In 1928, Maurice Duruflé entered Paul Dukas' composition class at the Paris Conservatoire. He seems to have learned there the proud, ingrown habit of self-criticism, and that one's music must be very good indeed to be made public. Dukas was notorious for destroying ambitious works—almost consigned to the flames, the superbly glowing La Péri survives to give a measure of the music that perished; this limited his catalog to a scant 12 published works, albeit they included an opera, a symphony, a piano sonata, and variation set, and the phenomenally popular L'Apprenti sorcier which are among the towering works of French music.

Duruflé, on the other hand, was primarily an organist and church musician, and his sphere of activity was far more limited. But within that sphere he achieved a unique utterance in a handful of suavely radiant works which loom as more enduring than bronze. Because both men composed urbane requiems rife with tidings of comfort and repose, Duruflé has been taken as a sort of poor cousin of Fauré. But where the latter employed modal coloring and a suggestion of chant, Duruflé absorbed Gregorian melody as a second nature, and its long-breathed, supple phrasing informs an otherwise smartly up-to-date idiom with an enchanting aura of timelessness.

This is nowhere truer than in the Messe "Cum jubilo," especially in light of the blithely serene Kyrie. But in the Gloria—playing a bit over five minutes, the longest of the mass' five succinct sections—the chant-inspired central baritone solo ("Qui tollis") is flanked by jubilant affirmations which could almost be by the Poulenc of Les Mamelles de Tiresias, and quite disarming in their juxtaposition. The Sanctus opens on a glowing mystical note, rises to a solemn paean of praise ("Hosanna in excelsis"), and retreats as if in awe. A baritone solo intones the very brief Benedictus with comforting assurance, to questioning interjections from the organ. And in the Agnus Dei, the music seems to hover, abashed before the central mystery, yet lingering.

As he did for his requiem, Duruflé left three scorings for the "Cum jubilo" Mass. There are versions for large orchestra, small orchestra, and organ—all of which retain the original's unusual vocal forces: a chorus of baritones in unison, with baritone solo. Dedicated to Marie-Madeleine Duruflé, the work received its premiere at the Salle Pleyel, Paris on December 18, 1966, with Camille Maurane taking the solo, the Stéphane Caillat Choir, and the Lamoureux Orchestra led by Jean-Baptiste Marie.

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