Antoine Louis Joseph Gueyrand Fernand Fouant de La Tombelle (3 August 1854 – 13 August 1928) was a French organist and composer.
Life
Born in Paris, Fernand de La Tombelle had piano lessons in his childhood with his mother Louise Gueyraud, a pupil of Sigismund Thalberg and Franz Liszt. From the age of eighteen he took private organ and harmony lessons with Alexandre Guilmant. At the Conservatoire de Paris he studied counterpoint, fugue and composition with Théodore Dubois. For his compositions he was twice awarded the gold medal at the Grand Prix Pleyel.
In the following years he performed as a concert organist throughout France. From 1896 to 1904, he was the first harmony teacher at the Schola Cantorum. Among his students were Louis Boyer, Auguste Leguenant, Marc de Ranse, Blanche Selva, Déodat de Séverac, and Jean Vadon.
In addition to music, La Tombelle, who was interested in many things, was active as a writer and columnist, sculptor and painter, art photographer, music ethnologist and astronomer. His wife Henriette Delacoux de Marivault became known as a writer under the pseudonym Camille Bruno.
Selected works
Œuvres lyriques
Operettas: Un Bon numéro and Un Rêve au pays du bleu (1892) Cantatas: Sainte-Cécile, Sainte-Anne, Jérusalem, Jeanne d'Arc Choral works: La Bonne Route, for male choir (1908) La Chasse, for mixed choir and piano La Fausse Enchanteresse, for male choir (1908) Légende de la Glèbe, for male choir Le Soleil de Minuit, for soprano solo and mixed choir Le Furet, for male choir Le Veilleur du Beffroy, for male choir (1908) Les Épousailles, for mixed choir Les Tambourinaires, for male choirs (1908) Nous n'irons plus au bois, for male choir (1908) Ode à Jeanne d’Arc, for mixed choir Septembre, for male choir Vers la Lumière, for male choir
Orchestral
Incidental music: L'Apothéose de la cité, La Magdaléenne, La Muse fleurie, La Roche aux fées, Un Rêve au pays du bleu, Yannick Suites: Impressions naturelles, Livres d’images, Suite féodale, Tableaux musicaux Symphonic poem: Antar Menuet Gay Fantaisie for piano and orchestra, Op. 26 (1887)
Chamber music
Many pieces for solo piano
Prélude pour un conte de fées, for piano 4-hands
Sonate in D Major, Op. 40, for violin and piano
Suite for 3 cellos
Piano Trio Op. 35 (1894) String Quartet in E Major, Op. 36
Sacred music
Oratorios: Crux, Les Sept paroles du Christ, L'Abbaye
Messes: Messe de Noël, for choir and organ, Messe brève
Motets: Sancta Maria succurre miseris, Benedicta es tu, Tantum ergo, Ave verum, Adoro te devote Canticles: 2 Cantiques à la Très Sainte Vierge, for voice and organ: 1. La Couronne fleurie; 2. Chrétiens, Chrétiennes, à genoux!
Harmonium
Méthode d'harmonium
Méditation (in J. Joubert , Les Maîtres Contemporains de l’Orgue, vol. 1, Paris, 1912) Toccata en fa mineur (in J. Joubert, Les Maîtres Contemporains de l’Orgue, vol. 1, Paris, 1912) Cinquante Pièces d'Harmonium, L.-J. Biton, Saint-Laurent-sur-Sèvre (Vendée) In Pace (à la mémoire d'Alexandre Guilmant) (in Tribune de Saint-Gervais, XVIIe année, Numéro spécial)