Marcel Dupré (1886-1971)
Works for Organ, Vol. 12

Marcel Dupré was born on 3rd May, 1886 in Rouen. His father, Albert, was an organist and his mother, Marie Alice Chauviére, was a cellist. In 1888 he began organ studies with Alexandre Guilmant and gave his first public performance in 1894. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatoire in 1902, receiving first prize for piano in 1905, organ and improvisation in 1907, and fugue in 1909. In 1906 he was appointed as Widor's assistant at the church of St Sulpice, in Paris, and was awarded the Prix de Rome in 1914 for his cantata Psyché. In 1920 occurred an event without equal in the musical world of the time; the performance, from memory, in a series of ten recitals at the Paris Conservatoire, of the complete organ works of Johann Sebastian Bach. This achievement brought Dupré world recognition, and led to his American début in 1921, and the first transcontinental tour of America in 1922. In 1926 he was