LAUSR

ABSTRACT In a series of articles and essays between 1965 and 1970, French composer and organist Maurice Duruflé documented his relationship to Vatican II’s liturgical reforms. In the writings he deplored the diminishment of Gregorian chant and the organ in favor of popular music styles and instruments. Duruflé wished to preserve the Church’s musical heritage, a sentiment that translated to his 1966 concert work Messe “cum jubilo.” He bases the work on chant and the organ, characteristics that flag the Church’s past. The Sanctus and Benedictus movements in particular foreground Gregorian chant via harmonic progressions in the organ accompaniment that are associated with the otherworldly. Duruflé’s use of harmony and its associativity parallels the transcendent dimensions of the liturgical texts, which illuminate the themes of his writings.