Jean Guillou

Jean Victor Arthur Guillou (18 April 1930 – 26 January 2019) was a French composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue. Principal Organist at Saint Eustache in Paris, from 1963 to 2015, he was widely known as a composer of instrumental and vocal music focused on the organ, as an improviser, and as an adviser to organ builders. For several decades he held regular master classes in Zurich and in Paris.

Career

Guillou was born in Angers. Following his first studies in piano and organ, he became the organist at the church St. Serge in Angers at the age of 12. In 1952, while still studying, Guillou played the premiere of his organ transcription of The Musical Offering by Johann Sebastian Bach at Erskine and American United Church in Montreal, Canada. In 1955, he accepted a position as professor of organ and composition at the Institute of Sacred Music in Lisbon. Due to health reasons, Guillou underwent long term medical treatment in Berlin and relocated to this city in 1958. During the following five years, he composed numerous works and made his first recordings at Lutherkirche and St. Matthias church. In 1963 he returned to Paris, having been appointed Principle Organist at Saint-Eustache in succession to André Marchal. He would play on the instrument there, the second largest organ in France, for more than 50 years, until 2015. On 22 April 1966 Guillou gave his debut concert at the Berliner Philharmonie, where he played Max Reger's Phantasia and Fugue on BACH op. 46 at the occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of Reger's death. On 6 October 1966 Guillou played the world premiere of his organ work Pour le Tombeau de Colbert at the Berliner Philharmonie.

He had a worldwide reputation as a concert organist and improviser.

Some of Guillou's compositions are based upon his own lyrics and poems. He also published several books, which subsequently were translated into German and Italian: L'Orgue – Souvenir et Avenir (1978), La Musique et le Geste (2012), and Le Visiteur, Poèmes (2014).

From 1970 to 2005, Guillou taught organ performance and improvisation at the annual Internationale Meisterkurse Zürich. In May 2018, he travelled to Koper, Slovenia, where he served as consultant for the former organ at Tonhalle Zürich, to be transferred to Assumption Cathedral, and the re-dedication scheduled for 2020.

Death Guillou died in Paris on 26 January 2019. The funeral service took place on 5 February 2019 at Notre-Dame de Paris. He was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris (Chemin du Quinconce, D1/4547).

The obituary by his publisher Schott summarized his achievements: