Charles Koechlin
Encyclopedia
Charles Louis Eugène Koechlin (ʃaʁl lwi øʒɛn keˈklɛ̃; 27 November 186731 December 1950) was a French composer
, teacher and writer on music. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book
of Rudyard Kipling
, Johann Sebastian Bach
, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey
and Ginger Rogers
), travelling, stereoscopic photography and socialism
. He once said: "The artist needs an ivory tower
, not as an escape from the world, but as a place where he can view the world and be himself. This tower is for the artist like a lighthouse shining out across the world."
. His mother's family came from Alsace
and he identified with that region; his maternal grandfather had been the noted philanthropist and textile manufacturer Jean Dollfus, and Koechlin inherited his strongly developed social conscience. His father died when he was 14. Though he was early interested in music his family wanted him to become an engineer. He entered the École Polytechnique
in 1887 but the following year was diagnosed with tuberculosis and had to spend six months recuperating in Algeria
. He had to repeat his first year at the École and graduated with only mediocre grades. After a struggle with his family and private lessons with Charles Lefebvre he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1890 studying first with Antoine Taudou for harmony. In 1892 he started studying with Massenet
for composition, André Gedalge
for fugue and counterpoint, and Louis Bourgault-Ducoudray
for musical history. His fellow-pupils included George Enescu
, Ernest Le Grand, Reynaldo Hahn
, Max d'Ollone
, Henri Rabaud
and Florent Schmitt
. From 1896 he was a pupil of Gabriel Fauré
, where his fellow-pupils now included Ravel
and Jean Roger-Ducasse
. Fauré had a major influence on Koechlin; in fact Koechlin wrote the first Fauré biography (1927), a work which is still of value. In 1898 a grateful Koechlin orchestrated the popular suite from Fauré's Pelléas et Melisande music and in 1900 assisted Fauré in the production of the huge open-air drama Promethée.
After his graduation Koechlin became a freelance composer and teacher. He married Suzanne Pierrard in 1903, but after 1921 regularly corresponded with his former student, composer Catherine Murphy Urner
in California. In 1909 he began regular work as a critic for the Chronique des Arts and in 1910 was one of the founders, with Ravel, of the Société musicale indépendante, with whose activities he was intensely associated. From its inception in the early 1930s to his death he was a passionate supporter of the International Society for Contemporary Music
, eventually becoming President of its French section. From 1937 he was elected President of the Fédération Musicale Populaire. At first comfortably off, he divided his time between Paris and country homes in Villers-sur-Mer
and the Côte d'Azur, but after the onset of World War I his circumstances were progressively reduced, he was forced to sell one of his houses and, from 1915, took work lecturing and teaching. Partly due to his vigorous championing of younger composers and new styles, he was never successful in his attempts to gain a permanent teaching position for himself, though he was an examiner for many institutions (e.g. the Conservatoires of Brussels
, Rheims and Marseilles). He was rejected for the post of Professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Paris Conservatoire in 1926 by 20 votes to two (the two being Albert Roussel
and Maurice Emmanuel
), but from 1935 to 1939 he was allowed to teach fugue and modal polyphony at the Schola Cantorum
.
He visited the USA four times to lecture and teach in 1918-19, 1928, 1929 and 1937. On the second and third visits he taught at the University of California, Berkeley
, through arrangements made by Catherine Urmer, who afterward lived with him until 1933. On the 1929 visit his symphonic poem La Joie païenne won the Hollywood Bowl
Prize for Composition and was performed there under the baton of Eugene Goossens
. Even so, Koechlin had to pay for the preparation of orchestral parts, and in the 1930s he sank most of his savings into organizing performances of some of his orchestral works. In the 1940s, however, the music department of Belgian Radio took up his cause and broadcast several premieres of important scores including the first complete performance of the Jungle Book cycle. He died, and his body is buried, at his country home at Le Canadel
, Var, aged 83. Some of his papers are housed at the University of California at Berkeley Library, donated by Catherine Urmer's husband Charles Rollins Shatto.
, Hollywood movies, etc.) and musical technique, but the expressive core of his language remained distinct from his contemporaries. At the start of his career he concentrated on songs with orchestral accompaniment, few of which were performed as intended during his lifetime. A recent (2006) recording of a selection (Hänssler Classic CD93.159) shows he was already master of an individual impressionism deriving less from Debussy
than from Berlioz
and Fauré. Thereafter he concentrated on symphonic poem
s, chamber and instrumental works.
After World War I his continuing devotion to the symphonic poem and the large orchestra at a period when neoclassicism
and small ensembles were more fashionable may have discouraged performance and acceptance of his works. His compositions include the four symphonic poems and three orchestral songs making up Livre de la jungle after Rudyard Kipling
; many other symphonic poems including Le Buisson Ardent after Romain Rolland
(this is a diptych of two orchestral poems, performable separately) and Le Docteur Fabricius after a novel by his uncle Charles Dollfus; three string quartet
s; five symphonies including a Seven Stars Symphony inspired by Hollywood; sonatas for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola and cello, and much other chamber music; many songs, over two hundred opus number
s in all; and a vast number of monodies, fugal studies, chorale harmonizations and other educational pieces. Many works remain unpublished, however.
He wrote in several styles, sometimes severe Baroque counterpoint, as in the fugue that opens his Second Symphony (unrecorded as of 2005), sometimes "impressionistically" as in the tone poem Au Loin, or, as in the Symphony No.2's scherzo, yet more astringently. He could go from extreme simplicity to extreme complexity of texture and harmony from work to work, or within the same work. Some of his most characteristic effects come from a very static treatment of harmony, savouring the effect of, for instance, a stacked-up series of fifths through the whole gamut of the instruments. His melodies are often long, asymmetrical and wide-ranging in tessitura
. He was closely interested in the works of Schoenberg
, some of which he quoted from memory in his treatise on Orchestration. The twelve tone technique is one of the several modern music styles parodied in the 'Jungle Book' symphonic poem Les Bandar-Log, but Koechlin also wrote a few pieces in what he described as the 'style atonal-sériel'. He was fascinated by the movies and wrote many 'imaginary' film scores and works dedicated to the Hollywood actress Lilian Harvey
, on whom he had a crush. His Seven Stars Symphony features movements inspired by Douglas Fairbanks
, Lilian Harvey, Greta Garbo
, Clara Bow
, Marlene Dietrich
, Emil Jannings
and Charlie Chaplin
in some of their most famous film roles. He also composed an Epitaph for Jean Harlow
and a suite of dances for Ginger Rogers
. He was interested in using unusual instruments, notably the saxophone and the early electronic instrument the Ondes Martenot
. One movement of the Second Symphony requires four of them (and has not usually been included in the few performances of the work, for that reason). He also wrote several pieces for the hunting-horn, an instrument he himself played. Koechlin orchestrated several pieces by other composers. In addition to the Fauré Pelléas et Mélisande suite mentioned above he orchestrated the bulk of Claude Debussy's 'legende dansée' Khamma under the composer's direction, from the piano score http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=2066, and orchestrated Cole Porter
's ballet Within the Quota; other works he transcribed include Schubert
's Wanderer Fantasie and Chabrier
's Bourrée Fantasque.
, Roger Désormière
, Francis Poulenc
and Henri Sauguet
. Cole Porter
studied orchestration with him in 1923-24. Darius Milhaud
, though never a pupil, became a close friend and considered he learned more from Koechlin than any other pedagogue. Koechlin wrote three compendious textbooks: one on Harmony
(3 vols, 1923-6), one on Music Theory
(1932-4) and a huge treatise on the subject of orchestration
(4 vols, 1935–43) which is a classic treatment of the subject. He also wrote a number of smaller didactic works, as well as the life of Fauré mentioned above.
rather than Christian. Though never a member of the Communist Party
he subscribed to its ideals, and in the later 1930s especially was much concerned with the idea of 'Music for the People'.
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
, teacher and writer on music. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book
The Jungle Book is a collection of stories by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling. The stories were first published in magazines in 1893–4. The original publications contain illustrations, some by Rudyard's father, John Lockwood Kipling. Kipling was born in India and spent the first six...
of Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
, Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
, film stars (especially Lilian Harvey
Lilian Harvey
Lilian Harvey was a British-born actress and singer, long-based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film Der Kongress tanzt.-Life:...
and Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
), travelling, stereoscopic photography and socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
. He once said: "The artist needs an ivory tower
Ivory Tower
The term Ivory Tower originates in the Biblical Song of Solomon , and was later used as an epithet for Mary.From the 19th century it has been used to designate a world or atmosphere where intellectuals engage in pursuits that are disconnected from the practical concerns of everyday life...
, not as an escape from the world, but as a place where he can view the world and be himself. This tower is for the artist like a lighthouse shining out across the world."
Biography
Koechlin was born in Paris, and was the youngest child of a large familyKoechlin family
The Koechlin family was an Alsatian family which acquired its wealth in the textile industry and became leading industrialists and politicians of the region.-Early family history:...
. His mother's family came from Alsace
Alsace
Alsace is the fifth-smallest of the 27 regions of France in land area , and the smallest in metropolitan France. It is also the seventh-most densely populated region in France and third most densely populated region in metropolitan France, with ca. 220 inhabitants per km²...
and he identified with that region; his maternal grandfather had been the noted philanthropist and textile manufacturer Jean Dollfus, and Koechlin inherited his strongly developed social conscience. His father died when he was 14. Though he was early interested in music his family wanted him to become an engineer. He entered the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
in 1887 but the following year was diagnosed with tuberculosis and had to spend six months recuperating in Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. He had to repeat his first year at the École and graduated with only mediocre grades. After a struggle with his family and private lessons with Charles Lefebvre he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1890 studying first with Antoine Taudou for harmony. In 1892 he started studying with Massenet
Jules Massenet
Jules Émile Frédéric Massenet was a French composer best known for his operas. His compositions were very popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he ranks as one of the greatest melodists of his era. Soon after his death, Massenet's style went out of fashion, and many of his operas...
for composition, André Gedalge
André Gedalge
André Gedalge , was an influential French composer and teacher.- Biography :André Gedalge was born at 75 rue des Saints-Pères, in Paris, where he first worked as a bookseller and editor specializing in livres de prix for public schools...
for fugue and counterpoint, and Louis Bourgault-Ducoudray
Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray
Louis-Albert Bourgault-Ducoudray was a French Breton composer, pianist, and professor of music history/theory at the Conservatoire de Paris as well as a Prix de Rome laureate. He was born at Nantes and died at Vernouillet, near Dreux...
for musical history. His fellow-pupils included George Enescu
George Enescu
George Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
, Ernest Le Grand, Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn
Reynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
, Max d'Ollone
Max d'Ollone
Maximilien-Paul-Marie-Félix d'Ollone was a French composer, born 13 June 1875 at Besançon and died in Paris 1959.He started composing very early, entering the Paris Conservatoire at 6, winning many prizes, receiving the encouragement of Gounod, Saint-Saens, Massenet, Thomas and Delibes...
, Henri Rabaud
Henri Rabaud
Henri Rabaud was a French conductor and composer, who held important posts in the French musical establishment and upheld mainly conservative trends in French music in the first half of the twentieth century....
and Florent Schmitt
Florent Schmitt
Florent Schmitt was a French composer.-Early life:A Lorrainer, born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt originally took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. Subsequently he entered the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois,...
. From 1896 he was a pupil of Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Fauré
Gabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
, where his fellow-pupils now included Ravel
Maurice Ravel
Joseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
and Jean Roger-Ducasse
Jean Roger-Ducasse
Jean Jules Amable Roger-Ducasse was a French composer.-Biography:Jean Roger-Ducasse studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Emile Pessard and André Gedalge, and was the star pupil and close friend of Gabriel Fauré...
. Fauré had a major influence on Koechlin; in fact Koechlin wrote the first Fauré biography (1927), a work which is still of value. In 1898 a grateful Koechlin orchestrated the popular suite from Fauré's Pelléas et Melisande music and in 1900 assisted Fauré in the production of the huge open-air drama Promethée.
After his graduation Koechlin became a freelance composer and teacher. He married Suzanne Pierrard in 1903, but after 1921 regularly corresponded with his former student, composer Catherine Murphy Urner
Catherine Murphy Urner
Catherine Murphy Urner Shatto was an American composer.-Life:Catherine Murphy Urner was born in Mitchell, Indiana, the third of seven children of Southern Illinois Normal College principal Edward Everett Urner and writer Jessie Robertson Urner...
in California. In 1909 he began regular work as a critic for the Chronique des Arts and in 1910 was one of the founders, with Ravel, of the Société musicale indépendante, with whose activities he was intensely associated. From its inception in the early 1930s to his death he was a passionate supporter of the International Society for Contemporary Music
International Society for Contemporary Music
The International Society for Contemporary Music is a music organization that promotes contemporary classical music.ISCM was established in 1922, in Salzburg. Its core activity is the World Music Days Festival, held every year at a different location. The festival includes cutting edge productions...
, eventually becoming President of its French section. From 1937 he was elected President of the Fédération Musicale Populaire. At first comfortably off, he divided his time between Paris and country homes in Villers-sur-Mer
Villers-sur-Mer
-Places of interest:Villers-sur-Mer is known for the large topiary dinosaurs facing the sea from the garden of the office of tourism. In certain years, a baby dinosaur is added to the garden....
and the Côte d'Azur, but after the onset of World War I his circumstances were progressively reduced, he was forced to sell one of his houses and, from 1915, took work lecturing and teaching. Partly due to his vigorous championing of younger composers and new styles, he was never successful in his attempts to gain a permanent teaching position for himself, though he was an examiner for many institutions (e.g. the Conservatoires of Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Rheims and Marseilles). He was rejected for the post of Professor of counterpoint and fugue at the Paris Conservatoire in 1926 by 20 votes to two (the two being Albert Roussel
Albert Roussel
Albert Charles Paul Marie Roussel was a French composer. He spent seven years as a midshipman, turned to music as an adult, and became one of the most prominent French composers of the interwar period...
and Maurice Emmanuel
Maurice Emmanuel
Maurice Emmanuel was a French composer of classical music.Brought up in Dijon, Marie François Maurice Emmanuel became a chorister at Beaune cathedral after his family moved to the city in 1869. Subsequently he went to Paris, and he entered the Paris Conservatoire, where his composition teacher...
), but from 1935 to 1939 he was allowed to teach fugue and modal polyphony at the Schola Cantorum
Schola Cantorum
The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private music school in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera...
.
He visited the USA four times to lecture and teach in 1918-19, 1928, 1929 and 1937. On the second and third visits he taught at the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
, through arrangements made by Catherine Urmer, who afterward lived with him until 1933. On the 1929 visit his symphonic poem La Joie païenne won the Hollywood Bowl
Hollywood Bowl
The Hollywood Bowl is a modern amphitheater in the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, California, United States that is used primarily for music performances...
Prize for Composition and was performed there under the baton of Eugene Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
. Even so, Koechlin had to pay for the preparation of orchestral parts, and in the 1930s he sank most of his savings into organizing performances of some of his orchestral works. In the 1940s, however, the music department of Belgian Radio took up his cause and broadcast several premieres of important scores including the first complete performance of the Jungle Book cycle. He died, and his body is buried, at his country home at Le Canadel
Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer
Rayol-Canadel-sur-Mer is a commune in the Var department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It comprises two small villages: Le Rayol and Canadel. They are situated along the D559 which goes along the coast at an average distance of approximately 200 metres from the...
, Var, aged 83. Some of his papers are housed at the University of California at Berkeley Library, donated by Catherine Urmer's husband Charles Rollins Shatto.
Style and Compositions
Koechlin was enormously prolific, as the worklist below (by no means exhaustive) suggests. He was highly eclectic in inspiration (nature, the mysterious orient, French folksong, Bachian chorale, Hellenistic culture, astronomyAstronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
, Hollywood movies, etc.) and musical technique, but the expressive core of his language remained distinct from his contemporaries. At the start of his career he concentrated on songs with orchestral accompaniment, few of which were performed as intended during his lifetime. A recent (2006) recording of a selection (Hänssler Classic CD93.159) shows he was already master of an individual impressionism deriving less from Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
than from Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
and Fauré. Thereafter he concentrated on symphonic poem
Symphonic poem
A symphonic poem or tone poem is a piece of orchestral music in a single continuous section in which the content of a poem, a story or novel, a painting, a landscape or another source is illustrated or evoked. The term was first applied by Hungarian composer Franz Liszt to his 13 works in this vein...
s, chamber and instrumental works.
After World War I his continuing devotion to the symphonic poem and the large orchestra at a period when neoclassicism
Neoclassicism
Neoclassicism is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome...
and small ensembles were more fashionable may have discouraged performance and acceptance of his works. His compositions include the four symphonic poems and three orchestral songs making up Livre de la jungle after Rudyard Kipling
Rudyard Kipling
Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English poet, short-story writer, and novelist chiefly remembered for his celebration of British imperialism, tales and poems of British soldiers in India, and his tales for children. Kipling received the 1907 Nobel Prize for Literature...
; many other symphonic poems including Le Buisson Ardent after Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland
Romain Rolland was a French dramatist, novelist, essayist, art historian and mystic who was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1915.-Biography:...
(this is a diptych of two orchestral poems, performable separately) and Le Docteur Fabricius after a novel by his uncle Charles Dollfus; three string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s; five symphonies including a Seven Stars Symphony inspired by Hollywood; sonatas for flute, oboe, clarinet, bassoon, horn, violin, viola and cello, and much other chamber music; many songs, over two hundred opus number
Opus number
An Opus number , pl. opera and opuses, abbreviated, sing. Op. and pl. Opp. refers to a number generally assigned by composers to an individual composition or set of compositions on publication, to help identify their works...
s in all; and a vast number of monodies, fugal studies, chorale harmonizations and other educational pieces. Many works remain unpublished, however.
He wrote in several styles, sometimes severe Baroque counterpoint, as in the fugue that opens his Second Symphony (unrecorded as of 2005), sometimes "impressionistically" as in the tone poem Au Loin, or, as in the Symphony No.2's scherzo, yet more astringently. He could go from extreme simplicity to extreme complexity of texture and harmony from work to work, or within the same work. Some of his most characteristic effects come from a very static treatment of harmony, savouring the effect of, for instance, a stacked-up series of fifths through the whole gamut of the instruments. His melodies are often long, asymmetrical and wide-ranging in tessitura
Tessitura
In music, the term tessitura generally describes the most musically acceptable and comfortable range for a given singer or, less frequently, musical instrument; the range in which a given type of voice presents its best-sounding texture or timbre...
. He was closely interested in the works of Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg
Arnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
, some of which he quoted from memory in his treatise on Orchestration. The twelve tone technique is one of the several modern music styles parodied in the 'Jungle Book' symphonic poem Les Bandar-Log, but Koechlin also wrote a few pieces in what he described as the 'style atonal-sériel'. He was fascinated by the movies and wrote many 'imaginary' film scores and works dedicated to the Hollywood actress Lilian Harvey
Lilian Harvey
Lilian Harvey was a British-born actress and singer, long-based in Germany, where she is best known for her role as Christel Weinzinger in Erik Charell's 1931 film Der Kongress tanzt.-Life:...
, on whom he had a crush. His Seven Stars Symphony features movements inspired by Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. was an American actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He was best known for his swashbuckling roles in silent films such as The Thief of Bagdad, Robin Hood, and The Mark of Zorro....
, Lilian Harvey, Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo
Greta Garbo , born Greta Lovisa Gustafsson, was a Swedish film actress. Garbo was an international star and icon during Hollywood's silent and classic periods. Many of Garbo's films were sensational hits, and all but three were profitable...
, Clara Bow
Clara Bow
Clara Gordon Bow was an American actress who rose to stardom in the silent film era of the 1920s. It was her appearance as a spunky shopgirl in the film It that brought her global fame and the nickname "The It Girl." Bow came to personify the roaring twenties and is described as its leading sex...
, Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich
Marlene Dietrich was a German-American actress and singer.Dietrich remained popular throughout her long career by continually re-inventing herself, professionally and characteristically. In the Berlin of the 1920s, she acted on the stage and in silent films...
, Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings
Emil Jannings was a German actor. He was not only the first actor to win the Academy Award for Best Actor, but also the first person to be presented an Oscar...
and Charlie Chaplin
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I...
in some of their most famous film roles. He also composed an Epitaph for Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow
Jean Harlow was an American film actress and sex symbol of the 1930s. Known as the "Blonde Bombshell" and the "Platinum Blonde" , Harlow was ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute...
and a suite of dances for Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
. He was interested in using unusual instruments, notably the saxophone and the early electronic instrument the Ondes Martenot
Ondes Martenot
The ondes Martenot , also known as the ondium Martenot, Martenot and ondes musicales, is an early electronic musical instrument invented in 1928 by Maurice Martenot. The original design was similar in sound to the theremin...
. One movement of the Second Symphony requires four of them (and has not usually been included in the few performances of the work, for that reason). He also wrote several pieces for the hunting-horn, an instrument he himself played. Koechlin orchestrated several pieces by other composers. In addition to the Fauré Pelléas et Mélisande suite mentioned above he orchestrated the bulk of Claude Debussy's 'legende dansée' Khamma under the composer's direction, from the piano score http://www.classicalsource.com/db_control/db_concert_review.php?id=2066, and orchestrated Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
's ballet Within the Quota; other works he transcribed include Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
's Wanderer Fantasie and Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier
Emmanuel Chabrier was a French Romantic composer and pianist. Although known primarily for two of his orchestral works, España and Joyeuse marche, he left an important corpus of operas , songs, and piano music as well...
's Bourrée Fantasque.
As Educator and Author
Koechlin began assisting Fauré in teaching fugue and counterpoint while he was still a student in the 1890s, but though he taught privately and was an external examiner for the Paris Conservatoire throughout his career, he never occupied a permanent salaried teaching position. Composers who studied with him included Germaine TailleferreGermaine Tailleferre
Germaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the famous composers' group Les Six.-Biography:...
, Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière
Roger Désormière was a French conductor.Désormière was born in Vichy in 1898. He studied at the Paris Conservatoire, where his professors included Philippe Gaubert , Xavier Leroux and Charles Koechlin , and Vincent d'Indy...
, Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc
Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a French composer and a member of the French group Les six. He composed solo piano music, chamber music, oratorio, choral music, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music...
and Henri Sauguet
Henri Sauguet
Henri Sauguet , was a French composer. Born in Bordeaux as Henri-Pierre Poupard, he adopted his mother's maiden name as his pseudonym. His output includes operas, ballets, four symphonies , concertos, chamber and choral music and numerous songs, as well as film music...
. Cole Porter
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter was an American composer and songwriter. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, he defied the wishes of his domineering grandfather and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn towards musical theatre...
studied orchestration with him in 1923-24. Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud
Darius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
, though never a pupil, became a close friend and considered he learned more from Koechlin than any other pedagogue. Koechlin wrote three compendious textbooks: one on Harmony
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
(3 vols, 1923-6), one on Music Theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
(1932-4) and a huge treatise on the subject of orchestration
Orchestration
Orchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
(4 vols, 1935–43) which is a classic treatment of the subject. He also wrote a number of smaller didactic works, as well as the life of Fauré mentioned above.
Character
Despite his lack of worldly success Koechlin was apparently a loved and venerated figure in French music, his long flowing beard contributing to his patriarchal image. Following his 1888 illness the need to build up his strength led him to become an enthusiastic mountaineer, swimmer and tennis player. He was also an amateur astronomer and an accomplished photographer. He was one of the great nature-mystics among French composers, whose personal creed was pantheisticPantheism
Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...
rather than Christian. Though never a member of the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
he subscribed to its ideals, and in the later 1930s especially was much concerned with the idea of 'Music for the People'.
Symphonies
- Symphony in A major (1893–1908, abandoned)
- Symphony No.1 op.57bis (orchestral version, 1926, of String Quartet No.2)
- The Seven Stars Symphony op.132 (1933)
- Symphonie d’Hymnes (1936) [cycle of previously-composed independent movements]
- Symphony No.2 op.196 (1943–44)
Symphonic Poems
- La Forêt, op.25 (1897–1906) & op.29 (1896–1907)
- Nuit de Walpurgis classique op.38 (1901–1916)
- Soleil et danses dans la forêt op.43 no.1 (1908–11)
- Vers la plage lointaine, nocturne op.43 no.2 (1908–1916)
- Le Printemps op.47 no.1 (1908–11)
- L'Hiver op.47 no.2 (1908–10 orch 1916)
- Nuit de Juin op.48 no.1 (1908–11 orch 1916)
- Midi en Août op.48 no.2 (1908–11 orch 1916)
- La Course de printemps op.95 (1908–25) (Jungle Book Cycle)
- Vers la Voûte étoilée op.129 (1923–33)
- La Méditation de Purun Bhaghat op.159 (1936) (Jungle Book Cycle)
- La Cité nouvelle, rêve d’avenir op.170 (1938; after H.G. Wells)
- La Loi de la Jungle op.175 (1939–40) (Jungle Book Cycle)
- Les Bandar-log op.176 (1939–40) (Jungle Book Cycle)
- Le Buisson ardent opp.203 (1945) & 171 (1938)
- Le Docteur Fabricius op.202 (1941–44, orch 1946)
Other Orchestral Works
- En rêve op.20 no.1 (1896–1900)
- Au loin op.20 no.2 (1896–1900)
- L’Automne, symphonic suite op.30 (1896–1906)
- Études Antiques op.46 (1908–10)
- Suite légendaire op.54 (1901–15)
- 5 Chorals dans les modes du moyen-age op.117 bis (1931 orch. 1932)
- Fugue Symphonique ‘Saint-Georges’ op.121 (1932)
- L’Andalouse dans Barcelone op.134 (1933)
- Les Eaux vives – music for 1937 Paris Exposition Universelle, op.160 (1936)
- Victoire de la vie op.167 (1938 – score for film by Henri Cartier)
- Offrande musicale sur le nom de BACH op.187 (1942–46)
- Partita for chamber orchestra op.205
- Introduction et 4 Interludes de style atonal-sériel op.214 (1947–48)
Solo Instrument and Orchestra
- 3 Chorals for organ and orchestra op.49 (1909–16)
- Ballade for piano and orchestra op.50 (1911–19) (also for solo piano)
- Poème for horn and orchestra op.70 bis (1927 orch of Horn Sonata)
- 2 Sonatas for clarinet and chamber orchestra, opp.85 bis & 86 bis (1946 arrs of sonatas for clarinet and piano)
- 20 Chansons bretonnes for cello and orchestra op.115 (1931–32) (arrs of 20 Chansons bretonnes for cello and piano)
- Silhouettes de Comédie for bassoon and orchestra op.193
- 2 Sonatines for oboe d’amore and chamber orchestra op.194 (1942–43)
Chamber Music
- Trois Pièces for bassoon and piano, op.34
- String Quartet No.1 op.51 (1911–13)
- Sonata, flute and piano op.52 (1913)
- Sonata, viola and piano op.53
- Suite en quatuor pour flûte, violon, alto et piano op.55 (1911–1915)
- String Quartet No.2 op.57 (1911–15) [see also Symphony No.1]
- Sonata, oboe and piano op.58 (1911–16)
- Sonata, violin and piano op.64 (1915–16)
- Paysages et Marines for chamber ensemble op.63 (1915–16) [also arr. for piano solo]
- Sonata, cello and piano op.66 (1917)
- Sonata, horn and piano op.70 (1918–25)
- Sonata, bassoon and piano op.71 (1918–1919)
- String Quartet No.3 op.72 (1917–21)
- Sonata, 2 flutes op.75 (1920)
- Sonata No.1, clarinet and piano op.85 (1923)
- Sonata No.2, clarinet and piano op.86 (1923)
- Trio for flute, clarinet and bassoon (or violin, viola and violoncello) (1927)
- Piano Quintet op.80
- 20 Chansons bretonnes for cello and piano op.115 (1931–32)
- L’Album de Lilian (Book I) for soprano, flute, clarinet, piano op.139 (1934)
- L’Album de Lilian (Book II) for flute, piano, harpsichord, Ondes Martenot op.149 (1935)
- Quintet No.1 for flute, harp and string trio Primavera op.156 (1936)
- 14 Pièces for flute and piano op.157b (1936)
- Épitaphe de Jean Harlow for flute, alto saxophone and piano op.164 (1937)
- Septet for wind instruments op.165 (1937)
- 14 Pièces for clarinet and piano op.178 (1942)
- 14 Pièces for oboe and piano op.179 (1942)
- 15 Pièces for horn (or saxophone) and piano op.180 (1942)
- 15 Études for saxophone and piano op.188 (1942–44)
- Sonate à sept for flute, oboe, harp and string quartet op.221
- Morceau de lecture pour la flûte op. 218 (1948)
- Quintet No.2 for flute, harp and string trio Primavera II op.223 (1949)
- Stèle funéraire for flute, piccolo and alto flute op.224 (1950)
Instrumental Music
- 5 Sonatines for piano op.59 (1915–16)
- 4 Sonatines Françaises for piano duet, op.60 (1919) [also version for orchestra]
- Paysages et Marines for piano op.63 (1915–16) [also arr. chamber ensemble]
- Les Heures persanes, 16 pieces for piano op.65 (1913–19) [also orchestral version]
- 12 Pastorales for piano op.77 (1916–20)
- 4 Nouvelles Sonatines françaises for piano op.87 (1923–24)
- L’Ancienne Maison de campagne for piano op.124 (1923–33)
- Danses pour Ginger Rogers for piano op.163 (1937)
- Vers le soleil – 7 monodies for Ondes Martenot op.174 (1939)
- Suite for cor anglais op.185 (1942)
- Les Chants de Nectaire, 96 pieces for flute solo in 3 series, opp.198, 199 & 200 (1944)
- 15 Préludes for piano op.209 (1946)
- Le Repos de Tityre for oboe d’amore solo op.216
Choral Works
- L’Abbaye, Suite religieuse for soli, chorus and orchestra opp.16 & 42 (1908)
- 3 Poèmes for soli, chorus and orchestra op.18 (Jungle Book Cycle)
- Chant funèbre à la mémoire des jeunes femmes défuntes for chorus and orchestra op.37 (1902–08)
- Chant pour Thaelmann for choir and piano or wind band op.138 (1934)
- Requiem des pauvres bougres for chorus, orchestra, piano, organ and Ondes Martenot op.161 (1936–37)
Songs
(many with orchestra)- Rondels, Set I op.1 (1890–95)
- 4 Poèmes d’Edmond Haraucourt op.7 (1890–97)
- Rondels, Set II op.8 (1891–96)
- Poèmes d’automne op.13 (1894–99)
- Rondels, Set III op.14 (1896–1901)
- 3 Mélodies op.17 (1895–1900)
- 2 Poèmes d’André Chénier op.23 (1900–02)
- 6 Mélodies sur des poésies d’Albert Samain op.31 (1902-6)
- 5 Chansons de Bilitis op.39 (1898–1908)
- 5 Mélodies sur des poèmes de ‘Shéhérazade’ de Tristan Klingsor Series I op.56 (1914–16)
- 8 Mélodies sur des poèmes de ‘Shéhérazade’ de Tristan Klingsor Series II op.84 (1922-3)
- 7 Chansons pour Gladys op.151 (1935)
External links
- Wikipedia page in French
- Classpedia entry on Koechlin
- Koechlin: Les Heures persanes
- Koechlin, compositeur de renom
- Detailed list of works in French
- Biography and brief worklist in French