Marche des Rois Mages

From "12 Pièces pour orgue," Théodore Dubois' Marche des Rois Mages tells the tale of the three Magi following the star to Bethlehem.

A wonderful bit of organ legend: When this piece was first performed at the Madeleine Church in Paris by Dubois, the builder, Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, was present. When he heard the "star of bethlehem", he assumed it was the more common "stuck note" (cypher) and proceeded to go into the organ case during the concert to fix the issue... :)

Dubois very cleverly crafted the harmony of the entire piece such that this note fits in the whole way through! He calls for it to be played on a soft 4 and 2 on the enclosed Recit which allows the organist to vary the 'brightness' of the star through the piece by opening/closing the expression shades. In this performance I use only the 4' flute (occasionaly adding the Vox Humana) as the 2' is a little too bright at Caen!


Recorded on my home Hauptwerk Setup.

System Details:
MIDI Console by Content
Hauptwerk V
Mac Mini 64GB Ram
Motu Ultralite-mk3 Audio Interface
Sampleset: Caen Cavaille Coll, Sonus Paradisi
http://www.sonusparadisi.cz/en/organs/france/caen-st-etienne.html