César Franck / Wolfgang Hochstein (arr.) Domine, non secundum (FWV 66)

César Franck (1822–1890), a native of Liège, Belgium, studied in Paris and was active there at the Cavaillé-Coll organ of the Church of Sainte-Clotilde from 1859 until his death. In 1871 he was a co-founder of the “Société nationale de Musique”, later becoming its president. In 1872 he was appointed professor of organ at the Paris Conservatoire. His students included well-known personalities from French music history such as Ernest Chausson, Vincent d’Indy, Gabriel Pierné, Charles Tournemire, Louis Vierne and also, for a short while, Claude Debussy. In early July 1890 Franck had an accident with a horse-drawn omnibus, from the consequences of which he never recovered. He died on 8 November. Franck’s successors at Sainte-Clotilde were G. Pierné and (from 1898) Ch. Tournemire, one of Olivier Messiaen’s teachers. Personal details

Denis Rouger gained his initial musical experience as the son of a Parisian family of musicians and during his studies at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris, where he received first prizes in harmony, fugue and counterpoint.

He was a lecturer and choirmaster at the University of Paris-Sorbonne for 20 years and choirmaster at Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral for 10 years. He is honorary conductor of the Parisian church La Madeleine. He also collaborates with numerous ensembles in Germany. He has been invited as a guest conductor by radio choirs, the Balthasar-Neumann-Chor, the Baden-Württemberg State Youth Choir and the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra, among others. Concerts have taken him to Italy, the Netherlands, Canada, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Switzerland (Lucerne Festival).

He gives master classes in Sweden, Bulgaria, France, Germany, as well as in Switzerland.

Denis Rouger has been Professor of Choral Conducting at the Stuttgart State University of Music and Performing Arts since 2011. The chamber choir he founded at the university in the fall of 2011 won first prize at the International Choir Competition in Mosbach (Germany) in 2014.

In addition to his work as a choirmaster, he composes and arranges French and German songs for choir. His arrangements on the CDs Kennst Du das Land ... and ... wo die Zitronen blühn (Carus) were well received by the press and radio. In collaboration with Carus-Verlag, he has edited the choir book Französische Chormusik, which received the German Music Edition Award “Best Edition” in 2019.

In 2016, Denis Rouger founded the figure humaine kammerchor (www.figurehumaine.de), with which he regularly gives concerts at renowned festivals.

Personal details

Personal details