Marcel Bitsch (December 29, 1921, Paris – September 21, 2011, Toulouse) was a French

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

, teacher and analyst. He studied at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

and also was professor of

counterpoint In music, counterpoint is the relationship between two or more musical lines (or voices) which are harmonically interdependent yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. It has been most commonly identified in the European classical tradi ...

there.

Career

In 1939, Marcel Bitsch entered the

, where he studied harmony with

Jean Gallon Jean Charles Claude Gallon (25 June 1878 - 23 June 1959) was a French composer, choir conductor, and music educator. His compositional output consists of six antiphons for strings and organ, one mass, one ballet, and several art songs. Biography ...

with

Noël Gallon Noël Jean-Charles André Gallon (11 September 1891 – 26 December 1966) was a French composer and music educator. His compositional output includes several choral works and vocal art songs, 10 preludes, a ''Toccata'' for piano, a ''Sonata ...

musicology Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study of music. Musicology departments traditionally belong to the humanities, although some mu ...

with

Paul-Marie Masson Paul-Marie Masson (9 September 1882 – 27 January 1954) was a French musicologist Musicology (from Greek μουσική ''mousikē'' 'music' and -λογια ''-logia'', 'domain of study') is the scholarly analysis and research-based study o ...

, and composition with

Henri Büsser Paul Henri Büsser (16 January 1872 – 30 December 1973) was a French classical composer, organist, and conductor. Biography Büsser was born in Toulouse of partly German ancestry. He entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1889, where he studied ...

. After earning his arts degree, Bitsch won the Second

Prix de Rome The Prix de Rome () or Grand Prix de Rome was a French scholarship for arts students, initially for painters and sculptors, that was established in 1663 during the reign of Louis XIV of France. Winners were awarded a bursary that allowed them t ...

in 1943 and First Grand Prix de Rome in 1945, both times with contemporary

Claude Pascal Claude Pascal (Paris, February 19, 1921 – Paris, February 28, 2017) was a French composer.Marc Honegger, ''Dictionnaire de la musique: Tome 2, Les Hommes et leurs œuvres. L-Z.'' ed. Bordas 1979, p. 834. () After studying at the Conservatoire ...

winning the second position. In 1956, Marcel Bitsch started tenure as professor of counterpoint and later

fugue In music, a fugue () is a contrapuntal compositional technique in two or more voices, built on a subject (a musical theme) that is introduced at the beginning in imitation (repetition at different pitches) and which recurs frequently in the c ...

at the Conservatoire de Paris. In his later years, he mostly concentrated on teaching and analysing the music of

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

, producing analytic scores whose page layout was designed to convey the music's structural features. Among his students are Daniel Roth,

Pierre Pincemaille Pierre-Marie François Pincemaille (8 December 1956 – 12 January 2018) was a French organist, improviser, and pedagogue. He was known for his organ improvisations, both in concert and on CD and for his recordings of Charles-Marie Widor's ...

, and Édith Lejet. He retired in fall of 1988.

Works

*''Suite française'' for oboe and piano *''Quatre variations sur un thème de D. Scarlatti'' for trumpet *''Cahiers d'études pour la flûte'' - The published title for this collection is ''Douze Etudes pour Flute'' *''Six esquisses symphoniques'', 1949 *''La farce du Contrebandier'', musical comedy, 1946 *''Le chalumeau d'or'', ballet *''Marvellous Dreams, Twelve easy pieces for the piano'', 1947 *''Trois sonatines'' for flute and piano, 1952 *''Pastourelles'' for piano duet (10 pieces, 2 vols), 1956 *''Les plaisirs de Sully'', 2001 *''Douze etudes de rhythme pour clarinette'' 1957 *''Douze etudes pour Cor'' 1959 *''Aubade'' for alto saxophone and piano, 1978 *''Fantasietta'' for trumpet and piano *''Vingt études pour trompette ut ou si♭'', 1954 *''Variations sur une chanson francaise'', for horn and piano, ca. 1954 *''Concertino'' for bassoon and piano *''Vingt études'' pour le Basson, 1948 His ''Douze études pour flûte'' are not only intended as studies for private practice, but also as brief concert pieces, as stated by flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal in the preface to the Leduc edition. The collection is dedicated to Gaston Crunelle, a former professor of flute at the Conservatoire National de Musique de Paris. Mr. Bitsch himself was a student and later a professor at the Conservatoire.

References

1921 births 2011 deaths Musicians from Paris Male composers Prix de Rome for composition 20th-century French musicians Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris 20th-century French male musicians {{France-composer-stub