André Gabriel Edmée Pirro (12 February 1869 – 11 November 1943) was a French

musicologist Musicology is the academic, research-based study of music, as opposed to musical composition or performance. Musicology research combines and intersects with many fields, including psychology, sociology, acoustics, neurology, natural sciences, f ...

and an

organist An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ (music), organ. An organist may play organ repertoire, solo organ works, play with an musical ensemble, ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumentalist, instrumental ...

. Born in Saint-Dizier, Pirro learned to play the organ from his father Jean Pirro. In

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

where he became and organist and a choirmaster for the

Collège Stanislas de Paris The Collège Stanislas de Paris (), colloquially known as Stan, is a private Catholic school in Paris, situated on " Rue Notre-Dame-des-Champs" in the 6th arrondissement. It has more than 3,000 students, from preschool to '' classes préparatoir ...

. He studied with

César Franck César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

and taught music history at the Schola Cantorum. Pirro published his academic

thesis A thesis (: theses), or dissertation (abbreviated diss.), is a document submitted in support of candidature for an academic degree or professional qualification presenting the author's research and findings.International Standard ISO 7144: D ...

on the ''Aesthetics of Bach'' in 1907, followed by ''Descartes and the Music. His famous pupils include Yvonne Rokseth, Vladimir Fedorov, Dragan Plamenac, Armand Machabey, Geneviève Thibault de Chambure, Marc Pincherle, Jacques Chailley, Eugénie Droz, and Aimée Van de Wiele. These days he is probably most often remembered through his musicological collaborations with Alexandre Guilmant concerning reprints of ancient organ music.

Publications

* ''L'Esthétique de Jean-Sébastien Bach'' (Paris, 1907), English translation by Joe Armstrong ''The Aesthetic of Johann Sebastian Bach'' (Lanham, MD, 2014), * ''L'orgue de Jean-Sébastien Bach'' (Paris, 1895), * ''Jean-Sébastien Bach'' (Paris, 1906), English translation by Mervyn Savill ''J. S. Bach'' (New York, 1957), * ''Descartes et la musique'' (Paris, 1907) * ''Dietrich Buxtehude'' (Paris, 1911), * ''Schütz'' (Paris, 1913), * ''Jean-Sébastien Bach, auteur comique'' (Madrid, 1915), * ''Les Clavecinistes : étude critique'' (Paris, 1924), * ''La Musique à Paris sous le règne de Charles VI, 1380-1422'' (Strasbourg, 1930), * ''La Musique française du Moyen Âge à la Révolution'' (Paris, 1940), * ''Histoire de la Musique de la fin du XI siècle à la fin du XVI'' (Paris, 1940), * numerous articles in French and other journals, * 14 biographical notes for the Archives des maîtres de l'orgue (Paris, 1897–1909).

References

Romain Rolland Romain Rolland (; 29 January 1866 – 30 December 1944) was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and Mysticism, mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915 "as a tribute to the lofty idealism of his literary pro ...

, « Hommage à André Pirro », ''Information musicale'', no. spécial, 3 Dec. 1943 * Y. Rossens, « André Pirro », ''Revue de musicologie'', no. XXVI, 1944 * N. Bedgman, « André Pirro », ''Revue de l'enseignement supérieur'', no. 2, 1956 {{DEFAULTSORT:Pirro, Andre 20th-century French musicologists French classical organists Pupils of César Franck Pupils of Charles-Marie Widor Academic staff of the Schola Cantorum de Paris French people of Italian descent People from Saint-Dizier 1869 births 1943 deaths French male classical organists