Gabriel Dupont

Gabriel Édouard Xavier Dupont (born March 1, 1878 in Caen , † August 2, 1914 in Le Vésinet ) was a French composer.

Live and act

Dupont had his first lessons from his father, who was a music professor at Malherbe College and organist at the Saint-Etienne church . He attended the conservatory in his hometown before coming to Paris in 1893. There he entered the class for harmony taught by Antoine Taudou at the Conservatoire de Paris . From 1894 to 1896 he took composition lessons with Jules Massenet , he also had private organ lessons with Louis Vierne and studied counterpoint with André Gedalge .

In 1895 Dupont officially enrolled at the Conservatoire and became an organ student of Charles Marie Widor , with whom he also studied composition from 1897 to 1903. In 1901 he won the Second Grand Prix de Rome . With the opera La Cabreira he won the Concorso Sonzogno . It was performed in 1904 at the Teatro Lirico di Milano and in 1905 at the Opéra-Comique in Paris.

Three more operas followed, which were premiered in Nice, Brussels and Paris. Two of his great symphonic works were premiered at the Concerts Colonne : the orchestral version of Heures dolentes in 1906 and the symphonic poem Le Chant de la Destinée in 1907 .

Two major piano cycles were written between 1903 and 1905 and between 1908 and 1909: Heures dolentes (first performed in 1906 by Maurice Dumesnil ) and La Maison dans les dunes (first performed in 1910 by Dumesnil). His last opera, Antar , premiered at the Paris Opera after his death in 1921 and was performed forty times by 1946.

Dupont fell ill with tuberculosis around 1905 and died of the disease at the age of 36 on the night of August 2, 1914. His brother Maurice Dupont was an orientalist, Robert Dupont became known as a painter.

The opera Antar was performed for the first time in Germany on May 2, 2009 in the Kiel Opera House by the Kiel Opera Choir and the Kiel Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Georg Fritzsch .

Works

Deux Airs de Ballet for piano, 1895
Feuillets d'album for piano, 1897
Allegretto for organ, 1898
Élévation en Si bémol majeur for organ
Pièce en forme de canon for organ, 1898
Meditation for organ, 1899
Trois Choeurs , Songs from Normandy for female choir, 1900
Journée de Printemps for violin and piano, 1901
Pour la Toussaint for organ, 1902
La Cabrera , opera (libretto by Henri Cain ), 1903
Les Heures dolentes for piano, 1903–1905
Poèmes d'Automne , songs, 1904
La Glu , opera (libretto by Jean Richepin and Henri Cain), 1905–1908
Les Heures dolentes for orchestra, 1906
Le Chant de la Destinée , symphonic poem for piano and orchestra, 1907
La Maison dans les Dunes for piano, 1908–1909
La Farce du cuvier , Opera, 1909–1911
Poème for piano and string quartet, 1911
Antar , opera (libretto by Chekri Ganem ), 1912–1913

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Dupont, Gabriel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dupont, Gabriel Édouard Xavier (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French composer
DATE OF BIRTH	March 1, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH	Caen
DATE OF DEATH	August 2, 1914
Place of death	Le Vésinet