Born: 1873, Liège, Belgium
Died: 1953, Sart, Belgium

Joseph Jongen was one of the great organists in an era of great organists. His somewhat traditional formal style reveals the influences of his teachers, D'Indy and Strauss, as well as fellow Belgian César Franck, but he also drew heavily on the the textural and orchestral innovations of composers such as Debussy, Ravel, and Stravinsky. Jongen composed prolifically in virtually every genre and produced a significant body of chamber music, but he is known best as the composer of such organ music as the Sonata eroïca and the Symphonie concertante. Jongen himself prized his 1920 Prélude élégiaque et scherzo, a work of haunting atmosphere and evocative orchestral colors.