Emmanuel Chabrier

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Emmanuel Chabrier

Alexis-Emmanuel Chabrier (born January 18, 1841 in Ambert , Département Puy-de-Dôme , † September 13, 1894 in Paris ) was a French composer and pianist .

Life

Emmanuel Chabrier was the son of the lawyer Jean Chabrier. He received his first piano lessons at the age of six and composed a few dances when he was eight. In 1852 the family moved to Clermont-Ferrand , then to Paris in 1856, where he became a piano student of Edward Wolff , studied composition with TE Semet and Aristide Hignard and violin with Richard Hammer . Nevertheless, he also began an in 1858 to study law and was given a position in the interior ministry. 1861 Nonetheless, he continued to compose on the side, limiting himself to easy piano pieces and operettas.

Through his interest in poetry and painting, Chabrier made friends with various artists. Chabrier was also fascinated by Impressionism , and his friend Édouard Manet portrayed him twice. The librettos for his operettas Fisch-Ton-Kan (1863–64) and Vaucochard et fils Ier (1864), which remained just as unfinished as the opera Jean Hunyade, which began in 1867, arose from his friendship with Paul Verlaine .

In 1873 he married Marie Alice Dejean. He wrote his first orchestral works and finally had his first successes with his cheerful operas L'étoile (1877) and Une éducation manquée (1879).

Almost all the well-known French composers of the time met in the Chabrier house. In 1880 he gave up his post in the ministry to devote himself entirely to music. In 1881 he wrote the ten Pièces pittoresques for piano , one of his most important works. In addition, he began to work as the secretary of the conductor Charles Lamoureux , where he worked as a répétiteur and choirmaster. These activities gave Chabrier important contacts that he could use to perform his works. Since Lamoureux was an active supporter of Richard Wagner , Chabrier also became a " Wagnerian ".

After a stay in Spain in 1882, he wrote the orchestral rhapsody España , his most popular piece. Chabrier originally composed the work to arouse the excitement in the audience that he felt when he saw the Iberian dancers. The work is an expression of the exoticism that was one of the characteristics of 19th century culture. Chabrier had already composed his opera Gwendoline , which was influenced by Wagner's musical dramas , in 1879 , and in the early 1880s he was hoping for a performance. (It was not until 1886 that the premiere was to take place  at the La Monnaie opera house in Brussels, due to the staunch refusal of the Paris Grand Opéra ; however, the impresario Henry Verdhurdt there had to file for bankruptcy after the second performance of the successful opera.)

From 1883 Chabrier composed mainly in La Membrolle-sur-Choisille in the Touraine , where u. a. the Trois Valses romantiques for piano emerged. After the unfortunate interruption of Gwendoline's first series of performances , Chabrier's next stage work, Le roi malgré lui , a comic opera in the style of Jacques Offenbach's operettas , was also created here . Although he was able to complete the composition in only six months, and so the work was accepted by the Paris Opéra-Comique in May 1887 - but after the third performance the opera house burned down. Chabrier also orchestrated some of his piano pieces and wrote the Six mélodies and the Ode à la musique for soprano and female choir in 1890 .

Chabrier's final years have been marked by illness, financial problems and disappointment over the modest success of his stage works. His last opera Briséïs also remained unfinished, then a paralysis prevented his composing entirely. Gwendoline was finally premiered on December 27, 1893. To make matters worse, Chabrier did not recognize his music. The composer died in 1894 after a long suffering. Only the following generation of musicians recognized its importance, especially as a piano composer.

Works

Édouard Manet: (1880)
Portrait of Emmanuel Chabrier
  • Operas
    • L'étoile ( The Star, 1877)
    • Une éducation manquée ( The educational gap , 1879)
    • Gwendoline (1885, WP 1886)
    • Le roi malgré lui ( King against his will, 1887)
    • Briséïs (1888-1891, only the 1st act completed)
  • Orchestral works
    • Lamento (1874)
    • Larghetto for horn and orchestra (1875)
    • España (1883), Rhapsody
    • Joyeuse marche (1888)
    • Prelude pastorale (1888)
    • Suite pastorale (1888, arrangement of 4 pieces from the Pièces pittoresques for piano)
  • Piano works
    • Rêverie (1855)
    • Julia . Waltz op.1 (1857)
    • Le Scalp (1861)
    • Souvenirs de Brunehaut . Waltz (1862)
    • Marche des Cipayes (1863)
    • Pas redoublé ( Cortège burlesque, 1871)
    • Suite de valses (1872)
    • Impromptu in C major (1873)
    • Pièces pittoresques (1881)
    • Trois valses romantiques for 2 pianos (1883)
    • Habanera (1885, also orchestrated)
    • Souvenirs de Munich . Quadrille on themes from Tristan and Isolde for piano four hands (1885–1886)
    • Bourrée fantasque (1891, also orchestrated)
    • Cinq morceaux ( posthumous )
  • Songs
    • nine songs (1862)
    • Sérénade de Ruy Blas (1863)
    • L'invitation au voyage (1870)
    • Sommation irrespectueuse (1880)
    • Tes yeux bleus (1883)
    • Credo d'amour (1883)
    • Chanson pour Jeanne (1886)
    • Mélodies (1890)
    • Song. Nez au Vent (posthumous)
  • further vocal works
    • Cocodette and Cocorico . Comical duet for 2 voices and orchestra (1877–1879)
    • Monsieur et Madame Orchester . Comical duet for 2 voices and orchestra (1877–1879)
    • La sulamite . Scène lyrique for mezzo-soprano, female choir and orchestra (1884)
    • Duo de l'ouvreuse de l'Opéra-Comique et de l'employé du Bon Marché (1888)
    • Ode à la musique for soprano, female choir and orchestra (piano) (1890)

literature

  • Albert Lavignac : Encyclopédie de la musique et dictionnaire du conservatoire , edition from 1931, pp. 1798–1801, digitized

Web links

Commons : Emmanuel Chabrier  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Chabrier, Emmanuel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chabrier, Alexis-Emmanuel (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer and pianist
DATE OF BIRTH January 18, 1841
PLACE OF BIRTH Ambert , Puy-de-Dôme department
DATE OF DEATH September 13, 1894
Place of death Paris