- Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist, and teacher. He was the foremost French composer of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers. His harmonic and melodic language affected how harmony was later taught.
- Olivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist. He entered the Paris Conservatoire at the age of 11, and numbered Paul Dukas, Maurice Emmanuel, Charles-Marie Widor and Marcel Dupré among his teachers. He was appointed organist at the church of La Trinité in Paris in 1931, a post he held until his death. On the fall of France in 1940 Messiaen was made a prisoner of war, …
- Camille Saint-Saëns
Charles Camille Saint-Saëns (9 October 1835 - 16 December 1921) was a French composer, organist, conductor, and pianist, known especially for his orchestral works "The Carnival of the Animals", "Danse Macabre", and Symphony No. 3 ("Organ Symphony").
- César Franck
César Auguste Jean Guillaume Hubert Franck, a composer, organist and music teacher of Belgian and German origin who lived in France, was one of the great figures in classical music in the second half of the 19th century.
- Louis-Claude Daquin
Louis-Claude Daquin (or d'Acquin), (July 4, 1694 - June 15, 1772) was a French composer of Jewish birth writing in the Baroque and Galant styles. He was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. Louis-Claude Daquin was born in Paris, to a converted Jewish family from Carpentras originating from Italy (where their name was D'Acquino). One of his great-uncles was a professor of Hebrew at the College de France.
- Marcel Dupré
Marcel Dupré, was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.
- Théodore Dubois
François Clément Théodore Dubois was a French composer, organist and music teacher. Dubois was born in Rosnay in Marne. He studied first under Louis Fanart (the choirmaster at Reims cathedral) and later at the Paris Conservatoire under Ambroise Thomas. He won the Prix de Rome in 1861. In 1868, he became choirmaster at the Church of the Madeleine, and in 1871 took over from César Franck as choirmaster at the Church of Sainte-Clotilde.
- Jean Langlais
Jean Langlais (15 February, 1907 - 8 May, 1991) was a French composer of modern classical music, organist, and improviser.
- Jehan Alain
Jehan Ariste Alain (February 3, 1911 - June 20, 1940) was a French organist and composer.
- Louis Vierne
Louis Victor Jules Vierne, (October 81870-June 21937) was a French organist and composer.
- Alexandre Guilmant
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant was a French organist and composer. Alexandre Guilmant was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer. A student of his father, then of Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens, he became an organist and teacher in his place of birth. In 1871 he was appointed as organist of la Trinité church in Paris. From then on he followed a career as a virtuoso; he gave concerts in Europe as well as in the United States. He died in Meudon in 1911.
- Abel Decaux
Abel Decaux was a French organist and composer. He studied organ with Charles Widor and Alexandre Guilmant and composition with Jules Massenet. Decaux left only one known composition "Clairs de lune". It is remarkably modern for its time and anticipated some of the work of Claude Debussy and Arnold Schoenberg.
- Louis Couperin
Louis Couperin was a French Baroque composer who made significant contributions to the development of Baroque keyboard music. A skillful harpsichordist, organist, and gambist, he was one of the founders of the French harpsichord school and invented the genre of unmeasured prelude for harpsichord. He and his nephew, François "le Grand," were the most renowned members of the Couperin family.
- Nicolas de Grigny
Nicolas de Grigny was a French organist and one of the leading French organ composers of his time. Contrapuntally more complex than most (if not all) music of the era, Grigny's work stands at the pinnacle of French baroque organ music. His only rivals in terms of both musical science and religious inspiration were François Couperin and Louis Marchand. He was born in Reims in 1672 into a family of musicians: his grandfather, one of his uncles, …
- Pierre Cochereau
Pierre Eugène Charles Cochereau, was a French organist, improviser, composer, and pedagogue.
- Marie-Claire Alain
Marie-Claire Alain (born August 10 1926) is a legendary French organist best known for her prolific recording career. Her mastery of registrations, her scholarship in the history of performance practices on the organ, and her magisterial and nuanced playing mark her as one of the very finest players of the twentieth century. She has a phenomenal musical memory, and travels on extended concert tours without the scores for the works she will be performing.
- Charles Tournemire
Charles Tournemire (Bordeaux, January 22 1870 - Arcachon, November 3 1939), was a French composer and organist, most famous for his improvisations. While he could play the conventional organ literature expertly, he rarely played anything in his titular post other than his own improvised works. His improvisations were consistently brilliant, and most often rooted in Gregorian thematic material.
- Jeanne Demessieux
Jeanne Marie-Madeleine Demessieux (February 13, 1921-November 11, 1968), was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.
- Louis Marchand
Louis Marchand (born February 2, 1669 in Lyon; died February 17 1732 in Paris) was a virtuoso organist and harpsichordist. At the age of thirty-one, he became "Organist to the King". He was known for his flamboyant nature both personally and musically, and took Paris by storm when he arrived there from Lyon. By nature he was said to be a difficult and unreliable person, but he was nevertheless known by many as "Marchand le Grand".
- Alexandre Pierre François Boëly
Alexandre Pierre François Boëly 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.
- Maurice Le Boucher
Maurice Georges Eugène Le Boucher, was a French organist, composer, and pedagogue. Le Boucher was born in Isigny-sur-Mer. In 1904, he entered the Paris Conservatory, where he was a student of Gabriel Fauré. In 1907, Le Boucher won the prestigious Grand Prix de Rome. Later, he became professor at the École Niedermeyer and organist at St. Germain-l'Auxerrois in Paris. He wrote an Organ Symphony in E major, which was published in 1917 by Leduc, Paris.
- Charles-Marie Widor
Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (February 21, 1844 - March 12, 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher.
- Jacques Brunel
Jacques Brunel ("d." 1564) was a French organist and composer. He was organist at Rouen Cathedral until at least 1524, and later from 1532 until 1564 he was organist at the Este chapel in Ferrara, where he served under Cipriano de Rore. He was probably also in charge of the Este chapels at Modena and Reggio nell'Emilia. It is possible that he was related to Antoine Brumel who was in Ferrara from 1506-1510.
- Louis-Antoine Dornel
Louis-Antoine Dornel, was a French composer, harpsichordist, organist and violinist, who lived in Paris. Dornel was probably taught by the organist Nicolas Lebègue. He was appointed organist at the church of Sainte-Marie-Madeleine-en-la-Cité in 1706, where he took over from François d'Agincourt. He was runner-up in the competition for the post to Jean-Philippe Rameau, but who eventually refused the terms set by the church authorities.
- Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.
- Suzanne Haik Haïk-Vantoura
Suzanne Haïk-Vantoura (born July 13, 1912 - died October 22, 2000) was an organist, music teacher, composer and music theorist. Her "magnum opus" was in the field of musicology.
- François Couperin
François Couperin (November 10, 1668 - September 11, 1733) was a French Baroque composer, organist and harpsichordist. François Couperin was known as "Couperin le Grand" (Couperin the Great) to distinguish him from the other members of the musically talented Couperin family.
- Edmond Audran
Edmond Audran (11 April 1842 - 17 August 1901) was a French composer. He was born at Lyon, and studied music at the Ecole Niedermeyer, where he won the prize for composition in 1859. Two years later he accepted the post of organist of the church of St Joseph at Marseille. He made his first appearance as a dramatic composer at Marseille with "L'Ours et le Pacha" (1862), a musical version of one of Scribe's vaudevilles.
- Charles-Valentin Alkan
Charles-Valentin Alkan (November 30 1813-March 29 1888) was a French composer and one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of his day. His compositions for solo piano include some of the most difficult ever written, and performers who can master them are few and far between. His attachment to his Jewish origins is displayed both in his life and his work.
- Jean Guillou
Jean Victor Arthur Guillou (born April 18, 1930 in Angers) is a French composer, organist, pianist, and pedagogue.
- Olivier Latry
Olivier Latry was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer, France on February 22 1962 and is a French organist, improvisor and Professor of Organ at the Conservatoire de Paris. After having begun his musical studies in Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1978 he enrolled in the organ class under Gaston Litaize at the Academy of Saint-Maur, and took composition classes with Jean-Claude Raynaud at the Paris Academy.
- Pierre Dumage
Pierre Dumage (or du Mage was a French organist of the Baroque period. His first music teacher was most likely his father, the cathedral organist of Beauvais. When he was 20 years old, Dumage settled in Paris and studied under Louis Marchand. There he also met Nicolas Lebègue. At the age of 30 he was appointed organist of the Saint-Quentin collegiate church and soon afterwards was chosen as titular organist of the cathedral of Laon.
- Jacques Berthier
Jacques Berthier (27 June, 1923 - 27 June, 1994) was a French composer of liturgical music, best known for writing much of the music used at Taizé.
- Jean-Jacques Grunenwald
Jean-Jacques Grunenwald (February 2, 1911-December 19, 1982), was a French organist, composer, architect, and pedagogue.
- Rolande Falcinelli
Rolande Falcinelli (February 18, 1920-June 11, 2006), was a French organist, pianist, composer, and pedagogue.
- Jean Berveiller
Jean Marie Berveiller, French composer and organist. Jean Berveiller studied the pipe organ with Marcel Dupré. He wrote four jazz-inspired organ compositions: Suite (1947), Cadénce: Étude de concert, Épitaphe (1951), and Mouvement (1953). All these works were dedicated to Jeanne Demessieux, who frequently performed Berveiller's compositions in her organ recitals.
- Pierre Labric
Pierre Labric is a French organist and composer. Pierre Labric studied at the Paris Conservatory with Marcel Dupré and Maurice Duruflé. Later, he studied organ with Jeanne Demessieux, whose complete organ works he recorded on LP. During Jeanne Demessieux's tenure as titular organist at La Madeleine in Paris, he was one of her substitute organists. Pierre Labric also recorded the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne and Charles-Marie Widor, …
- Paul Pierné
Paul Pierné was a French composer and organist. Born in Metz, he was a cousin of composer and organist Gabriel Pierné. His first musical lessons were from his father Charles, himself a former student of César Franck. Pierné later studied at the Conservatoire de Paris under Georges Caussade and Charles Lenepveu. He received a mention in the 1903 Prix de Rome, and took second place in the competition in 1904. He served as organist at St-Paul-St-Louis Church in Paris, …
- Léon Boëllmann
Léon Boëllmann was a French composer. His compositions include works for organ, piano, chamber music, songs, and church chorales. Boëllmann was an early musical talent and was accepted in 1871—9 years old—at the Ecole Niedermeyer in Paris. His teachers included Eugène Gigout and Gustave Lefèvre. After his graduation as organist and cantor, he was employed as organist of the choir organ in the St Vincent de Paul church in Paris in 1881.
- Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely
Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wely was a French organist and composer. He played a major role in the development of the French symphonic organ style and was a close friend of the organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, inaugurating many new Cavaillé-Coll organs. He was organist at Saint-Roche (1841-1846), at the Église de la Madeleine (1846-1858), and at Saint-Sulpice (1863-1869). Lefébure-Wely was born and died in Paris and is buried in the Père Lachaise cemetery there.