Jean-Baptiste Charles de Pauw (30 March 1852 – 10 June 1924) was an organist and music educator of Belgian origin who lived and worked in the Netherlands. He was born and raised in Brussels, the son of the musician, writer, portrait painter and graphic artist Fortuné Livin Désiré De Pauw, who gave him his first music lessons, and the singer Louise Pauline De Roij. He made his first public appearance at the age of seven.
In 1864 De Pauw entered the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he studied with Alphonse Mailly. During this period he performed for Franz Liszt and played piano four hands with him. He also studied composition with François-Joseph Fétis and, after Fétis's death, with François-Auguste Gevaert. Before graduating with the Prix d'Excellence in 1873, he became titular organist of the Pierre Schyven organ at St. Boniface Church in Ixelles, Brussels. He entered the Prix de Rome competition three times with cantatas: he received an honourable mention, or third prize, in 1875 and second prizes in 1877 and 1879.
De Pauw moved to the Netherlands in 1879 and remained professionally active there for the rest of his life. He was appointed palace organist at the Palace for Popular Industry on Frederiksplein in Amsterdam, where he gave weekly concerts on its large Cavaillé-Coll organ. He often appeared with the Palace Orchestra, conducted first by Johannes Meinardus Coenen and, after 1891, by Richard Hol, as well as with soloists. His programming promoted the French-Belgian Romantic organ tradition, while also giving considerable attention to the German-Austrian tradition. The Palace Orchestra and the post of palace organist were abolished in 1895.
After 1895 he held no permanent organist post and performed only rarely. One notable appearance was at the inauguration of Queen Wilhelmina in Amsterdam's New Church on 6 September 1898, when he played the Schonat organ. He did not hold or seek a church-music appointment in the Netherlands. Instead, he focused mainly on teaching, having been appointed organ and piano teacher at the Amsterdam Conservatory in 1884 and, from 1895, also at the Amsterdam Toonkunst Music School. He retained these teaching posts until his death at the age of 72. Although invited in 1886 to apply for the position of permanent organist of the Christian Müller main organ at St. Bavo's Church in Haarlem, he declined because of his teaching commitments.
His pupils included Louis Robert, George Robert, Hendrik Andriessen, Willem Andriessen, Evert Cornelis, Julia Culp, Marius Monnikendam, Aaltje Noordewier-Reddingius, Bernhard van den Sigtenhorst Meyer, Anthon van der Horst, Cornelis de Wolf, Jacob Bijster, Jan Nieland, Anton Tierie, Hennie Schouten, Cor Kee, Johan Winnubst and Eduard van Beinum. Contemporaries described him as a much-loved teacher. He made and performed many arrangements and organ transcriptions, while also defending the integrity of compositions. His views on the interpretation of Baroque music by composers including Bach and Handel prompted considerable discussion. In 1912, on his sixtieth birthday, he was made a Knight of the Belgian Order of Leopold.
As a composer, De Pauw was chiefly active in his youth. His works included two symphonies; the songs La Jeune Fille and Berceuse; the Prix de Rome cantatas La Sirène (1875), La Cloche Roeland (1877) and Camoëns (1879); Trois Morceaux Caractéristiques for piano, also known in its organ version as Gavotte, Intermezzo et Courante; Prélude et Fugato for piano; Quatre pièces for piano and violin (1898); and Rêve d'Amour for organ (1882), dedicated to his wife, Louisa Hester Beudt. He also produced many organ transcriptions of music by other composers, nearly all of which remained unpublished and were lost.