At twelve, Guillou was playing the organ of Saint-Serge in his home town of Angers, before studying with Marcel Dupré, Duruflé and Messiaen. In 1963 he succeeded André Marchal at the great organ of Saint-Eustache and held it until 2015: fifty-two years at the same keyboard. He is called here organist, composer and poet, and three lines of his own prove it: “Ici, le temps est vertical” — here, time is vertical.
The story
“Ici, le temps est vertical. Dans l'étincelle dernière du soleil. Dans l'attente étirée de l'aube.” — here, time is vertical; in the last spark of the sun; in the stretched waiting for dawn. The epitaph is a poem of his own hand — few stones at Père-Lachaise carry one, and fewer still written by the dead.
Born at Angers on 18 April 1930, Jean Guillou held the organ of Saint-Serge in Angers at twelve. He then studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Marcel Dupré for the organ, Maurice Duruflé for harmony and Olivier Messiaen for analysis, taught at the Instituto di Musica Sacra in Lisbon in 1955, and settled in Berlin in 1958.
In 1963 he succeeded André Marchal at the great organ of Saint-Eustache. He would stay until 2015: fifty-two years at the same keyboard. He died on 26 January 2019, and the inscription in Division 44 calls him “organiste compositeur poète” — organist, composer, poet: three trades, and the poem that follows proves the third.
The grave
A grave adorned with a bronze medallion, whose inscription first lists three professions — “Jean GUILLOU, 18 avril 1930, 26 janvier 2019, organiste compositeur poète” — organist, composer, poet — then becomes a poem in three lines: “Ici, le temps est vertical. Dans l'étincelle dernière du soleil. Dans l'attente étirée de l'aube.” — here, time is vertical; in the last spark of the sun; in the long-drawn waiting for dawn. Few epitaphs in Père-Lachaise are poems, and fewer still in the dead man's own hand.
On site, do not miss
A bronze medallion, and an epitaph in three lines of his own: “Ici, le temps est vertical. Dans l'étincelle dernière du soleil. Dans l'attente étirée de l'aube.” — here, time is vertical; in the last spark of the sun; in the long-drawn waiting for dawn.
Visitors' questions
Where is Jean Guillou's grave?
In Division 44, avenue Eugène-Delacroix, second row, beneath a bronze medallion. The inscription calls him “organiste compositeur poète” — organist, composer, poet — and goes on with three lines of his own verse. He held the great organ of Saint-Eustache for fifty-two years.
Allan KardecWhat does his epitaph say?
Three lines of verse: “Ici, le temps est vertical. Dans l'étincelle dernière du soleil. Dans l'attente étirée de l'aube.” — here, time is vertical; in the sun's last spark; in the drawn-out waiting for dawn. Few epitaphs at Père-Lachaise are poems, and fewer still are by the hand of the dead.
Gabriel PiernéHow long was he at Saint-Eustache?
Fifty-two years: holder of the great organ from 1963, in succession to André Marchal, he kept the post until 2015, four years before his death. He had been titular organist in Angers at twelve.
Jean-Jacques GrunenwaldWho trained him?
Three masters at the Paris Conservatoire: Marcel Dupré for the organ, Maurice Duruflé for harmony and Olivier Messiaen for analysis. He went on to teach in Lisbon from 1955, before Berlin and Paris.
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