DESCRIPTION:
Victor Dubois (1832-1869) was a blind Belgian organist and professor of harmonium at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels. (Apparently no relation to Théodore Dubois, the French composer, organist and director of the Conservatoire Nationale in Paris.) Victor Dubois wrote several remarkable pieces for harmonium in the late 1850s, and a Méthode in 1859. The scores I have seen were carefully designed to display the various resources of a sophisticated instrument, requiring a solid keyboard technique but also a strong intrinsic sense of humor. This untitled piece ("No. 21") begins as a stately Adagio in F minor on the 8’ (1) rank. A Grand-Jeu re-statement provides contrast and serves as an introduction to the F major Allegretto, with the 8’ (4) rank added. The Allegro takes off with Grand Jeu (all four principal ranks) and leads to a surprising, staccato cadence and a majestic final statement. The instrument heard here is a positive-pressure harmonium, whose interior musical action was built by the Mustel firm in Paris, France with five bass stops (six ranks) and seven treble stops (eight ranks); it was sent to America where the Mason & Hamlin firm of Boston built a massive black walnut cabinet for it; all c. 1880. Mason & Hamlin marketed this model as their "Orchestral Organ,” Style 1400. It is in the home of Jim Tyler, a friend and professional restorer of reed organs in San Francisco. Thanks to my friend Niels in Belgium for introducing me to the works of Victor Dubois, and to Jim for letting me record in his home 12 May 2015. Performed by Michael Hendron.