Alexandre Guilmant

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Clarence Eddy and Alexandre Guilmant, 1898

Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer.

Short biography

Alexandre Guilmant was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer. A student of his father, then of Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, he became an organist and teacher in his place of birth. In 1871 he was appointed as organist of la Trinité church in Paris, a position that he held for 25 years.^[1] Marcel Dupré was perhaps the most celebrated of Guilmant's many students. From then on he followed a career as a virtuoso; he gave concerts in Europe as well as in the United States. In 1904 he gave a celebrated series of 40 recitals on the largest organ in the world, the St. Louis Exposition Organ, now preserved as the nucleus of Philadelphia's Wanamaker Organ. Guilmant died in Meudon in 1911.

Achievements

Guilmant created the Schola Cantorum in 1894 with Charles Bordes and Vincent d'Indy. In 1896 he succeeded Charles-Marie Widor as organ teacher of Conservatoire de Paris.^[1]

With André Pirro, he published a collection of scores, Archives des Maîtres de l'Orgue (archives of the masters of the organ), a compilation of the compositions of numerous classical French composers in ten volumes, from 1898 to 1914. He proceeded in the same manner for foreign masters of the organ, publishing l'École classique de l'Orgue (classical school of the organ).

Compositions

Guilmant was an accomplished composer, particularly for his own instrument, the organ. His organ repertoire includes; 'Pièces dans différents styles', published in 18 books; 'L'organiste pratique', published in 12 books; Eighteen 'Pièces Nouvelles'; 'L'Organiste liturgique', published in 10 books. Guilmant's Eight Sonatas were conceived with the Cavaille-Coll organ of La Trinité in mind, and are therefore symphonic in style and form, taking their place alongside the symphonic organ works of César Franck and the Organ Symphonies of Charles-Marie Widor.

His symphonic works have had their occasional champions. The Sonate No. 1/Symphonie No. 1 for organ and orchestra, Op. 42, was programmed by Sergei Koussevitzky in the 1930s, but was not heard again until Igor Buketoff revived it for a 1977 live recording with the Butler University Orchestra (note, the composer's name is misspelled "Gilmont" in the source).^[2]

	Fugue alla Händel in F major
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Opus list

References

External links

• Felix Alexandre Guilmant Website dedicated to Guilmant with complete opus list.
• Free scores by Guilmant Alexandre on loumy.org
• Free scores by Alexandre Guilmant in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Alexandre Guilmant in the International Music Score Library Project
• YouTube Clive Driskill-Smith plays the Scherzo Symphonique on the Rieger organ of the Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford.