Léonce de Saint-Martin

Léonce de Saint-Martin, born on 31 October 1886 in Albi (France) and died on 10 June 1954 in Paris (France), was a French organist and composer.

Leonce at the console of Notre Dame de Paris

As the successor of Louis Vierne in 1937, he was organist at Notre-Dame de Paris until his death in 1954.

Léonce was heavily attacked for his appointment to Notre Dame by the Cathedral chapter, since it was done without competition. Saint-Martin was also self-taught, and did not enter the conservatory, and thus was deemed to be an amateur organist. These accusations were easily seen to be false by eye-witnesses, such as Pierre Cochereau, who took Saint-Martin's place as titular organist after the latter's death. An example of his fine skill can be seen in his organ compositions, filled with emotional and spiritual writing. Saint-Martin was also a pious man, as he stated "but whatever the Good Lord wills is fine by me" concerning his death. His virtuosity can be seen by the fact that he played Marcel Dupré's op. 7 to the satisfaction of Dupré's wife, at a time when Widor stated that these pieces were unplayable.

For the 10th anniversary of his death, the association "Les Amis de Léonce de Saint-Martin" is created on February, 27th of 1963. The association will organize a special event for each decade anniversary of the death of Léonce de Saint-Martin, which will include artists such as Pierre Cochereau (his successor at Notre-Dame), John Revert, Michel Chapuis or Pierre Pincemaille.