Eugène Gigout was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 organist

Organist

An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...

 and a composer of European late-romantic music for organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

.

Biography

Gigout was born in Nancy, and died in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

.

A pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns

Camille Saint-Saëns

Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...

, he served as the organist of Saint-Augustin Church in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

 for 62 years. He became widely known as a teacher and his output as a composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 was considerable. Renowned as an expert improviser, he also founded his own music school. His nephew by marriage was Léon Boëllmann

Léon Boëllmann

Léon Boëllmann was a French composer of Alsatian origin, known for a small number of compositions for organ. His best-known composition is Suite Gothique , still very much a staple of the organ repertoire, especially its dramatic concluding Toccata.-Biography:The son of a pharmacist, Boëllmann was...

, another French composer and organist.

The 10 pièces pour orgue (composed 1890) are Gigout's most celebrated compositions. They include the Toccata in B minor, his best-known creation, which turns up as a frequent encore at organ recital

Organ recital

An organ recital is a concert at which music specially written for the organ is played.The music played at such recitals was typically written for pipe organ, which includes church organs, and symphonic organs...

s. Also fairly often played, and to be found in the same collection, is a Scherzo in E major. Other notable pieces by Gigout are Grand chœur dialogué and Marche religieuse. Gigout's works are now available on several commercial recordings.

His pupils included Léon Boëllmann

Léon Boëllmann

Léon Boëllmann was a French composer of Alsatian origin, known for a small number of compositions for organ. His best-known composition is Suite Gothique , still very much a staple of the organ repertoire, especially its dramatic concluding Toccata.-Biography:The son of a pharmacist, Boëllmann was...

, André Fleury, Henri Gagnon

Henri Gagnon

Henri Gagnon was a Canadian composer, organist, and music educator. He spent 51 years playing the organ at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré where, according to music historian François Brassard, he earned "a prestige similar to that of the famous organists of Europe"...

, André Marchal

André Marchal

André Marchal was a French organist and organ teacher. He was one of the great initiators of the twentieth-century organ revival in France.Marchal was born blind...

, André Messager

André Messager

André Charles Prosper Messager , was a French composer, organist, pianist, conductor and administrator. His stage compositions included ballets and 30 opéra comiques and operettas, among which Véronique, had lasting success, with Les p'tites Michu and Monsieur Beaucaire also enjoying international...

, and Albert Roussel

Albert Roussel

Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...

.

Internal link

See the French page for a detailed catalogue of organ works: http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gigout

External links

• Free scores at the Mutopia Project
  Mutopia project
  The Mutopia Project is a volunteer-run effort to create a library of free content sheet music, in a way similar to Project Gutenberg's library of public domain books.The music is reproduced from old scores that are out of copyright...
  
  
• recording of "10 pièces pour orgue" played on virtual organs
• More Gigout works played on a virtual organ