Jacques Chailley

Jacques Chailley was born on 24 March 1910 in Paris (France). His father was the renowned violinist Marcel Chailley (1881-1936), his mother the professional pianist Celiny Chailley-Richez (1884-1973) and so Jacques Chailley received a musical education from an early age. He attended the Lycee Janson de Sailly in Paris and the Fontgombault Abbey where he taught himself organ playing and sang in the church choir. After school he studied music under Nadia Boulanger (harmony), Claude Delvincourt (counterpoint, fugue), Henri Büsser (composition), Willem Mengelberg and Pierre Monteux (conducting) and musicology - with a special interest in medieval music - under Yvonne Rosketh, Maurice Emmanuel, Andre Pirro and Albert Smijers.

After his studies Jacques Chailley dedicated much of his musicological work to music of the early centuries and the development to modern music. He published dozens of books and hundred of articles on topics like medieval music (chanson de geste, troubadours, plainsong, monody, polyphony, dance, etc), on the evolution of music, on music notation, harmony or about different composers like Bach, Mozart, but also Berlioz, Ravel and Debussy.

To promote the medieval music Jacques Chailley harmonised and arranged many songs from that time for modern ensembles. He also founded the choir Psallette Notre-Dame in 1934 to bring these works on stage, and was the conductor of the choir L'Alauda from 1946 to 1960.

Jacques Chailley also worked as a teacher. He was professor for music history at the Lycee La Fontaine from 1951 to 1969 and fulfilled the same position at the Sorbonne from 1952 to 1979. In addition Jacques Chailley was also director of the department of musicology at the Sorbonne from 1952 to 1969 and director of the Schola Cantorum from 1962 to 1982.

Further positions were general inspector of music for the French ministry of national education from 1962 to 1982 as well as president of the Consociatio Internationalis Musicae Sacrae, the international society for sacred music, from 1969 to 1974.

Beside his research, writing and lecturing about music history Jacques Chailley also composed many original works. That includes an opera, a ballet, 2 symphonies, other orchestral works like Solmisation for strings or Mors est Rolanz, a string quartet, a viola sonata, a piano sonata, Le Jardin Nuptial for piano, Chant funebre for cello and piano, many songs like Le Pelerin d'Assise, an oratorio, Missa Solemnis and other choral works. A special emphasis is placed on pedagogical works (Carnet de dessins, Album pour Francillon, Premiers concerts, 6 ans de piano, Mon piano, etc).

Jacques Chailley was also an early participant of the scouting movement. At the age of 19 he was the head of the scouts of St. Philippe du Roule. At the same age Jacques Chailley joined the scout choir L‘Alauda which was founded by Gustave Daumas in 1928. Jacques Chailley immediately became assistant to Gustave Daumas and already in 1929 conducted the complete French delegation at the international jamboree at Birkenhead. Jacques Chailley also participated as musician in the Comediens Routiers, another scout group founded by Leon Chancerel.

Another focus of interest for Jacques Chailley was theatre. During his time as a student at the conservatory Jacques Chailley founded the drama troupe Theophiliens under the patronage of Gustave Cohen. For this troupe he produced plays, wrote additional music and acted as their president. While studying at the Sorbonne university Jacques Chailley was co-founder of another drama troupe, the Groupe de Theatre Antique de la Sorbonne. Again he composed music for plays that the ensemble put on stage.

Jacques Chailley died on 21 January 1999 in Montpellier (France).

Jacques Chailley archive

In my possession is the main part of the musical estate of Jacques Chailley. That includes autograph manuscripts of his compositions, some of them previously unpublished. For that reason I would like to present a detailed list of the contents in my archive that other musicians and scholars have the chance to find and discover the many works by Jacques Chailley!

scores for download

With the kind permission of the Chailley family I am allowed to publish those works by Jacques Chailley which manuscripts are part of my archive and which are commercially unpublished so far. The following scores can be download free of charge, but all copyrights for performances, recordings or other uses are still in effect. If you would like to commercially play any of those pieces by Jacques Chailley please contact the SACEM.

Suite sur des airs Scouts, for small orchestra (1929)

Since 1929 Jacques Chailley was a part of the French Scout movement. From 1934 to 1938 he was head of the group in St.-Philippe du Roule, from 1945 to 1946 the head of the complete district. This suite on themes of the Scout movement was written in the year when Jacques Chailley joined the Scouts.

Le Chant de l'Alauda, for piano (1932)

This work for piano is a burlesque on Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky. The main theme is a Breton melody which is arranged in the styles of those 3 composers. But the work shouldn't be taken too seriously - it obviously makes fun of Bach, Debussy and Stravinsky. The manuscript also contains a fourth variation titled "I. Albeniz & M. de Falla - Alaudescas", but that remained incomplete (only 10 bars exist).

Minuetto scherzando, for violin and piano (1932)

Le Voyage des Rois Mages - Fantasy for soli, choir and small orchestra (1932)

Ophelia, for soprano solo, women's choir and orchestra (1934)

Double cantabile, for violin, viola and piano (or organ) (1935)

Albenga, for violin and piano (1935)

Aria for viola and piano (1936)

The Aria existed in some sort of private publication. In my archive there is the whiteprint original of that release. At least a few of these prints were given away, because the French National Library holds a copy of this score. I now decided to typeset the original autograph manuscript which differs slightly from the printed edition.

Deux sonneries en fanfare dans le style du XIIIe siecle (1936)

Malaguena for piano (1943)

Jacques Chailley composed this small piano composition for the sight-reading part of the entrance examination of the Conservatoire de Paris ("morceau de dechiffrage pour l'examen-concours de piano superieur au Conservatoire"). The exact date of the examination is given in the manuscript: It was the 2 June 1943.

Danses et Conduits - Suite du XIIIe siecle pour orchestre (1947)

Orchestration of six medieval melodies from the Montpellier Codex, the Manuscrit du Roi or similar sources.

Delire de Mammadou (1952)

The manuscript does not provide a note about the instrumentation of the work. At first it looks like a piano piece. But there are two small remarks in the score - "violon solo" and "pizz." - that suggest this is just the piano reduction of the composition. Unfortunately there are no other documents related to this piece part of my archive. I also could not find any information about the composition in other sources. Therefore the original instrumentation of the work remains uncertain.

A Roland's funeral music, for brass choir and percussion (1959)

In 1958 Jacques Chailley composed the music for a radio play of "Le Drame de Roncevaux". The play is based on the "Song of Roland" and the 11th-century epic poem about the death of Roland was adapted for a modern radio play by Rene Louis and directed by Bronislaw Horowicz.

Jacques Chailley also created a concert suite from the several musical parts of the radio play which is titled "Or est grand deuil pour la mort de Roland" or in English "A Roland's funeral music". The score of this concert suite is presented here:

Quatre pieces d'orgue pour la liturgie de la messe (1962)

The work was originally titled "Missa pro organo" but was revised by Jacques Chailley. After the revision the four parts (I. Liturgie de la parole - Introitum; II. Liturgie de l'Offrande - Offertorium; III. Liturgie de l'Eucharistie - Communio; IV. Liturgie de l'Amen - Exitum) as well as the complete work received new titles. The composition is dedicated to Jean Langlais.

Indicatif Television d'apres Lully

Indicatif TV Eurovision d'apres Charpentier (1964)

Jacques Chailley orchestrated a theme by Jean-Baptiste Lully to be used as a signature tune for television. It was used from 1959 to 1964 as the starting and ending signal of the program of the RTF.

In 1964 Jacques Chailley made his own orchestral arrangement of the famous "Te deum" theme by Marc-Antoine Charpentier which is used as ident for all broadcasts of Eurovision. I don't know why Jacques Chailley made this arrangement in 1964, because the Eurovision network (including the use of the Charpentier theme) exists since 1954.

Sur le nom d'Helene, for viola and piano (1978)

This small composition is dedicated to the wife of Jacques Chailley, Helene (nee Pompei). The inscription refers to "40 years" and that very likely means the 40th anniversary of their marriage.

Symphonie No.2 pour orchestre (1980-83)

The Symphonie No.2 is dedicated to Alfred Loewenguth and was first performed by the orchestra of the Paris conservatory under Jean-Jacques Werner in 1988.

Mini-Suite, pour quatuor de flutes a bec (1984)

Ma mere l'Oye - transcription des interludes pour 4 mains ou 2 pianos (1991)

Maurice Ravel's work "Ma mere l'Oye" was originally scored for piano 4 hands, later orchestrated by him and the orchestral version expanded for a ballet performance with a prelude and interludes. In 1991 these interludes by Ravel only existed in his orchestral version, but not in a version for piano 4 hands to match with the original piano version of "Ma mere l'Oye". This was done by Jacques Chailley that year and is presented here:

Suite a l'ancienne, for flute and harpsichord (1996)

The work is dedicated to Huguette Grémy-Chauliac.

Cantique du soleil

The work is originally scored for alto and 4 ondes Martenot and sets a text by Francis of Assisi to music. It was composed in 1934 and is therefore one of the very first compositions for the ondes Martenot that was invented only in the 1920s. The world premiere took place in 1935 with Lina Falk and the Quatuor d'ondes Ginette Martenot in Paris.

Due to the fact that ondists are rare, Jacques Chailley arranged the work for other instrumental settings demanding only one ondes Martenot. A version for alto, ondes Martenot and orchestra was premiered in 1940 by Ginette Martenot (the sister of the inventor Maurice Martenot), Germaine Cernay (alto) and the Orchestre Symphonique Francais under Hubert d'Auriol.

Curiously the work was never published despite its historical value. I now decided to publish the original version for alto and 4 ondes Martenot.

Dialogue sur les petits jeux

This is a small composition for an examination of an ondist. It is scored for ondes Martenot and piano. I was composed in 1985 and is dedicated to Francoise Deslogeres, a famous ondist herself and for many years ondes Martentot teacher at the conservatory in Boulogne-Billancourt.

Suite de danses

The work "Suite de danses" is scored for 2 trumpets, ondes Martenot, percussion and organ. It was composed in 1951 and is dedicated to the renowned French choreographer Janine Solane. The manuscript in my possession is only a draft and is missing dynamics and articulations nearly consistently. I have no further information about the work, but the title as well as the dedicatee make it a likely guess that the work was composed as accompaniment for a dance performance.

A.L.N. for viola solo

The work "A.L.N" is a tiny composition for viola solo and some sort of a mystery for me. The main theme of the work is constructed from the word "Helene", the name of the wife of Jacques Chailley. On the other hand the work is dedicated to the "Association des Lepidopteres Numismates" (the association of collectors of coins with butterflies) and the title is very likely an abbreviation of this association. I have no idea how the wife of Jacques Chailley and this very peculiar association match together.