GUILMANT – Prelude in G Major – FOUR CELLOS

Other Identification:
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (1837–1911) was a renowned French organist, composer, and pedagogue, central to the 19th-century French Romantic organ school. He was organist at La Trinité in Paris (1871–1901) and a professor at the Paris Conservatoire from 1896 onwards, succeeding Charles-Marie Widor as organ teacher. In 1894, he founded the Schola Cantorum, together with Charles Bordes and Vincent d’Indy.

Guilmant was known for his improvisations, both in the concert and church setting. He was the first major French organist to tour the United States, and made a tour to Canada as well as European countries, making especially frequent visits to England.

Guilmant was an accomplished and extremely prolific composer, devoting himself almost entirely to works for his own instrument, the organ, including eight large-scale sonatas. There are unfortunately few works for other instruments, without organ; however, the ‘Morceau Symphonique’ is one of the most frequently performed solos in the trombone repertoire, enjoying longstanding popularity among both professional and advanced student trombonists.

With his younger colleague André Pirro, Guilmant published a collection of scores, ‘Archives des Maîtres de l’Orgue’ (Archives of the Masters of the Organ), a compilation of the compositions of numerous pre-1750 French composers.