Hymnus »Conditor alme siderum« (Hymnes de l’Église pour toucher sur l’orgue, Paris 1623)

The composer Jehan Titelouze is one of the pioneering figures in the history of French organ music. His exceptional position is underscored by the fact that he was the only composer in France to publish collections of organ music during the approximately 130-year period between Pierre Attaingnant’s organ prints of 1530/31 and François Roberday’s 1660 "Fugues et Caprices à quatre parties" — namely, "Hymnes de l’Eglise" (1622) and "Le Magnificat ou Cantique de la Vierge" (1626) — thus stand alone within this long gap in French organ publishing.

Born around 1563 in Saint-Omer, then part of the Habsburg Netherlands, Titelouze was ordained a priest in 1585 and appointed organist at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame des Miracles in his hometown the same year. In 1588 he moved to Rouen, where he became organist of the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de l’Assomption, a post he held for the rest of his life.

Titelouze soon gained wide recognition as an organist and organ expert. He was deeply involved in the planning, construction, and restoration of organs far beyond Rouen. In 1600 he commissioned Crespin Carlier, an organ builder from his own Franco-Flemish cultural background, to rebuild the cathedral organ in Rouen. This instrument was soon regarded as the finest in France and marked a decisive moment in the transfer of Northern European organ-building traditions into France, forming an important foundation for the later classical French organ type.

Promoted to canon in 1610, Titelouze also pursued theoretical interests, reflected in an intensive correspondence with the theologian, mathematician, and philosopher Marin Mersenne (1588–1648). In addition, he was active as a poet and writer: in 1613 and 1630 his poems were awarded prizes by the Académie des Palinods. One of these poems is a hymn in praise of the organ, each stanza ending with the evocative line: “D’un sourd métal une grande harmonie”.

Titelouze died in Rouen in 1633.