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Fugue on Ave Maris Stella

Jean-François Dandrieu (1682–1738) · sheet music

  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 3–7
  • Passages 4

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Jean-François Dandrieu, French baroque (1682–1738). The reading release has 4 passages from this piece at levels 3–7; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 9–12 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 7.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Fugue on Ave Maris Stella.

  1. Left hand alone · bars 9–16 level 3
  2. Hands together · bars 1–8 level 7

How to play Fugue on Ave Maris Stella

  1. Tempo:Majestueusement asks for a broad, dignified pulse in four. Pick a tempo where every quarter note in the inner voices can be heard and held.
  2. Left hand:The tenor opens alone in the left hand, so the first bars on this page are a single line. Shape the subject like a sung phrase, leaning gently into its long notes.
  3. Right hand:When the alto enters, the right hand takes over the subject while the left hand continues. Keep the subject a little louder than the accompanying line.
  4. Hands together:Practice two voices at a time: tenor with alto, then alto with soprano. Hold every half and whole note for its full length, since on the organ notes never fade.
  5. Fingering:Silent finger changes on held notes help keep the lines connected. Write the fingering in once you find one that lets each voice stay legato.
  6. Pedal:On piano, use little or no sustain pedal. Holding notes with the fingers keeps each voice clean in a way the pedal would blur.
  7. Reading:There is no key signature, but B flats, C sharps and G sharps appear often. Read each voice horizontally and bracket every subject entry in pencil.
  8. Practice:Learn the subject by heart first so you recognize it in every voice. Then practice each line alone before combining them.

Common mistakes

  • Reading the music as a string of chords and losing the separate voices. Fix: Play each voice alone and sing it, then combine two voices at a time.
  • Releasing tied and held notes early to make the next move easier. Fix: Count the full value aloud and hold until the next note in that voice begins.
  • Missing the B flats and C sharps because there is no key signature. Fix: Scan each bar for accidentals before playing, and remember they last to the end of the bar.
  • Rushing the ornaments at cadences. Fix: Practice the cadence without the ornament first, then fit the trill into the beat without changing the pulse.

Structure: fugue (four voices)

Four voices state the same subject one after another, starting in the tenor, then the alto, then the soprano, with the bass last of all. Between entries the voices keep moving in steady quarter-note counterpoint, mostly by step and sequence. The music stays close to D throughout and ends on a full D major chord.

Exposition · Tenor and alto entries
The tenor states the subject alone, a long note leaping up a fifth and then winding back down in quarters. The alto answers it a fifth higher while the tenor carries on with a counter-line, so the reader meets two voices at once.
Episode · Sequences
The tenor leaps up a fourth and down a fifth, over and over, each time a step lower. Spotting the repetition makes these bars much easier to read.
Entries · Soprano and bass entries
The soprano takes the subject in the high register, and much later the bass enters with it underneath the other three voices. The texture is now at its fullest.
Close · Final cadence
Trills and ornaments gather around the last cadence, and the fugue ends on a sustained D major chord.

About Fugue on Ave Maris Stella

Jean-François Dandrieu was a Paris organist and harpsichordist who, as a child of five, played the harpsichord for Louis XIV and his court. He became titular organist of Saint-Merri in 1705, was named one of the four organists of the Chapelle Royale in 1721, and in 1733 succeeded his uncle Pierre at Saint-Barthélemy. He died in Paris in 1738.

His Premier livre de pièces d'orgue was printed in 1739, a year after his death. It is organized as suites in different church tones, each followed by versets for the Magnificat. This fugue is the second piece of the first suite, and liner notes for a complete recording point out that the suite's two fugues are the only pieces in the book built on a borrowed melody, here the hymn Ave maris stella.

Ave maris stella, Hail, star of the sea, is a Latin hymn to the Virgin Mary. Dandrieu marks the fugue Majestueusement, majestically, and the free edition most players use today comes from Alexandre Guilmant's 1905 edition, typeset by the Mutopia Project.

  • Dandrieu played the harpsichord for Louis XIV at the age of five.
  • After his death his sister Jeanne-Françoise succeeded him as organist of Saint-Barthélemy and published his organ noëls.
  • The fugue's lowest voice, played on the organ pedals, waits more than two dozen bars before it enters with the subject.
  • The fugue is in D, written without a key signature, and its very last chord turns to D major.

Why the first passage is level 3

That passage is level 3 rather than 2 because it carries accidentals outside the key, a hand covers more than one position, it leaps a fifth, the line roams across the staff, it leaves the five-finger position.

Three passages are the left-hand line alone and one is hands together. Read the left-hand lines first to learn the subject and the sequences, then try the two-voice opening.

Questions about Fugue on Ave Maris Stella

How hard is Fugue on Ave Maris Stella to play?
Its passages grade from level 3 to level 7 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–8 at level 7.
Is there an easy part of Fugue on Ave Maris Stella for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 9–12 for the left hand alone, the level-3 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 3 because it carries accidentals outside the key and a hand covers more than one position.
What key and time signature is Fugue on Ave Maris Stella in?
The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Fugue on Ave Maris Stella?
Jean-François Dandrieu, French baroque (1682–1738). Jean-François Dandrieu was a Paris organist and harpsichordist who, as a child of five, played the harpsichord for Louis XIV and his court.
Can I practice Fugue on Ave Maris Stella online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 4 graded passages from Fugue on Ave Maris Stella in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What does Ave maris stella mean?
It is Latin for Hail, star of the sea, the opening of a Latin hymn to the Virgin Mary.
Which book is Dandrieu's Ave maris stella fugue from?
It is the second piece of the first suite in his Premier livre de pièces d'orgue, printed in 1739, the year after he died.
Was this fugue written for piano?
No. It is organ music, with the lowest voice meant for the pedals. It works on piano if you hold notes with your fingers and keep the lines singing.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 4 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 3
bars 9–16 left hand · bars 9–12 left hand · bars 13–16 left hand
Level 7
bars 1–8 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (mutopia-ly), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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