In late-nineteenth-century France, newly built organs capable of orchestral color and dynamic range invited composers to pen works that rivaled the complexity and expressive power of the symphony orchestra. Following World War I, many composers eschewed 19th-century traditions and pursued experimentation and abstraction, setting aside melody in favor of the avant-garde.

Against that current, Maurice Duruflé and Francis Poulenc chose a different path, embracing melody as a vital expressive force and grounding their music in Gregorian chant and sacred traditions. They did not merely adopt chant as inspiration, but expanded it through the rich harmonic language and color of the twentieth century. Duruflé’s Requiem, premiered in the years just following the end of World War II, offers an elegiac sonic representation of consolation that has emerged as one of modern music’s most treasured masterpieces. Poulenc’s gripping Litanies à la Vierge Noire was written while the composer faced an intense personal crisis, as Europe stood on the brink of war.

Though the music of these longtime colleagues and friends is strikingly different, the threads of inspiration between them are unmistakable. The French Connection brings their works together in a program that illuminates the connections between ancient and modern, sacred and secular, faith and doubt, and the fragile space between peace and war.

Musica Vocale is joined by Jan Kraybill, a Kansas City resident who is one of the world’s most renowned concert organists, widely acclaimed for her artistry, versatility, and deeply communicative performances. This performance will be presented on the Casavant Frères organ at the Community of Christ Temple, an instrument prized for its luminous tonal palette and extraordinary expressive range.