Pierre Eugene Charles Cochereau was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.
19 Facts About Pierre Cochereau
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Pierre Cochereau was greatly renowned as an improviser and organist in his lifetime and still is today.
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Pierre Cochereau was born on 9 July 1924 in the French commune of Saint-Mande, near the capital city of Paris.
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Pierre Cochereau's father, Georges Ernest Cochereau, was a wealthy factory owner who owned a shoemaking factory.
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When Pierre Cochereau was 13 years old, after suffering a year of poor health and poor performance in school, Pierre Cochereau's father sent him to recuperate in a village in the South of France.
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Pierre Cochereau was allowed the key to the local church so he could practise piano, however one day he discovered a 2 manual pipe organ by Cavaille-Coll.
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In 1938, Pierre Cochereau took lessons with Marie-Louise Girod, a student of Marcel Dupre.
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Pierre Cochereau continued his organ studies with Andre Fleury and Paul Delafosse, whom Cochereau succeeded as titular organist at Saint-Roch in Paris in 1942.
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Pierre Cochereau left the Conservatory in 1949 with first prizes in harmony - alongside Pierre Labric, music history, fugue and counterpoint, composition, and organ.
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In September 1948, Pierre Cochereau made his first recital tour to Hungary.
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In 1949, at age 26, Pierre Cochereau was appointed director of the Le Mans Conservatory, a term he occupied for seven years.
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In 1961, Pierre Cochereau became director of the Nice Conservatory, which he left in 1979, accepting the directorship of the Lyon Conservatory.
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Pierre Cochereau died in the early hours of 6 March 1984 in Lyon after suffering from a cerebral hemorrhage; he unsuccessfully attempted to reach a telephone to call for help.
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Pierre Cochereau was buried at the Cimetiere Belleville in Paris next to members of his family.
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Pierre Cochereau had a worldwide reputation as a concert organist and especially as a brilliant improviser.
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Pierre Cochereau oversaw a controversial transformation of the Cavaille-Coll organ at Notre-Dame realised by Jean Hermann and the Boisseaus Jean-Loup and Robert, and was regularly pushing for more changes to combine the French symphonic style with the 18th century style of the Clicquot dynasty.
17.
Pierre Cochereau was an avid smoker and was known for accumulating numerous speeding fines.
18.
Pierre Cochereau was one of the cofounders of the Grand Prix de Chartres organ competition.
19.
Pierre Cochereau was a recipient of officership of the prestigious Legion d'honneur.