Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785 – 1858) was
a French composer, organist, and pianist. Born into a
family of musicians, Boëly received his first music
lessons from his father, Jean François, who was a
countertenor at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and a
composer and harp teacher at the court of Versailles.
He also studied under the Tyrolian pianist Ignaz
Ladurner, who introduced him to the work of Bach and
Haydn, which Boëly would champion in his adult career.
Besides mastering the pi...(+)
Alexandre Pierre François Boëly (1785 – 1858) was
a French composer, organist, and pianist. Born into a
family of musicians, Boëly received his first music
lessons from his father, Jean François, who was a
countertenor at the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris and a
composer and harp teacher at the court of Versailles.
He also studied under the Tyrolian pianist Ignaz
Ladurner, who introduced him to the work of Bach and
Haydn, which Boëly would champion in his adult career.
Besides mastering the piano and organ, Boëly was also
a talented violist.
Alexandre Pierre François Boëly was an important
though not major French composer from the early
nineteenth century, producing a substantial output of
piano, organ, and chamber works, as well as a handful
of significant sacred and vocal compositions. Boëly
was born into an affluent family, his father a
countertenor at Saint-Chapelle in Paris and harpist and
teacher at the Versailles Court. Young Alexandre
received his first musical instruction from his father,
and then enrolled at the Paris Conservatory in 1796 to
study violin and piano. He abandoned his studies there,
however, before attaining a degree so he could launch a
career as an organist and pianist.
Over the next three decades he was quite active in
composition, turning out such works as the two sonatas
of Opus 1 (published in 1810), two sonatas for violin
and piano (Opus 32, ca. 1805, published in 1857), and
numerous other works that included chamber and organ
pieces. Much of his music was not published in his
lifetime, but with Opp. 23 through 56, nearly
two-thirds of his entire output, published after his
death.
Boëly seems to be one of those luckless figures in
music, a man with unusual talent who gained relatively
little recognition in his lifetime. His first major
position did not come until 1834 when he began a
four-year stint at St. Gervais-St. Protias in Paris,
and only then as a provisional organist. He finally
received a prestigious post when he was appointed
organist at St. Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris in 1840.
Four years later, he composed his Two Messes Brèves,
Opp. 25 and 26, counted among his most important
compositions in any genre.
Boëly began teaching piano at the Notre Dame Cathedral
Choir School beginning around 1845. His generally
conservative tastes and advocacy for the music of
Couperin, Frescobaldi, and J.S. Bach eventually
alienated those sympathetic to more progressive musical
styles (i.e., those of the Romantic school). Thus,
despite his recognized virtuosity on the organ, he was
dismissed from St. Germain-l'Auxerrois in 1851. Having
left his post about a year before at Notre Dame, Boëly
spent the remainder of his life primarily as a piano
teacher.
Source: Wikipedia
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Pierre_Fran%C3
%A7ois_Bo%C3%ABly)
Although originally composed for Organ, I created this
Interpretation of the 3 Preludes in F Minor for String
Quartet (2 Violins, Viola & Cello).
SHEET MUSIC