This Week in Classical Music: December 9, 2024. Three Francophone composers. One Belgian, Cesar Franck, and two French composers, Hector Berlioz, and Olivier Messiaen, were born this week. Berlioz, by far the greatest French composer of the mid-19th century, was born on December 11th of 1803 in the small town of La Côte-Saint-André in southeastern France. It seems strange, but France, artistically splendid, was not well represented in classical music in the first half of the 19th century; not, for example, as were the German-speaking countries. The 18th century was the time of Lully, Charpentier, Couperin and Rameau, the second half of the 19th century was also brimming with talent: from Gounod, Saint-Saëns and Bizet to Massenet and Fauré and then to Debussy and Ravel, well into the 20th century. Between those two groups, though, Berlioz was practically alone. He was unique, idiosyncratic, didn’t follow anybody, and didn’t leave a musical school after himself. All the same, he was a composer of genius. His Symphonie fantastique, composed in 1830, stands out in the originality of structure and musical ideas; the enormous opera, Les Troyens, is rarely performed but is exceptional in its richness. Harold en Italie, formally a symphony with the viola obbligato, is one of the best viola concertos ever composed. And of course, there are more: symphonic pieces, operas, choral works, like the Damnation of Faust, and songs. The Damnation of Faust runs for more than two hours, but here is a snippet: the first scene in which Faust contemplates nature. Kenneth Riegel is the tenor, Sir Georg Solti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in this 1982 recording.
As much as Berlioz was the greatest French composer of the middle of the 19th century, Olivier Messiaen was, in our opinion, the greatest French composer of the middle of the 20th. Messiaen was born in Avignon on December 10th of 1908. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at eleven; among his teachers were Pail Dukas and Charles-Marie Widor, composer and organist. Messiaen loved this instrument. In 1931 he was appointed the organist of Église de la Sainte-Trinité, a church not far from Gare Saint-Lazare, and held this position for the rest of his life. In 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army as a medical auxiliary (he had poor eyesight). He was captured by the Germans soon after, at Verdun, the site of the terrible battles of the previous world war, and sent to a camp. There he met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinetist. He wrote a trio for them, and eventually incorporated it into the Quartet for the End of Time, creating a part for himself on the piano. It was first performed in January 1941 in the camp for an audience of prisoners and prison guards. We’ll hear two movements from the Quartet: Movement I, Liturgie de cristal (here), and Movement II, Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du temps (here). It’s performed by a quartet anchored by Daniel Barenboim on the piano.
Three Francophone composers, 2024
This Week in Classical Music: December 9, 2024. Three Francophone composers. One Belgian, Cesar Franck, and two French composers, Hector Berlioz, and Olivier Messiaen, were
born this week. Berlioz, by far the greatest French composer of the mid-19th century, was born on December 11th of 1803 in the small town of La Côte-Saint-André in southeastern France. It seems strange, but France, artistically splendid, was not well represented in classical music in the first half of the 19th century; not, for example, as were the German-speaking countries. The 18th century was the time of Lully, Charpentier, Couperin and Rameau, the second half of the 19th century was also brimming with talent: from Gounod, Saint-Saëns and Bizet to Massenet and Fauré and then to Debussy and Ravel, well into the 20th century. Between those two groups, though, Berlioz was practically alone. He was unique, idiosyncratic, didn’t follow anybody, and didn’t leave a musical school after himself. All the same, he was a composer of genius. His Symphonie fantastique, composed in 1830, stands out in the originality of structure and musical ideas; the enormous opera, Les Troyens, is rarely performed but is exceptional in its richness. Harold en Italie, formally a symphony with the viola obbligato, is one of the best viola concertos ever composed. And of course, there are more: symphonic pieces, operas, choral works, like the Damnation of Faust, and songs. The Damnation of Faust runs for more than two hours, but here is a snippet: the first scene in which Faust contemplates nature. Kenneth Riegel is the tenor, Sir Georg Solti conducts the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in this 1982 recording.
As much as Berlioz was the greatest French composer of the middle of the 19th century, Olivier Messiaen was, in our opinion, the greatest French composer of the middle of the 20th. Messiaen was born in Avignon on December 10th of 1908. He was admitted to the Paris Conservatory at eleven; among his teachers were Pail Dukas and Charles-Marie Widor, composer and organist. Messiaen loved this instrument. In 1931 he was appointed the organist of Église de la Sainte-Trinité, a church not far from Gare Saint-Lazare, and held this position for the rest of his life. In 1940, at the outbreak of World War II, Messiaen was drafted into the French army as a medical auxiliary (he had poor eyesight). He was captured by the Germans soon after, at Verdun, the site of the terrible battles of the previous world war, and sent to a camp. There he met a violinist, a cellist and a clarinetist. He wrote a trio for them, and eventually incorporated it into the Quartet for the End of Time, creating a part for himself on the piano. It was first performed in January 1941 in the camp for an audience of prisoners and prison guards. We’ll hear two movements from the Quartet: Movement I, Liturgie de cristal (here), and Movement II, Vocalise, pour l'Ange qui annonce la fin du temps (here). It’s performed by a quartet anchored by Daniel Barenboim on the piano.
As for Franck, we love his violin sonata.