Charles Koechlin

Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin ([ ʃaʀl lwi øˈʒɛn keklɛ̃ ]; born November 27, 1867 in Paris , † December 31, 1950 in Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer , Département Var ) was a French composer .

Biography and artistic development

Charles Koechlin was born in Paris on November 27, 1867 and came from a broad family of inventors, engineers, industrialists and artists who lived in Mulhouse in Alsace for centuries . He came into contact with music very early on. The older sister's piano playing stimulated his childish imagination. He made his first attempts at composing at the age of fifteen, and he regularly went to concerts and operas to discover the music of Charles Gounod , Hector Berlioz , Camille Saint-Saëns , César Franck , Georges Bizet , Jules Massenet , Richard Wagner and Frédéric Chopin . A performance of Bach's Mass in B minor and - in 1884 - a concert by the Russian pianist Anton Rubinstein with Chopin's Sonata in B minor left a lasting impression .

However, Koechlin only came to the decision to make music his profession after a detour. In his life he saw “a series of happy coincidences in mishap, or in other words: 'The events ultimately turn in my favor.'” The decisive course in his life stemmed from such mishap: Koechlin had to study at the Paris École polytechnique , which envisaged a civil engineering career, interrupted in 1888 because of life-threatening tuberculosis . He was able to cure the disease through two stays in Algeria, each lasting several months. As a result of the long break, however, his classification at the École Polytechnique deteriorated considerably, a circumstance that would have denied him the civilian profession and would have left only the choice between an artillery or a naval officer career. A military career was hardly conceivable for Koechlin, and so he finished his training as a "polytechnician" in 1889.

Koechlin describes the path to his decision for music as follows: “So now I was free. I visited Charles Lefebvre and showed him my orchestral song Clair de lune , which I had just finished; he was quite impressed by it and gave me private lessons in counterpoint. ”In the course of 1891 Koechlin enrolled as a student at the Paris Conservatoire. He studied harmony and counterpoint with Antoine Taudou and André Gedalge , and in 1892 he was accepted into Jules Massenet's composition class. He attended lectures at Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray , a. a. about Wagner. In 1909 he founded the Societé Indépendante de Musique (SIM) together with Gabriel Fauré , Maurice Ravel and Florent Schmitt .

Not only in the Viennese circle around Arnold Schönberg , but also among the generation of French composers born between 1860 and 1880, the experience of the complex, no longer resolved dissonances in Wagner's Tristan or in the Ring des Nibelungen broadened their horizons: a lasting impulse that moved forward Skilful composing around the turn of the century should lead in very different ways to abandon the secure terrain of tonality . The Massenet composition class, which was taken over by Gabriel Fauré in 1896 , included Koechlin, Florent Schmitt, Reynaldo Hahn , the very young George Enescu and Maurice Ravel. Koechlin describes the mood of optimism that prevailed at the time in the notes he has already quoted: “There were very unusual insights, similar to an opening window to the mysterious world of sounds or a voyage of discovery into an unexplored jungle. This is exactly how the music of the future presented itself to us. We found these insights, this desire to break the old rules, these new sound discoveries in Franck, Chabrier and Fauré, but above all in a strange and mysterious colleague, Florent Schmitt and Ernest Le Grand lifted into the sky: Claude Debussy. To be precise, I knew almost nothing of him when I became a student of Taudou, only [the song published in 1890] Mandolin . But this 'almost nothing' was a great deal; There are a few modulating chords in this song at the beginning, which opened up all kinds of modulation possibilities for me. Sometimes a single beat from a brilliant colleague is enough to open the gate to the enchanted gardens for us, where we may then be able to pick very different flowers than himself. "

Koechlin's diverse sources of inspiration ranged from poems from antiquity, the poetry of the French group Les Parnassiens via Heinrich Heine to Kipling's jungle books , from a novella by his uncle, the philosopher Charles Dollfus ( Le Docteur Fabricius op. 202) to Romain Rolland ( Le Buisson ardent op 203/171) to the films of the 1930s. In the period from 1890 to 1908, vocal compositions were at the forefront of his compositional work. They show the need to place very distant keys against each other or to combine them surprisingly, a great freedom of modulation and the use of unresolved suspensions and dissonances as well as parallel ninth chords. In this way, Koechlin opened up new worlds of sound, which are characterized by the great breath of wide-stretched lines and filigree harmony. His singular orchestration technique has inexhaustible gradations and colors due to the mixture and combination of instruments. An added string violet creates the perfect balance, a deep piano note gives the soft approach of the double basses the necessary contour. The concise transparency of his orchestral works owes to this diverse mixed technique from the magic workshop of the sound alchemist Koechlin. Its color palette ranges from the deepest, yet clearly contoured dark to almost painful, dazzling brightness. The spatiality and the multiple perspectives of the sound are impressive.

Polytonality (the simultaneity and layering of distant chords and keys) and atonality (the harmony and melody no longer related to the fundamental) were Koechlin's preferred stylistic devices from 1910 onwards. Such tendencies and procedures can already be observed in his early orchestral songs from 1892 to 1906, long before they became a concept and label around 1915. In one of his most fruitful creative periods, around 50 works were created between 1910 and 1921, primarily piano and chamber music. With the piano cycle Les Heures persanes op. 65 (1913–1919; orchestral version 1921) and the quintet pour piano et cordes op. 80 (1908–1921) Koechlin belongs to the avant-garde of French composers of the time. At first practical necessities determined the further orientation: Through private teaching and intensive music writing work Koechlin secured his own material existence and that of his family. From this teaching activity, well-founded school works emerged, which also want to develop the craft, but primarily the musicality and creativity of the learner. Among Koechlin's students were Francis Poulenc and Henri Sauguet . In 1928 he received a teaching position at the University of California at Berkeley , in 1929 he received the Hollywood Bowl Prize.

In the 1930s Koechlin was enchanted by the early talkies. However, he hardly contributed any film music himself; rather, film experiences inspired him to create his own compositions, for example for The Seven Stars' Symphony op. 132. A festival held in Paris in 1932 at which Koechlin's orchestral works - including La Course de printemps op. 95, premiered - were played under the direction of Roger Désormière , brought him great recognition, but not the breakthrough he had hoped for. The left humanist Koechlin experienced the beginning of the Second World War as an incredible catastrophe: His compositional and creative inspiration came to a complete standstill for over two years from the end of 1939. During this time he devoted himself to the completion of his four-volume Traité de l'orchestration . With the orchestral composition Offrande musicale sur le nom de BACH op. 187, he resumed his compositional work at the beginning of 1942. The last two decades of life brought a rich harvest of orchestral works. In 1948 he was elected an honorary member of the International Society for Contemporary Music ISCM ( International Society for New Music ). In 1949 the Société des Auteurs awarded him the Grand Prix de la Musique française .

He was a humanist spirit who always knew how to preserve his independence and freedom over a long life. Charles Koechlin died on December 31, 1950 in his Mediterranean house in Le Canadel in the French department of Var.

Works

Koechlin's extensive output includes songs with piano or orchestra, piano works, chamber music and orchestral works. He was highly regarded as a music theorist and author of textbooks on harmony , counterpoint and orchestration . His art of orchestration (partly using Ondes Martenot ) impresses with its clarity and spatial depth; Koechlin is a “master of the smallest transition” in the field of orchestral colors.

Koechlin's compositional style defies simple categorization. He alternates between impressionistic and expressionistic features and draws on old techniques (such as church modes ) as well as modern means, such as polytonality or atonality .

What is striking in his work, which comprises 225 opus numbers, are frequent non-musical references. Often the purely instrumental works are based on literary models, so over a period of almost 40 years several symphonic poems based on the jungle book by Rudyard Kipling were created :

Trois poèmes op.18
La course de printemps ( The Spring Run ) op.95
La méditation de Purun Bhagat op. 159
La loi de la jungle (German: The law of the jungle ) op.175
Les Bandar-log op.176

In the 7-movement Seven Stars Symphony op.132, composed in 1933 , he set a musical monument to seven film stars ( Douglas Fairbanks , Lilian Harvey , Greta Garbo , Clara Bow , Marlene Dietrich , Emil Jannings and Charlie Chaplin ).

reception

Koechlin's compositions have met with increasing interest from the musical public since 2001, not least because of the production - in cooperation with SWR and its Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra with conductor Heinz Holliger as well as with Hänssler Classic and the Charles Koechlin archive (Kassel) Series of CD releases.

Catalog raisonné (incomplete)

Orchestral works

Le Livre de la Jungle: Trois Poèmes op. 18 (1899–1901; instr. 1903/04)
Au loin (from a distance), symphon. Movement op.20 (1896/1900)
L'Automne op. 30 (1896–1906)
2 Poèmes symphoniques op. 43 (1898–1909, orch. 1916)
Études antiques op. 46 (1908–10, orch. 1913)
2 Poèmes symphoniques op. 47 (1910–12)
L'Été op.48 (1910-12)
Symphony No. 1 op.57 (1916)
Les Heures persanes op. 65 (1913–1919, orch. 1921)
Livre de la Jungle: La course de printemps op. 95 (1925-27)
Vers la voûte etoilée (To the stars) op.129
Sur les flots lointains op.130 (2nd version: for orchestra and string orchestra; 1933)
Seven Stars Symphony op.132 (1933)
Livre de la Jungle: La méditation de Purun Bhagat op.159 (1936)
Le Buisson ardent, part 2 op.171 (1938)
Livre de la Jungle: La loi de la Jungle op.175
Livre de la Jungle: Les Bandar-log op.176
Offrande musicale sur le nom de BACH op. 187
Symphony No. 2, Op. 196 (1943)
Le Docteur Fabricius op. 202 (1941–44)
Le Buisson ardent, part 1 op. 203 (1945)

Solo instrument and orchestra

3 chorals f. Organ u. Orch. Op. 49 (1920/21)
Ballad f. Piano and Orchestra op.50 (1913)
Silhouettes de comédie f. Bassoon Orch. Op.193

Wind band

20 sonneries pour trompes de chasse (volume 1) op.123 (1932)
20 sonneries pour trompes de chasse (Volume 2) op.142 (1935)
Quelques chorals pour des fetes popular

Chamber music

Quartet No.1 op.51 (1902/1914)
Quartet No.2 op.57 (1909/1921)
Sonata f. Flute and piano op.52 (1913)
Sonata f. Viola and piano op.53 (1915)
Suite en quatuor f. Flute, violin, viola and piano op.55
Sonata f. Oboe and piano op.58 (1911/16)
Sonata for violin and piano op.64
Sonata f. Horn and piano op.70 (1918/25)
Sonata f. 2 flutes op.75 (1920)
Piano quintet op.80 (1921)
Divertissement f. 3 flutes op.90
Trio f. 2 flutes and clarinet op.91
Trio f. Flute, clarinet and bassoon op.92
20 Sonneries op. 123 f. Horn solo
4 pieces f. Flute and piano (L'Album de Lilian, 2nd part), op.149 (1935)
Sonneries op.153b f. Horn solo
Sonatina f. Flute and Clarinet op.155
Quintet “Primavera” (flute, harp, strings) op. 156
14 pieces for flute and piano op.157b (1936)
Épitaphe de Jean Harlow (flute, piano, saxophone) op.164
14 pieces f. Oboe (English horn) and piano op.179
15 pieces f. Horn and piano op.180 (1942)
3 sonatinas f. Flute solo op.184 (1942)
Suite f. English horn solo op.185
Duos f. 2 saxophones op.186
2 sonatinas f. Oboe d'amore, flute, clarinet, harp a. String Sextet op.194
Les Chants de Nectaire op.198 f. Flute solo
Wind trio op.206
12 monodies pour instruments à vent op.213 (1947)
Monodies f. English horn or oboe d'amore op.216
Morceau de lecture f. Flute and piano op.218 (1948)
Sonata à 7 (oboe, flute, harp and string quartet) op.221
Stèle Funéraire f. Flute (picc., Fl., Alto fl.)
Sonatine modale f. Flute and clarinet
Morceau de lecture f. Horn solo
Sonneries o.op. f. Horn solo

Piano works

Suite f. 2 pianos op.6 (1896)
Suite f. Piano 4 hands op.19 (1900)
Nocturne chromatique op.33
24 Esquisses op. 41 (1905-15)
12 Esquisses op.47
5 sonatinas op.59
4 Sonatines françaises for piano 4 hands op.60 (1919)
64 Exercises à deux parties op.61a (1919/20)
L'École du jeu lié op.61b (1919/20)
10 petits pièces faciles op.61c (1919/20)
12 petits pièces faciles op.61d (1919/20)
Paysages et marines, 12 pieces, op.63 (also in orchestral version; 1917/1950)
Les Heures persanes, 16 pieces op. 65 (1913-19)
12 Pastorales op.77 (1920)
4 Nouvelles Sonatines op.87 (1923/24)
L'Ancienne Maison de campagne, 12 pieces op.124 (1932/33)
Le Portrait de Daisy (Hamilton) f. Piano 4 hands op.140 (1934)
La Belle Traversée, 3 pieces op.162 (1937)
Danses pour Ginger f. Piano 4 hands op.163
Les Chants de Kervélean, 6 pieces op.197 (1943)
12 Petits Pieces Faciles Op. 208 (1946)
15 Preludes op.209 (1946)

Organ works

3 sonatinas op.107
10 Thèmes pour improvisations op.192 (1943)
Adagio op. 201 (1944)
Adagio op.211 (1947)

singing

Songs op.1 (Rondels de Th. De Banville)
Songs op.5 (1894)
Songs op.7 (1895)
Songs op.8 (Rondels de Th. De Banville)
Lieder op.13 (1894)
Songs op. 22 (1901)
Songs op.31 (Samain)
Songs op.35
Songs op.68
L'Album de Lilian (1st episode) f. Flute, piano and voice op.139 (1934)
Lieder op.151 (7 Chansons pour Gladys)

Choir

La Fin de l'homme op.11 (1895)
La lamp du ciel op.12 (1896)
L'Abbaye, Suite religieuse, 1re partie f. Female voices, mixed choir, solos, orchestra and organ op.16
L'Abbaye, suite religieuse, 2nd part, choir, solos, orchestra and organ op.42
Quelques Chœurs religieux de style modal for mixed choir a cappella op.150
Requiem pour les pauvres bougres for choir, orchestra, piano, Ondes Martenot and organ op.161
15 Motets de style archaïque op.225

Web links

Commons : Charles Koechlin - collection of images, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Koechlin, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Koechlin, Charles Louis Eugène (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French composer
DATE OF BIRTH	November 27, 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	December 31, 1950
Place of death	Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer , Var (department)