The French organ school formed in the first half of the 17th century. It progressed from the strict polyphonic music of Jean Titelouze (c. 1563–1633) to a unique, richly ornamented style with its own characteristic forms that made full use of the French classical organ. Instrumental in establishing this style were Louis Couperin (c. 1626–1661), who experimented with structure, registration and melodic lines, expanding the traditional polyphonic forms, and Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers (1632–1714), who established the distinct forms and styles of what was to become the French organ tradition.

Characteristic forms and nomenclature

French organ composers cultivated four major genres: masses, hymns, suites and noëls. Noëls are variations on Christmas carols, whereas the first three genres were all realized as collections of brief pieces in various characteristic forms. Such forms included the following: Additionally, a number of standard registrations may be indicated by the following designations: The designations dessus, taille and basse stand for "soprano", "tenor" and "bass", respectively. A rarely used type of voicing is haute-contre (or haulte contre), "high tenor". Such designations are used to point to the position of the solo stop in a récit (see examples above), or of the chant melody in a setting (i.e. the title Kyrie en basse indicates that the chant itself is in the bass).

Composers

First period: the development of free polyphony

Second period: the establishing of the French Classical Organ School

Third period: 18th century

Late 18th century and post-revolutionary period