Tyler Tran March 11, 2012 Maurice Durufl was a French composer and a successful, touring organist.

He was born on January 11, 1902 in Louviers in France and at ten years of age he attended the choir school at the Rouen Cathedral. His years here introduced him to Gregorian chant and thus heavily influenced his later work as a composer, many of which are based on Gregorian chant. A harsh critic of his own works, Durufl as a result was not in any sense a prolific composerhe only published fourteen opuses during his lifetime. However, many of these works are considered extraordinary and thus are highly regarded in musicians standard repertoire. Perhaps his most widely-known and most-performed piece is his Requiem, Op. 9 which was written in 1947. Originally composed for choir, orchestra, organ, and solo voices, he also created a version for only organ and choir as well as for reduced orchestra and choir. Since Durufl was heavily influenced by Gregorian chant and wanted to keep some of that character in the Requiem. As a result, the Requiem changes meters frequently in order to maintain this fluid spontaneity. It also notably does not contain the full text of Dies Irae, a movement included by such prominent composers as Mozart and Verdi. Instead, Durufl only includes some of it in the eighth movement, Libera me. However, while both Libera me and Domine Jesu Christe achieve a climactic intensity, much of the Requiem is calm and mellifluous with the fluidity of the Gregorian chant shining through the harmonies surrounding it. This is easily heard in the Introit in which the meters change so frequently that it sounds free-flowing as well as in Lux Aeterna in which the melody is sung by the sopranos while the rest of the choir provides harmony in the background.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Durufl http://www.classicalarchives.com/composer/5715.html#tvf=tracks&tv=about http://mastersingersofmilwaukee.org/current-concert.html