Gustave Charpentier (June 25, 1860 – February 18, 1956) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, best known for his
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
LouiseLouise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
.
He was born in
DieuzeDieuze is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-People:Dieuze was the birthplace of:*Charles Hermite, mathematician*Edmond François Valentin About, novelist, publicist and journalist*Émile Friant, painter...
, the son of a baker, and after studying at the conservatoire in
LilleLille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1881. There he studied compositions under
Jules MassenetJules 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, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
and in 1887 won the
Prix de RomeThe Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists who proved their talents by completing a...
for his
cantataA cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment and often containing more than one movement.-Historical context:...
Didon. During the time in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
that the prize gave him, he wrote the
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l
Impressions d'Italie and began work on the
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
and music for what would become his best known work, the opera
LouiseLouise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
.
Charpentier returned to Paris, and continued to compose, including
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s on texts by
Charles BaudelaireCharles Pierre Baudelaire was a nineteenth century French poet, critic, and translator. A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence...
and
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
.
Gustave Charpentier (June 25, 1860 – February 18, 1956) was a
FrenchFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
composerA composer is a person who creates music, usually by musical notation, for interpretation and performance. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which affects issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of...
, best known for his
operaOpera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score. Opera is part of the Western classical music tradition. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery and costumes and sometimes includes dance...
LouiseLouise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
.
He was born in
DieuzeDieuze is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-People:Dieuze was the birthplace of:*Charles Hermite, mathematician*Edmond François Valentin About, novelist, publicist and journalist*Émile Friant, painter...
, the son of a baker, and after studying at the conservatoire in
LilleLille is a city in northern France. It is the principal city of the Lille Métropole, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the country behind those of Paris, Lyon and Marseille. Lille is situated on the Deûle River, near France's border with Belgium...
entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1881. There he studied compositions under
Jules MassenetJules 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, his style went out of fashion, and many of his operas fell into almost...
and in 1887 won the
Prix de RomeThe Prix de Rome was a scholarship for arts students, principally of painting, sculpture and architecture. It was created, initially for painters and sculptors, in 1663 in France during the reign of Louis XIV. It was an annual bursary for promising artists who proved their talents by completing a...
for his
cantataA cantata is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment and often containing more than one movement.-Historical context:...
Didon. During the time in
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated municipality , with over 2.7 million residents in , while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat to be 3.46 million. The metropolitan area of Rome is estimated by OECD to have a population of 3.7 million...
that the prize gave him, he wrote the
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l
Impressions d'Italie and began work on the
librettoA libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, sacred or secular oratorio and cantata, musical, and ballet. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata.Libretto ,...
and music for what would become his best known work, the opera
LouiseLouise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
.
Charpentier returned to Paris, and continued to compose, including
songA song is a metrical composition intended or adapted for singing, especially one in rhymed stanzas; a lyric; a ballad....
s on texts by
Charles BaudelaireCharles Pierre Baudelaire was a nineteenth century French poet, critic, and translator. A controversial figure in his lifetime, Baudelaire's name has become a byword for literary and artistic decadence...
and
VoltaireFrançois-Marie Arouet , better known by the pen name Voltaire, was a French Enlightenment writer, essayist, and philosopher known for his wit and his defense of civil liberties, including both freedom of religion and free trade.Voltaire was a prolific writer and produced works in almost every...
. He eventually completed
Louise, and it was accepted for production by the
Opéra-ComiqueThe théâtre national de l’Opéra-Comique is an opera company and opera house in Paris. It is located in the place Boïeldieu, in the 2e arrondissement of Paris, not far from the Opera Garnier, home of the Paris National Opera.-Foundation:The Opéra-Comique company was established in 1714 by the St...
. A realistic portrait of Parisian working-class life, it is sometimes considered a French example of
verismoVerismo was an Italian literary and, by extension, operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s. It was mainly inspired by French naturalism. Giovanni Verga and Luigi Capuana were its main exponents and the authors of a verismo manifesto...
opera.
The premiere of
Louise on February 2, 1900 under the baton of
André MessagerAndré Charles Prosper Messager , French composer and musician, was born at Montluçon.-Early years:André Messager was the son of Paul-Philippe-Émile Messager and Sophie-Cornélie Lhôte de Selancy. It was not a musical household but the young boy had his first musical exposure on a piano in the house...
made it the first new opera to be produced at the Opéra-Comique in the twentieth century. It was an immediate success, soon being performed all over the world and bringing Charpentier wide acclaim. It also launched the career of the Scottish
sopranoA soprano is a singing voice with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music...
Mary Garden' Mary Garden , was a Scottish operatic soprano with a substantial career in France and America in the first third of the 20th century...
, who took over the title role during an early performance. A film version of the work was made in 1939 with
Grace MooreGrace Moore was an American operatic soprano and actress in musical theatre and film, nicknamed the "Tennessee Nightingale." Her films helped to popularize opera by bringing it to a larger audience.-Early life:...
in the title role, and
Louise is still occasionally performed today, with the soprano
ariaAn aria in music was originally any expressive melody, usually, but not always, performed by a singer. The term is now used almost exclusively to describe a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment...
"Depuis le jour" a popular recital piece.
In 1902, Charpentier founded the Conservatoire Populaire Mimi Pinson, intended to provide a free artistic education to Paris's working girls. However, he became unproductive as a composer. He worked on a sequel to
Louise,
Julien, ou la vie d'un poèteJulien, ou La vie du poète is a poème lyrique or opera by composer Gustave Charpentier. The work is devised in a prologue and four acts and uses a French libretto by the composer. Julien is a sequel to Charpentier's Louise and describes the artistic aspirations of Louise’s suitor Julien...
, but it was not as great a success as
Louise on its 1913 premiere, and was quickly forgotten. Charpentier wrote virtually no music for the rest of his life. He died in Paris.
Opera
- Louise
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
- 1900
- Julien, ou La vie du poète
Julien, ou La vie du poète is a poème lyrique or opera by composer Gustave Charpentier. The work is devised in a prologue and four acts and uses a French libretto by the composer. Julien is a sequel to Charpentier's Louise and describes the artistic aspirations of Louise’s suitor Julien...
- 1913
- L'amour au faubourg - 1913 (unperformed)
- Orphée- 1931 (unfinished)
External links