Léon Boëllmann’s Suite Gothique

Organists frequently engage in concerts surrounding the secular holiday coming up at the end of this week – Halloween. I suppose there are a few reasons for this: the dynamic nature of the instrument (it can go from very loud to very soft in a split second; it can play very high and very low sounds simultaneously), the various sound combinations can make for a spooky atmosphere, etc. Halloween organ concerts are usually met with full audiences of adults and children alike. I fondly recall an entire auditorium full of students each Halloween during grad school when it felt like the entire university campus was in attendance. (One year I even played my portions of the event dressed as Ace Frehley from the ‘70s rock band KISS!) 

Among organists and organ circles, a few pieces from the repertoire have become notorious for finding a spot on Halloween concert programs. Léon Boëllmann’s Toccata from “Suite Gothique” is one such piece. The toccata is the final – and most famous – movement of the suite. Check it out:

The four-movement “Suite Gothique” also contains two lovely inner movements, both of which are offered as part of our worship service this week. The Menuet Gothique is a perpetual-motion piece modeled after the minuet dance (in triple time, with a strong downbeat at the beginning of each bar). Boëllmann’s minuet features full-bodied chords for the hands and feet as well as fast scalar passages between sections. It’s fun to play, and I hope you enjoy seeing both hands and feet at work on the YouTube video.

 

The much tamer third movement, Prière á Notre-Dame, is a musical prayer to the Virgin Mary. (Afterall, Boëllmann was a good Frenchman and Catholic, so music alluding to Catholic saints is commonplace.) In this piece, we hear the late-Romantic composer at work with rich sonorities on some of the softest stops of the organ. It is meditative and contemplative and serves as an effective complement to the more robust Menuet. Enjoy!