René Louis Becker

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René Louis Becker (born November 7, 1882 in Bischheim , Alsace , † January 28, 1956 in Dearborn , Michigan ) was a French-American composer , organist and pianist .

Life

Becker's father was an organist at the Chartres and Strasbourg cathedrals. René Louis went to the Strasbourg Conservatory from 1896 to 1904. His teachers were the organist Ernst Münch , the Liszt student Fritz Blumer, the composer Carl Theodor Somborn and the Swiss organist Adolf Gessner. Becker emigrated from Alsace in 1904 and went to St. Louis in the USA after his two brothers had emigrated there four years earlier. In St. Louis, the Beckers founded the Becker Bros. Conservatory of Music . Becker taught piano, organ and composition there. In 1912 he accepted a position as organist at St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Alton, Illinois. From 1930 he was organist at the Blessed Sacrament Cathedral in Detroit and later at St. Alphonsus Church in Dearborn, Michigan, where he died in 1956.

plant

Becker's work is influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach and the French organ virtuosos such as Alexandre Guilmant and Charles-Marie Widor . It comprises over 180 organ works, including three organ sonatas , but also 15 masses , 25 works for piano solo and 35 motets . The composer, largely forgotten in Europe in the 20th century, was not rediscovered until 2011 after Damin Spritzer recorded his works on CD and dealt with Becker's life and work in her doctoral thesis. Splatter's recording on the Cavaillé-Coll organ in Saint-Salomon-Saint-Gregoire de Pithiviers is the first commercial recording of a Becker composition. Becker's toccatas are effective, twelve of which he composed for organ. One of his best known works is the Toccata from the 1st Organ Sonata in G minor Op. 40.

Web links

literature

  • Damin Spritzer: Overview and Introduction to the Organ Music of René Louis Becker, Alsatian-American Composer and Organist, 1882–1956. University of North Texas, 2012.

Discography

  • Organ Music of René Louis Becker (1882-1956). Vol 1/2 Alsatian-American Composer and Organist, Damin Spritzer on the Cavaillé-Coll organs from Pithiviers and from Orléans (France). Raven OAR-925 / OAR-949

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Stefan Kagl: Becker, René Louis, Organ Music of René Louis Becker (1882-1956). on: Archived copy ( Memento of the original from December 22, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Review of the first commercial recording) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.organ-journal.com
personal data
SURNAME Becker, René Louis
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French-American composer, organist and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH November 7, 1882
PLACE OF BIRTH Bischheim
DATE OF DEATH January 28, 1956
Place of death Dearborn