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(Alexis-) Emmanuel Chabrier (1841–1894) He was born in Ambert (Puy-de-Dôme), a town in the Auvergne region of central France. As early as age 6, Chabrier began piano lessons under the tutelage of a Spanish refugee named Saporta. At 10, he attended the Lycée Impérial at Clermont Ferrand, where he continued his keyboard studies and began to try his hand at composition. Upon the insistence of his father, however, he relegated music to be his pastime; after two years in Paris at the Lycée Louis le Grand (or the Lycée Saint Louis - biographers disagree on which is the case), he began to study law. He continued also to take piano lessons and studied counterpoint and fugue, but when he took his law degree in 1862, he went to work for the Ministry of the Interior, where he worked for 18 years. During this time, he associated with the painter Manet and fellow musicians including Duparc, d'Indy, Fauré, and Messager. During the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), Chabrier fought for France, after which, he returned to his desk job. In 1873, he married Marie Alice Dejean with whom he had two sons. While he was employed by the government, Chabrier wrote several compositions that he offered to publishers. His interest in poetry lead to a friendship with Paul Verlaine, who contributed librettos to two early operettas that he did not complete. His first work for the stage, L'étoile, achieved 48 successful performances at the Bouffes Parisien in 1877, showcasing his light touch, musical aplomb, and comic wit.
In 1879, he made his first visit to Germany in the company of Duparc; a performance of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde in Munich so moved him that he determined to quit the law and devote his life to music. He returned to Paris, resigned from the Ministry in 1880 - just two months before his 40th birthday - and began to spend his days composing. Before this monumental step, Chabrier had produced only two significant works, these being the operettas L'Étoile (1877) and Une Éducation manquée (1879); however, now freed of his routine job, he produced in short order Dix Pièces pittoresques for piano (1881), Habanera (1885), and Bourrée fantasque in 1891. His finest short work, the brilliant España Rhapsody, came forth in 1883; this piece alone established Chabrier as a composer of serious merit. His Idylle from Pièces pittoresques greatly influenced Francis Poulenc, who wrote in his book Emmanuel Chabrier, Even today I tremble with emotion in thinking of the miracle that was produced: a harmonic universe suddenly opened in front of me, and my music has never forgotten this first loving kiss (Ivry, 1996). In the years 1884 and 1885 he worked as chorus master at the Château d'Eau where, among other projects, he assisted with a production of Wagner's Tristan. This close association with Wagner's music both developed his skill in orchestration and instilled in him some elements of Germanic style; in later years, these elements would appear in his own works, much to his own consternation and that of his musical compatriots in France.
His opera Gwendoline, set in the England during the Middle Ages, was a success at its premier in Brussels in 1885, but it closed after just two performance because the impresario went bankrupt. Similar bad luck haunted the premier of Le roi malgré lui two years later when the Opéra Comique in Paris burned after the third performance. Still a rather old-fashioned work, in which sung portions were interspersed with stretches of dialogue, it was rebuffed by modernists; it was nonetheless considered spirited and delightfully original. Fortunately, theater directors in Leipzig and Munich expressed interest in both works and Chabrier made several happy trips to Germany as a result. In his final years, Chabrier was strained by financial issues, and suffered from failing health and depression about the small success his stage works had achieved in France. He became obsessed with the composition of his opera Briséïs, which was inspired by a tragedy of Goethe and melodic echos of Wagner, but completed only one act. The Paris premiere of Gwendoline, which finally arrived in 1893, provided little consolation. He succumbed to general paralysis in the last year of his life, dying in Paris at age 53. Considering his very late start and lack of substantial formal training, Chabrier must be regarded as brilliant. His music is extremely colorful, and he was particularly adept at integrating forces and resources to create a unified sound world. Not so much a dramatist as a lyricist, Chabrier seemed most comfortable writing in the realm of comedy; evidently this is an accurate reflection of his personality in general. He was a fundamental influence on Les Six, the group of young French composers who typified the emerging French nationalism in the generation following him; they took him as a model, stopping short of his later Wagnerian turn. He also heavily influenced the work of Maurice Ravel. When viewed in the context of his relatively short career, Chabrier's output indeed labels him as an overachiever.
Answers
Fisch-Ton-Kan,, opereta en un acto (1863-1964). Fragmento.
Vaucochard et fils Lers, opereta (incompleta) (1864). Fragmento.
Une éducation manquée, opereta en un acto (1879) Fragmento.
![Imagen](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61T5P143X9L._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
L'étoile, ópera bufa en tres actos (1877). Fragmento del acto segundo.
![Imagen](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41QH9M4J99L.jpg)
Gwendoline, ópera en dos actos (1885). Fragmento del acto segundo.
![Imagen](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MDGW7JM1L._SL500_AA240_.jpg)
Le roi malgré lui, ópera cómica en tres actos (1887). Chanson tzigane.
![Imagen](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61dyTW0ILPL._SX300_.jpg)
Briséïs, ópera (1888-1891). Fragmento.
![Imagen](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/61NPTRNM01L._SL500_AA240_.gif)
Última edición por Zelenka el 24 May 2014 13:17, editado 1 vez en total
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