August 6, 2018.Three French composers.Cécile Chaminade, one of the few French women composers, was born on August 8th of 1857 in Paris.Her first music lessons came from her mother, a pianist and a singer.Later she studied composition with Benjamin Godard. She started composing very young (when she was eight, she played some of her music for Georges Biset) and gained prominence with the publication of Piano Trio in 1880.An excellent pianist, she toured England many times, playing mostly her own music and became very popular there.In 1908 she went to the US, the country of “Chaminade fan clubs” and played in 12 cities, from Boston to St Louis.Between 1880 and 1890 Chaminade composed several large orchestral compositions and music for piano and orchestra.In the following period she scaled down, limiting herself to piano character pieces, of which she wrote more than 200.Many of them are charming though they became dated even during her time (Chaminade lived till 1944).Here ’s her short piano character piece, Scarf Dance. It’s performed by Lincoln Mayorga.
André Jolivet was also born in Paris and also on August 8th but in 1905.In his childhood he studied the cello but never went to the conservatory (he did study composition with Paul Le Fem, a composer and critic).In his youth Jolivet was influenced by Debussy and Ravel, but it all changed when he became familiar with atonal music: in December of 1927 he attended a concert at the Salle Pleyel during which several Schoenberg pieces were performed and that changed his life.Soon after he became a pupil of Edgard Varèse, an influential French-American avant-garde composer.He also befriended Olivier Messiaen, who was better known at the time and helped Jolivet by promoting his music.After the war Jolivet served as the musical director of the Comédie Française and composed a number 14 scores for plays performed at the theater.
During that time, he moved away from atonality, but his music retained dissonance and rhythmic drive.He continued composing till his death in Paris, December 20th of 1974: at that time, he was working on the opera Le soldat inconnu, commissioned by the Paris Opera. Here’s his piece for flute and piano, Chant de Linos, composed in 1944.It’s performed by Emmanuel Pahud, the Principal Flute of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the pianist Eric Le Sage.
Reynaldo Hahn wasn’t French by birth but he took on French nationality later in his life, in 1909.He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 9th of 1874.His father was a German-Jewish engineer, his mother came from a Spanish family.When Reynaldo, the youngest of 12 children, was four, the family moved to Paris.In 1885 Hahn entered the Paris Conservatory, where one of his teachers was Jules Massenet.At the Conservatory Hahn befriended Ravel and Cortot, and through them, many other writers and musicians.A closeted homosexual, Hahn met a young writer, Marcel Proust in 1894; they became intimate friends and lovers.Hahn is best known for his wonderful songs, here is one of them, L'enamourée.It’s sung by the soprano Anna Netrebko; the Prague Philharmonic is conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.
Three French composers
August 6, 2018. Three French composers. Cécile Chaminade, one of the few French women composers, was born on August 8th of 1857 in Paris. Her first music lessons came from her mother, a pianist and a singer. Later she studied composition with Benjamin Godard. She started
composing very young (when she was eight, she played some of her music for Georges Biset) and gained prominence with the publication of Piano Trio in 1880. An excellent pianist, she toured England many times, playing mostly her own music and became very popular there. In 1908 she went to the US, the country of “Chaminade fan clubs” and played in 12 cities, from Boston to St Louis. Between 1880 and 1890 Chaminade composed several large orchestral compositions and music for piano and orchestra. In the following period she scaled down, limiting herself to piano character pieces, of which she wrote more than 200. Many of them are charming though they became dated even during her time (Chaminade lived till 1944). Here ’s her short piano character piece, Scarf Dance. It’s performed by Lincoln Mayorga.
André Jolivet was also born in Paris and also on August 8th but in 1905. In his childhood he studied the cello but never went to the conservatory (he did study composition with Paul Le Fem, a composer and critic). In his youth Jolivet was influenced by Debussy and Ravel, but it all changed when he became familiar with atonal music: in December of 1927 he attended a concert at the Salle Pleyel during which several Schoenberg pieces were performed and that changed his life. Soon after he became a pupil of Edgard Varèse, an influential French-American avant-garde composer. He also befriended Olivier Messiaen, who was better known at the time and helped Jolivet by promoting his music. After the war Jolivet served as the musical director of the Comédie Française and composed a number 14 scores for plays performed at the theater.
During that time, he moved away from atonality, but his music retained dissonance and rhythmic drive. He continued composing till his death in Paris, December 20th of 1974: at that time, he was working on the opera Le soldat inconnu, commissioned by the Paris Opera. Here’s his piece for flute and piano, Chant de Linos, composed in 1944. It’s performed by Emmanuel Pahud, the Principal Flute of the Berlin Philharmonic, and the pianist Eric Le Sage.
Reynaldo Hahn wasn’t French by birth but he took on French nationality later in his life, in 1909. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on August 9th of 1874. His father was a German-Jewish engineer, his mother came from a Spanish family. When Reynaldo, the youngest of 12 children, was four, the family moved to Paris. In 1885 Hahn entered the Paris Conservatory, where one of his teachers was Jules Massenet. At the Conservatory Hahn befriended Ravel and Cortot, and through them, many other writers and musicians. A closeted homosexual, Hahn met a young writer, Marcel Proust in 1894; they became intimate friends and lovers. Hahn is best known for his wonderful songs, here is one of them, L'enamourée. It’s sung by the soprano Anna Netrebko; the Prague Philharmonic is conducted by Emmanuel Villaume.