Marcel Louis Robert Lanquetuit (8 June 189421 May 1985) was a French composer, organist, conductor,

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

and teacher of music.

Life

Marcel Lanquetuit was born in 1894 in

Rouen Rouen (, ; or ) is a city on the River Seine in northern France. It is the prefecture of the Regions of France, region of Normandy (administrative region), Normandy and the Departments of France, department of Seine-Maritime. Formerly one of ...

, Normandy, France. His father, Charles (18601932), was a church musician at the church of St-Godard de Rouen. Lanquetuit began his musical studies in his hometown under Albert Dupré, and then began learning the organ and

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

(

harmony In music, harmony is the process by which individual sounds are joined together or composed into whole units or compositions. Often, the term harmony refers to simultaneously occurring frequencies, pitches ( tones, notes), or chords. However ...

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 ...

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 ...

) privately with Albert's son Marcel Dupré. From 1910 to 1914, he played the organ at St-Godard de Rouen. Meanwhile, he continued his studies. In 1913, he studied at the

Paris Conservatory of Music 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 ...

under

Eugène Gigout Eugène Gigout (; 23 March 1844 – 9 December 1925) was a French organist and a composer, mostly of music for his own instrument. Biography Gigout was born in Nancy, and died in Paris. A pupil of Camille Saint-Saëns, he served as the organi ...

, and in 1914 won the Conservatory's 1st prize for organ. He served in the armed forces from 19141919, and in 1918 he married Marcelle Lacombe. They had one son, Pierre, an architect. He became principal organist at St-Godard de Rouen in 1920. In 1926, he made a recital tour of the United States, visiting New York City, Princeton and Philadelphia (where he played the famous

Wanamaker Organ The Wanamaker Grand Court Organ, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (United States of America) is the largest fully-functioning pipe organ in the world, based on the number of playing pipes, the number of ranks and its weight. (The Boardwalk H ...

, by some measures the largest pipe organ in the world, in Wanamaker's department store). In 1938, he was appointed principal organist at Rouen Cathedral, and retained this position until 1978. He also filled in from time to time at the church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris when Marcel Dupré was on tour. He taught privately, and was the substitute for Marcel Dupré at the Paris Conservatory before the Second World War. He was then professor of organ at the Rouen Conservatory for 15 years, where his students included Pierre Labric, Bernard Havel, Jean-Claude Touche, Odile Pierre,

René Alix René Alix (14 September 1907 – 30 December 1966) was a French organist, choral conductor and composer. Biography Born in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, René Alix studied music in Rouen with Marcel Lanquetuit, in Paris with Georges Caussade and Al ...

and Marie-Thérèse Duthoit (his successor in Rouen). He died in 1985 at the hospital in

Bois-Guillaume Bois-Guillaume () is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. Geography The town is a wealthy, residential hilltop suburb of Rouen, semi-rural, semi-suburban with a little farming and some light indust ...

, Normandy.

Work

Only a few of Lanquetuit's works have been preserved. He preferred to improvise, and a large part of his work was destroyed by a fire in his house in 1940. His reputation as a composer is based primarily on a '' Toccata'' in D major, published in 1927 by

Éditions Alphonse Leduc The Éditions Alphonse Leduc company is a prominent French music publishing house specializing in classical music. It was created in Paris in 1841. Since January 2014, Leduc is part of the Wise Music Group (formerly the Music Sales Group). His ...

. He also wrote a short ''Intermezzo'' for organ in G major.

Awards

* 1934: He was received into the Académie des sciences, belles-lettres et arts de Rouen on 9 March 1934 with a speech on the musical improvisation style of Marcel Dupré. * 1958: Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur) * 1961: Knight of the Order of St Gregory the Great (Chevalier de l’Ordre de Saint-Grégoire-le-Grand)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lanquetuit, Marcel 1894 births 1985 deaths Musicians from Rouen French male composers French classical organists French male organists Knights of the Legion of Honour Knights of St. Gregory the Great 20th-century French composers 20th-century French male musicians Male classical organists

Life

Work

Awards

See also

References