Hello everyone, Mike here and first I would like to thank all of you for your Happy Birthday wishes. It means a lot to me that all of you would take time out of your day to wish me a Happy Birthday. Now, That being said…Today I celebrate the life of the great French composer, Maurice Durufle. Durufle was born in Louviers (Loovieyr) on January 11th, 1902 and died on this day, 36 years ago on June 16th, 1986. In honor of the life of Durufle I perform his “Ubi Caritas” which he composed in 1960. Its text is attributed to Paulinus of Aquileia in 796 who I believe is venerated as a Saint in the Catholi Church with his feast day celebrated on January 11th. The traditional melody probably also stems from the late 8th century. Durufle’s rendition of the Ubi Caritas uses only the first stanza of the Ubi Caritas prayer chant.

This brief Latin chant, ‘Ubi caritas et amor, ubi caritas, Deus ibi est’, is a text with Gregorian chant of the early Christian church, used as an antiphon of the early Latin Office Hymn in the liturgy for Maundy Thursday, and associated with the ceremony of washing the feet. An antiphone is a short passage sung or recited before or after a psalm.

Durufle was noted to be a highly self critical composer and what interests me most about Durufle is his incessant need to revise his own works even after they were published. I also suffer from this as I constantly revise recordings as I learn more about the process. I always regarded this as one of my weakest points until my good friend Craig Davis unearthed the historical facts that many renowned artist would revise their works as their skill increased. It was this realization that liberated me to revise my recordings without guilt. 1953, at the age of 51, Duruflé married Marie-Madeleine, a student 19 years his junior. She brought to the relationship a joy in life he had sorely lacked. He and his wife never had any children however.

I would now like to sing for you just the first couple stanzas of the traditional gregorian chant of the Ubi Caritas. If you listen to this then Durufle’s piece you can see how he uses this and modifies it to great affect. First though, let me go over the text which is remarkably beautiful. ..

TRANSLATIONS & TEXT

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est.
Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.
Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur.
Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.
Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

WHICH TRANSLATES TO

The love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let us exult, and in Him be joyful.
Let us fear and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love each other (and Him).

Duruflé has been described by students, colleagues, and biographers as a reclusive and private person who seemed unusually unsure and timid given his fame. Another interesting fact about his is that he composed a surprisingly small amount of music, working slowly and diligently with a focus on detail that required years of revision before a piece entered the public repertoire. Without further ado I give you my rendition of Maurice Durufle’s “Ubi Caritas”.