Ignace Xavier Joseph Leybach (17 July 1817 – 23 May 1891) was a French pianist, organist, music educator and a composer of salon piano music.

Career

Born in

Gambsheim Gambsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France, in the historical region of Alsace. Geography Gambsheim lies adjacent to a river-crossing into Germany that is favoured by southbound traffic on th ...

Alsace Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it had ...

, Leybach had his early training as an organist with Joseph Wackenthaler (1795–1869), the organist and ''maître de chapelle'' of the

Strasbourg Cathedral Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', german: Liebfrauenmünster zu Straßburg or ''Straßburger Münster''), also known as Strasbourg ...

, and then was a pupil in Paris of

Friedrich Kalkbrenner Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (2–8 November 1785 – 10 June 1849), also known as ''Frédéric Kalkbrenner'', was a pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. German by birth, Kalkbrenner studied at the Conservatoire de ...

and of Chopin. He was a famous pianist in his time, but is largely remembered for a single piece, his Fifth

Nocturne A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night. History The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensembl ...

, Op. 52, for solo piano; it is still in print. His ''Fantaisie élégante'' uses familiar themes from

Gounod Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...

's ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroads ...

''. From 1844 he was organist at the cathédrale Saint-Étienne, Toulouse, succeeding Justin Cadaux. He published a three-volume method for the organ for which he also wrote about 350 pieces. Leybach also wrote motets and liturgical music. Leybach died in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

References

Oscar Thompson ''Cyclopedia of Music and Musicians'', 1949: Ignace Leybach
note 18.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Leybach, Ignace 1817 births 1891 deaths 19th-century classical composers 19th-century French male classical pianists 19th-century French composers Cathedral organists Classical composers of church music Composers for piano Composers for pipe organ French classical organists French male classical composers French music educators French Romantic composers French male organists People from Bas-Rhin Piano pedagogues Male classical organists 19th-century organists