Louise Farrenc

Louise Farrenc (born May 31, 1804 in Paris ; † September 15, 1875 there ; born Jeanne Louise Dumont ) was a French composer , pianist and musicologist . She was a professor of piano at the Paris Conservatory . In 1861 and 1869 she received the Prix Chartier of the French Academy of the Arts for her chamber music.

Life

Louise Farrenc, 1855

Farrenc took piano lessons from an early age with the pianist Cécile Soria , a student of Clementi . At 15 she began to study composition , music theory and instrumentation with Anton Reicha . In 1821 she married Aristide Farrenc (1794-1865), a flautist and music publisher . In 1826 their daughter Victorine was born, who also made a name for herself as a pianist.

From 1834 Farrenc composed his first orchestral works. Her first popular success was the Air russe varié (op. 17), which was favorably reviewed by Robert Schumann . She enjoyed her growing success and was able to establish herself in the music world with three symphonies and several chamber music works .

In 1842 she was appointed instrumental professor for piano at the Paris Conservatory. At first she received a salary 200 francs less than her colleague Henri Herz . It was not until 1850 that it was brought into line with the director Daniel-François-Esprit Auber . In 1849 her greatest success, the 3rd Symphony op. 36, was premiered with the orchestra of the conservatory, the Société des concerts du Conservatoire . In 1850 the well-known Nonett Op. 38 was premiered with the renowned violinist Joseph Joachim .

In 1859 their daughter Victorine died of tuberculosis . From 1861, Farrenc worked with Aristide Farrenc on Le Trésor des Pianistes , an anthology for keyboard instruments with sheet music from 1500 to 1850 in 23 volumes, with biographical, historical and musicological information on each piece. Her husband died in 1865 and Farrenc completed the work alone.

After the death of her daughter and her husband, Farrenc hardly composed any more. She taught at the Conservatory until 1872 and died in Paris in 1875.

plant

Farrenc was a contemporary of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, Glinka and Liszt. She developed her own classical-romantic compositional style, to which you can hear her love and profound knowledge of the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and which is also influenced by her research into early music. She combined classical traditions with romantic instrumentations, breaking up old genre contexts. In contrast to many of her romantic contemporaries, in the tradition of her teacher Reicha, she avoided opposing themes, but varied two or more complementary idées mères .

Farrenc's works were fairly common during her lifetime. Her husband Aristide Farrenc took care of the printing, about 40 of 51 known pieces were printed. Her orchestral works that have not been printed have been performed internationally, with evidence in Belgium , Denmark , France and Switzerland . In contrast to her colleagues Clara Schumann and Fanny Hensel , she had a healthy self-image as a composer, but was almost forgotten after her death.

Although some of her pieces were played on the radio and used as film music, Farrenc's work remained almost unknown until 1995, when the German Research Foundation (DFG) at the University of Oldenburg, under the direction of Freia Hoffmann, financed a work edition. Until then there were only older sheet music in the second-hand bookshop and a few new editions. The orchestral works (three symphonies and two overtures) were not commercially available, although there was interest in playing the music.

From 1997 the classical production osnabrück, which specializes in first-time classical music, had the symphonies recorded (Radio-Philharmonie Hannover des NDR, Johannes Goritzki ) and released them on CD. A complete recording of all symphonies followed (Orchester de Bretagne under Stefan Sanderling); In 2018 around 20 CDs with her works were available.

Catalog raisonné

Orchestral works

Symphony No. 1 op.32 in C minor (1842)
Symphony No. 2 op.35 in D major (1845)
Symphony No. 3 op.36 in G minor (1847)
Overture op.23 in E minor (1834)
Overture op.24 in E flat major (1834)
Grandes Variations sur l'air: Le premier pas op.4 (cl. And orchestra)
Grandes Variations sur un thème du Comte Gallemberg op.25 (class and orchestra)

Vocal works

Singing voice and piano / orchestral accompaniment
- Andréa la folle. ballad
- Je me taisais, romance
- La Tourterelle. Romance
- La Madone
- Le Berger fidèle. Romance
- Le prisonnier de guerre. Scène dramatique
- Le Suicide. Scène et air (composition identical to Le Prisonnier de guerre)
- Toi que j'appelle

Choral music
- O Père qu'adore mon Père (Hymn de Lamartine), a cappella choir
- O Père qu'adore mon Père (Hymne de Lamartine), choir with piano accompaniment
- O Salutaris hostia for soprano, alto, tenor

Chamber music

Nonet op. 38 in E flat major (1849); ( Wind quintet + string instruments (Vl., Vla., Vc., Kb.))
Sextet op.40 in C minor (1852; Kl, Fl, Ob, Klar, Hr, Fg) ( wind quintet + piano)
Piano quintet No. 1 op. 30 in A minor (1839; Kl., Vl., Vla., Vc., Kb.)
Piano quintet No. 2 op.31 in E major (1840; Kl., Vl., Vla., Vc., Kb.)
Piano Trio op.33 in E flat major (1841–1844; Kl., Vl., Vc.)
Piano Trio op.34 in D minor (1844; Kl., Vl., Vc.)
Piano trio op.44 in E flat major (1854–1856; Kl., Klar./Vl., Vc.)
Piano Trio op.45 in E minor (1854–1856; Kl., Fl./Vl., Vc.)
Variations concertantes sur un air suisse op.20 (Kl. And Vl.)
Violin Sonata op.37 in C minor (1848; Kl., Vl.)
Violin Sonata op.39 in A major (1850; Kl., Vl.)
Violoncello Sonata op.46 op.46 in B flat major (1857; Kl., Vc.)
Grandes Variations sur l'air: Le premier pas op.4 (Kl. U. Str./Fl. Ad lib.)

Piano music

Variations (Aristide Farrenc) op.2
Grandes variations (Le premier pas) op.4 (piano solo)
Variations brilliant (Rossini) op.5
Variations sur l'air favori: O ma tendre musette! op. 6
Air suisse varié op.7
Trois Rondeaux op.8
Rondeau (Bellini) op.9
Variations (Onslow) op.10
Rondeau (CM v. Weber) op.11
Variations (Galopade favorite) op.12
Rondeau (Rossini) op.13
Les Italiennes op.14
Variations brilliant (Donizetti) op.15
Les Allemandes op.16
Air russe varié op.17
La Sylphide op.18
Souvenir of Huguenots op.19
Les Jours heureux op.21
Fugues op. 22 (partly unfinished counterpoint studies, [1833])
Trente Etudes dans tous les tons majeurs et mineurs op. 26 [1838]
Hymn russian varié op.27
Variations sur un thème allemand op.28
Variations (Bellini) op.29 (piano for four hands, arrangement for 2 and 3 pianos)
Douze Etudes brilliant op.41 (1853)
Vingt Etudes de moyenne difficulté op.42 (1854)
Trois mélodies op.43
Scherzo op.47
Valse brilliant op.48
1st Nocturne op.49
Vingtcinq Etudes faciles op.50
2me Valse brilliant op.51
various piano works o. Op.
Mélodie o. Op. (Published in: Beethoven-Album. A memorial book of grateful love and admiration for the great dead, Stuttgart [1846])

Discography

see individual evidence

literature

Freia Hoffmann (ed.): Louise Farrenc (1804–1875): Critical edition. Orchestra and chamber music as well as selected piano works. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 1998-2005.

Christin Heitmann: The orchestral and chamber music by Louise Farrenc against the background of contemporary sonata theory. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2004. ISBN 3-7959-0828-0

Christin Heitmann: Louise Farrenc (1804–1875): Thematic-bibliographical catalog raisonné. Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2005.

Rebecca Grotjahn, Christin Heitmann (eds.): Louise Farrenc and the classical reception in France. BIS-Verlag, Oldenburg 2006. ISBN 3-8142-0964-8

Florence Launay: Les Compositrices en France au XIXe siècle. Fayard, 2006. ISBN 2-213-62458-5

Eva Weissweiler : female composers from the Middle Ages to the present . Munich: dtv, 1999 ISBN 3-423-30726-9 , pp. 246-261

Individual evidence

↑ jpc.de (about 20 CDs)

Web links

Commons : Louise Farrenc - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

personal data
SURNAME	Farrenc, Louise
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dumont, Jeanne Louise
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	French composer, pianist and musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH	May 31, 1804
PLACE OF BIRTH	Paris
DATE OF DEATH	September 15, 1875
Place of death	Paris

[1] .de (about 20 CDs)