François Daniel Roth (born 31 October 1942) is a French organist, composer, musicologist, and pedagogue. He was titular organist of the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, from 1985 to 2023, and is currently the emeritus titular organist.[1]
François Daniel Roth (born 31 October 1942) is a French organist, composer, musicologist, and pedagogue. He was titular organist of the Church of Saint-Sulpice, Paris, from 1985 to 2023, and is currently the emeritus titular organist.[1]
Roth was born in Mulhouse in Vichy France to René Roth and his wife Angèle (née Higelin). He began his musical training at the conservatoire in his hometown with Joseph Victor Meyer. In 1960, he entered the Conservatoire de Paris, where he graduated with five first prizes—in organ and improvisation (1963, class of Rolande Falcinelli), harmony (1962, class of Maurice Duruflé), counterpoint and fugue (1963, class of Marcel Bitsch), and piano accompaniment (1970, class of Henriette Puig-Roget). He later continued his organ studies with Marie-Claire Alain after graduating from Falcinelli's class.
In 1963 Roth became Falcinelli's deputy at the great organ at Basilique du Sacré-Coeur in Paris. He succeeded her as titular organist in 1973, and held this position until 1985, when he was appointed titular organist at the Church of Saint-Sulpice.
Roth retired from St. Sulpice in 2023 and was succeeded by Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin and Karol Mossakowski as co-titular organists. He was appointed emeritus titular organist and continues to play at the church for one recital and one mass per month.[1]
From 1974 to 1976 he was artist-in-residence at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception and professor of organ at the Catholic University of America, both in Washington, D.C. He also held teaching positions at the conservatoires of Marseille (1974−1979), Strasbourg (1979−1988) and Saarbrücken (1988−1995). From 1995 to 2007 he taught organ performance and improvisation at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. He was also a consultant for the new organ built by the Karl Schuke company at the Luxembourg Philharmonie, which he dedicated in 2005.
Roth has won several prestigious organ competitions, including the competition of the "Amis de l'orgue" and the Grand Prix in organ performance and improvisation in the Concours de Chartres in 1971 (alongside Yves Devernay).[2]
He is a Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur, an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Organists. In 2006 he received the European Prize of European sacred music from the German Schwäbisch Gmünd Festival.
Roth was married to Odile Josèphe-Georgette Mangin (9 June 1939 − 9 March 2015), with whom he had four children, including the painter Anne-Marie Roth Baud (born 1968), the conductor and flautist François-Xavier Roth and the violist Vincent Roth.
