Charles Gounod

Charles Gounod is best remembered for Faust, the most successful French opera of the 19th century, which has been performed ever since its premiere. Born in Paris on June 17, 1818, Charles Gounod was the son of François-Louis Gounod, a painter who won the second Grand Prix de Rome, and of a mother who taught him piano. He was just five years old when his father died. He was thirteen when he discovered opera, and was amazed to hear La Malibran, finding his vocation there. After classical studies and a baccalauréat in philosophy, he entered the Paris Conservatoire in 1836, studying harmony with Antoine Reicha, counterpoint and fugue with Fromental Halévy, and composition with Jean-François Lesueur. The following year, the gifted pupil won the Second Prix de Rome for his cantata Marie Stuart et Rizzio, and two years later, the Grand Prix for another cantata, Fernand. During his three-year stay at the Villa Medici in Rome, he studied Italian sacred music, particularly Palestrina, as well as classical composers. He frequented the Opéra and befriended Ingres and Blanchard, who painted his portrait. His interest in religion developed between services at the Sistine Chapel and the study of polyphony. In 1841, his Messe à trois voix et orchestre was performed in the church of Saint-Louis-des-Français. The following year, he was in Vienna, where two of his works were performed at the Karlkirche, and then went to Leipzig to meet Mendelssohn, who introduced him to Bach. Returning to Paris in the spring of 1843, he found a position as maître de chapelle and organist at the Missions étrangères. He studied theology for two years and considered taking holy orders, becoming for a time "l'abbé Gounod", before retracting his decision to follow the musical path, as advised by the singer Pauline Viardot, whom he had met in Rome. In return, he composed a tailor-made opera for her, Sapho, which was presented at the Paris Opéra on April 16, 1851, thanks to the eminent musical figure's contacts. Despite Berlioz's encouragement, it was a failure, as was the following La Nonne sanglante (October 18, 1854). In 1852, Gounod married Anna Zimmerman, daughter of the famous pianist Pierre Zimmerman, and took on new duties as school singing director, then director of the Orphéon choral society (until 1860), for which he composed a Messe. 1853 saw the birth of Méditation sur le premier Prélude de piano by J. S. Bach, for violin and piano. Lyrics were added to this adaptation of the piece from The Well-Tempered Clavier, becoming Gounod's famous Ave Maria. In 1855, he wrote two symphonies, both of which were rarely performed. After a nervous breakdown that forced him to rest, the composer returned to opera with Le Médecin malgré lui after Molière (1858), his first collaboration with librettists Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, whose success was overshadowed by that of Faust, after Goethe. Premiered at the Théâtre-Lyrique on March 19, 1859, the masterpiece ran for 70 performances and was the world's most performed opera for a century, opening New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1883, before being supplanted a hundred years later by Bizet's Carmen. However, the libretto was badly received in Germany, where the opera took the name Margarete to distinguish it from the original text. The fruit of a long process that began with a reading of Goethe's play in Rome, Faust 's highlights include theAir des bijoux ("Ah! Je ris de me voir si belle en ce miroir"), immortalized by the Castafiore character in Hergé's comic strip Les Aventures de Tintin, and the famous Chorus of Soldiers in Act IV. Prior to its revival at the Paris Opéra in March 1869, Gounod attempted to repeat this success with Philémon et Baucis (1860), La Colombe, presented in Baden-Baden (1860) and La Reine de Saba (1862), which proved a resounding failure. In 1863, the composer met Frédéric Mistral, author of the Provençal poem Mirèio, which gave rise to the opera Mireille (March 19, 1864), still often performed today. Appointed to the Académie des Beaux-Arts in 1866, Gounod enjoyed his last great success with his version of Roméo et Juliette (April 27, 1867), even more acclaimed than Faust at its premiere, with soprano Marie-Caroline Miolan-Carvalho in a leading role for the fifth time. When war broke out in 1870, Gounod moved to London and began a four-year affair with the singer Georgina Weldon, for whom he composed the cantata Gallia, performed on May 1, 1871. In 1871, he founded the Albert Hall Choral Society, now the Royal Choral Society. The plays Les Deux Reines de France (1872) and Jeanne d'Arc (1873), for which he composed the incidental music, were performed in Paris. Returning to Paris in 1874, he revived his career with three final operas, Cinq-Mars (1877), Polyeucte (1878) and Le Tribut de Zamora (1881), all of which met with critical acclaim. In his last years, he returned to religious music, culminating in the trilogy La Rédemption (1882), premiered at the Birmingham Festival, and three years later Mors et vita (1885), attended by Queen Victoria in the composer's absence, prevented by a lawsuit he had lost against his former lover Mrs. Weldon, who had refused to return the manuscript of Polyeucte and fined him £100,000. He continued composing until his death, leaving an unfinished Requiem orchestrated by Henri Büsser. Stricken by a stroke, he died three days later, on October 18, 1893 in Saint-Cloud, at the age of 75. Ten days later, he was given a state funeral in the Madeleine church. His autobiography, Mémoires d'un artiste, was published in 1896.

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