Clermont Pépin

Jean Joseph Clermont Pépin , OC , OQ (born May 15, 1926 in Saint-Georges-de-Beauce / Québec , † September 2, 2006 in Montreal ) was a Canadian composer, pianist and music teacher.

biography

From 1939 to 1941 Pépin studied piano and composition in Montreal with Arthur Letondal and Claude Champagne and then until 1944 at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia with Jeanne Behrend and Rosario Scalero . Until 1946 he was at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec a student of Jean Dansereau , Louis Bailly , Léon Barzin and again of Claude Champagne.

Several awards from the Composers, Authors and Publishers Association of Canada (CAPAC) enabled him to study at the Royal Conservatory of Music with Lubka Kolessa , Arnold Walter and Nicholas Goldschmidt . In 1949 he won the Prix d'Europe as a pianist and lived in Paris until 1955 , where he took piano lessons from Yves Nat and Lazare Lévy and composition lessons from Arthur Honegger and André Jolivet . At the Conservatoire de Paris he attended courses from Olivier Messiaen .

From 1955 to 1973 Pépin taught at the Conservatoire de musique, of which he was director since 1967. Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux , François Dompierre , André Gagnon , Jacques Hétu and André Prévost were among his students . After working for the Québec Ministry of Culture until 1977, he taught again at the Conservatoire until 1987.

In 1963 Pépin was one of the founding members of the Center d'études prospectives du Québec , on whose publications he worked. From 1966 to 1970 he was Vice President and from 1980 to 1982 President of CAPAC. He was also president of the Jeunesses musicales du Canada from 1969 to 1972 . In 1980 he founded the publishing house Les Éditions Clermont Pépin to publish all of his works.

As early as 1938, Wilfrid Pelletier performed a minuet by twelve-year-old Pépin at the Concerts symphoniques de Montréal . In 1939 the Orchester Symphonique de Québec presented a symphony under Robert Talbot - the arrangement of a piano composition - by him. In 1947 the CBC broadcast its first symphony under the conductor Jean-Marie Beaudet . In Paris he turned away from the post-romantic style that had previously been cultivated and, under the influence of Honegger, turned to serial music . Guernica (after the painting by Picasso ) and the ballet Les Portes de l'enfer , which he performed with his first wife Raymonde Gagnon - he was married to the violinist Mildred Goodman - in 1953, are examples of this period.

In his ballets and drama music from the 1950s, elements of jazz made themselves felt for the first time . In 1972 he wrote for the Montreal International Music Competition , the Monad III , a bravura piece for violin and orchestra. On the fiftieth anniversary of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, his symphony Implosion was performed in 1983 . In his later years he composed a number of church music works, including a Te Deum (1991) and the Messe sur le monde (1993).

The Concours de Musique Clermont-Pépin has been held since 1985 to promote young musicians. Pépin received the Prix ​​de musique Calixa-Lavallée in 1970 , became Officer of the Order of Canada in 1981 and of the Ordre national du Québec in 1990 .

Works

• Pieces faciles pour piano , 1938–1953
• Petite étude No. 1, 2, 3 and 4 for piano , 1940, 1946, 1947
• Variations for string orchestra, 1944
• Trois Menuets for string quartet, 1944
• Toccate No. 1 for piano, 1946
• Ave Maria , 1946
• Concerto No. 1 for piano and orchestra, 1946
• Sonate en un mouvement for piano, 1947
• Variations symphoniques , 1947
• Thème et variations for piano, 1947
• Adagio for string orchestra, 1947–1956
• String Quartet No. 1 , 1948
• Symphony No.1 in B Minor , 1948
• Cycle Éluard for soprano and piano, 1949
• Étude - Atlantique for piano, 1949
• Concerto No. 2 for piano and orchestra, 1949
• Cantique des cantiques , 1950
• Nocturne for piano, 1950
• Suite for piano, 1951
• Guernica , symphonic poem, 1952
• The Nose, Cradle Song, The Gates of Hell for piano, 1953
• Les Portes de l'enfer , ballet, 1953
• Le Rite du soleil noir , symphonic poem, 1955
• Quatre Monodies , 1955
• Nocturne for piano and string orchestra, 1955–1959
• Athalie , incidental music, 1956
• Le Malade imaginaire , incidental music, 1956
• L'Oiseau-phénix , ballet, 1956
• Ronde villageoise de L'Oiseau-phénix , 1956
• Trois Pièces pour “La Légende dorée” for harpsichord or piano, 1956
• String Quartet No. 2 'Variations' , 1956
• Fantaisie for string orchestra, 1957
• Symphony No. 2 , 1957
• Fantaisie based on French folk songs, 1957
• Suite for violin, cello and piano, 1958
• Pieces pour piano , 1958-1995
• String Quartet No. 3 , 1959
• Hymne au vent du nord , cantata for tenor and small orchestra, 1960
• String Quartet No. 4 'Hyberboles' , 1960
• Toccata No. 3 for piano, 1961
• Monologue for orchestra, 1961
• Ronde villageoise de L'Oiseau-phénix for two pianos, 1961
• Nombres for two pianos and orchestra, 1962
• Three Miniatures for Strings , 1963
• Monade I for string orchestra, 1964
• Quasars, Symphony No. 3 , 1967
• Pièce de circonstance for children's choir and school instrument ensemble , 1967
• Monade III for violin and orchestra, 1972
• Séquences for flute, oboe and string trio, 1972
• Chroma for orchestra, 1973
• Prismes et cristaux for string orchestra, 1974
• Monade IV - Réseaux for violin and piano, 1974
• La Messe sur le monde, Symphony No. 4 for bass, choir and orchestra, 1974
• Monade VI - Réseaux for violin, 1974–1976
• String Quartet No. 5 , 1976
• Interactions for percussion and two pianos, 1977
• Nuclées for percussion, 1977
• Trio No. 2 for vilinie, cello and piano, 1982
• Implosion, Symphony No. 5 , 1983
• Monade VII for violin and viola, 1986
• Paysage for soprano, clarinet, cello and piano, 1987
• Trois incantations for voice and piano, 1987
• Concerto , 1988
• Te Deum for choir and instrumental ensemble, 1991

Web links

• Entry in The Canadian Encyclopedia