Charles Tournemire

Charles Tournemire studied at Conservatoire de Paris. Training under César Franck and Charles-Marie Widor is recorded. Henriette Puig-Roget is recorded as having studied under Charles Tournemire. The recorded working language is French. The field of work recorded is classical music and organ performance. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera and symphony. Residence is recorded at Ouessant. Employment is recorded with Conservatoire de Paris. Distinctions recorded are Knight of the Legion of Honour and prix Chartier.

Born in Bordeaux, Tournemire moved in adolescence to Paris, and there became one of César Franck's three youngest students (the other two were Henri Büsser and a Belgian, Guillaume Lekeu, the latter having been born only two days before Tournemire). From 1898 (on the resignation of Gabriel Pierné) to 1939, Tournemire served as the organiste titulaire at Franck's old church, the Basilique Ste-Clotilde, Paris. He was also professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire. In 1931, he published a biography of Franck. A year before the biography appeared, Tournemire recorded five organ improvisations, which were later transcribed by Maurice Duruflé from phonograph recordings. Of ten 78-rpm discs which Tournemire made in 1930, playing the Aristide Cavaillé-Coll organ of Sainte-Clotilde, five contain compositions by Franck. This set of discs was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque in 1931 and has been reissued on both LP and CD. Insofar as Tournemire's name is now remembered, it is usually spoken of in connection with his largest composition, L'Orgue mystique, a group of 51 sets of five pieces each (except for Holy Saturday, which contains only three pieces), all written between 1927 and 1932. This collection covers the cycle of the Roman Catholic liturgical year, each set being based on the Gregorian chants for the day. Unlike the symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor, which are usually heard in secular recitals (even when individual movements of these symphonies had liturgical origins), L'Orgue mystique was designed for church use. Tournemire died in Arcachon, France, in 1939. The precise cause of his death is uncertain. All that is known is he left his house on October 31 for a walk and never returned. His body was found in a bog in Arcachon, a fair distance from where he left, on November 4 and he was presumed to have died on November 3 or 4. A rare revival of one of his four operas took place in December 2022, when Theater Ulm staged La Légende de Tristan (based on Le Roman de Tristan et Iseut by Joseph Bédier) conducted by Felix Bender. In May 2025 Theater Ulm staged his last opera, Le petit pauvre d'Assisi.