Boëly, Alexandre Pierre François

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Boëly, Alexandre Pierre François

Boëly, Alexandre Pierre François, French organist and composer; b. Versailles, April 19, 1785; d. Paris, Dec. 27, 1858. His father, a court musician, gave him his first instruction in music. Boëly studied piano and organ, and then occupied various positions as a church organist in Paris. As a teacher, he exercised a profound influence; Franck and Saint-Saëns owed much to him in the development of their style of composition for organ.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire