Le Roi Arthus - Ernest Chausson (1895)
Oct 28, 2015 3:51:53 GMT -5
Post by Uncle Henry on Oct 28, 2015 3:51:53 GMT -5
Amédée-Ernest Chausson, who was born in 1855, grew up apart from other children and among people highly cultured but much older than himself. He retained the marks of this experience throughout his lifetime, and the serious and thoughtful, even melancholy, inclination of his personality was intensified by it. His tutor, Brethous-Lafargue, who stimulated his interests in reading, drawing, and attending exhibitions and concerts, and obtained his entrance at about the age of sixteen to various Parisian salons, including those of Musset’s godmother Mme. Jobert and then of Mme Saint-Cyr de Rayssac. There he rubbed shoulders with Fantin-Latour, Odilon Redon, Chenavard, the Abbé Lacaria and the young d’Indy. His first song, Lilas, was written in 1877. In 1879 he became Massenet’s pupil at the Conservatoire. His teacher considered him ‘an exceptional person and a true artist’.
As evidence of his independence he composed a piano trio, opus.3; its felicitous spirit pays homage to Massenet but its harmonic richness and cyclical form are a tribute to Franck, whose course Chausson also attended, as an unenrolled listener. The mystical aspect of Franck’s class made it nearer his own temperament than Massenet’s instruction. Added to this dual training, whose parts were opposed in spirit and style of writing but beneficial to the young man’s education, were his visits to Germany to hear Wagner.
He married a woman in 1883 and took her to hear Parsifal at Bayreuth. Henceforward Chausson led a peaceful, uneventful existence shared between his family (there were five children) and music; he discovered an equilibrium and happiness. His many journeys, in France and abroad, to some extent reflected his wish to work in peace away from Paris. There, during the season, his famous salon at 22 boulevard de Courcelles welcomed many poets and artists from Mallarmé to Régnier, from Franckists to Debussy and Albéniz, from Pugno to Cortot and Ysaÿe. Throughout his life he showed himself a tireless worker ‘understanding only effort which is constant … and directed towards one goal’. Out of his devotion to absolute standards and a nagging desire for perfection he laboured long over his scores.
His whole period after 1886 to 1894 is dominated by large-scale, essentially dramatic works: the intense Poème de l’amour et de la mer (1882–93), La légende de Sainte Cécile (1891) and above all the opera Le roi Arthus (King Arthur), which occupied Chausson from 1886 to 1895. Set to the composer’s libretto in elevated language, the music of Arthus bears his intimate thoughts on life. After the fashion of the old king, he perceives life ‘fixing on all things a gaze free from anger’, ‘believes in the power of effort and the energy of the will’, and is supported in his struggle by faith in a pure and lofty ideal. The opera is far removed in spirit from the Schopenhauerian pessimism of Tristan, which, however, it resembles in its libretto, sound palette and motivic procedures. During the composition of his opera Chausson also wrote his noble Symphony in B flat op.20 (1889–90) and the Concert op.21 for piano, violin and string quartet (1889–91), both of which underline his adherence to Franckism with their cyclical form, many modulations and intensely expressive lyricism, but also announce new directions.
Chausson's quest in music was to apply ‘the rule which corrects emotion’, as Braque said – to achieve that supreme assiduity that renders the thought loftier, and the image clearer.
This item comes from a live broadcast transmitted from Paris at the end of July this year. Some of the interviews have English subtitles, but the opera itself has French subtitles. The film begins with a fascinating scene of Paris traffic negotiating a circular intersection.
The video lasts for three hours fifty-four minutes. Forum members may download it HERE.
As evidence of his independence he composed a piano trio, opus.3; its felicitous spirit pays homage to Massenet but its harmonic richness and cyclical form are a tribute to Franck, whose course Chausson also attended, as an unenrolled listener. The mystical aspect of Franck’s class made it nearer his own temperament than Massenet’s instruction. Added to this dual training, whose parts were opposed in spirit and style of writing but beneficial to the young man’s education, were his visits to Germany to hear Wagner.
He married a woman in 1883 and took her to hear Parsifal at Bayreuth. Henceforward Chausson led a peaceful, uneventful existence shared between his family (there were five children) and music; he discovered an equilibrium and happiness. His many journeys, in France and abroad, to some extent reflected his wish to work in peace away from Paris. There, during the season, his famous salon at 22 boulevard de Courcelles welcomed many poets and artists from Mallarmé to Régnier, from Franckists to Debussy and Albéniz, from Pugno to Cortot and Ysaÿe. Throughout his life he showed himself a tireless worker ‘understanding only effort which is constant … and directed towards one goal’. Out of his devotion to absolute standards and a nagging desire for perfection he laboured long over his scores.
His whole period after 1886 to 1894 is dominated by large-scale, essentially dramatic works: the intense Poème de l’amour et de la mer (1882–93), La légende de Sainte Cécile (1891) and above all the opera Le roi Arthus (King Arthur), which occupied Chausson from 1886 to 1895. Set to the composer’s libretto in elevated language, the music of Arthus bears his intimate thoughts on life. After the fashion of the old king, he perceives life ‘fixing on all things a gaze free from anger’, ‘believes in the power of effort and the energy of the will’, and is supported in his struggle by faith in a pure and lofty ideal. The opera is far removed in spirit from the Schopenhauerian pessimism of Tristan, which, however, it resembles in its libretto, sound palette and motivic procedures. During the composition of his opera Chausson also wrote his noble Symphony in B flat op.20 (1889–90) and the Concert op.21 for piano, violin and string quartet (1889–91), both of which underline his adherence to Franckism with their cyclical form, many modulations and intensely expressive lyricism, but also announce new directions.
Chausson's quest in music was to apply ‘the rule which corrects emotion’, as Braque said – to achieve that supreme assiduity that renders the thought loftier, and the image clearer.
This item comes from a live broadcast transmitted from Paris at the end of July this year. Some of the interviews have English subtitles, but the opera itself has French subtitles. The film begins with a fascinating scene of Paris traffic negotiating a circular intersection.
The video lasts for three hours fifty-four minutes. Forum members may download it HERE.
