4 Motets sur des thèmes gregoriens||Duruflé grew up in Louviers in the northern French region of Haute-Normandie|(Upper Normandy), where as a boy he was a chorister and studied piano. At the|age of 17 he moved to Paris to study organ with Charles Tournemire. A year|later Duruflé wasadmitted to the Paris Conservatoire, where he studied organ,|piano and composition, and was awarded five first prizes in various subjects.|Upon graduation Duruflé became musical assistant to Louis Vierne at Notre|Dame, but soon after this was appointed organist at Saint Étienne-du-Mont in|Paris, where he would remain for the rest of his life. In 1943 he was|appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatoire, a position he maintained|for 27 years. From 1926 until 1977 Duruflé published 14 compositions,|including the Requiem, Op. 9 (1947). Duruflé traveled extensively as a|concert organist, and was active as a recording artist. Later in life he and|his second wife often performed as an organ duo. The composer suffered severe|injuriesin an automobile accident in 1975, which left him nearly bed-ridden|for the final decade of his life.Composed in 1960, Quatre Motets sur des|thèmes grégoriens, Op. 10 (Four Motets on Gregorian Themes) were dedicated to|Auguste le Guennant, director of the Gregorian Institute in Paris. Each of|the four motets begins with an incipit of Gregorianchant, which serves as|melodic inspiration for the composition that follows. The four motets are (in|order): Ubi caritas, Tota pulchra es, Tu es Petrus, and Tantum ergo. Ubi|caritas is an early Christian antiphon traditionally used in the Maundy|Thursday service during the washing of the feet, an act of Jesus from the|Last Supper. The antiphon has become closely associated with the Eucharist,|and is sometimes alsoused at weddings. Duruflé sets only the first of the|four stanzas of the text.