Charles Levadé

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Charles Levadé

Charles-Gaston Levadé (born January 3, 1869 in Paris , † October 27, 1948 in Cabourg , Calvados department ) was a French composer.

life and work

Levadé entered the Conservatoire de Paris in 1882 at the age of thirteen . There he attended the classes for solfège by Albert Lavignac and for piano by Charles-Auguste de Bériot . He then took piano courses with Georges Mathias , courses for accompaniment with Auguste Bazille , for harmony with Théodore Dubois and for counterpoint with André Gedalge . His composition teacher was Jules Massenet , after his departure Charles Lenepveu . In 1899 he won the Premier Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Callirhoé after Eugène Adénis .

Already during his studies Levadé came out with his first compositions. In 1895 the pantomime Cœur de Magots was premiered at the Théâtre de la Bodinière , followed in 1897 by the choir scenes for Hortense, couche-toi! . After the stay at the Villa Medici in Rome (1900-04) connected with the Prix de Rome , Levadé returned to Paris and became chef du chant at the Paris Opera .

From 1905 until the end of the 1920s, several successful operas were written, including La Courtisane de Corinthe , which Sarah Bernhardt brought to the stage of her Paris opera house in 1908, and the music for Jean-Marc d'Anthoines that came about after his return from the First World War Piece of Les Fiançailles de l'ami Fritz . In addition, Levadé also composed songs, orchestral works, chamber music, piano pieces and church music.

Erik Satie dedicated LEVADE each one of his Ogives and Gymnopedies , his classmates at the Conservatoire Reynaldo Hahn wrote in 1892 Variations sur un thème de LEVADE for piano four hands. The town of Cabourg, where Levadé owned a villa, named a street after him. His grandson Christian Levadé became known as a jazz pianist.

Works

  • Antigone , cantata, 1893
  • Clarisse Harlowe , cantata, 1895
  • Cœur de Magots , Japanese pantomime, 1895
  • Mélusine , cantata, 1896
  • Hortense, couche-toi! , 1897
  • Callirhoé , cantata, 1899
  • L'amour d'Héliodora , Salon Opera, 1903
  • Hérétiques , opera in three acts, 1905
  • Incidental music for La Courtisane de Corinthe by Michel Carré and Paul Bilhaud , 1908
  • Les Fiançailles de l'ami Fritz by Jean-Marc d'Anthoine , 1919
  • La Rôtisserie de la reine Pédauque , lyric comedy based on the novel by Anatole France, edited by Georges Docquois , 1920
  • Caroles de Noël , Opera, 1923
  • Sophie , comic opera after Louis Tiercelin , Georges Docquois and Alfred Aubert , 1923
  • La peau de chagrin , lyric comedy based on the eponymous novel by Honoré de Balzac by Pierre Decourcelle and Michel Carré , 1929
  • Le Capitaine Fracasse , comedy by Émile Bergerat and Michel Carré based on the novel of the same name by Théophile Gautier
  • Prélude religieux for string orchestra
  • Danses alsaciennes for large orchestra
  • Feuilles d'album for large orchestra
  • Arrichino for piano
  • Berceuse for piano and violin
  • Prelude religieux for organ
  • Agnus Dei for choir
  • Psaume CXIII for solos, choir and orchestra

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Levadé, Charles
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Levadé, Charles-Gaston (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French composer
DATE OF BIRTH January 3, 1869
PLACE OF BIRTH Paris
DATE OF DEATH October 27, 1948
Place of death Cabourg , Calvados department