The Life and Work of a Musical Architect: Augustin Barié and the Symphonie pour orgue, Op. 5

Abstract

This study of Augustin Barié (1883–1915) expands the limited scholarship that has been undertaken concerning this significant but little-known organist and composer. Previously unexamined archival and printed sources furnish many new details about his student years at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles (1892–1901), his studies at the Conservatoire National de Musique et Déclamation (1901–1906), and his career as a professor at the Institut National (1905–1915) and as the organist of L’Église Saint-Germain-des-Prés (1906–1915). Barié’s Symphonie pour orgue, op. 5 (publ. 1911) is his largest and most intricately crafted composition. It is examined here first from a musicological perspective. This paper documents the organ of Salle Gaveau, on which the piece was premiered, and presents a program note for the Symphonie that was likely penned by the composer——both are firsts in English-language scholarship. The latter half of the study is devoted to a detailed analysis of the music of the Symphonie, and includes brief commentary on organ registration. The work is built around a cyclic minor-mode theme that is the basis for each movement’s thematic material. It is introduced in the Prélude (movement I), and returns with a new rhythmic profile in the ensuing Fugue (II). The Finale (V)——which is cast in sonata form——uses for its primary theme a major version of the cyclic theme, and borrows themes from earlier movements for its transitional and secondary themes. The Adagio (III) and Intermezzo (IV) reveal advanced modal compositional techniques.