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Jean Guillou

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For the French Olympic gymnast, seeJean Guillou (gymnast).
Jean Guillou
Guillou in 2014
Born
Jean Victor Arthur Guillou

(1930-04-18)18 April 1930
Angers,France
Died26 January 2019(2019-01-26)(aged 88)
Paris,France
EducationParis Conservatoire
Occupations
  • Organist
  • Pianist
  • Improviser
  • Composer
  • Academic teacher
Organizations
Websitewww.jean-guillou.org

Jean Victor Arthur Guillou(18 April 1930 – 26 January 2019) was a Frenchcomposer,organist,pianist,andpedagogue.Principle Organist atSaint Eustachein Paris, from 1963 to 2015, he was widely known as a composer of instrumental and vocal music focused on the organ, as an improviser, and as an adviser to organ builders. For several decades he held regularmaster classesinZurichand in Paris.

Career

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Guillou was born inAngers.Following his first studies in piano and organ, he became the organist at the church St. Serge in Angers at the age of 12.[1]He studied at theParis ConservatoireunderMarcel Dupré,Maurice DurufléandOlivier Messiaen.[2][3]In 1952, while still studying, Guillou played the premiere of his organ transcription ofThe Musical OfferingbyJohann Sebastian Bachat Erskine and American United Church inMontreal,Canada.[4]In 1955, he accepted a position as professor of organ and composition at the Institute of Sacred Music inLisbon.[1]During this time, he wrote his first compositions (Fantaisie op. 1, Colloque no. 1, and parts of Colloque no. 2).[5]Due to health reasons, Guillou underwent long term medical treatment in Berlin and relocated to this city in 1958. During the following five years, he composed numerous works and made his first recordings at Lutherkirche andSt. Matthias church.[6]During this time, he met composerMax Baumann,who wrote his first organ compositions (Invocation op. 67 no. 5, Trois pièces brèves op. 67 no. 6, Psalmi op. 67 no. 2) for Guillou, who premiered these works in a concert on 20 January 1963 at St. Matthias church in Berlin.[7]In 1963 he returned to Paris, having been appointed Principle Organist atSaint-Eustachein succession toAndré Marchal.He would play on the instrument there, the second largest organ in France, for more than 50 years, until 2015.[2]Appointed Organiste Titulaire Emerite at St. Eustache in September 2014, Guillou completed 52 years as organist at Saint-Eustache in March 2015,[2][8]when he was succeeded by two co-titulaires.[9]On 22 April 1966 Guillou gave his debut concert at theBerliner Philharmonie,where he playedMax Reger's Phantasia and Fugue on BACH op. 46 at the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Reger's death.[10]On 6 October 1966 Guillou played the world premiere of his organ workPour le Tombeau de Colbertat the Berliner Philharmonie.[11]

He had a worldwide reputation as a concert organist and improviser.[8]Additionally, he often performed as a pianist.[2]He gave the English and French premieres ofJulius Reubke'sPiano Sonata in B-flat minor.[1]

Guillou's engagement in organ building led to collaborations with several organ builders and the construction of new instruments, including in theTonhalleof Zurich and in theAuditorio de Tenerife.[12]

He composed over 90 works – for organ, chamber and orchestral music – as well as numerous transcriptions for organ, originally published byÉditions Alphonse Leduc,from 2000 and later bySchott Music,Mainz.In addition, he has issued more than 100 recordings (Philips, Dorian, Festivo, Decca, Augure among others) including the complete organ works ofJohann Sebastian Bach,César Franck,Robert Schumann,[6]numerous improvisations (e.g.,Visions Cosmiques(December 1968), orJeux d'orgue(20 October 1969), both re-edited in 2010 by Universal-Decca), as well as most of his own organ compositions on a series of seven CDs (2010) for the Universal-Decca label.[9]

Some of Guillou's compositions are based upon his own lyrics and poems. He also published several books, which subsequently were translated into German and Italian:L'Orgue – Souvenir et Avenir(1978),La Musique et le Geste(2012), andLe Visiteur, Poèmes(2014).

From 1970 to 2005, Guillou taught organ performance and improvisation at the annualInternationale Meisterkurse Zürich.[1]Beginning in 2007, these masterclasses were held at Saint-Eustache in Paris, France, for several years. Among his pupils areZsuzsa Elekes,Francesco Filidei,Bernhard Haas,Jean Jacques Kasel, Yanka Hekimova,Jean-Paul Imbert[fr],Leonid Karev,Livia Mazzanti, Zuzana Ferjenčíková and Jean-Baptiste Monnot. In July 2015, he was appointedhonorary professorat theHochschule für Musik SaarinSaarbrücken.In March 2018, Guillou was honored by theRoyal College of OrganistsatSouthwark CathedralinLondonwith the RCO Medal, in recognition of distinguished achievement in organ playing and composition.[13]In May 2018, he travelled toKoper,Slovenia,where he served as consultant for the former organ at Tonhalle Zürich, to be transferred toAssumption Cathedral,and the re-dedication scheduled for 2020.[14]

Death

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Guillou died in Paris on 26 January 2019.[2][6][15]The funeral service took place on 5 February 2019 atNotre-Dame de Paris.He was buried at thePère Lachaise Cemeteryin Paris (Chemin du Quinconce, D1/4547).[16]

The obituary by his publisherSchottsummarized his achievements:

As a performer he revolutionized the art of organ playing, as an improviser he fascinated whole generations of concert-goers, as a composer he opened the repertoire of the 'king of instruments' to areas which had been considered to be unimaginable before.[1]

Compositions

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Main article:List of compositions by Jean Guillou

Publications

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  • L'Orgue, Souvenir et Avenir.Lyon: Symétrie. 2010.
  • Die Orgel: Erinnerung und Zukunft.St. Augustin, Germany:Dr. Josef Butz Musikverlag.2005.ISBN3-928412-01-9.
  • La Musique et le Geste.Paris: Beauchesne. 2012.ISBN978-2-7010-1999-4.
  • Le Visiteur, Poèmes.Rouen: Christophe Chomant Editeur. 2014.ISBN978-2-84962-305-3.

Bibliography

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  • Abbing, Jörg.Jean Guillou – Colloques – Biografie und Texte.St. Augustin, Germany: Dr. Josef Butz Musikverlag, 2006.ISBN3-928412-02-7.
  • Abbing, Jörg:Die Rhetorik des Feuers — La rhétorique du feu. Festschrift Jean Guillou.Bonn, Germany: Dr. Josef Butz Musikverlag, 2010.ISBN978-3-928412-10-0.
  • Abbing, Jörg: "Ein nachdenklicher Wanderer zwischen den Welten. Ein Nachruf auf Jean Guillou", inOrgan – Journal für die Orgel22, no. 1: 8–9.
  • Kasel Jean-Jacques "JEAN GUILLOU-Portrait de Maître" 389 p. fr/ger selfpublished

Adolph, Wolfram: "Editorial zum Tod von Jean Guillou", inOrgan – Journal für die Orgel22, no. 1: 1.

  • L'ORGUE n° 281: numéro spécial sur Jean Guillou, sous la direction de Sylviane Falcinelli, 2008.
  • Cantagrel, Gilles."Jean Guillou", inGuide de la musique d’orgue,edited by Gilles Cantagrel. Paris:Fayard,(1991) 2012, pp. 514–520.
  • Cook, Mary Jean. "Errata in the published organ works of Jean Guillou", inThe Diapason67 (May 1967): 4–5.
  • Hodant, Jean-Philippe.Rhétorique et Dramaturgie dans l'œuvre musicale de Jean GuillouParis, France: Université Sorbonne, 1993.
  • Orengia, Jean-Louis.Jean Guillou, interprète, compositeur et improvisateur.Mémoire de maîtrise de musicologie. Paris: Sorbonne, 1981/1982.
  • Rhodes, Cherry. "Introducing Jean Guillou", inThe A.G.O.R.C.C.O. Magazine(March 1974): 29 and 53.
  • Terry, Mickey Thomas. "An Interview with Jean Guillou" inThe American Organist28, No. 4 (April 1994): 56–59.
  • VV.AA. ' "Regards". Hommages à Jean Guillou – Augure éditions, Paris 2014.

References

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  1. ^abcde"The Poet of the Organ / On the death of the organist and composer Jean Guillou".Schott Music.28 January 2019.Retrieved29 January2019.
  2. ^abcdeDecalf, Guillaume (27 January 2019)."L'organiste Jean Guillou est mort"(in French).France Musique.Retrieved28 January2019.
  3. ^Contrary to Wolfram Adolph' statement (See Adolph 2019, 1), Guillou was never teaching assistant of Marcel Dupré for the organ class at the Conservatoire. This position was held byRolande Falcinelli,who succeeded Dupré as professor of the organ class at the Conservatoire in 1955. Guillou, however, substituted occasionally for Dupré atSaint-Sulpice.
  4. ^Guillou, Jean.L'Orgue – Souvenir et Avenir.Paris: Buchet/Chastel, 1996, 218–219.
  5. ^See Abbing 2006, 28.
  6. ^abc"L'organiste Jean Guillou est mort".Le Figaro(in French). 27 January 2019.Retrieved29 January2019.
  7. ^Decalf, Guillaume (2019-01-27)."L'organiste Jean Guillou est mort".France Musique(in French).Retrieved2024-01-06.
  8. ^abMachart, Renaud (27 January 2019)."L'organiste de renommée internationale Jean Guillou est mort".Le Monde(in French).Retrieved29 January2019.
  9. ^ab"Pipings",The American Organist(September, 2015), pp. 16–19
  10. ^During this concert, Max Reger'sRequiem op. 144bandDer Einsiedler op. 144awere performed by the choir ofSt. Hedwig's Cathedraland theBerlin Radio Symphony Orchestraunder the direction of Anton Lippe. See Oliver Hilmes (2010). Berlin "Ecke Nollendorfplatz", in: Jörg Abbing (ed.),Die Rhetorik des Feuers. Festschrift Jean Guillou,100–111. Bonn: Dr. J. Butz Musikverlag.
  11. ^Published in 1967 by Leduc (Paris), and re-edited in 2005 by Schott (Mainz) in a revised version under the titleBallade Ossianique no. 1 ( "Temora" ).
  12. ^"Jean Guillou".Schott Music.Retrieved29 January2019.
  13. ^RCO Medal awarded to distinguished musicians.Accessed February 25, 2019.
  14. ^Svetovno znani Jean Guillou obiskal Koper (English translation: "The world-famous Jean Guillou visited Koper".Accessed February 25, 2019.
  15. ^Jean Guillou, Organ Maestro Who Broke Traditions, Dies at 88on NYT (31 January 2019)
  16. ^Cérémonie d’inhumation de Jean Guillou. Blog Tomasz Cichawa.
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