hard enough to play accurately, 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 removes the issue of hitting cracks with so much quick repositioning from chord to chord.

Measures 213-215: People add their own interpretation of the pregnant pauses. Graham Steed says not to lengthen those nor the quarter notes in 213-214. Dupré even adds a breath mark in 213, to remind of the staccato directive. If everyone always followed Dupré's and Steed's instructions, perhaps everyone would sound alike. They would certainly sound like Dupré himself, who was the ultimate technician and micro-manager of every note. Then again, not everyone plays this piece, and so the risk of monotony in interpretations is low. And with the acoustical joyriding many French composers engaged in during the final measures of countless pieces, further revving of that particular engine is irresistible! But I don't give in -- I keep it all in tempo, and then I hold the final chord for a countable two measures and a downbeat (but who's counting?).

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?!), then solve it any way you like.

Finally, the Great upper work and reeds, the Pedal upper work and reeds, and the manual 16s are not indicated at the beginning of the Fugue. Other than pedal coupler adjustments and a few (really short) hairpins and some dynamics indicating box position, Dupré does not specifically call for registrational buildup except by way of his fff in 196-197, which to the French meant simply ‘full organ.’ But surely he would allow some sort of buildup along the way from his opening registration and indicated box position of mf. 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 Dupré's required full organ at the third beat of 196.