The organ lofts

Eight Couperins succeeded one another here from 1653 to 1826. Nicolas, Pierre-Louis and Céleste-Thérèse Couperin have no works in the repertoire, so their names do not link to a page.

1. Louis Couperin — titular organist, 1653 – 1661 (until death)1656 according to one article on the church
2. Charles Couperin — titular organist, 1661 – 1679 (until death)
3. François Couperin — titular organist, 1679 (in office from 1685) – c. 1733a child when his father died, the post was entrusted for a time to Michel-Richard de Lalande; a cousin assisted him late in life
4. Nicolas Couperin — titular organist, 1733 – 1748 (until death)
5. Armand-Louis Couperin — titular organist, 1748 – 1789 (until death)
6. Pierre-Louis Couperin — titular organist, 1773 or 1789 – 1789 (until death)holder of the reversion from 19 April 1773, titular from February to October 1789 according to the MUSEFREM database; “titular from 1773” according to the article on the church
7. Gervais-François Couperin — titular organist, 1789 – 1826 (until death)October 1789 according to the MUSEFREM database and Bouvet; 1818 according to the article on the church
8. Céleste-Thérèse Couperin — titular organist, 1826, a few months
9. Jean-Nicolas Marrigues — titular organist, 1826 – 1834 (until death)dates from the MUSEFREM database; “around 1830” according to the article on the church. One biography names Boëly as his successor; no other source consulted confirms it

From 1755, four organists each served one quarter of the year. Nicolas Séjan is missing from the list of the organ’s titular organists, but the MUSEFREM database of the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles cites his engagement by the chapter on 17 February 1772. Gervais-François Couperin is not shown: his biographies have him succeed his brother Pierre-Louis, whereas, according to MUSEFREM, the chapter appointed Philippe-Antoine Desprez in his place.

1. Charles Racquet — titular organist, 1618 – 1643
2. Louis-Claude Daquin — by quarter, 1755 – end unknown
3. Armand-Louis Couperin — by quarter, 1755 – 1789 (end inferred from death)
4. Claude Balbastre — by quarter, 1760 – 1793one quarter a year until the Revolution
5. Nicolas Séjan — by quarter, 1772 – still in post in 1790missing from the list of the organ’s titular organists; dates from the MUSEFREM database
6. Jean-Jacques Beauvarlet-Charpentier — by quarter, 1783 – 1793until worship was suspended
7. Louis Vierne — titular organist, 1900 – 1937 (until death)
8. Marcel Dupré — deputy organist, 1916 – 1920
9. Maurice Duruflé — deputy, assistant, 1927 – 1937
10. Thierry Escaich — co-titular organist, since 2024

Four organists each served one quarter of the year. The sources date this arrangement either to the competition of 1678 or to 1693, so the 1678 starting dates should be read with caution.

1. Nicolas Lebègue — by quarter, 1678 – 1702 (end inferred from death)
2. Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers — by quarter, 1678 – 1708
3. Jacques Thomelin — by quarter, 1678 – 1693 (until death)
4. François Couperin — by quarter, 1693 – end unknownuntil 1730 according to the article on the Chapelle royale alone
5. Louis Marchand — by quarter, 1708 – end unknownleft for Germany in 1713; end of tenure not dated
6. François d'Agincourt — by quarter, 1714 – end unknown
7. Jean-François Dandrieu — by quarter, 1721 – 1738 (end inferred from death)
8. Louis-Claude Daquin — by quarter, 1739 – end unknown
9. Claude Balbastre — by quarter, dates unknownaccording to his biographies; the MUSEFREM database mentions only his post as organist to Monsieur, the King’s brother (1776)
10. Armand-Louis Couperin — by quarter, then by half-year, 1770 – 1789 (until death)
11. Nicolas Séjan — organist, December 1789 – 1792after the King moved to Paris; organist of the King’s chapel again from 1814 until his death

1. Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers — titular organist, between 1651 and 1653 – 1702
2. Louis-Nicolas Clérambault — titular organist, 1715 – 1749 (end inferred from death)1714 according to the French Wikipedia article; 1715, after Totin, according to the list of Saint-Sulpice organists
3. Nicolas Séjan — titular organist, 1783 – 1819 (until death)
4. Louis-Nicolas Séjan — titular organist, 1819 – 1849dates from the list of Saint-Sulpice organists; his biographies give none
5. Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély — titular organist, 1863 – 1869 (until death)
6. Charles-Marie Widor — titular organist, 1870 – 1933
7. Louis Vierne — deputy organist, 1892 – 1900until his appointment at Notre-Dame
8. Marcel Dupré — deputy organist, 1906 – 1934
9. Marcel Dupré — titular organist, 1934 – 1971 (until death)
10. Jean-Jacques Grunenwald — deputy organist, 1936 – 1946
11. Jeanne Demessieux — deputy organist, 1942 – 1946
12. Jean-Jacques Grunenwald — titular organist, 1973 – 1982 (end inferred from death)

The Chapel Royal followed the court; no list of its organists could be consulted.

1. Thomas Tallis — organist, start unknown – 1585 (end inferred from death)first designated as organist after 1570
2. John Bull — organist, 1591 – 1613
3. Orlando Gibbons — organist, junior then senior, 1603 – 1625 (until death)
4. Thomas Tomkins — organist, second then principal, 1621 or 1625 – end unknownorganist in 1621 according to one source, principal organist in 1625 according to the other
5. John Blow — organist, shared post, dates unknownpost shared with Purcell, dated inconsistently by the sources
6. Henry Purcell — organist, 1682 – 1695 (end inferred from death)
7. William Croft — organist, shared post, 1700 – end unknown
8. Maurice Greene — organist, 1727 – 1755 (end inferred from death)
9. William Boyce — one of three organists, 1758 – end unknowndeafness soon prevented him from fulfilling his posts

1. Louis James Alfred Lefébure-Wély — titular organist, 1847 – 1857
2. Camille Saint-Saëns — titular organist, 1857 or 1858 – 1877
3. Charles-Marie Widor — deputy organist, 1869 – end unknown
4. Théodore Dubois — titular organist, 1877 – end unknown
5. Nadia Boulanger — deputy organist, 1903 – end unknown
6. Jeanne Demessieux — titular organist, 1962 – 1968 (until death)

1. César Franck — titular organist, 1858 or 1859 – 1890 (until death)
2. Théodore Dubois — organist, probably of the choir organ, 1858 – end unknown
3. Gabriel Pierné — titular organist, 1890 – 1898
4. Charles Tournemire — titular organist, 1898 – 1939 (until death)
5. Maurice Duruflé — deputy, assistant, start unknown – 1927
6. Jean Langlais — titular organist, 1945 – 1987 or 1988

No list of the Abbey’s organists could be consulted: the dates come from the composers’ biographies alone.

1. Orlando Gibbons — titular organist, 1623 – 1625 (until death)
2. John Blow — titular organist, 1668 or 1669 – 1679
3. Henry Purcell — titular organist, 1679 or 1680 – 1695 (end inferred from death)
4. John Blow — titular organist, 1695 – 1708 (end inferred from death)said to have resumed the post, without certainty
5. William Croft — titular organist, 1701 or 1708 – 1727 (end inferred from death)

No list of the chapel’s organists could be consulted: the dates come from the composers’ biographies alone.

1. Giovanni de Macque — court organist, 1594 – 1599then maestro di cappella
2. Giovanni Maria Trabaci — first organist, 1601 – 1614
3. Ascanio Mayone — second organist, 1602 – end unknown
4. Domenico Scarlatti — organist, 1701, briefly

1. Nicolas Lebègue — titular organist, 1664 – 1702 (until death)
2. Jean-François Dandrieu — titular organist, 1704 or 1705 – 1738 (end inferred from death)playing there from 1700 according to one source
3. Gervais-François Couperin — co-titular organist, in post in 1804 – end disputedhe shared the organ with Joseph Pouteau in 1804 according to the MUSEFREM database; his biographies give 1818 – 1826 for Saint-Gervais and Saint-Merri together
4. Camille Saint-Saëns — titular organist, 1853 – 1857 or 1858