Fernande Decruck

Fernande Decruck (née Breilh) (25 December 1896 – 6 August 1954) was a French composer who composed over 40 works for the saxophone. Most well-known is her Sonata in C sharp minor for alto saxophone or viola, dedicated to Marcel Mule.

Fernande Breilh was born in the village of Gaillac in France to a local merchant. She began learning piano aged eight and studied at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. She was admitted to the Conservatoire de Paris in 1918 studying organ and composition. There she won prizes in harmony, fugue, counterpoint, and piano accompaniment.

Her studies in improvisation on organ led her to travel to America where she gave her first organ recitals in New York. Her husband, Maurice Decruck, a clarinetist, saxophonist and double-bassist, played both bass and saxophone with the New York Philharmonic. Maurice Decruck later became a music publisher, opening the company Les Editions de Paris. They married in 1924 and had three children, Jeannine Decruck (born 1925), Michel Decruck (born 1926) and Alain Decruck (born 1937). She moved to the United States with her family in 1928.

In 1932, Maurice Decruck returned to Paris and began a publishing company ‘’Les Editions de Paris’’ that would go on to publish Fernande Decruck’s compositions. She was included in the 1936 edition list of members of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and Affiliated Societies (ASCAP). Fernande Decruck later rejoined her husband in Paris in 1933. When Fernande returned to France, she began teaching harmony at the Conservatoire de Toulouse. Between 1937 and 1942 she lived in Toulouse with her children apart from her husband in Paris. During this period she continued to teach, compose and perform. In 1942 she moved back to Paris and many of her works were premiered between 1943 and 1947 including her Sonata in C# minor.

Fernande and Maurice Decruck were divorced in 1950 after several years of separation. She died of a stroke on 6 August 1954.

Biography taken from Wikipedia.