Raoul Pugno

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Raoul Pugno (* 23. June 1852 in Montrouge , † December 21, 1913 . Jul / 3. January  1914 greg. In Moscow ) was a French pianist , organist , composer and music educator .

Raoul Pugno, 1914

Life

Raoul Stéphane Pugno came from Italy on his father's side, his mother came from Lorraine. After his father ran a music shop with instrument rental in Paris in the Latin Quarter , his son also grew up with a piano. He became known at an early age through public appearances and Prince Poniatowski found him a free place to study at the Niedermeyersche Church Music School. At the age of 14 he was accepted by Ambroise Thomas at the Paris Conservatory , where he studied composition with him until 1869 , piano with Georges Mathias , a pupil of Chopin , and organ with François Benoist . He won numerous prizes in competitions; As an Italian citizen, however, he was excluded from the famous Rome Prize . Rumors of Pugno's involvement in the commune uprising in 1871 hampered his further career until, in early 1872, he got the position of organist at the Church of St. Eugène. In 1877 he became choirmaster and conductor at the Théâtre Ventadour. In 1892 he was appointed professor of harmony at the Conservatory, where he taught until 1901.

At the end of 1893, Pugno returned to the concert stage after a long time. In a concert at the Conservatory he played Grieg's Piano Concerto in A minor and was enthusiastically celebrated by the audience: it was the beginning of his international pianist career. Soon he became famous for his interpretation of the works of Mozart , Chopin and Franck . He gained additional fame through his joint appearances with the famous Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe , with whom he appeared from 1896. Among other things, they interpreted Beethoven's sonatas for piano and violin and premiered those by Albéric Magnard and Louis Vierne . But the works of his contemporary compatriots such as Fauré , Saint-Saëns and Chausson were also part of their repertoire. He also appeared together with Leopold Auer and Claude Debussy , with whom he played e.g. B. on May 8, 1893 Wagner's Rheingold in a four-hand piano version. Tours took him through Europe, in 1894 to England and in 1897/98 and 1903, together with Ysaÿe, to America.

Pugno was probably one of the first pianists to have international success with his sound recordings. Between April and November 1903, the 51-year-old made several recordings for gramophones with foreign and own compositions in Paris. At the recording sessions in November he accompanied the singer Maria Gay (1879–1945), whom he had met on a tour of Spain, with works by Bizet and Saint-Saëns and his own song compositions. In September 1905 and again in March 1907 he recorded a total of 24 piano rolls for the Welte-Mignon reproduction piano .

In 1904 Pugno became mayor of Gargenville in the Yvelines department , then Seine-et-Oise, and he met the sisters Nadia and Lili Boulanger at the conservatory. The Boulangers moved near the Gargenville hamlet of Hanneucourt, where Pugno lived. The rural area was then visited by such illustrious guests as Paul Valéry - his wife was Pugno's private student -, Gabriele D'Annunzio , Wilhelm Mengelberg , Camille Saint-Saëns , Jacques Thibaud , Émile Verhaeren and Eugène Ysaÿe. Nadia Boulanger became his preferred duo partner. The close artistic collaboration between the two led to joint concert tours in which he performed as a pianist and she as a conductor. There were also joint compositions.

Pugno died during a concert tour through Russia.

student

Awards

Others

Leopold Godowsky was once at a concert at which Pugno played his own works. When asked for his opinion afterwards, Godowsky replied: "It seems to me that Pugno first writes the fingering and then adds the notes."

Works

Sheet music editions

In 1902, Pugno published the work of Frédéric Chopin in Universal Edition in a new edition, revised according to the original traditions, with fingerings and performance marks:

  • Ballades et Impromptus. Universal Edition, Vienna 1902, UE345.
  • Mazurkas. Universal Edition, Vienna no year, UE 342.
  • Nocturnes. Universal Edition, Vienna 1902, UE 344.
  • Polonaises. Universal Edition, Vienna 1902, UE 343.
  • Preludes & Rondos. Universal Edition, Vienna undated, UE 348.
  • Scherzos and Fantasy. Universal Edition, Vienna undated, UE 346.
  • Sonatas. Universal Edition, Vienna 1902, UE 349.
  • Valses. Universal Edition, Vienna undated, UE 341.
  • Concert. Universal Edition, Vienna undated, UE351 and UE 352.

Compositions

Operettas

  • A qui la troupe , WP 1877 in Asnières
  • Ninetta , UA December 23, 1882 in Paris
  • La brigue Dondaine , premiered in Paris in 1886
  • Le sosie , premiered October 7, 1887 in Paris
  • Le valet de coeur , UA April 19, 1888 in Paris
  • La vocation de Marius , Premiere March 29, 1890 in Paris
  • La petite Poucette , premiered in Paris in 1891

Ballets

  • Le Chevalier aux fleurs , ballet pantomime in twelve pictures based on Paul-Armand Silvestre, music together with André Messager
  • Viviane , ballet in five acts after Edmond Gondinet; Premiere October 28, 1886 in Paris (Eden-Théâtre)

Operas and oratorios

  • Le Retour d'Ulysse . Comic opera in three acts after Fabrice Carre; Premiere February 1, 1889 in Paris
  • La ville morte opera based on Gabriele D'Annunzio , music together with Nadia Boulanger . The premiere planned for November 1914 did not take place because of the outbreak of the First World War.
  • La résurrection de Lazare ( The Resurrection of Lazarus ) Oratorio, WP 1879

Piano compositions

  • Valse lente
  • La Sérénade à la Lune
  • impromptu

Songs

  • Heures claires song cycle, music together with Nadia Boulanger (1909)

Discography

In 1903 he recorded the following works with Raoul Pugno:

  • Georges Bizet: Carmen : Les tringles des sistres tintaient (What is the gypsy's highest lust) with Maria Gay
  • Alexis Emanuel Chabrier: Pièces pittoresques No. 10 Scherzo-Valse
  • Frédéric Chopin: Nocturne No. 5 in F sharp major, op.15 No. 2
  • Frédéric Chopin: Impromptu No. 1 in A flat major op.29
  • Frédéric Chopin: Piano Sonata No. 2 in B flat minor, Op. 35 (with the funeral march): 3rd movement funeral march
  • Frédéric Chopin: Waltz No. 2 in A flat major, Op. 34 No. 1 ( Valse brillante )
  • Frédéric Chopin: Berceuse D flat major op.57
  • Frederic Chopin: Polonaise in E flat major op 22nd
  • Georg Friedrich Handel: Suite for Harpsichord No. 14 in G major
  • Franz Liszt: Hungarian Rhapsody for Piano No. 11 in A minor
  • Jules Massenet: Valse folle
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Fantasy for piano op. 16 (3 capriccios): No. 2 Scherzo in E minor
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Songs without Words No. 3 in A major op. 19 No. 3 Jägerlied
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Songs without Words No. 34 in C major op. 67 No. 4 Spinner song
  • Raoul Pugno: Valse lente
  • Raoul Pugno: La Sérénade à la Lune
  • Raoul Pugno: Impromptu
  • Raoul Pugno: Page d'amour , with Maria Gay
  • Camille Saint-Saëns: Melodies Persane op. 26 No. 1 La brise
  • Domenico Scarlatti: Sonata in A major K 24
  • Carl Maria von Weber: Rondo Brilliant in E flat major op 62nd

Today the recordings have been re-released on CDs in various compilations and in some cases with various other contemporary pianists, including on:

  • Opal CD 9386, 9850
  • EMI 27 0448 1: Franz Liszt: Piano recordings on Welte-Mignon
  • Teldec 8.43930: Welte-Mignon 1905. Famous pianists from the turn of the century play Chopin
  • Tudor (Zurich) 7104: Welte-Mignon Piano / Hotel Waldhaus Sils Maria. CD 2001.
  • GSM (Society for Self-Playing Musical Instruments) - HB 80 300 The elite of pianists of the early 20th century on Welte Mignon I. Part.
  • MARSTON 52054-2
  • Naxos Historical 8.110678
  • The Piano G & Ts, Volume 2 (1997)

literature

  • Hugo Riemann: Musiklexikon (8th edition). Max Hesses Verlag, Berlin-Leipzig 1916, p. 882.
  • Ferdinand Laven: Our artists. Raoul Pugno . In: Neue Musik-Zeitung 9 (1914). Carl Grüninger Verlag, Stuttgart 1914.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Reference: left-hand-brofeldt.dk
personal data
SURNAME Pugno, Raoul
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French pianist, organist, composer and music teacher
DATE OF BIRTH June 23, 1852
PLACE OF BIRTH Montrouge
DATE OF DEATH January 3, 1914
Place of death Moscow