Elegy

Everyone likes a good Elegy and I have added this to my collection of 110 Elegies uploaded by various members down in the Playlist. Score attached below.

Gaston Marie Dethier (1875 – 1958) was an American organist, pianist, and composer of Belgian birth.

Born in Liège, he was the son of organist Emile Jean Joseph Dethier (1849-1933), the brother of violinist Edouard Dethier, and the uncle of physiologist Vincent Dethier. He studied at the Royal Conservatory in his native city with Alexandre Guilmant. He was awarded premiers prix in organ, piano, harmony, and fugue from the conservatory.

In 1886, at just 11 years of age, Dethier was appointed organist at the Église Saint-Jacques-le-Mineur de Liège.

He emigrated to the United States in 1894 where he eventually became a naturalized citizen. He was organist at The Church of St. Francis Xavier from 1894 until 1907. After he left in 1907 the position was filled by Italian organist Pietro Yon who would eventually become organist at St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Dethier is best remembered as the composer of a set of Variations on 'Adeste Fideles' (1902) which is occasionally performed today. It is a 15-minute work balances restraint with youthful invention. Although much tamer in comparison, it is even reminiscent of Ives’s Variations on “America” as a piece wonderfully teetering between youthful and mature work. Listen here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rasOq2r-Bs