Gregorian Chant in Organ Sonatas by J.-N. Lemmens

The 1860s played a special role in the history of organ music in Belgium and France. This period was marked by the active development of substantive repertory and the establishment of the Franco-Belgian organ school. All the advances of this period could not be possible without the contribution of the Belgian composer, organist and teacher Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens. Brought up on the traditional for Catholic Belgium Gregorian chants and the organ works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Lemmens managed to organically transfer Bach's principles of working with Lutheran chant to completely different material of Gregorian hymns. Lemmens is also credited for the foundation of the first educational institution that trained church musicians. The three organ sonatas became the pinnacle of his work and the first examples of the synthesis of liturgical content and a secular form. The article reveals general patterns in the choice of themes from the large-scale corpus of Gregorian chants. The melody of the chorale can also be traced in parts in which no chorale is indicated. It shows a deep connection between Lemmens’s heritage and a thousand-year-old church musical tradition.