Жюль Ван Нюффель: Жизнь и творчество бельгийского композитора и органиста.

Jules Jozef Paul Maria Van Nuffel (Hemiksem 21 March 1883 – Wilrijk 25 June 1953) was a Belgian priest, composer, choirmaster, music pedagogue, musicologist and a renowned expert on religious music.

Van Nuffel was born on 21 March 1883 in a musical family. He had his first music lessons (piano and singing) from his mother. He was taught the piano and the violin in high school, where his musical talents were soon noticed: in 1898–1899 he was the school organist. After graduating from high school, Van Nuffel studied for the priesthood at the Grand Seminary of Mechelen, where he also had occasional lessons in piano, violin, organ, harmony and counterpoint. He was ordained priest by Cardinal Mercier on 25 May 1907. Shortly after his ordination, he was appointed music teacher at the Mechelen episcopal high school, a position he'd hold for ten years. In that period Edgar Tinel, the director of the episcopal Ecole de Musique Religieuse (later Lemmensinstituut), insisted that he train at the school. But this one and only period in which Van Nuffel took formal music courses ended after a mere three months in a dispute between teacher and student. In essence, Van Nuffel was self taught, by reading scores of the masters. Bach, Beethoven, Weber, Wagner, Grieg and Debussy were favorite study objects; later in his career also studied modern composers, like Paul Hindemith and Arthur Honegger, who also influenced his works.

As music teacher at the Mechelen episcopal high school, he was the school's choirmaster. He also composed over a hundred works between 1907 and 1917, including his Super flumina Babylonis. Its second performance by his school choir, on 26 July 1916 in St. Rumbold's Cathedral, led to his being asked to refound the cathedral choir. He would lead the Saint Rumbold's choir until October 1949, when he resigned for reasons of health. Of course the Saint Rumbold's choir performed primarily in the liturgy in the cathedral. Following Pope Pius X's Tra le sollecitudini, which Van Nuffel considered the "norm and codex" of his work, it sang a great deal of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony. But it also performed works by Belgian and international contemporary composers. Meulemans (1946:99–101) lists "countless motets" by two dozen composers as well as an even longer list of masses. At first the reputation of the Saint Rumbold's choir was local, but its performance of Van Nuffel's own Statuit ei Dominus, written for the golden jubilee of Cardinal Mercier's ordination, ensured its national reputation. It served as a model for other Belgian cathedral choirs. It was the first choir to be invited for religious ceremonies at the royal court. Its performances during solemn masses in St. Rumbold's Cathedral were frequently broadcast by the national radio. International invitations also followed, culminating in a 1934 concert tour to Italy, where they sang for Pope Pius XI. Under Van Nuffel's baton, this choir was among the best of Belgium and its reputation was impressive. Its 30 year jubilee was attended by Queen Elisabeth, numerous politicians, ecclesiastics and scholars, as well as artists and composers. In his work in St. Rumbold's Van Nuffel was greatly aided by the cathedral organist, the renowned Flor Peeters. Throughout Van Nuffel's tenure as choirmaster, the Saint Rumbold's choir's members were amateurs. Van Nuffel himself called the Saint Rumbold's choir “my greatest creation".

In Van Nuffel's early compositions he was influenced by the Cecilian Movement. However, he soon developed a style of his own. His originality lies in his melodic gift, which is often based on Gregorian modality. His late Romantic harmony is a highly personal synthesis of old church modes and impressionism, sometimes daringly modern for its time. His music is deeply religious, and often exuberantly festive. Almost all of Van Nuffel's work is vocal. Most of his works were meant for performance during the liturgy in the cathedral, with his own Saint Rumbold's choir, and they still sound best when sung by a large choir in a large church. The liturgical texts that he set were all in Latin; the Dutch texts he set also were mostly religious in character. A nationally prominent composer, Van Nuffel is not very well known outside his native land, though his work is still occasionally performed abroad. One work that has become well known abroad and that is one of his crowning achievements is Nova Organi Harmonia ad Graduale juxta Editionem Vaticanam, a collection of accompaniments of the Gregorian chants of the entire liturgical year. This huge project (eight volumes) was initiated by Van Nuffel, and composed by himself, Flor Peeters, Jules Vyverman, Marinus de Jong, Staf Nees, Henri Durieux and Edgard de Laet. Nova Organi Harmonia was reprinted in many editions after World War II and is now (2023) available in its entirety on the internet and, with the exception of the sixth volume (devoted to the local Belgian liturgy), also in a recent print edition; see the external link.