Prélude I/10: La Cathédrale engloutie, L. 117 No. 10

Hushed block chords in parallel fifths and fourths open the piece, with a repeated E in octaves like a bell, and then the chant enters. At the Emergence, marked “little by little emerging from the fog”, the cathedral rises, and a canon builds to the climax, fortissimo organ chords in C major. The music ebbs in the Submergence, the chant returns, and the climax phrase comes back quietly, like an echo, in the final thematic return. The coda mirrors the opening and ends on a C major chord with an added second.

1. 0:12Opening motif
2. First theme / chant