Charles Gounod: French Composer
Best Known for Operas and Master of Religious Music
Brief biography of Charles Gounod, best known for opera 'Faust' and religious music 'Ave Maria,' both instrumental and soprano voice.
A prolific composer of operas and sacred music, French composer Charles Gouned (1818-1893), is best remembered for his opera Faust, based on Goethe's drama, and the song "Ave Maria", an arrangement of his Meditation for violin on Bach's Prelude No.1 in C.
Early Years: Training and Influence
Gounod's father was a painter and his mother a pianist, in which he had early piano lessons. His grandfather (mother's father) was a professor of piano at the Paris Corservatoire. He studied for priesthood for a while but abandoned the plan. Like Berlioz, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire, winning the Prix de Rome in 1839. In Italy he fell under the spell of 16th century polyphonic music, and began to write sacred music for this own.
Gounod met two influential women – the singer Pauline Viardot-Garcia, who introduced him to the theatrical world, and Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel, who introduced him to her famous brother Felix Mendelssohn.
Opera and Church Music
After returning from Italy, Gounod began to write operas in the style of Meyerbeer, together with masses and other church music. His opera Faust (after Goethe's drama) was performed at the Tréatre-Lyrique in 1859, and was an instant success. His gift for memorable tunes (such as the 'soldier's Chorus' and Marguerite's 'Jewel Song'), and his witty musical characterization of the doomed lovers, appealed to a Parisian audience. However, none of his other operas matched the success of Faust.
England: Gounod Choir
During the Franco-Purssian War, between 1879 and 1875, he took refuge in England, where his music appealed to Victorian sentimentality. Gounod he acquired an English mistress, Georgina Weldon. He also founded the Gounod Choir, which eventually became the Royal Choral Society.
Back Home to Paris
Gounod returned to Paris in 1874. During his last years, he was preoccupied with composing mainly religious music especially oratorios. Few of his later works have survived. He died on October 18, aged 75, while working on Requiem Mass.
Works by Charles Gounod
- Opera Sapho, 1851
- Symphony No.1 in D minor, 1855
- Symphony No.2 in Eb major, 1855
- Opera Faust (later revised), 1859
- Opera La Reine de Saba, 1862
- Opera Mireille, 1864
- Opera Roméo et Juliette, 1867
- Funeral March of a Marionette, 1872
- Oratorio La Rédemption, 1881
- Oratorio Mars et Vita, 1885
- Petite Symphonie, for wind instruments, 1885
- Méditation sur le prelude de Bach, for soprano and instrumental accompaniment ('Ave Maria'), 1889
Sources
The Encyclopedia of Music by Max Wade-Matthews & Wendy Thompson, Hermes House (2004)
The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music, edited y Stanley Sadie, Macmillan (1994)
The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, Oxford (2002)
