Eugène Gigout

Recording session with Eugène Gigout for the Welte-Philharmonic-Organ, 1912.

Eugène Gigout (23 March 1844 – 9 December 1925) was a French organist and a composer of European late-romantic music for organ.

Biography

Gigout was born in Nancy, and died in Paris.

A pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns, he served as the organist of Saint-Augustin Church in Paris for 62 years. He became widely known as a teacher and his output as a composer was considerable. Renowned as an expert improviser, he also founded his own music school. (His nephew-by-marriage, Leon Boëllmann, became another fine organist and composer for the organ, whose death at the very young age of 35 was a severe loss to French music.)

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 recitals. 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 Choeur Dialogué and Marche Religieuse. Gigout's works are now available on several commercial recordings.

His pupils included Léon Boëllmann, André Fleury, Henri Gagnon, André Marchal, André Messager, and Albert Roussel.

Internal link

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

External links

• Free scores by Eugène Gigout in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Eugène Gigout in the International Music Score Library Project
• Free scores at the Mutopia Project
• recording of "10 pièces pour orgue" played on virtual organs
• More Gigout works played on a virtual organ