|
|
Marcel Dupré (May 3, 1886–May 30, 1971), was a French organist and composer.
He was born in Rouen in France, the son of Albert Dupré and Alice Chauvière. From a musical family, he was an early prodigy. He started at the Paris Conservatoire in 1904, and studied under Charles-Marie Widor, Alexandre Guilmant, Louis Vierne and Diémar. Dupré won the Grand Prix de Rome in 1914 for his cantata Psyché. In 1926, he returned to the Conservatoire as Professor of Organ.
He became famous throughout Europe and U.S.A. for his organ recitals (more than 2000), which in 1920 included a recital series of 10 concerts of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach by memory.
In 1934 Dupré succeded Widor at the organ post of St. Sulpice in Paris.
In 1947, he was appointed General Director of the American Conservatory.
Dupré was director of the Fontainebleau Conservatoire from 1947 to 1954 and of the Paris Conservatoire from 1954 to 1956.
As a composer he produced a wide-ranging oeuvre of 65 opus numbers, and he also taught two generations of world-famous organists such as Olivier Messiaen, Jehan Alain, Pierre Cochereau, Jean Guillou, Alexander Schreiner, Virgil Fox, Michael Murray, Marie-Madeleine Durufle-Chevalier, Gaston Litaize, Marie Claire Alain, Rolande Falcinelli, Jeanne Demessieux and Jean Langlais.
In addition to his own compositions Dupré produced editions of the organ workds of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Franck and others. He also wrote several theoretical works, including handbooks on harmony, organ building, the philoshopy of music, acoustics and improvisation, and an organ method.
The focal point of his works was always the organ. However, his compositional oeuvre includes not only organ works but also works for piano, orchestra and choir, as well as chamber music.
He died in 1971 in Meudon (near Paris). Well over a hundred different recordings of his work are available.da:Marcel Dupré de:Marcel Dupré fr:Marcel Dupré nn:Marcel Dupré sv:Marcel Dupré