Aloÿs Claussmann
| Aloÿs Claussmann | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Aloïse Claussmann 5 July 1850 Uffholtz, (Haut-Rhin) |
| Died | 7 November 1926 (aged 76) Clermont-Ferrand |
| Occupation | Organist Pianist Composer |
Aloÿs Claussmann (5 July 1850 – 7 November 1926) was a French organist, pianist and composer.
A pupil of organist Eugène Gigout at the École Niedermeyer de Paris, where he obtained his first prizes of piano and organ, before winning the Grand Prix of the Ministry of Fine Arts in 1872. The following year, he settled in Clermont-Ferrand, where he was appointed Kapellmeister of the Clermont-Ferrand Cathedral. The new Merklin organ was inaugurated in 1877 by Edmond Lemaigre, the first holder. Claussmann succeeded him in 1888 until his death in 1926.
A virtuoso interpreter, he chose to pursue his entire career in the Puy-de-Dôme, while a Parisian position was readily accessible to him. He founded the conservatory of Clermont-Ferrand in 1909, directing it until his death.
If he wrote many piano music pages - he was an excellent pianist - as well as for chamber music, and vocal music, it is to the organ that he reserved the essential and most characteristic of his production, with about 350 pieces, fully in the postromantic music that he celebrated with brilliance but still with sensitivity.
If he fulfilled his duties as organist of the cathedral, and assumed the function of director of the conservatory, he also played the great piano concertos with the orchestra of the city which he occasionally directed.
The Alsatian origin of Claussmann makes his music a very successful synthesis of the French and German schools, in which one certainly can find César Franck, whose influence is certain, and Robert Schumann, but which possesses an indisputable personality.
His work, together with those of other composers such as Marie-Joseph Erb from Strasbourg, Émile Bourdon in Monaco, Edouard Commette in Lyon, canon Fauchard in Laval, to name but a few, contributed to forge, in a way, the missing link between a recognized and celebrated Parisian organ music and the more discreet but undeniable contribution of the little provincial masters to the elaboration of a language that made the renown of the French organ school.
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