Augustin Barié

Barié was born in Paris as the only son of architect Charles-Maximin Henri Barié and Victorine Eugénie Petit and was blind from birth; however, he had large hands which spanned an eleventh, allowing him to play the difficult organ works of composers such as César Franck with relative ease.

He then became organist at St Germain-des-Prés in Paris, as well as professor of organ at the Institut National des Jeunes Aveugles.

Barié was a celebrated improviser, one of a long line of French Romantic virtuoso organists, and he wrote mostly for organ, including a Symphony (Op.

On 12 December 1912, he married his fiancée Jeanne-Marie Victoire Joséphine Favier (born 12 March 1886 in Chambéry).

His career was cut short when he died of a brain hemorrhage in Antony, France at the age of 31.