Danjou, Jean-Louis-Félix

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Danjou, Jean-Louis-Félix

Danjou, Jean-Louis-Félix , French music teacher; b. Paris, June 21, 1812; d. Montpellier, March 4, 1866. He studied organ with François Benoist at the Paris Cons., then played organ at various churches from 1830; was organist at Notre Dame from 1840 until 1847. With his essay De L’état de I’avenir du chant ecclésiastique (1844), he became the pioneer in the movement for reforming plainchant. Further, his journal Revue de la Musique Religieuse, Populaire et Classique (1845–9) showed pro-found erudition gained by assiduous historical research. He was the discoverer (1847) of the celebrated “Antiphonary of Montpellier.” He labored to promote organ building in France, and made a special study of organ manufacture in Germany and the Netherlands. He entered into partnership with the organ builders Dau-blaine & Callinet of Paris, but lost his entire capital, gave up music, and in 1849 became a political journalist in Marseilles and Montpellier.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire