Ignace Xavier Joseph Leybach (17 July 1817 – 23 May 1891) was a French pianist, organist, music educator and a composer of
salon piano music.
Career
Born in
Gambsheim
Gambsheim is a commune in the Bas-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France, in the historical region of Alsace.
Geography
Gambsheim lies adjacent to a river-crossing into Germany that is favoured by southbound traffic on th ...
,
Alsace
Alsace (, ; ; Low Alemannic German/ gsw-FR, Elsàss ; german: Elsass ; la, Alsatia) is a cultural region and a territorial collectivity in eastern France, on the west bank of the upper Rhine next to Germany and Switzerland. In 2020, it ha ...
, Leybach had his early training as an organist with
Joseph Wackenthaler
Joseph Wackenthaler (20 November 1795 – 3 March 1869) was a French Kapellmeister from 1819, an organist from 1833 to 1869 at the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, and a composer.
Wackenthaler's reputation is due to his genius for improvisa ...
(1795–1869), the organist and ''maître de chapelle'' of the
Strasbourg Cathedral
Strasbourg Cathedral or the Cathedral of Our Lady of Strasbourg (french: Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Strasbourg, or ''Cathédrale de Strasbourg'', german: Liebfrauenmünster zu Straßburg or ''Straßburger Münster''), also known as Strasbourg ...
, and then was a pupil in Paris of
Friedrich Kalkbrenner
Friedrich Wilhelm Michael Kalkbrenner (2–8 November 1785 – 10 June 1849), also known as ''Frédéric Kalkbrenner'', was a pianist, composer, piano teacher and piano manufacturer. German by birth, Kalkbrenner studied at the Conservatoire d ...
and of
Chopin. He was a famous pianist in his time, but is largely remembered for a single piece, his Fifth
Nocturne
A nocturne is a musical composition that is inspired by, or evocative of, the night.
History
The term ''nocturne'' (from French '' nocturne'' 'of the night') was first applied to musical pieces in the 18th century, when it indicated an ensemb ...
, Op. 52, for solo piano; it is still in print. His ''Fantaisie élégante'' uses familiar themes from
Gounod
Charles-François Gounod (; ; 17 June 181818 October 1893), usually known as Charles Gounod, was a French composer. He wrote twelve operas, of which the most popular has always been ''Faust (opera), Faust'' (1859); his ''Roméo et Juliette'' (18 ...
's ''