The
Ranums'
Panat Times
Volume 1, redone Dec. 2014
A Celebration of Norbert Dufourcq
Reviewed in 1996
The Norbert Dufourcq festschrift, L'Orgue, no 49-50, 1993, was given to us by Marcelle Benoit, the doyenne of the history of French music in the seventeenth century. There is a sensitivity and warmth of presentation that is truly remarkable. Dufourcq was a great historians not only of music but of the organ and of 17th-century organ makers. This volume is a testimonial to the intelligence, dynamism and influence of this chartiste (I can hear him say, "mon maître, Coyecque"!), teacher, editor and campaigner for music. Some friends might be put off by the more private and intimate aperçus and photos, but I, for one, find them highly appropriate and interesting. The more one learns about someone's private life, the more one wants to know, for example, about how he accepted to have articles published in Recherches when this was (is) unheard of in most French scholarly journals. Dufourcq was a charismatic organist-teacher whose influence has been prodigious on the history of music and organ restoration and construction.