Paul Lacombe

Paul Lacombe (11 July 1837 – 4 June 1927) was a Languedocien (French) composer and pianist.

Paul Lacombe was born in Carcassonne into a wealthy family of linen merchants. Initial music lessons were at the piano with his mother and he later studied voice, fugue, harmony and counterpoint with François Teysseyre (1821–1887), an alumnus of the Conservatoire de Paris who opened the first music school in Carcassonne in 1851.

Lacombe was an admirer of the music of Georges Bizet, particularly the opera The Pearl Fishers. In 1866 he began a correspondence with Bizet and asked him to help with his composition. Bizet accepted, and for two years, from 1866 to 1868, compositional advice and corrections were exchanged via post. A real friendship developed between the two as Bizet realized the enthusiasm of his student. In 1871, Lacombe was a founding member of the Société Nationale de Musique. Bizet promoted Lacombe's music among his Parisian peers, and was responsible for a performance of Lacombe's Violin Sonata, Op. 8, by Pablo de Sarasate and Élie-Miriam Delaborde. Having shown excellent compositional control in a study for quartet, Bizet wrote to Lacombe in 1867 encouraging him to write a symphonic work. Lacombe produced the Ouverture symphonique, Op. 22, which was premiered in 1876, a performance Bizet never heard due to his untimely death the previous year. Lacombe went on to write Suite pastorale, Op. 31 (1878), a work praised by Édouard Lalo, and two Prix-de-la-société-des-compositeurs-winning symphonies: No. 1 in B-flat minor, Op. 30 (1879) and No. 3 in A, Op. 48 (1887). Due to efforts made by Bizet, his music was played regularly at the Concerts Colonne and Pasdeloup.

Though Lacombe's music was well appreciated among fellow composers and musicians, it never gained a widespread popularity as he was not willing to leave his hometown of Carcassonne for Paris. A prolific composer with more than 150 works, his only significant popular success came in 1890 with the Aubade printanière, Op. 37. Throughout he retained a sense of classical form and melody, but explored contemporary (i.e. Impressionistic) harmonies in his later works. His compositional style presents, aside from its clean and solid craftsmanship, an amiable and appealing character, but with no particular originality. In addition to symphonic works, Lacombe composed a large volume of piano music, concertante works, chamber music and some 120 songs, many of which remain in manuscript.

In 1901, Lacombe was appointed under the sponsorship of Camille Saint-Saëns to the Académie des Beaux-Arts, who awarded him the Prix Chartier for his chamber music in 1887. He was made a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur in 1902.

Lacombe died in Carcassonne in 1927. In 1929, the city erected a monument in his memory on the street that bears his name, and honored him in June 1984 through a major exhibition and concert.

Paul Lacombe has sometimes been confused with fellow composer Paul Lacôme d'Estalenx (1838–1920). Some of Lacôme's scores, including in operettas La fille de l'air and Les quatre filles Aymon, were published as composed by "Paul Lacombe".