Catalog Record:
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the Library's online catalog. They are grouped by name of person or organization, by subject or location, and by occupation and listed alphabetically therein.
Gift; Alice Tournemire; 1998.
No further accruals are expected.
The Charles Tournemire Collection was processed in 1998. Nancy Seeger coded the finding aid for EAD format in 2011.
Two books from the collection that bear Tournemire’s signature have been transferred to the Library of Congress general collections. They are
Materials from the Charles Tournemire Collection are governed by the Copyright Law of the United States (Title 17, U.S.C.) and other applicable international copyright laws.
The Charles Tournemire Collection is open to research. Researchers are advised to contact the Music Division prior to visiting in order to determine whether the desired materials will be available at that time.
Certain restrictions to use or copying of materials may apply.
Researchers wishing to cite this collection should include the following information: [item, date, container number], Charles Tournemire Collection, Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.
Charles Tournemire, a composer, organist, and teacher, was born in Bordeaux, France, on Jan. 22, 1870. He was appointed organist of the church of St. Pierre in Bordeaux at the age of eleven. After studying at the Bordeaux Conservatoire, he transferred to the Paris Conservatoire at the age of sixteen, where he studied the piano with Bériot and harmony with Taudou. Around 1889, he joined César Franck's organ class and in 1891 Tournemire won first prize for organ in Charles-Marie Widor's class. After working briefly at Saint-Nicolas-du-Chardonnet, he succeeded Gabriel Pierné as organist at the Basilique Sainte Clotilde, a post he held for the rest of his life. Between 1900 and 1904 he composed his first five symphonies. He achieved his first major recognition as a composer when he won the concours musicale de las ville de Paris for his choral work
In 1908, Tournemire married the sister of the wife of Josephin "Sâr" Péladan, a French mystic who was the founder of the Ordre de Rose-Croix in Paris. Tournemire began immersing himself in nineteenth century French mystical writers, such as Hello, Huysmans, and Péladan. Beginning in the late 1920s, Tournemire increasingly withdrew from the musical establishment becoming heavily involved with not only mystical writers, but medieval architecture and early Christian spirituality.
Tournemire composed three more symphonies after the First World War, none of which were performed in his lifetime. In 1919, he became professor of chamber music at the Paris Conservatoire where he also taught organ improvisation. Tournemire was an influential teacher whose students included Maurice Duruflé, Jean Langlais, and Daniel Lesur, among others.
After 1921, many of his best compositions were written for the church. He wrote the immense
The precise cause and date of his death are uncertain. He died at Arcachon around Nov. 4, 1939.
The collection primarily consists of manuscript and printed music, but also includes librettos, a scrapbook, books, and one issue of a journal.
The music includes items by Tournemire and by other composers. The Tournemire materials include six holographs, including an arrangement for piano (four hands) of the
Additional materials include two librettos for Tournemire works, a lyric sheet of a poem by Verlaine, and a scrapbook entitled
Six books came with the collection, four of which are annotated and one printed especially for Tournemire. Two books were transferred to the Library of Congress general collections (see "Transfers" above).
The Charles Tournemire Collection is organized in five series:
Original compositions, including manuscripts and printed scores, and arrangements and transcriptions.
Arranged by opus number.
Arrangement for piano, four hands, by Raoul Moreau.
According to Fauquet (p. 32) it was unfinished.
Dedicated “A madame Charles Tournemire.”
For information about other dedications, see Fauquet, p. 27.
At end: 1912.
See Fauquet, p. 67.
Vocal part for Iseut.
Vocal part for Tristan.
Incomplete.
Dedicated to Marcel Dupré. At end: 25 Avril 1934.
See Fauquet, p. 43.
At end: 22 Novembre 1935.
See Fauquet, p. 48.
At end: 15 Février 1936.
See Fauquet, p. 48-49.
At end: 4 Novembre 1938; 22 Février 1939.
See Fauquet, p. 49-50.
Toccata with annotations.
Interludes with the following dedication on the title page: “A Madame Juhel-Rénoy.”
With annotations.
Title page and the end missing.
Annotations.
With annotations.
The movements are not the same as the ones in the score (see Fauquet, p. 65).
Printed violin part, movements: Allemande and Gigue.
Transcribed by Ch. Tournemire (?).
Printed scores, including several from the series
Arranged alphabetically by composer or title.
Annotations pp. 14, 30-31.
Annotations pp. 58-59.
Annotations pp. 4-5, 41, 64.
Title page and introduction missing.
Annotated
Annotated.
Inscribed by the editor Hygini Anglès to Ch. Tournemire, Paris, 4.3.1930.
Annotations mainly pp. 41-43.
Inscribed by the editor Hygini Anglès to Ch. Tournemire, Barcelona, 15. XII. 1933.
Missing pp. 79-90.
Annotations pp. 57-67.
Inscribed by the editor Alexandre Guilmant to Ch. Tournemire, 1906.
Inscribed by the author to Ch. Tournemire, 1938.
Inscribed by the author to Ch. Tournemire, 1936.
Inscribed by the author to Ch. Tournemire, 1936.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.3.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.22.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.2.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.70.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.15.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.16.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.14.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.6.
Annotated.
Ecole classique de l’orgue/A. Guilmant; no.4.
Title page missing.
Annotated.
Annotated.
Plate number: A. G. 104.
Annotated.
Manuscript librettos and lyric sheet for compositions by Tournemire.
Arranged by opus number.
Articles and correspondence about
Articles on Tournemire’s
Letters of congratulations, business cards, postcards, 1904 and 1909; pp. 30-99.
Laid in: letter from 1909 (p. 83), printed report on the competition concours musicale de las ville de Paris, 1900-1903, Paris 1904.
Two books were transferred to the Library of Congress general collections.
Arranged alphabetically by author.
At end of book: Exemplaire imprimé pour Charles Tournemire.
Annotated.
Annotated.
Annotated.
Transferred to the Library of Congress general collections.
Transferred to the Library of Congress general collections.
Contains one issue.
Inscribed by Albert Pauphilet to Ch. Tournemire.
Annotated.