Composer, pianist, and conductor, born in Aubert, C France. After law studies in Paris he became secretary at the ministry of the interior, and devoted himself fully to music in 1879 after hearing Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. His mastery of musical writing was striking, as he was self-taught, proposing new rhythms, melodies, and harmonies. He became assistant to Lamoureux, who created the Nouveaux Concerts. Chabrier's first work was a Grande Valse (1857), and he went on to write Pièces Pittoresques and Bourrée Fantasque for piano, the orchestral works Espana (1883) and Joyeuse Marche, an opera Gwendoline (1886), and opera-bouffes Le Roi Malgre lui and L'Etoile, where he shows his grand art gai, as in his volailleries, tunes inspired by lines from Rostand and R Gérard. Several of his best-known pieces, notably his orchestral rhapsody España, were inspired by the folk music of Spain. A friend of the great painters and writers of his day, he has been saluted as the inventor of modern music by Debussy and Ravel, Stravinsky, Mahler, and Poulenc (who dedicated a book to him in 1961).
(Ivry 1996)
Works
Operas L'étoile (1877)
Une éducation manquée (1879)
Gwendoline (1885, UA 1886)
Le roi malgré lui (König wider Willen) (1887)
Briséïs (1888-91, only
the first act was completed)
Orchestra Works Lamento (1874)
Larghetto for Horn and Orchestra (1875)
España (1883)
Joyeuse marche (1888)
Prélude pastorale
(1888)
Suite pastorale (1888, Bearbeitung von 4 Stücken aus den
Pièces pittoresques für Klavier)
Works for Piano Rêverie (1855)
Julia. Walzer op.1 (1857)
Le
Scalp (1861)
Souvenirs de Brunehaut. Walzer (1862)
Marche des Cipayes (1863)
Pas redoublé (Cortège burlesque) (1871)
Suite de valses (1872)
Impromptu C-Dur
(1873) 10
Pièces pittoresques (1881)
Trois valses romantiques for 2 Pianos (1883)
Habanera (1885, also orchestrated)
Souvenirs de Munich. Quadrille on Themes from
Tristan und Isolde for piano 4-hands(1885-86)
Bourrée fantasque (1891, also orchestrated)
Cinq morceaux (postumous)
Songs 9 Songs (1862)
Sérénade de Ruy Blas
(1863) Les lèvres closes
(1867) L'invitation au voyage (1870)
Sommation irrespectueuse (1880)
Tes yeux bleus (1883)
Credo d'amour (1883)
Chanson pour
Jeanne (1886) 6
mélodies (1890)
Lied. Scène lyrique for mezzo-soprano, female chorus and orchestra (1884) Duo de l'ouvreuse de l'Opéra-Comique et de l'employé du Bon Marché
(1888)
Ode à la musique für soprano, female chorus and orchestra (piano) (1890)
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