Jacques Berthier

BERTHIER, Jacques. b. Auxerre, France, 27 June 1923; d. Paris, 27 June 1994. Berthier was the son of the organist of Auxerre Cathedral. After initial encouragement and training in Auxerre, he went to the César Franck School in Paris. One of his teachers there was Guy de Lioncourt, whose daughter Germaine he later married. He was organist of the Jesuit church in Paris, St Ignace (named after Ignatius of Loyola), where he worked until his death on his 71st birthday. In 1955 he was asked by the brothers of the Taizé* community, led by Brother Roger, to compose music for their devotions, following in the footsteps of Johannes Petzold and Joseph Gelineau*, whose Vingt-quatre psaumes et un...