Piéce 4 - Prélude

Albert Jacques Périlhou (2 April 1846 – 28 August 1936) was a French composer, organist, and pianist.

Born in Daumazan-sur-Arize on 2 April 1846, he was the only son of Jean-Justin Périlhou (born 1820 in Laroque-d'Olmes), an organist in Pézenas, and couturière Marie-Jeanne Balbine Carrière (born 1827 in Daumazan-sur-Arize) and received further instruction as an organist under Camille Saint-Saëns at the Niedermeyer school.

After some time passed in which he became an organist and a piano teacher in Saint-Étienne, he became professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Lyon (1883). He later moved to Paris in 1888 as an artistic advisor of maison Erard, he became organist of Saint-Séverin (1889) at the new instrument rebuilt by John Abbey, and then auditioned for and was granted the position of titular organist of Saint-Eustache in 1905, resigned the following year. In 1910 he was named director of the Niedermeyer school.

Périlhou was a prolific composer who wrote a large body of music for piano, organ, orchestra and voice. He retired in 1914 to Tain-l'Hermitage, where he died at the age of 90 on 28 August 1936. Probably following the example of his teacher and friend Saint-Saëns, he lived for some time in Algeria.