Litanies, Op. 79

Composed in 1937, just three years before Alain was killed in action in the Second World War at the age of 29, the Litanies is the most celebrated and most frequently performed of all his works for organ. Its famous preface quotes the text: 'When the Christian cannot find new words to implore his faith, he repeats endlessly the same prayer with a frenzied love.' The piece realises this literally: an insistently repeated rhythmic motif, ostinato-like in its obsessive drive, builds with irresistible forward momentum through increasingly complex harmonic layers, creating a hypnotic and terrifyingly powerful climax. Compact, entirely original in language, and technically exacting, the Litanies has become one of the defining works of 20th-century organ music and a rite of passage for advanced organists.