At my little country churches where I am organist I like to play a prelude from the vast array of liturgical “organ literature”.  I have always hoped (aspired) to be able to play something from Léon Boëllmann’s ‘Suite Gothique’.  However, lacking the skill and an instrument with sufficient compass to accomplish that goal, I have found an excellent substitute.

The answer is Léon Boëllmann’s Heures Mystique (Op. 29 & 3).  Through the resources of IMSLP (International Music Score Library) it is possible to get the complete two volume Heures Mystique essentially for free.  Within the two volumes there are a total of 100, entrées, offertories, élévations, communions, sorties and versets suitable for organists at smaller churches with instruments of limited scope.

It is said that Léon Boëllmann “coaxed pleasing sounds out of recalcitrant instruments”.  I do the same by pretending my  little electronic chapel organs (dual 44 note manuals, with 12 note pedal boards) are as grand as the magnificent organ at the Church of St. Vincent de Paul, in Paris.   I play the softs a little softer and the fortes a little loader and my congregations seem to notice and appreciate the efforts.

While it is possible to purchase modern reprints of this seminal work printing it from the internet can be easily done and without much expense.  If you go through the pieces on-line you can print out the pages/pieces as you find suitable selections. Or, if you have access you can print on front and back and eplicate the entire volume as printed in 1896.  These volumes are in the public domain in both the United States, and Canada.

It is possible to even download both volumes to save on your computer or load to a thumb drive, take it to an office supply copy center and have them make copies.  It is then easy to three-hole punch and keep in a binder.  If you wait until they are advertising a special on printing services you can get them printed very reasonably  Many larger churches probably have printer/copiers that can handle the task.

Jeffrey Klingfuss
Organist:
New Hope Lutheran Church, Sallis, Mississippi, Mississippi’s First Lutheran Church (1846)
Baldwin Chapel, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Kosciusko, MS