Jean Costa

Jean Costa (born June 5, 1924 in Bastia ; † June 1, 2013 ) was a French organist .

Costa came from a family of organists and, after completing his training in the family, was a student of Edouard Commette in Lyon from 1943 . In 1945 he went to Paris to study with Maurice Duruflé and Marcel Dupré at the Conservatoire de Paris , which he graduated in 1949 with a first prize in organ playing and improvisation.

In 1952 he became the organist of the great Cavaillé-Coll organ in the Saint-Vincent-de-Paul church in Paris. He held this post until 1997. From 1953 to 1970 he was professor of organ at the Conservatory of Nantes , from 1972 to 1992 he taught at the Conservatory of Aix-en-Provence . His students included Pierre Lecaudey , Gilles Harlé and Chantal de Zeeuw .

Costa has performed at numerous organ festivals in France and throughout Europe, the USSR and the USA, where he made a name for himself primarily as an improviser. In addition to the old German masters ( Johann Sebastian Bach , Dietrich Buxtehude , Nicolaus Bruhns , Georg Muffat , Johann Pachelbel ), his repertoire includes the romantic organ works by César Franck , Charles-Marie Widor , Robert Schumann , Johannes Brahms and Franz Liszt .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Message on orguesdeparis.fr , accessed on October 6, 2015.
2. ↑ obituary in orgelnieuws.nl (Dutch), accessed on October 6, 2015.
3. ↑ CD overview on france-orgue.fr , accessed on October 6, 2015.