6 Pieces - 1-3

Désiré Paque studied from 1882 to 1889 at the Royal Conservatory of Liège where he won the first prize in organ, piano and harmony. Appointed professor of solfège in the same conservatory, he remained in Liège until 1897 .

He left his native region to attempt adventure under other skies: after having - apparently - vainly tried to found a conservatory in Sofia in 1897, he taught composition in Athens from 1900 to 1902 . Returning to Brussels at the end of this year, he moved to Paris in 1905, then resided from 1906 to 1909 in Lisbon where he taught organ at the conservatory - he was notably the first teacher of the composer Luís de Freitas Branco (1890-1955 ) - and was engaged as Chapel Master of the Court.

From 1909 , he went to Germany - where he was composer-in-residence for the publisher N. Simrock - before settling in Paris in May 1914; he was soon appointed organist of Saint-Louis-d'Antin church. From this time, although Paque still composed many works, he began to live in a more austere way, closing himself off from people little by little.

Eventually he explored atonality, and was one of the first composers to embrace that style. In addition to the 6 pieces, he also wrote a single Symphonie for organ, and a considerable amount of piano, chamber, and orchestral music, most of which remains unpublished and undiscovered. The 6 Pieces are little masterpieces, short vignettes rich in invention. The first 3 are presented here: 1 Moderato 2 Allegretto and 3 Adagio