Marche Heroique de Jeanne d'Arc
transcrite pour Grand Orgue par l'Auteur
N. B.:
The Voix-humaine-passages (opening and middle section) represent "Les voix de Jeanne" (Th. Dubois).
The 19th century was in many countries a period of the Mediaval revivel, also in France (Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumat, Honoré de Balzac, Gustave Doré etc.).
That was also the background for the idea, to install Jean d‘Arc as a symbol of national identification. You can see a persiflage of this mythos in the final scene of Jacques Offenbach‘s opéra-bouffe »La barbe bleue«.
The Marche Heroique of Dubois is a contribution to this idea. The piece shows that Dubois was very familar with opera music.
The Marche Heroique de Jeanne d‘Arc is for me the best, most important, and most interesting organ composition of Dubois together with his Chant Pastoral.