Dufourcq, Norbert

Dufourcq, Norbert, distinguished French music historian and organist; b. St. Jean-de-Braye, Loiret, Sept. 21,1904; d. Paris, Dec. 19,1990. He was educated at the Sorbonne, where he studied history and geography, then at the Ecole Nationale des Chartes (1924–28), graduating as an archivist-palaeographer. He also studied piano and music history with Gastoue (1913–20), organ with Marchal (1920–40), and harmony, counter-point, and fugue with Marie-Rose Huble. He took his Ph.D. at the Univ. of Paris in 1935 with the diss. Esquisse d’une histoire de I’orgue en France: XIIIee-XVIIIe siecles (publ. in Paris, 1935). He was a teacher of history at the College Stanislas in Paris (1935–46); also prof. of music history and musicology at the Paris Cons. (1941–76). In addition to other teaching positions, he appeared as an organist. He ed. performing and scholarly eds. of works for the organ and harpsichord of 17th- and 18th- century French composers.

Writings

(all publ. in Paris): Documents inedits pour servir a I’histoire de I’orgue (1935); Les Clicquot, facteurs d’orgues du Roy (1942; 2nd ed., 1990); ed. La Musique des origines a nos jours (1946); Jean-Sebastien Bach: genie allemand, genie latin? (1947; 2nd ed., 1949); Jean-Sebastien Bach, le maitre de I’orgue (1948; 2nd ed., 1973); L’Orgue (1948; 5thth ed., 1976); Cesar Franck (1949); La Musique franqaise (1949; 2nd ed., aug., 1970); Le Clavecin (1949; 2nd ed., 1967); Autour de Coquard, Cesar Franck et Vincent d’lndy (1952); Nicolas Lebegue, organiste de la Chapelle Royale (1954); ed. with R Raugel and A. Machabey, Larousse de la musique (1957); Jean-Baptiste Boesset, surintendant de la Musique du Roi (1963); ed La Musique: Les honimes, les instruments, les hommes (1965); Le livre de I’orgue frangais, 1589–1789 (6 vols., 1969–82); with M. Benoit and B. Gagnepain, Les Grandes Dates de I’histoire de la musique (1969; 2nd ed., 1975).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire