Odile Bailleux
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- Organist
- harpsichordist
- pedagogue
Odile Bailleux | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Bailleux in the 1990s | |
| Born | 30 December 1939 |
| Died | 19 November 2024 (aged 84) Paris, France |
| Occupations |
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Odile Bailleux (French pronunciation: [ɔdil bajø]; 30 December 1939 – 19 November 2024) was a French harpsichordist and organist. She was a long-time organist of both Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés and Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux in Paris. As a harpsichordist she was a pioneer of historically informed performance, co-founding the first French Baroque ensemble with early instruments.
Born in Trappes on 30 December 1939,[1][2] Bailleux studied piano at the Versailles conservatory. She turned to the organ, studying at a music school in Paris, the École César Franck[2] where she was in the organ class of Jean Fellot[3] and Édouard Souberbielle.[1] After she participated in 1964 in the International Academy of the Organ in Saint-Maximin-la-Sainte-Baume, she left in 1969 to work with the organist Helmut Walcha in Frankfurt.[4] Walcha was known for his playing of Baroque works, but in her exploration of the world of Baroque organ music she was particularly inspired by Gustav Leonhardt.[2]
Bailleux was the substitute for Antoine Reboulot at the grand organ of the Abbaye de Saint-Germain-des-Prés from 1966[1] where she became organiste titulaire, along with André Isoir, in 1973 and held the post for a long time.[4] She was also organist at Notre-Dame-des-Blancs-Manteaux in Paris.[4][5][6] In 1982, she served on the jury for the international competition for organ at MAfestival Brugge (Musica Antiqua Bruges) in Belgium.[4]
As a harpsichordist she played continuo in the group Musique-Ensemble that she and oboist Michel Henry founded in 1975 as the first French Baroque ensemble with early instruments.[2] She played harpsichord and later organ in the La Grande Écurie et la Chambre du Roy from 1977.[1][2] She said: "... our dialogue resembled a bird conference. Lots of colour, lots of animation, very few solemn truths".[2]
In 1992 her right arm was paralysed, and she was diagnosed with meningioma. She began to teach at the conservatoire of Bourg-la-Reine,[2][7] retiring in 2004.[2]
Bailleux died in Paris on 19 November 2024, at the age of 84.[1][2][4]
