Norbert Dufourcq

Trained at the École des chartes and holder of a doctorate es literature, and an archivist/palaeographer, Norbert Dufourcq nonetheless devoted himself to music. An amateur organist (pupil of André Marchal), he is the holder of the organ of the Saint-Merri church in Paris from 1923 to his death. The Clicquot/Cavaillé-Coll pipe organ was restored by the Gonzalez company in a neo-classical esthetic under the direction of its owner between 1946 and 1947. Many organ stops were added to the instrument.

A professor of music history at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1941 to 1975 and musicology at the École normale de musique de Paris between 1958 and 1963, he is also the author of numerous articles and books on music in general, the organ and harpsichord in particular; Moreover, he founded the journal Recherches sur la musique française classique,[1] continued by Marcelle Benoît.[2]

In 1946, he participated to a collective work entitled La Musique des origines à nos jours[3] for the writing of which he surrounded himself with musicologists such as Solange Corbin de Mangoux.[4]

A very early organ enthusiast, he was co-founder with Bérenger de Miramon Fitz-James of the Association des Amis de l’orgue[5] in 1926–27. He also established the magazine L’Orgue in which he expressed his ideas on the historicity of French classical organs.

He is also responsible for the restitution and publication in modern edition of classical French organ music such as Livres d’Orgue by Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, Gilles Jullien, Nicolas Lebègue, Louis-Antoine Dornel, Boëly, Michel Corrette, as well as the manuscript by Mathieu Lanes, for example.

His archives of the Commission des orgues are kept in the archives of the city of Paris, Papiers Norbert Dufourcq, 1933-1984, Cotes: D70Z 1 à 10, référence de l’instrument de recherche: VII.2.3.

• 1933: La musique française, Éditions Larousse, Paris.
• 1935: Esquisse d'une histoire de l'orgue en France du XIIIe au XVIIIe siècles, étude technique et archéologique de l'instrument, thèse pour le doctorat ès-lettres.
• 1938: La musique d'orgue française au XXe.,[6] Paris.
• 1942: Les Clicquot : facteurs d'orgues du Roy, contribution à l'histoire d'une famille d'artisans d'origine champenoise sous l'Ancien Régime,[7] Floury, Paris.
• 1946: La musique des origines à nos jours, under the dir. of Norbert Dufourcq, Larousse.
• 1948: Jean-Sébastien Bach, le maître de l'orgue,[8] Floury, Paris.
• 1948: L'Orgue, PUF, Paris, (Que sais-je ?).
• 1949: Le clavecin, PUF, (Que sais-je ?).
• 1969: Marcelle Benoît, Norbert Dufourcq and Bernard Gagnepain, Les grandes dates de l'histoire de la musique[9] 3rd ed., 1995.

• French organ school

• "Norbert Dufourcq (1904-1990)". L'Orgue. Cahiers et mémoires issues 49-50 (1993): 292 pages.

• Musica et Memoria. Biographical notes and photos. Extended biography.
• Orgues de France Le grand orgue de St-Merry par Pierre Astor.