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Abel Decaux
Abel-Marie Alexis Decaux (11 February 1869 – 19 March 1943) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue, best known for his piano suite Clairs de lune, some of the earliest pieces of dodecaphony.
A student of Théodore Dubois, Jules Massenet, and Charles-Marie Widor, among others, he was the titular organist of the grand organ of the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Decaux was more renowned as a player and professor during his lifetime than a composer.
He is popularly known as the "French Schoenberg".
Abel-Marie Alexis Decaux was born at 03:00 in Auffay (Seine-Maritime; then named Seine-Inférieure). He was the second son of Louis-Émile Decaux, a mayoral secretary, teacher, and school principal; and Aimé Désiré Picard. His parents married on 17 September 1855 in Mesnières-en-Bray.
From his earliest years, he began to display artistic tendencies. His elder brother, Alexis then tutored him in the basics of music. Alexis, an amateur composer, would later publish a pedagogical book on pianism in 1885 and followed in his father's footsteps, eventually becoming mayor of Auffay. However, Abel also had aspirations of becoming a sailor; an idea ultimately quashed by his father.
Decaux then moved to study in Rouen at its cathedral's Maîtrise Saint-Evode. He studied harmony in an unusual manner: corresponding with a professor in Paris, Garnier-Marchand. The latter would later become the dedicatee of Decaux's first work. After graduating in 1890, he moved to the nation's capital to study at its conservatory, studying there until 1895 (a scholarship was granted to him in 1893), but not graduating. His teachers were:
He would later befriend Alexandre Guilmant, organist at the Sainte-Trinité who he continued studying the organ with. As a result, Widor and Guilmant nominated Decaux to fill in the post of junior organ professor at the Schola Cantorum, which he also cofounded. Books he had used included the Barnes method; his pupils remembering him as a "strict, reasonable teacher". Decaux was also introduced to Déodat de Séverac, titular organist at the Bourg-la-Reine church, quickly forming an important friendship. He occasionally substituted for him on Fridays and Sundays.
On 23 June 1902, he married socialite Jeanne Félicie Marie Lescarcelle, who apparently toughened his personality and made him focus on teaching. The following year, he was unanimously elected as titular organist of the Sacré-Cœur basilica by a jury that congratulated him, which included his colleagues Guilmant and Widor, as well as Louis Vierne, organist of Notre-Dame de Paris. His composition teacher Massenet died this year.
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Abel Decaux
Abel-Marie Alexis Decaux (11 February 1869 – 19 March 1943) was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue, best known for his piano suite Clairs de lune, some of the earliest pieces of dodecaphony.
A student of Théodore Dubois, Jules Massenet, and Charles-Marie Widor, among others, he was the titular organist of the grand organ of the Sacré-Cœur basilica. Decaux was more renowned as a player and professor during his lifetime than a composer.
He is popularly known as the "French Schoenberg".
Abel-Marie Alexis Decaux was born at 03:00 in Auffay (Seine-Maritime; then named Seine-Inférieure). He was the second son of Louis-Émile Decaux, a mayoral secretary, teacher, and school principal; and Aimé Désiré Picard. His parents married on 17 September 1855 in Mesnières-en-Bray.
From his earliest years, he began to display artistic tendencies. His elder brother, Alexis then tutored him in the basics of music. Alexis, an amateur composer, would later publish a pedagogical book on pianism in 1885 and followed in his father's footsteps, eventually becoming mayor of Auffay. However, Abel also had aspirations of becoming a sailor; an idea ultimately quashed by his father.
Decaux then moved to study in Rouen at its cathedral's Maîtrise Saint-Evode. He studied harmony in an unusual manner: corresponding with a professor in Paris, Garnier-Marchand. The latter would later become the dedicatee of Decaux's first work. After graduating in 1890, he moved to the nation's capital to study at its conservatory, studying there until 1895 (a scholarship was granted to him in 1893), but not graduating. His teachers were:
He would later befriend Alexandre Guilmant, organist at the Sainte-Trinité who he continued studying the organ with. As a result, Widor and Guilmant nominated Decaux to fill in the post of junior organ professor at the Schola Cantorum, which he also cofounded. Books he had used included the Barnes method; his pupils remembering him as a "strict, reasonable teacher". Decaux was also introduced to Déodat de Séverac, titular organist at the Bourg-la-Reine church, quickly forming an important friendship. He occasionally substituted for him on Fridays and Sundays.
On 23 June 1902, he married socialite Jeanne Félicie Marie Lescarcelle, who apparently toughened his personality and made him focus on teaching. The following year, he was unanimously elected as titular organist of the Sacré-Cœur basilica by a jury that congratulated him, which included his colleagues Guilmant and Widor, as well as Louis Vierne, organist of Notre-Dame de Paris. His composition teacher Massenet died this year.