Marie-Madeleine Duruflé was a world-famous organist. She is generally considered to be the last great representative of the French romantic school of organists, which emphasised elegant grandeur, clarity of texture and freedom of rhythm. She gave incomparable interpretations of works from French organists, like Charles-Marie Widor, Louis Vierne, Jean Langlais, Marcel Dupré and her husband Maurice Duruflé.
Early life and education
Duruflé was born in Marseille on 8 May 1921, and she was soon recognized as very talented. When she was 11, she was appointed organist of the Cathedral Saint-Véran of Cavaillon. At the age of 12, she began to study at the Conservatoire d'Avignon. She was unable to continue her studies as she wished due to the outbreak of the Second World War, but in 1946, at the age of 25, she began to study under Marcel Dupré at the Conservatoire de Paris, where she won first prize for the organ. In 1953, she received the Grand Prix International Charles-Marie Widor for organ and improvisation.
Professional life
Duruflé met her husband, Maurice Duruflé, at the Conservatoire where he was an assistant professor under Dupré for a year. They married in 1953 and Marie-Madeleine became the assistant-organist at the church of Saint-Étienne-du-Mont in Paris, where her husband had been organist since 1930. The couple toured and gave concerts together, appearing in the USA for the first time in 1964. In 1975 the couple were involved in a car accident in the south of France. Marie-Madeleine injured her ribs and pelvis; her husband Maurice was more seriously wounded, and gave up performing. Marie-Madeleine continued to play as the organist at Saint-Étienne-du-Mont.
Tours, prizes and awards
1949: First Prize for interpretation and improvisation at the Conservatoire de Paris.
During her tours with her husband, before the car crash, she used to play the most impressive works. In an interview for The New York Times in 1989, she admitted it was on purpose: "My husband was a very great virtuose at the organ, but once he became my husband, I worked harder than him. He used to tell me often: 'you will play the most difficult pieces, and I will play the ones of interpretation' ". In 1989, three years after her husband's death, Duruflé took part in a festival "Duruflé" in New York, her first international recital for 15 years. Her last public concert, took place in New York, at the Ascension Church in 1993.
Sounds
Marie-Madeleine Chevalier-Duruflé plays the Impromptu op. 54 no 2 by Vierne in Soissons.
Marie-Madeleine Chevalier-Duruflé plays the Scherzo op. 2 by Maurice Duruflé at the organ of Studio 104 de la RTF.
