Henri Jules Joseph Nibelle (6 November 1883 – 18 November 1967) was a French

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational h ...

choral conductor Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance, such as an orchestral or choral concert. It has been defined as "the art of directing the simultaneous performance of several players or singers by the use of gesture." The primary duties ...

and composer.

Biography

Born in Briare, son and grandson of organists, Henri Nibelle attended the école Niedermeyer as early as 1898, before entering 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 ...

, where in 1906 he won a first prize on fugue in the class of Fauré and a 1st accessit of organ in 1910 in the class of Guilmant. At the École Niedermeyer, Henri Nibelle was a student of

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 ...

, with Maurice Le Boucher, Defosse, Roger Pénau. He also studied with

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 dedicated to him ''Caprice'', the third of the ''Pièces de Fantaisie'' for organ Op. 51. He began his career as an organist on the choir organ of the

Versailles Cathedral Versailles Cathedral (French: ''Cathédrale Saint-Louis de Versailles'') is a Roman Catholic church located in Versailles, France. It is a national monument. It is the seat of the Bishop of Versailles, created as a constitutional bishopric in 179 ...

in 1907. Two years later, he was appointed titular of that of the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul church, then became organist at the Grand Organ of Saint-François-de-Sales in 1912, and succeeded Isidore Massuelle as maître de chapelle of this same church in 1931. Having become almost blind, he left Saint-François-de-Sales in 1959 to retire to Nice and dedicate himself to the composition of religious works: short masses, solemn masses, psalms,

motets In Western classical music, a motet is mainly a vocal musical composition, of highly diverse form and style, from high medieval music to the present. The motet was one of the pre-eminent polyphonic forms of Renaissance music. According to Marga ...

, spiritual hymns, etc. Nibelle died in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard dialect, Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department in France. The Nice urban unit, agg ...

on 18 November 1967 aged 84.

Works

; Music for chorus *''Mass "Ecce Sacerdos magnus"'', *''Mass "Te Deum"'' *''Mass "

Ave Maris Stella "Ave maris stella" (Latin for 'Hail, star of the sea') is a medieval Marian hymn, usually sung at Vespers. It was especially popular in the Middle Ages and has been used by many composers as the basis of other compositions. Background Authorship ...

"'' *''Messe Héroïque de Jeanne d’Arc''. (ed. 1951) *''

Psalm 117 Psalm 117 is the 117th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people." In Latin, it is known as ''Laudate Dominum''. Consisting of only two verses, Psal ...

'' *'' Pie Jesu'' *''

Ave verum corpus "" is a short Eucharistic chant that has been set to music by many composers. It dates to the 13th century, first recorded in a central Italian Franciscan manuscript (Chicago, Newberry Library, 24). A Reichenau manuscript of the 14th century attr ...

'' *''

Ave Maria The Hail Mary ( la, Ave Maria) is a traditional Christian prayer addressing Mary, the mother of Jesus. The prayer is based on two biblical passages featured in the Gospel of Luke: the Angel Gabriel's visit to Mary (the Annunciation) and Mary's ...

'' * ''Prose'' "Inviolata"'' ;Music for organ (and harmonium) *'' Offertory'' in D minor in "

Maîtres contemporains de l'orgue Maîtres contemporains de l'orgue is an eight-volume collection edited by abbot Joseph Joubert published by Éditions Maurice Senart; the first three volumes appeared in 1912. The first six volumes are "for organ or harmonium", so the pieces in th ...

", vol. 1 (1912) *''50 Pièces sur des thèmes liturgiques des dimanches et les fêtes de l’année'' for organ or

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. Th ...

, 1935 (Schola Cantorum de Paris publishings). *'' Carillon orléanais''.''Carillon orléanais'' on Archive.org
/ref> (1938) *''

Toccata Toccata (from Italian ''toccare'', literally, "to touch", with "toccata" being the action of touching) is a virtuoso piece of music typically for a keyboard or plucked string instrument featuring fast-moving, lightly fingered or otherwise virtu ...

'' (1947) *'' Preludes for the Holy Sacrament'' *''2 Préludes and

fugues 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 ...

'' ( organ and Liturgy) *''

Prelude and fugue {{Unreferenced, date=June 2019, bot=noref (GreenC bot) The prelude and fugue is a musical form generally consisting of two movements in the same key for solo keyboard. In classical music, the combination of prelude and fugue is one with a long his ...

on "

Alma Redemptoris Mater "Alma Redemptoris Mater" (; "Loving Mother of our Redeemer") is a Marian hymn, written in Latin hexameter, and one of four seasonal liturgical Marian antiphons sung at the end of the office of Compline (the other three being ''Ave Regina Caeloru ...

"'' (Orgue et Liturgie) *''Prélude et fugue on "

Salve Regina The "Salve Regina" (, ; meaning 'Hail Queen'), also known as the "Hail Holy Queen", is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons within the Christian liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church. The Salve Regina ...

"'' (Orgue et Liturgie) *''Rhapsodies de Noël'' for organ *''Variations on a Chant de Noël'' (1960) *''Messe pour orgue en l’honneur de la Sainte-Vierge'' *''

and Fugue on " Regina Caeli"'' *''Toccata on " Victimae paschali laudes"'' *''Les Dimanches et Fêtes de l'organiste grégorien'', 8 vol. (Schola Cantorum)

Sources

Musica et Memoria
Denis Havard de la Montagne, ''Les Organistes et les maîtres de chapelle de l’église Saint-Vincent-de-Paul à Paris'', ''Les Cahiers Boëllmann-Gigout'', n°2/3, December 1997–March 1998. *

Marc Honegger Marc Honegger (17 May 1926 – 8 September 2003) was a French musicologist and choirmaster. Biography A distant cousin of the Swiss-born composer Arthur Honegger, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he was a pupil of Paul-Marie Masson. He receive ...

, ''Dictionnaire de la musique'', vol. II - ''Les Hommes et leurs Œuvres'' L-Z, Paris, Bordas, 1970.

References

External links

*
YouTube
''Psaume 116'' par l'ensemble vocal Frontières et Vallées.

picture of H. Nibelle.
Henri Nibelle
on Musicalics
Henri Nibelle
on Organ-biography.info {{DEFAULTSORT:Nibelle, Henri People from Loiret 1883 births 1967 deaths Schola Cantorum de Paris alumni French classical organists French male organists 20th-century French composers French classical composers French male classical composers French composers of sacred music French choral conductors French male conductors (music) 20th-century organists 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French male musicians Male classical organists