Paul Benner (07/11/1877 - 29/03/1953), a Swiss composer (born in Neuchâtel), choir conductor and pupil at the conservatory at Frankfort. He was a pupil of Emile Lauber. He was a teacher at Neuchâtel.

Paul Benner was born on 7th November 1877 in Neuchâtel. His father, Karl Friedrich Benner, came from Oehringen, Bad Würtemberg, Germany; his mother, Anna Prysi, from Blumenstein, canton Berne, Switzerland. He was a pupil of Emil Lauber and studied during three years, from 1898 till 1901, with Knorr and Bellwidt at the Conservatory of Frankfort. In 1899 he got the Swiss nationality, was the leader of music life in Neuchâtel and acknowledged Swiss composer till his death in 1953. He was famous for his improvisations at the organ of Temple du Bas in Neuchâtel.
1901: director of the choir of Eglise Indépendante
1905: director of the Choir Mixte d'Yverdon
1911: organist of the Eglise Indépendante Neuchâteloise at the Temple du Bas (church and concert hall) and director of the Société Chorale de Neuchâtel
1923: teacher at the Conservatoire de Neuchâtel for composition, harmony, counterpoint and fuga
Paul Benner composed several important choral works which were executed during his life time but were soon forgotten after his death on 29th March 1953 in Neuchâtel, three weeks before the concert of De la harpe aux cymbales, sung by Société Chorale de Neuchâtel, conducted by his successor, Wilhelm Arbenz from Bienne.
Redemption (Mortuus pro nobis - Et resurrexit), 1910
Requiem (ed. Foetisch), 1911
Poèmes de la mer (ed. Foetisch), 1916
La Baptême du Bourdon, 1917
Extase et Caravane, 1920
Liber apertus est, 1923
Mass in D minor (ed. Foetisch), 1932
De la harpe aux cymbales, 1938
Te Deum, 1945