11 Facts About Jeanne Demessieux

Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux was a French organist, pianist, composer, and teacher.

Jeanne Demessieux was the chief organist at Saint-Esprit for 29 years and at La Madeleine in Paris starting in 1962.

Jeanne Demessieux performed internationally as a concert organist and was the first female organist to sign a record contract.

Jeanne Demessieux went on to record many organ works, including her own compositions.

From 1936 to 1939, Jeanne Demessieux studied organ privately with Marcel Dupre, whose organ class at the Conservatoire she joined in 1939.

Jeanne Demessieux gave more than 700 concerts in France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Germany, and the United States.

Jeanne Demessieux always performed from memory, having an active repertoire of more than 2,500 compositions, including the complete organ works of Bach, Franck, the major organ works of Liszt and Mendelssohn, and all of Dupre's organ works up to Opus 41.

In 1962, Jeanne Demessieux was appointed as titular organist at La Madeleine in Paris.

Jeanne Demessieux combined this with demanding academic duties, serving as professor of organ and improvisation at the Nancy Conservatoire and the Conservatoire Royal in Liege.

Jeanne Demessieux died on 11 November 1968 in Paris, at age 47, from throat cancer.

Jeanne Demessieux was buried in the Demessieux family tomb in the Cimetiere du Grau-du-Roi, not far from Aigues-Mortes.