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Translation, courtesy of Prof Dr Henry Billard Louis François Debierre was born in Nantes on July 18, 1842, 24 rue Voltaire where his father had established himself as a carpenter and cabinetmaker. He was the student of the Friars, rue de la Rosière until the age of 12. At that time, he was hired by his father as an apprentice and later as a worker. It remained there He spent five years, simultaneously following the courses of "l'Ecole Industrielle" (the Industrial School) with his daily work. In addition to his professional and student work, He frequents the gymnastics branch of the "Patronage de Toutes Joies" (founded in 1845). more... |
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At the age of 17, Louis Debierre, with good recommendations from Mr. Meignen (director of the Montparnasse Circle), left Nantes to go to Paris where he arrived on August 12, 1859. Thanks to Mr. Meignen's connections, you will find He worked on August 17, 1859 in the house of Mr. Thébault, organ builder, 146 rue Vaugirard. Stay there 20 months, during which he worked among other things with the organs of La Chatre and Coñac, in the Saint Léger church. After a short internship at a piano maker's house, he was hired at the Debain Harmony factory, 24 place Lafayette in Paris. Six months later, his father, feeling tired, asks him to return to Nantes. He finally did so in April 1862. Some time later, he is called up for military service. At that time, recruitment was done by lottery. Debierre rolls a good number and is released from service. What he has learned in Paris in a field other than carpentry, gives him a glimpse of another job but nothing more. He began his sporting activities in the "Patronage Toutes Joies" with whom he always remained close. on good terms. There is a new chapel, without instruments, and Father Peigne, diocesan missionary and chaplain at "Toutes Joies", asks him if he can make an organ. He hesitates: he does not have great resources and does not have his own capital. But he says yes. He makes his plans, settles on rue Urvoy in St Bedan. His father lends him a worker and with the collaboration of the organ maker Goyadin (they met at the home of the Parisian maker Thébault), the "Toutes Joies" organ is delivered on September 29, 1863: 2 keyboards, 18 registers. The commission in charge of receiving the work, directed by G. Schmidt, organist of the Great Organ of Saint Sulpice in Paris, approves and congratulates him. So started the career of Louis Debierre. On December 10, 1868, in the chapel of "Toutes Joies", he married Marie‑Anne Dupas. They will have 8 children. Manufactures, restorations, orders come from everywhere: then he settles in the Chaussée de la Madeleine in Nantes. After the war of 1870, given that the workshops located in the Chauusée de la Madeleine were too small, he had the idea of ??buying some land in the parish of St Clément, in the same city, a few meters from the Cathedral. For that, you need money. Debierre finds a partner, Mr. Maxence (the painter's father). Mr. Fraboulet, architect, built the "Factory" that still existed in 1993, in very poor condition. Built to display, in a large room, the instruments and to test them, the factory was functional; All the workshops were spread over two floors and their access led to the large room. Factorial rigs, and later, an overhead crane, were used for the various manipulations. The organ of the Protestant Temple of Nantes inaugurated these premises in 1875. In 1871, in Chaussée de la Madeleine in Nantes, it also coincides with the beginning of portable organs. A prototype of 4 ½ registers with all wooden tubes is manufactured and sold on November 22, 1871. Other works follow, although less important, 2 ½ registers, 3 registers, 3 ½ registers. A patent was registered on November 22, 1872 (no. 97094). In 1882, on August 18, he registered patent No. 150638 for the intervention of multi‑note organ pipes that allow "alternatively producing several notes of the scale and thus achieving the same sonority effects." that you get with a one‑tube‑one‑note system. He was able to They manufactured much more important "portable polyphonic pipe organs": 4 registers, 5 registers, 6 registers, which were sent to all continents: America, Asia, Africa. While manufacturing its portable and mechanical transmission organs, Debierre is interested in systems to replace electric transmission. In 1888, on October 1, he registered patent No. 193217 referring to the "replacement of all mechanical organs with tubes or wires conducting compressed air or electricity." The first instrument he used This mode of electrical transmission was the organ of the Graslin Theater in Nantes ‑ 8 registers ‑ under the administration of Mr. Paravey; It was soon followed in 1891 by that of Notre Dame de Bon Port in Nantes ‑ 34 stops ‑ which turned out to be be your masterpiece. Two of the eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Debierre died very young; Among the remaining six ‑ four daughters and two sons ‑ two daughters become nuns, one marries Mr. Pierre Beuchet, a carpenter, and the last remains single. The eldest son, Joseph, begins to make organs, and being a musician in addition, has a beautiful future. Unfortunately, he died in the regiment in 1896. The second son, Paul, became a Trappist friar in 1897, at the age of 18. Exiled in England at the time of the separation laws, he returned to France in 1914 for mobilization and was assassinated on June 15, 1915 in Quennevières. Despite everything, Debierre continues working and the orders do not stop coming. In 1898, on October 1, a Society of Organ Manufacturers was launched within the Factory. In 1903‑1905, Louis Debierre was alone and the separation laws reduced orders. He is 63 years old, of which he has been an independent organist for 40 years. The War of 14 arrives. His wife died in December 1914. Dejected, he no longer feels like looking for orders, taking only those that present themselves. The number of workers is reduced only to workshop leaders and some apprentices. Look for a successor. He plans to liquidate his business if he doesn't find anyone. In 1919, at the age of 77, including 57 years as an independent organist, he transferred the "Factory" to Mr. Gloton, an apprentice organ maker at Ghys's house in Dijon. This is an acquaintance. Indeed, they had met at the Circle Montparnasse in Paris. Mr. Louis Debierre, General President of the "Association Toutes Joies", died He suffered from sunstroke on June 7, 1920, and was 78 years old. He has left us nearly 600 instruments both in France and abroad. (all continents). |
