Marcel Bitsch

Biography

Marcel Bitsch (December 29, 1921, Paris – September 21, 2011, Toulouse) was a French composer, teacher and analyst. He studied at the Conservatoire de Paris and also was professor of counterpoint there.

Career

In 1939, Marcel Bitsch entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he studied harmony with Jean Gallon, counterpoint with Noël Gallon, musicology with Paul-Marie Masson, and composition with Henri Büsser. After earning his arts degree, Bitsch won the Second Prix de Rome in 1943 and First Grand Prix de Rome in 1945, both times with contemporary Claude Pascal winning the second position.
In 1956, Marcel Bitsch started tenure as professor of counterpoint and later fugue at the Conservatoire de Paris. In his later years, he mostly concentrated on teaching and analysing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, producing analytic scores whose page layout was designed to convey the music's structural features. Among his students are Daniel Roth, Pierre Pincemaille, and Édith Lejet. He retired in fall of 1988.