Ignace Leybach

Who was Ignace Leybach?

Ignace Xavier Joseph Leybach was a teacher, pianist and organist, and a composer of salon piano music.

He had his early training as an organist with Joseph Wackenthaler, the organist and maître de chapelle of the cathedral of Strasbourg, and then was a pupil in Paris of Friedrich Kalkbrenner and of Chopin. He was a famous pianist in his time, but is largely remembered for a single piece, his Fifth Nocturne, Op. 52, number 5, for solo piano; it is still in print. His Fantasie elegante improvised on familiar themes from Gounod's Faust.

From 1844 he was organist at the cathédrale Saint-Étienne, Toulouse, succeeding Justin Cadaux. He published a three-volume method for the organ for which he also wrote about 350 pieces. Leybach also wrote motets and liturgical music.