Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod.

Petite symphonie pour neuf instruments à vent (1885)

Charles-François Gounod (born in Paris, 17 June[1] 1818 – died in Saint-Cloud, 18 October[2] 1893) was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.

Contents

Biography

Gounod was born in Paris, the son of a pianist mother and an artist father. His mother was his first piano teacher. Under her tutelage, Gounod first showed his musical talents. He entered the Paris Conservatoire where he studied under Fromental Halévy and Pierre Zimmermann (he later married Zimmermann's daughter). In 1839, he won the Prix de Rome for his cantata Fernand. He was following his father; François-Louis Gounod (d. 1823) had won the second Prix de Rome in painting in 1783.[3]

Caricature from Punch, 1882.
Charles Gounod in 1859, the year of the premiere of Faust

In Italy he studied the music of Palestrina and other sacred works of the sixteenth century; these he never ceased to cherish. Around 1846-47 he began studying for the priesthood, but he changed his mind and went back to composition.[4]

In 1854, Gounod completed a Messe Solennelle, also known as the Saint Cecilia Mass. This work was first performed, in its entirety, for the church of Saint Eustache in Paris on Saint Cecilia's Day, November 22, 1855 - and from this rendition dates Gounod's fame as a noteworthy composer.

During 1855 Gounod wrote two symphonies. His Symphony No. 1 in D major was the inspiration for the Symphony in C, composed later that year by Georges Bizet, who was then Gounod's 17-year-old student. In the CD era a few recordings of these pieces have emerged: by Michel Plasson conducting the Orchestre national du Capitole de Toulouse, and by Sir Neville Marriner with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.

Gounod wrote his first opera, Sapho, in 1851, at the urging of his friend Pauline Viardot; but it was a commercial failure. He had no great theatrical success until Faust (1859), based on the play by Goethe. This remains his best-known composition, and although it took a while to achieve renown, it became one of the most frequently staged operas of all time. The romantic and melodious Roméo et Juliette (based on the Shakespeare play), premiered in 1867, is revived now and then but has never come close to matching Faust's popularity. Mireille, first performed in 1864, has been admired by connoisseurs rather than by the general public. The other Gounod operas have fallen into oblivion.

From 1870 to 1874 Gounod lived in England, becoming the first conductor of what is now the Royal Choral Society. Much of his music from this time is vocal. He became entangled with the amateur English singer Georgina Weldon[5], a relationship (platonic, it seems) which ended in great acrimony and embittered litigation.[6] Gounod had lodged with Weldon and her husband in London's Tavistock House.

Fanny Mendelssohn, sister of Felix Mendelssohn, introduced the keyboard music of Bach to Gounod, who came to revere Bach hugely. For him, The Well-Tempered Clavier was "the law to pianoforte study ... the unquestioned textbook of musical composition". It inspired Gounod to devise an improvisation of a melody over the C major Prelude (BWV 846) from the collection's first book. To this melody, in 1859, Gounod fitted the words of the Ave Maria, resulting in a setting that became world-famous.[7].

Later in his life, Gounod returned to his early religious impulses, writing much sacred music. His Pontifical Anthem (Marche Pontificale, 1869) eventually (1949) became the official national anthem of Vatican City. He expressed a desire to compose his Messe à la mémoire de Jeanne d'Arc while kneeling on the stone on which Joan of Arc knelt at the coronation of Charles VII of France.[3] A devout Catholic, he had on his piano a music-rack in which was carved an image of the face of Jesus.

He was made a Grand Officer of the Légion d'honneur in July 1888.[3] In 1893, shortly after he had put the finishing touches to a requiem written for his grandson, he died of a stroke in Saint-Cloud, France.

One of his short pieces for piano, Funeral March of a Marionette, received a new and unexpected lease of life from 1955 when it was first used as the theme for the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. His piano-accompanied songs were numerous and much praised by Ravel, but are seldom heard in recitals today.

Compositions

Operas

Oratorios

Charles Gounod's burial site (Auteuil, Paris, France)

Symphonies

Chamber music

Other instrumental

Sources

References

  1. ↑ Baker's 7th ed.; also Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, online
  2. ↑ ibid, James Harding's Gounod (Stein & Day, 1973) gives 17 October as does [1]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicioans, 5th ed. 1954
  4. ↑ Cooper M. French Music from the death of Berlioz to the death of Fauré. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1951
  5. ↑ Weldon G. My Orphanage and Gounod in England. London, 1882.
  6. ↑ Huebner S. The Operas of Charles Gounod. Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990.
  7. ↑ Joan Benson: Bach and the Clavier
  8. ↑ Steinberg, Michael (2008). "Program Notes for a Performance of Bizet's Symphony". San Francisco Symphony. http://www.sfsymphony.org/music/ProgramNotes.aspx?id=30134. Retrieved 2008-04-12. 
  9. ↑ Richard K. Fitzgerald (2006-07-25). "Gounod’s "Roméo et Juliette" at Wolf Trap". http://ionarts.blogspot.com/2006/07/gounods-romo-et-juliette-at-wolf-trap.html. 

External links

Articles

Sheet music

Recordings