Barblan, Otto
Barblan, Otto
Barblan, Otto, Swiss organist, conductor, teacher, and composer; b. Scanfs, March 22, 1860; d. Geneva, Dec. 19, 1943. He studied at the Stuttgart Cons. (1878–84); made his debut as an organist at Augsburg (1885); taught at Chur (1885–87); then became organist at the Cathedral of Geneva, prof. at the Cons., and conductor of the Société de Chant Sacre (1887). He wrote an Ode patriotique (1896); a Festspiel (Chur, May 28, 1899) commemorating the 400th anniversary of the battle of Calven, and containing the chorus Terre des monts, which attained great popularity, placing it next to the national anthem as a patriotic song; Post tenebras lux, cantata for the Calvin jubilee (1909); String Quartet; Variations and Triple Fugue on B-A-C-H; Passion According to St. Luke (Geneva, April 9, 1919).
Bibliography
E. Perini, O. B. (Zurich, 1960).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire