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GOUNOD, Charles (1818-1893)

Charles Gounod, the son of a painter, was left fatherless at the age of five and was brought up by his mother, from whom he received his early musical education, before studying with the famous Antoine Reicha. After classical studies and a baccalauréat in philosophy, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1836 to study with Halévy (counterpoint), Le Sueur and Paër (composition). He was awarded the Grand Prix de Rome in 1839. For a time he considered entering the priesthood, and his great devoutness gave rise to an impressive corpus of sacred works. His passion for the theatre finally prevailed, however. His first opera, Sapho(1851), was not an outright success, but it brought him a commission the following year from the Comédie-Française: to compose the incidental music for Ulysse. After that he wrote La Nonne sanglante (1855), Le Médecin malgré lui (1858) and, of course, that undoubted masterpiece of French art, Faust (1859). None of his other works, except perhaps Roméo et Juliette (1867), was to equal the success and fame of that opera inspired by Goethe’s play. But he went on to compose La Colombe and Philémon et Baucis (1860), La Reine de Saba (1862), Mireille (1864), Cinq-Mars (1877), Polyeucte (1878) and Le Tribut de Zamora (1881). Celebrated as a national treasure, elected to the Institut de France in 1866, Gounod left his mark on his time through his particular brand of sensitivity and his impressive catalogue of works, largely dominated by vocal compositions, despite major incursions into the fields of orchestral and chamber music.

    Images - 293
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    Works - 45
  • Ce que je suis sans toi (Peyre / Gounod)
  • Christus factus est (Charles Gounod)
  • Cinq-Mars (Poirson & Gallet / Gounod)
  • Colombe, La (Barbier & Carré / Gounod)
  • Concerto for pedal piano and orchesrtra (Charles Gounod)
  • Deux Reines, Les (Legouvé / Gounod)
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    Themes - 5
  • Genre – La mélodie française
  • Institution – Académie des beaux-arts (Institut)
  • Sacred Music – Sacred Music at Easter
  • Opera – Opera in France in the nineteenth century
  • Prix de Rome – Concours de composition musicale
  • Symposia - 5
  • Gounod sous les feux de la rampe (2018)
  • The Fantastic in French Romantic Opera (2009)
  • L'Opéra-Comique, trois cents ans de création (2015)
  • The Performance of Opera from the late 19th Century to the early 20th Century: From Libretto to Staging (2011)
  • Le chant français (2013)
  • Studies - 17
  • Auclair, Mathias & Girard, Pauline – Les décors de Faust à l'Opéra de Paris (1869-1908)
  • Campos, Rémy – La musique religieuse sous le Second Empire
  • Campos, Rémy – Le Tribut de Zamora: an opera for the eyes
  • Cao, Hélène – Goethe's Faust in Romantic music
  • Condé, Gérard – ‘Mighty Palestrina, old master, ancient genius’
  • Condé, Gérard – Charles Gounod the European
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    Librettos - 4
  • Fernand (Amédée de Pastoret)
  • Marie Stuart et Rizzio (Léon Halévy)
  • Nonne sanglante, La (Scribe & Delavigne)
  • Vendetta, La (Amédée de Pastoret)
  • Press articles -  39
  • Le Ménestrel, 30 avril 1837 [prix de Rome]
  • Le Ménestrel, 4 juin 1837 [prix de Rome]
  • Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 4 juin 1837 [prix de Rome]
  • Le Ménestrel, 5 mai 1839 [prix de Rome]
  • Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, 2 mai 1839 [prix de Rome]
  • La France musicale, 10 octobre 1841 [séance publique de l’Institut]
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    Documents - 7
  • Lettre de Charles Gounod à Antoine-Louis Clapisson (29 août 1854)
  • Lettres à Fernand de La Tombelle : Charles Gounod (sd)
  • Lettres à Marguerite Griset : Charles Gounod (1 l., 1879)
  • Lettres de Charles Gounod à Théodore Salomé (1871-1876)
  • Liber amicorum de Jules et Marguerite Griset
  • Rapports de l’Académie des beaux-arts sur les envois de Rome de musique (1812-1910)
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