Pierre Pidoux (4 March 1905, in Neuchatel – 16 July 2001, in Geneva), was a Swiss theologian, organist and musicologist, brother of

Edmond Pidoux Edmond Pidoux (October 25, 1908 – April 17, 2004) was a Swiss author who wrote numerous poems, novels, and essays. He was particularly renowned for Biblical pieces such as ''L'histoire de Jonas.'' In 1982, he won the Prix du livre vaudois. He i ...

life

Pierre's father was a Protestant Swiss minister, who worked in Belgium (in the

Borinage The Borinage () is an area in the Walloon province of Hainaut in Belgium. The name derives from the coal mines of the region, ''bores'' meaning mineshafts. In French the inhabitants of the Borinage are called Borains. The provincial capital ...

. Because of the 'Great War' Pierre was sent back to Switzerland and grew up in Neûchatel. He graduated in theology in 1933 (Lausanne) and became a minister of the ''Eglise Libre'' in

Winterthur , neighboring_municipalities = Brütten, Dinhard, Elsau, Hettlingen, Illnau-Effretikon, Kyburg, Lindau, Neftenbach, Oberembrach, Pfungen, Rickenbach, Schlatt, Seuzach, Wiesendangen, Zell , twintowns = Hall in Tirol (Austria), La ...

. After a visit to Glasgow, he began to study the organ at the Conservatory in Geneva from 1933 to 1936. He founded and directed the ''Choeur J.S. Bach'' in Lausanne until 1948, holding at the same time an organ post in Lausanne. In 1948 he was appointed organist at the Protestant Church of Montreux, where he lived together with his wife, Gertrude Junod-Burger. From 1946 to 1965 he was in charge of the hymnology course at the theology faculty of the Eglise Libre in Lausanne; in 1964 he was given the honorary doctorate in theology by the university.

work

Pidoux’s activities have been devoted mostly to hymnology, musicology and teaching. Though he has edited many volumes of other early music (e.g.

Andrea Gabrieli Andrea Gabrieli (1532/1533Bryant, Grove online – August 30, 1585) was an Italian composer and organist of the late Renaissance. The uncle of the somewhat more famous Giovanni Gabrieli, he was the first internationally renowned member of the Ven ...

and

Girolamo Frescobaldi Girolamo Alessandro Frescobaldi (; also Gerolamo, Girolimo, and Geronimo Alissandro; September 15831 March 1643) was an Italian composer and virtuoso keyboard player. Born in the Duchy of Ferrara, he was one of the most important composers of k ...

), he is generally known as a specialist in the history of the

Huguenot psalter The ''Genevan Psalter'', also known as the ''Huguenot Psalter'', is a metrical psalter in French created under the supervision of John Calvin for liturgical use by the Reformed churches of the city of Geneva in the sixteenth century. Background ...

. His ''magnum opus'' is the two-volume edition of text and melodies of this Psalter: ''Le psautier huguenot du XVIe siècle, i: Les mélodies; ii: Documents et bibliographie'' (Basle, 1962). He promoted the music of the Protestant church (organ, choir and community hymnsinging). He was an editor of the series ''Collection de Musique Protestante'' (from 1935) andof the sacred music series ''Cantate Domino''. He contributed music, harmonisations and texts to the new hymnal of the French-speaking Reformed Church of Switzerland (1976). In this hymnal also many texts of his brother,

, literature professor in Lausanne, are present. In 1967 he co-edited the complete works of

Claude Goudimel Claude Goudimel (c. 1514 to 1520 – between 28 August and 31 August 1572) was a FrenchPaul-André Gaillard, "Goudimel, Claude", ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', ed. Stanley Sadie. 20 vol. London, Macmillan Publishers Ltd., 19 ...

. He composed many works for mixed choir and organ.

Sources

* "Pidoux, Pierre", in Grove's Dictionary (E. Darbellay/ D. Baumann). * Mélanges d’histoire et de bibliographie offerts à Pierre Pidoux: à l’occasion de son nonantième anniversaire, 4 mars 1995, ed. A. Gaucher (Pessac, 1995) - special edition of bulletin "Psaume". * J.M. Noailly, 'Survol biographique', in Une centaine de paraphrases poétiques du Psaume 16, Conserva me Domine, pour le centenaire de la naissance de Pierre Pidoux, - bulletin "Psaume" - 16 (2005), pp. 5–10.

External links

webpage dedicated to Pierre Pidoux's Huguenot Psalter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pidoux, Pierre 1905 births 2001 deaths Swiss musicologists 20th-century musicologists