Composers

The career of the French composer Fernande Breilh-Decruck showed promise from an early age when she
won several prizes at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris (harmony, fugue, piano). As an assistant
professor of harmony, she trained many students, including one who became very famous and who later dedicated a score to her “To Fernande Decruck, with all the gratitude and fond memories of the author - O . Messiaen”.

From 1926, the year of his appointment as organ teacher, Marcel Dupré introduced her to improvisation, a talent which earned a concert tour of organ in the United States at the end of 1928. She later gave solo recitals in the great auditoriums of New York. The trajectory of Decruck the composer can be traced through her early works, which give prominence to the organ (her instrument), saxophone and double bass (her husband’s instruments). The Decruck’s lived in New York for several years. Her husband Maurice played double bass and saxophone for the New York Philharmonic under the direction of Arturo Toscanini.

Decruck’s American period saw the birth of numerous compositions for piano, organ, concertos for organ and orchestra, a concerto for cello and orchestra as well as many works for a wide range of wind instruments, notably for saxophone.

In 1937, Fernande Decruck moved to Toulouse alone with her three children. She worked as a professor at the Toulouse Conservatory. Beginning in 1942, she devoted herself entirely to composition, notably writing a harp concerto, Poème héroïque, and the Sonata in C sharp for saxophone. She officially divorced Maurice in 1950 which led to financial difficulty. She ended her career as a professor of harmony at the Fontainebleau Conservatory. A series of health problems led to her untimely death at the age of 57.