Henri Gagnebin

Henri Gagnebin: (b Liège, 13 March 1886; d Geneva, 2 June 1977). Swiss composer, teacher and organist.

He received his musical education in Lausanne, Berlin, Geneva (where he studied with Otto Barblan, Oscar Schulz and Joseph Lauber) and Paris, taking lessons from d’Indy at the Schola Cantorum; he also studied the piano with Blanche Selva. During this period he worked as a Protestant church organist in Paris, Lausanne and Geneva. He finally settled in Switzerland in 1916, teaching music history and the organ at the conservatories of Lausanne, Neuchâtel and Geneva. In 1925 he was appointed director of the Geneva Conservatoire, a post he held until 1957, and in 1938 he founded the Geneva International Competition for Musical Performance, which gained a worldwide reputation and over which Gagnebin continued to preside until 1959. As a result of this activity he was made president of the Federation of International Competitions, and sat on the juries of many contests; he also became known as an organist, lecturer and musicologist. Among the awards made to him were the Prize of the City of Geneva (1961), an honorary doctorate of Geneva University and an honorary fellowship of the Royal Academy of Music, London.

His output is large and covers all genres except opera. Strongly influenced at first by Franck and d’Indy, his music evolved beyond them to incorporate some of the new developments of his contemporaries, notably Stravinsky. Gagnebin avoided external effect and constructed his music with care; the most characteristic features of his work are a deep faith expressed through the use of Protestant psalmody, and a kindly, colourful humour.