Édouard Batiste

Who was Édouard Batiste?

Édouard Batiste was a French composer and organist born in Paris on 28 March 1820, and studied at the Imperial Conservatoire as a teenager, winning prizes in solfège, harmony and accompaniment, counterpoint and fugue, and organ. In 1840, he won the Prix de Rome together with François Bazin.

In 1842, he became the organist at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs church in Paris, where he remained for 12 years, before becoming organist at Saint-Eustache Church. While at Saint-Eustache, he performed the organ in the premiere of Hector Berlioz's Te Deum in April 1855, conducted by the composer. He died in Paris on 9 November 1876.