René Ambroise Jean Eugéne Vierne (11 March 1878 – 29 May 1918) was a French organist and composer. He was the younger brother 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 ...

, who was also a composer.'The Louis Vierne Fund'
''The Musical Times'' (Vol. 64, No. 965, Jul. 1, 1923. 489). JSTOR: online resource, accessed 20 August 2022)

Biography

René Vierne was born in

Lille Lille ( , ; nl, Rijsel ; pcd, Lile; vls, Rysel) is a city in the northern part of France, in French Flanders. On the river Deûle, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Pref ...

, the younger brother of

. Pushed by his mother, he entered the Catholic Seminary at Versailles in 1889 where he studied music with the Canon Poivet. Not feeling a vocation to the priesthood, he left and instead devoted himself to music, taking lessons in organ, counterpoint and fugue with his brother Louis. Then he studied with

Alexandre Guilmant Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (; 12 March 1837 – 29 March 1911) was a French organist and composer. He was the organist of La Trinité from 1871 until 1901. A noted pedagogue, performer, and improviser, Guilmant helped found the Schola Cantor ...

at the

Paris Conservatoire 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 was awarded a first prize for organ and improvisation in 1906. In 1897, Vierne obtained a post as organist at the Chapel of the Convent of the Dominicans, the Annunciation, rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré in

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 ...

. In 1904, he succeeded Camille Andres (1864–1904) as titular organist at Notre-Dame-des-Champs. At the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, René Vierne was mobilised and moved to the front on 8 August 1914. On 29 May 1918, at 8 am, on the Plateau Branscourt (Marne), he was killed by Austrian shrapnel. (This loss severely affected his brother, who also lost his son Jacques in the war.)

References

External links

* René Viern
''Élévation''
(Archives de l’Organiste, vol 4. 1910) performed by Andrew Pink (2022).Exordia ad missam' : my lockdown recordings 2020-22''
Online resource, accessed 30 September 2022. * 1878 births 1918 deaths 19th-century classical composers 20th-century classical composers Cathedral organists Composers for pipe organ Conservatoire de Paris alumni French classical organists French male classical composers French military personnel killed in World War I French Romantic composers Organ improvisers Musicians from Lille 19th-century French male musicians 20th-century French male musicians French male classical organists {{France-composer-stub