Jacques Berthier (27 June 1923 – 27 June 1994) was a French composer of

liturgical music Liturgical music originated as a part of religious ceremony, and includes a number of traditions, both ancient and modern. Liturgical music is well known as a part of Catholic Mass, the Anglican Holy Communion service (or Eucharist) and Evensong ...

, best known for writing much of the music used at Taizé.

Biography

Berthier was born in

Auxerre Auxerre ( , ) is the capital of the Yonne department and the fourth-largest city in Burgundy. Auxerre's population today is about 35,000; the urban area (''aire d'attraction'') comprises roughly 113,000 inhabitants. Residents of Auxerre are r ...

Burgundy Burgundy (; french: link=no, Bourgogne ) is a historical territory and former administrative region and province of east-central France. The province was once home to the Dukes of Burgundy from the early 11th until the late 15th century. The c ...

; both of his parents were musicians - his father

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) *Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chris ...

was the

kapellmeister (, also , ) from German ''Kapelle'' (chapel) and ''Meister'' (master)'','' literally "master of the chapel choir" designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term ha ...

and

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

at the Auxerre Cathedral. Learning first from his parents, Berthier was trained in music at the

École César Franck The École César-Franck (César Franck School, named after César Franck) was a music school founded in Paris in January 1935 by Guy de Lioncourt, Louis de Serres, Pierre de Bréville and Marcel Labey. It was produced by a split from the Schola Ca ...

in Paris. While there, he was taught by, among others, Edouard Souberbielle and

Guy de Lioncourt Guy de Lioncourt (1 December 1885 in Caen – 24 or 25 December 1961 in Paris) was a French composer. Life He studied music at the Schola Cantorum de Paris under Léon de Saint-Réquier (harmony), Amédée Gastoué (Gregorian chant), André Rou ...

(whose daughter he married). In 1955 Berthier was first asked to compose music for the Taizé Community, which was then just a

monastic Monasticism (from Ancient Greek , , from , , 'alone'), also referred to as monachism, or monkhood, is a religion, religious way of life in which one renounces world (theology), worldly pursuits to devote oneself fully to spiritual work. Monastic ...

community of twenty brothers. Six years later he became organist at the Church of the

Jesuits The Society of Jesus ( la, Societas Iesu; abbreviation: SJ), also known as the Jesuits (; la, Iesuitæ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

in Paris, Saint-Ignace, where he worked until his death. In 1975, Berthier was again asked to compose for Taizé, this time for chants to be sung by the increasing numbers of young people coming to worship there. Over nearly twenty years, Berthier built up a body of church music that has been utilized around the world. He died at his home in Paris in 1994, and requested that none of his own music be used in his funeral at Saint-Sulpice. In 2006, the Jubilate Deo Award was granted to him posthumously and accepted by Brother Jean-Marie (Taizé). His son is

Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt Vincent Berthier de Lioncourt (born 1947 in Auxerre) is a French musician and, with Philippe Beaussant, co-founder of the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles. He directed Ensemble Vocal de Neuilly, from 1969 to 1976. He is president of Musiqu ...

Music

In more than twenty years, Berthier left an important corpus (232 songs in 20 different languages) in wide use today by other communities and around the world. He is also the author of Masses for organ, a cantata in the form of the cross and a cantata for Saint Cecilia.

Taizé songs

The current edition of the song booklet used by the

Taizé Community The Taizé Community is an ecumenical Christian monastic fraternity in Taizé, Saône-et-Loire, Burgundy, France. It is composed of more than one hundred brothers, from Catholic and Protestant traditions, who originate from about thirty countrie ...

contains 71 songs written by Jacques Berthier.

External links

Jacques Berthier at GIA Publications

Alleluia CD with track samples. Live at St. Paul's Cathedral, London (1987)Jubilate CD with track samples. Using twenty languages, this recording reflects what Taizé is today.Wait for the Lord CD with track samples. This is the first American recording of the music of Taizé.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berthier, Jacques 1923 births 1994 deaths People from Auxerre Christian hymnwriters French composers French male composers French classical organists French male organists French composers of sacred music French hymnwriters 20th-century classical musicians 20th-century French musicians Taizé Community 20th-century organists 20th-century French male musicians Male classical organists