Marie-Louise Henriette Girod-Parrot (12 October 1915 – 29 August 2014) was a French organist and composer. She studied organ with

Henriette Puig-Roget Henriette Marie Eulalie Puig-Roget (9 January 1910 – 24 November 1992) was a French pianist, organist and music educator. Biography Born in Bastia, she began her musical studies at the Conservatoire de Paris in 1919. She won 6 first prizes ...

and

Marcel Dupré Marcel Jean-Jules Dupré () (3 May 1886 – 30 May 1971) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Biography Born in Rouen into a wealthy musical family, Marcel Dupré was a child prodigy. His father Aimable Albert Dupré was titular o ...

at the

Paris Conservatory 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 ...

.The American Organist 1994 -- Volume 28, Issues 7-12 - Page 59 "Marie Louise Girod Girod was born in Paris on October 12, 1915. She studied organ 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 ...

with

and

. Girod received first prizes in improvisation, history of music, and fugue and ."

Biography

Marie-Louise Henriette Girod was born in the 12th arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

on 12 October 1915. She was the only daughter of Henri William Girod (inspector at and representative of the ''raffinerie Lebaudy'', born 1875) and Alice Marie-Louise Girod (née Frutière, born 1882). She first studied the organ under

and later enrolled into the

to study under

(organ and

improvisation 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 ...

Norbert Dufourcq Norbert Stéphane Jean-Marie Dufourcq (21 September 1904 – 19 December 1990) was a French organist, music educator, musicologist and musicographer. Biography Norbert Dufourcq was born in 1904 in Saint-Jean-de-Braye in the Loiret departmen ...

, and

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 ...

(harmony). She obtained a first prize for organ and improvisation in 1941, a first prize for the history of music in 1944, and a first prize for fugue and counterpoint the same year. Among her classmates were

Jeanne Demessieux Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux (13 February 1921 – 11 November 1968) was a French organist, pianist, composer, and teacher. She was the chief organist at Saint-Esprit for 29 years and at La Madeleine in Paris starting in 1962. She perfo ...

and Pierre Segond. She was also a colleague of

Jehan Alain Jehan-Aristide Paul Alain (; 3 February 1911 – 20 June 1940) was a French organist, composer, and soldier. Born into a family of musicians, he learned the organ from his father and a host of other teachers, becoming a composer at 18, and compo ...

, and heard him play his most famous composition, ''Litanies'' (JA 119), and also attended the 1,750th organ recital of

Louis Vierne Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French organist and composer. As the organist of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1900 until his death, he focused on organ music, including six organ symphonies and a '' Messe solennelle ...

(where he suffered a heart attack and died). Her first pupil, who came to her when she was the titular organist of the Protestant Church in Belleville was the young

Pierre Cochereau Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau (9 July 1924 – 6 March 1984) was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue. Cochereau was titular organist of the cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris from 1955 to his death in 1984 and was responsible ...

. His lessons were paid for by the latter's father, Georges Ernest Cochereau. She later described him as an optimistic student that was quite excited but needed to be controlled at times. She was organist of the Reformed Church of the

Oratoire du Louvre The Temple protestant de l'Oratoire du Louvre, also Église réformée de l'Oratoire du Louvre, is a historic Protestant church located at 145 rue Saint-Honoré – 160 rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, across the street from the L ...

from 1941 to 2008 and of the Synagogue du Nazareth in Paris, a position

Charles-Valentin Alkan Charles-Valentin Alkan (; 30 November 1813 – 29 March 1888) was a French Jewish composer and virtuoso pianist. At the height of his fame in the 1830s and 1840s he was, alongside his friends and colleagues Frédéric Chopin and Franz Lisz ...

formerly occupied. In 1953, she recorded the world première (conducted by Louis Martini) of the famous

Te Deum The "Te Deum" (, ; from its incipit, , ) is a Latin Christian hymn traditionally ascribed to AD 387 authorship, but with antecedents that place it much earlier. It is central to the Ambrosian hymnal, which spread throughout the Latin Chur ...

, H. 146 by

Marc-Antoine Charpentier Marc-Antoine Charpentier (; 1643 – 24 February 1704) was a French Baroque composer during the reign of Louis XIV. One of his most famous works is the main theme from the prelude of his ''Te Deum'', ''Marche en rondeau''. This theme is still us ...

(as of 2014 distributed by CD Erato). In 1961 she recorded music by Francis Seyrig on the organ of the Oratoire for

Alain Resnais Alain Resnais (; 3 June 19221 March 2014) was a French film director and screenwriter whose career extended over more than six decades. After training as a film editor in the mid-1940s, he went on to direct a number of short films which included ...

' film, ''L'Année last à Marienbad''. Girod lead an active concert career and was director of the Saint-Dié organ Academy, and also served as its honorary president. She was a member of the hymnology commission of the Protestant Federation of France, and also sat on the Higher Commission for Historical Monuments and on the Organ Commission of the City of Paris. She was

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

, and married archaeologist and historian

André Parrot André Charles Ulrich Parrot (15 February 1901 – 24 August 1980) was a French archaeologist specializing in the ancient Near East. He led excavations in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria, and is best known for his work at Mari, Syria, where he led i ...

in 1960, becoming his second wife; and consequently became a stepmother to his five children from a previous marriage. She died on 29 August 2014 in Paris, aged 98.

Selected works

*''Petite cantate pour le jour de Pentecôte'' : recording with Marie-Louise Girod, Michel Wagner, Gérard Rouzier, Isabelle Hureau, Nassim Maalouf, Choeur du Marais. Lausanne VDE-Gallo 2008

References

1915 births 2014 deaths Musicians from Paris Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical organists Women organists Officers of the Legion of Honour {{France-composer-stub