Louis-James-Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817 – 1869) was
a French organist and composer. He played a major role
in the development of the French symphonic organ style
and was closely associated with the organ builder
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, inaugurating many new
Cavaillé-Coll organs. His playing was virtuosic, and
as a performer, he was rated above eminent
contemporaries including César Franck. His
compositions, less substantial than those of Franck and
others, have not held such a prominent pl...(+)
Louis-James-Alfred Lefébure-Wély (1817 – 1869) was
a French organist and composer. He played a major role
in the development of the French symphonic organ style
and was closely associated with the organ builder
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, inaugurating many new
Cavaillé-Coll organs. His playing was virtuosic, and
as a performer, he was rated above eminent
contemporaries including César Franck. His
compositions, less substantial than those of Franck and
others, have not held such a prominent place in the
repertory.
Lefébure-Wély was born in Paris, son of an organist.
He studied with his father, Isaac-François-Antoine
Lefebvre (1756–1831), who had changed his name to
Antoine Lefébure-Wely after being appointed organist
of the fashionable church of Saint-Roch in the 1st
arrondissement.
Within two years of that occasion, Antoine
Lefébure-Wely suffered a stroke, paralysing his left
side. For the next five years, his son deputised for
him. When Alfred was fourteen Antoine died, and the son
succeeded the father as official organist of
Saint-Roch. While holding the post he entered the Paris
Conservatoire in 1832, studying with François Benoist.
In 1835 he won first prize for organ. Following that he
studied composition with Berton and Halévy. In 1838 he
began a long association with the organ-builder
Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, performing to a huge audience
on the new instrument at Notre-Dame-de-Lorette. A
reviewer in La France musical praised Lefébure-Wely's
technical skill, but advised him to play music of a
more serious style than he had developed.
Lefébure-Wely, however, knew what the public wanted,
and continued to perform music of a popular type. When
a new Cavaillé-Coll organ was installed at Saint-Roch
in 1842 Lefébure-Wely incurred critical disapproval
for playing a fantasia on themes from Meyerbeer's
popular opera Robert le diable.
Among 200 compositions Lefébure-Wely wrote works for
choir, piano, chamber ensemble, symphony orchestra and
an opéra comique, Les recruteurs (1861). In the Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians, David Sanger writes,
"His organ pieces, many of which have recently become
available in modern editions, include pastorales,
versets, élevations and communions, which were
sentimental, lyrical works, and offertories, marches
and sorties, which were louder and more akin to the
operetta choruses then in vogue."
The French government website says of Lefébure-Wely's
music, "His admirers called on him many times to adopt
the 'religious style' …. However, he had his habits
and his preferences, and, above all his 'clientele'.
Also, even though his contemporaries were unanimous in
their admiration for his improvisations, he often seems
to have taken the easier alternative, the immediately
accessible option, music that doesn't ask any
questions.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_James_Alfred_Lef%C
3%A9bure-W%C3%A9ly).
Although originally created for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of the "Fugue" from "L'Organiste
Moderne" (Volume 11 No. 2) for Double-Reed Quartet (2
Oboes, English Horn & Bassoon).
