Robert Bréard

Robert Bréard (born January 18, 1894 in Bois-Guillaume , † May 16, 1973 in Paris ) was a French composer .

As a child, Bréard took piano lessons from his mother. In 1910 he entered the Conservatoire de Paris , where he studied harmony with Xavier Leroux . He earned his living as a pianist in various cabarets in Montmartre. After the First World War he continued his education at the Conservatoire with Georges Caussade , Maurice Emmanuel and Charles-Marie Widor ; he also took organ lessons from Marcel Dupré . In 1923 he won the First Second Grand Prix de Rome with the cantata Béatrix .

From 1920 to 1922 Bréard worked as an organist at the Church of St-Joseph-des-Nations , then for forty years at the Church of St-Louis de Vincennes . In the summer he often represented his friend Louis Bousquet at the organ in Port-la-Nouvelle, where he used to spend his summer holidays. Occasionally he also represented Pierre Cochereau on the organ of Notre Dame de Paris .

Since the end of the First World War, Bréard gave piano lessons. Yvette Horner , who would later become accordionist, was among his students . From 1961 to 1970 he taught at the Conservatoire municipal Paul Dukas . He made his debut as a conductor with the La Sirène wind orchestra . From 1922 to 1939 he directed the Orchester de Monaco and the Orchester de Saint-Raphaël , and from 1945 to 1960 the Orchester de la Garde Republicaine . He also supported the French choir movement. He organized and directed various choir associations and choir competitions and composed a large repertoire of three and four-part choral works.

In 1945, Bréart and Claude Delvincourt founded the Ordre des Musiciens , of which he remained the founding president for many years and from which the musicians' association Ordre National des Musiciens later emerged. Among other things, he was awarded the Gold Medal of the City of Paris and the Medal of Merit of Luxembourg as Commandeur (1932), later Grand Officier (1939) of the Ordre du Nicham Iftikar de Tunisie .

Works

• Prière for organ
• Le Charlatan for choir
• Les Heures mauves for choir
• Except for the cloches for choir
• L'Eléphant blanc for choir
• Le Chant des marguerites for choir
• Le Rossignol et le Prince for choir
• Le Vieux pont for choir
• Mer calme for choir
• La Neige for choir (text by Aimé Sirven )
• Le Vieux pont for choir (text by Marcel Chambon )
• Le Sonneur for choir (text by Francis Yard )
• Le Peuple for choir (text by Ivan Monetti )
• Les Goélands for choir (text by Auguste Brizeux )
• Avril for four male voices and piano (text by Rémy Belleau )
• Sur la falaise for two equal voices and piano (text by Paul Bourget )
• Hymne au vent for choir and chamber orchestra (text by Pierre Jalabert )
• Ode à la victoire for soloists, choir and orchestra (text by Jacques Toutain )
• Ce n'est rien , song
• La Chapelle , song
• Prière à Marie pour la Fête des Mères , song
• Rapsodie pyrénéenne for horn and piano
• Suite for saxophone and piano
• Dix Etudes de style for alto saxophone
• Huit Etudes de style for trumpet
• 4 esquisses for piano