“French music wishes first of all to give pleasure.” Claude Debussy
The music of French composers, although significant in its own right, is sometimes overlooked when remarking about the music of the great German, Austrian, Russian, Italian, and English composers. This unfortunate fact was brought home to me during our recent trip to France and England in September. It dawned on me that, in my own writings, I have not given the French the same coverage as other composers and countries.
The French Revolution (1789-1799) had political and social implications and attributed to the rise of music for the masses. No longer was some music just for the aristocracy and well-to-do segments of the population. Instead of musicians and composers trying to make it on their own, working for royalty or rich landowners, many became state employees.
Around 1871 a society was formed to give instrumental music a platform. It was called Societe Nationale de musique. Many important works were first heard by the societe. The adherents of this group wanted to establish a French school to show that the Germans were not the only talented composers.
The Baroque Period (1600-1750) produced many French composers including Jean-Baptiste Lully, Francois Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau.
Jean-Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) was basically self-taught and was talented enough to be director of the orchestra, court composer and music master to the French Royal Family. Aside from his music, he has the dubious and unfortunate distinction, of being the first person to die as a result of conducting. When ensembles grew large enough to need a conductor Lully used a large stick and hit it on the floor to beat time. He missed his target and hit his foot instead of the floor. He developed blood poisoning and subsequently died from the blow.
Francois Couperin (1668-1733) specialized in keyboard music and wrote a very famous book on The Art of Harpsichord Playing. He worked in two eras, Baroque and Classical.
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683-1764) was an accomplished organist and harpsichordist. He wrote a treatise on harmony as well as a collection of harpsichord pieces. He made a living teaching music.
Hector Berlioz, Cesar Franck and Camille Saint-Saens are some of the significant French composers of the Classic, Romantic and early Modern eras.
Hector Berlioz (1803-1869) was one of the most original and noted French composers in the 19th century. He is recognized as a master of descriptive, program music. Berlioz began to compose music at an early age. At 18 his father sent him off to study medicine in Paris. He hated his studies and it was reported that, “he sang arias while cutting up cadavers.” Berlioz was composing his signature work, Symphonie Fantastique in 1829. He won the Prix de Rome, a French scholarship for artists, in 1830 after many unsuccessful attempts.
In his Symphonie Fantastique he employed the use of ‘idee fixe’—a musical idea or person that may remain unchanged or transformed rhythmically. This work is remarkable for a first symphony. It has five movements, each movement descriptively titled. It is autobiographical to some extent. It is said Berlioz had a restless imagination and originality that he employed using any experiment he found necessary for a vivid or musical effect.
Cesar Franck (1822-1890) the so called “Father of the French School,” was born in Belgium but lived the greater part of his life in Paris. Mus ically, he developed slowly and his best and noted works were conceived in later years. Franck was a very quiet, retiring man whose life was spent in the organ loft, as an obscure church organist or teaching at the Paris Conservatory. Unfortunately, he had little recognition during his life. Franz Liszt compared Franck to J.S. Bach; perhaps because of Franck’s inspired polyphony (when two or more melodic lines are combined) and chromaticism (the use of notes foreign to a key or scale). Franck often used continual modulation (changing keys). His best-known work is the Symphony in D minor.
Camille Saint-Saens (1835-1921) being French and scholarly he strived for an adherence to classical music form. He was not only a composer but was recognized as one of the greatest organ virtuosos and improvisers. He traveled everywhere and absorbed many different styles. Saint-Saens was a man for all seasons as he wrote about poetry, plays, astronomy and mathematics.He wrote Danse Macabre and composed in many forms and styles. Saint-Saens masterpiece is arguably Symphony no. 3 in C minor–The Organ Symphony.
Impressionism is briefly described as an impression of an object being more important than the object itself. This is accomplished through colorful instrumentation and different harmonies. Emotionally it is cool, obscure and detached. The suggestion of fleeting moods or emotions is more prevalent than showing musical detail. Impressionism was meant to be a reaction to romanticism.
The great French impressionists in music are Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel. Their music was not conventional in standard and practice. They wrote with less detail with emphasis on atmosphere and subtlety. Functional harmony was replaced by sonority with rhythmic freedom.
Claude Debussy (1852-1918) was born in a small town outside of Paris.
He studied piano and entered the conservatory at the age of eleven. Debussy won the Prix de Rome in1884. His public appearances were rare. His musical style was greatly influenced by Richard Wagner’s harmonic vocabulary. Debussy was very interested in Russian music, particularly Rimsky-Korsakoff and Borodin and the native music of Java and French-Indo-China.
Debussy said, “French music is clearness, elegance, simple and natural declamation, French music wishes, first of all to give pleasure.” His most celebrated orchestral composition is Afternoon of a Faun. It used a small orchestra with two harps. Clair de Lune is also one of his most popular and famous works.
Maurice Ravel (1875-1937 has much in common with Debussy, both being impressionistic composers. His composition and extraordinary orchestration mark his music with virtuosity. Another characteristic of his music is his pre-occupation with the dance. He also favors topics and subjects of a humorous nature as in The Mother Goose Suite. Among his many works are the ballet, Daphnis and Chloe, Rhapsodie Espagnole and the famous and popular Bolero. Bolero, except for a change of key approaching the end, the entire piece is a reiteration in different orchestral nuances of just two themes. Some of his compositions are influenced by Spanish folk music, Viennese waltzes, Baroque keyboard music and even jazz.
The composers mentioned here are but a mere fraction of the fine French composers from the past few hundred years. I hope this small sample has shed some light on these outstanding artists.
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