Henri Gagnebin
Born on the March 13th 1886 in Liege, the descendant of a family originating from Morges, Switzerland, Henri Gagnebin began his musical studies in Lausanne before pursuing them in Berlin (1905-1906), at the Geneva Conservatoire (1906 to 1908) and then from 1908 to 1916 at the Schola Cantorum in Paris, where he earned his Advanced Diploma.
He resided in Lausanne where he held the position of organist at the Temple de
Saint-Jean. He taught music history and
sight-reading at Lausanne Conservatoire, as well as music history and organ at
the Neuchatel Conservatoire. In 1925, he
was appointed Director of the Geneva Conservatoire, a position he held for thirty-two
years until 1957 before becoming the dean of keyboard studies until his
retirement in 1961. In 1938 he founded
the CIEM, the Geneva International Music Competition, and served as its
President until 1959.
That same year, he received the City of Geneva Music Award. In 1961 he was awarded
the Jura Institute's Grand Prize and in 1963 the Composer Prize from the AMS
(American Musicology Society).
As a composer he tackled all types of music with the exception of opera. He composed symphonies, two ballets, a trio and four quartets as well as large number of works for instruments and ensembles. These include four toccatas for the piano, a concerto for piano and orchestra, two church sonatas, several organ works and a hundred works based on the Huguenot psalms.
He died in Geneva on June 2nd 1977
